Following fictional US presidential candidate Jack Tanner (Michael Murphy) for the Democratic party during the real 1988 election, Tanner '88 is one of the most interesting political comedies I've seen, while also one of the most rigidly dated series I know of. Originally airing sporadically during / leading up to said '88 election on HBO, the series was pitched as if Tanner was a true candidate for the real run, and even included cameos from active politicians, as well as a finale seemingly filmed at / during that year's Democratic National Convention. Created by cartoonist Garry Trudeau, directed by Robert Altman (M*A*S*H*), and produced by both, the scripts were apparently only mostly written, with much improvisation / pick ups on the day to fill out the scenes. It feels very documentary, although with constantly interesting angles and camera movement I must say, and we're often given long takes of conversational talking, with lots of background noise and obfuscation. It makes everything feel quite real, almost unedited, like we're watching the behind-the-scenes of a real campaign, which is obviously exactly the what the series is going for. Of course this strength is also its ultimate weakness, as the series is so rigidly locked in the campaign that unless you yourself experienced it, or have a vast interest in politics, you won't get most of the Dukakis, Kennedy, Reagan, and Dole humour. All in all, what we get feels like if NPR tried to make a comedy, and I mean that in the best ways. If its your type of thing you're going to love it, I thought it was quite good and certainly impressive.
