1988 Inspired in part by what The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour had done with Pat Paulsen, Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau and director Robert Altman teamed for a groundbreaking HBO series called Tanner ’88. Tanner was a fictional Democratic politician played by Michael Murphy, and his idealistic daughter was played by Cynthia Nixon, later of Sex and the City.
Taking advantage of Altman’s fluid and improvisatory filmmaking technique, Tanner ’88 shot its episodes on the move and on the campaign trail via hand-held video, getting Tanner to travel the same path as, and sometimes cross paths with, such actual candidates as Gary Hart, Bob Dole, Pat Robertson, and Bruce Babbitt, with whom Tanner spent an entire episode commiserating about the dehumanizing and demeaning schedule of campaign appearances.
The mixture of fictional characters and real people in Tanner ’88 was a clear precursor of such subsequent HBO comedies as The Larry Sanders Show and Curb Your Enthusiasm. The show’s style and substance, examining and poking fun at what the candidates do and how the media report it, was a blueprint for the kind of scrutiny politicians, pundits, and media journalists would be given, 20 years later, by Stewart and Colbert on their respective Comedy Central programs.
Related:
Comedy Rambo, What smell?, Ship without a rudder, More 
- Comedy Rambo
Misunderestimate Stephen Colbert at your peril.
- What smell?
It’s always summer to George W. Bush, our lazy, hazy, crazy commander in chief who puts in shorter presidential work weeks than Woodrow Wilson did after he was paralyzed by a stroke.
- Ship without a rudder
It’s a simple question: other than the candidate — who has a day job, after all — who is running Attorney General Tom Reilly’s campaign for governor?
- All the ugly people
Why did Maine voters give overwhelming approval to a tax-repeal referendum on Nov. 4, while simultaneously returning to office even more of the Democratic legislators who passed the unpopular tax in the first place?
- Grass roots fire fight
During its recent convention, the Maine Green Party transformed itself from a chronically decentralized group of activist-skeptics into a maybe, possibly, if-you-squint-your-eyes-could-be a unified party with a palpable lust for political power.
- The battle of Rhode Island
Heading into the home stretch of the 2006 gubernatorial race, Lieutenant Governor Charles Fogarty has cause for hope and reason for concern.
- Will race enter the race?
Two years ago, when Dianne Wilkerson inexplicably failed to submit the necessary signatures to get her name on the Democratic primary ballot for re-election as state senator, a 28-year-old upstart seized the opportunity.
- Menino's 50-Percent Solution
For years, many in Boston (including here at the Phoenix ) have lamented the absence of a vigorous campaign that would force the long-time incumbent to defend his record and discuss the issues.
- Where has all the Gonzo gone?
On top of everything else they’ve blighted over their awful eight-year reign, the Bushies did this: they killed Hunter S. Thompson.
- Young Republicans
What’s the deal lately with Smith College conservatives?
- Menino’s hit list
At a recent political event, Boston mayor Thomas M. Menino asked Robert Crane, the former long-time state treasurer, how many years he had held that office.
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Topics:
News Features
, Election Campaigns, Elections and Voting, Michael Murphy, More
, Election Campaigns, Elections and Voting, Michael Murphy, Politics, U.S. Politics, Political Parties, U.S. Democratic Party Politics, Robert F. Kennedy, Gary Hart, Lyndon Johnson, Less
