Plot
Alex Tanner is working on a documentary about her father's run for president in 1988. After her documentary, My Candidate, is met with an underwhelming response at an independent film festival, Robert Redford advises her that her film is lacking and that she should do follow-ups with all the people from the 1988 campaign to see what they are doing now, and get their reflections on their past roles.
Alex does just this, interviewing most of the old campaign staffers and her father before going to the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston with her film crew to compare and contrast it with the 1988 Democratic National Convention where her father lost the nomination. Along the way, one of her crew members, Salim (Aasif Mandvi), is repeatedly stopped and frisked by police because of his Arab ethnicity. There she meets up with TJ, her father's old campaign manager, who is now advising John Kerry. While TJ provides assistance to Alex, she also advises Jack that he is being considered for a position in the administration, should Kerry win the election. She says he would need to make sure footage from Alex's documentary of him attacking the Iraq War is removed and destroyed, so as not to potentially embarrass Kerry. Jack asks Alex to remove and destroy the footage, which she considers the best part of her documentary. Alex becomes very upset and disillusioned with her father. (It is also implied that she has had a falling out with him.) She eventually destroys her whole film, looking to move on with her life.
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 1988. The Republican Party's ticket of incumbent Vice President George H. W. Bush and Indiana senator Dan Quayle defeated the Democratic ticket of Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis and Texas senator Lloyd Bentsen.
Richard Andrew Gephardt is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician who represented Missouri's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he was House majority leader from 1989 to 1995 and minority leader from 1995 to 2003. He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 1988 and 2004. Gephardt was mentioned as a possible vice presidential nominee in 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004, and 2008.
Reality Bites is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Helen Childress and directed by Ben Stiller in his feature directorial debut. It stars Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, and Stiller, with supporting roles by Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn. The film follows an aspiring videographer, working on a documentary about the disenchanted lives of her friends and roommates.
Olympia Dukakis was an American actress. She performed in more than 130 stage productions, in some 60 films, and in approximately 50 television series. Best known as a screen actress, she started her career in theater. Not long after her arrival in New York City, she won an Obie Award for Best Actress in 1963 for her off-Broadway performance in Bertolt Brecht's Man Equals Man.
The Majority Report with Sam Seder is a left wing, progressive internet talk radio program and podcast hosted by Sam Seder. The program focuses on the discussion of current events and political affairs from a social democratic, democratic socialist and progressive standpoint; to this end, comedy and satire are used from time to time to make key points. Originally airing on the Air America radio network, from March 2004 until July 2006 the show was hosted by Janeane Garofalo; Garofalo was reportedly originally asked by Air America to host the program and suggested Seder as a co-host.
The Truth About Cats & Dogs is a 1996 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Lehmann and written by Audrey Wells. It stars Janeane Garofalo, Uma Thurman, Ben Chaplin and Jamie Foxx. The story is a modern reinterpretation of the 1897 Cyrano de Bergerac story and follows Abby, a veterinarian and radio talk show host who asks her model friend Noelle to impersonate her when a handsome man shows interest in her. The original music score was composed by Howard Shore. Upon its release, the film garnered positive reviews and was met with considerable box office success.
Tanner '88 is a political mockumentary miniseries written by Garry Trudeau and directed by Robert Altman. First broadcast by HBO during the months leading up to the 1988 U.S. presidential election, it purports to tell the behind-the-scenes story of the campaign of fictitious former Michigan U.S. Representative Jack Tanner, played by Michael Murphy, during his bid to secure the Democratic Party's nomination for president of the United States.
Robert M. "Bob" Shrum is the director of the Center for the Political Future and the Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics at the University of Southern California, where he is a professor of political science in the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. He is a former American political consultant, who has worked on numerous Democratic campaigns, including as senior advisor to the Kerry-Edwards campaign in 2004 and to the Gore-Lieberman campaign in 2000. Shrum wrote the famous speech Ted Kennedy gave at the 1980 Democratic National Convention conceding to and supporting President Jimmy Carter. He has been described as "the most sought-after consultant in the Democratic Party." Shrum served as speechwriter to New York Mayor John V. Lindsay from 1970 to 1971, speechwriter to Senator George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign and speechwriter and press secretary to Senator Edward M. Kennedy from 1980 to 1984 and political consultant until 2009.
Michael George Murphy is an American film, television and stage actor. He often plays unethical or morally ambiguous characters in positions of authority, including politicians, executives, administrators, clerics, doctors, law enforcement agents, and lawyers. He is also known for his frequent collaborations with director Robert Altman, having appeared in twelve films, TV series and miniseries directed by Altman from 1963 to 2004, including the title role in the acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning HBO miniseries Tanner '88. He had roles in the films M*A*S*H (1970), Brewster McCloud (1970), What's Up, Doc? (1972), Phase IV (1974), Nashville (1975), The Front (1976), An Unmarried Woman (1978), The Class of Miss MacMichael (1978), Manhattan (1979), Strange Behavior (1981), The Year of Living Dangerously (1983), Cloak & Dagger (1984), Salvador (1986), Shocker (1989), Batman Returns (1992), Magnolia (1999), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Away from Her (2007), and Fall (2014), among others.
Alexandra Corinne Pelosi is an American journalist, documentary filmmaker, and writer. She is a daughter of Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and Paul Pelosi.
The Matchmaker is a 1997 American romantic comedy film starring Janeane Garofalo.
Jiminy Glick in Lalawood is a 2004 American comedy film starring Martin Short as Jiminy Glick, a morbidly obese movie critic who is involved in a murder case at the Toronto International Film Festival. The supporting cast features Jan Hooks, Matthew Gray Gubler, Linda Cardellini, Mo Collins and Aries Spears, and numerous cinema luminaries play themselves, such as Willem Dafoe, Whoopi Goldberg, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kevin Kline, Rob Lowe, Steve Martin, Kurt Russell, Susan Sarandon, Chloë Sevigny, Sharon Stone, Kiefer Sutherland and Forest Whitaker.
The twentieth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 24, 1994, and May 13, 1995.
From February 8 to June 14, 1988, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 1988 United States presidential election. Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1988 Democratic National Convention held from July 18 to July 21, 1988, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Janeane Garofalo is an American comedian, actress, and former co-host on Air America Radio's The Majority Report.
The Muslims Are Coming! is a 2013 American comedy documentary film co-directed and co-starring Negin Farsad and Dean Obeidallah. It follows a team of Muslim-American comedians as they tour the American South and Southwest performing free stand-up comedy shows, and engaging in community activities, with an aim to "reach out to Middle America" and counter Islamophobia.
Disgraced (2012) is the first stage play by playwright, novelist, and screenwriter Ayad Akhtar. It premiered in Chicago and has had Off-Broadway and Off West End engagements. The play, which won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theater October 23, 2014. Disgraced has also been recognized with a 2012 Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work – Play or Musical and a 2013 Obie Award for Playwriting. The 2014 Broadway transfer earned a nomination for Tony Award for Best Play in 2015.
Diary of a Political Tourist is a 2004 HBO documentary film that was filmed, written, and directed by Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of Nancy Pelosi. The film features candidates from the 2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries, and includes John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, John Edwards, Bob Graham, Richard Gephardt, Howard Dean, General Wesley Clark, and President George W. Bush.
The seventh and final season of the American comedy drama television series Younger was released on Paramount+ between April 15 and June 10, 2021, comprising 12 episodes. The season was produced by Darren Star Productions and Jax Media, with Star serving as showrunner. Initially thought to be delayed until March 2021, filming began in October 2020 and wrapped in February 2021, when it was announced that the series was moving from TV Land to Paramount+. The first four episodes were made available altogether and the rest of the season debuted on a weekly basis.
