'Tanner' revisited in new series

If you don't feel like tuning in to the vice presidential debate tonight, a more intimate political drama unfolds in "Tanner on Tanner" at 9 on the Sundance Channel.

The four-part series is an engaging follow-up to the TV series "Tanner '88," a political satire directed by Robert Altman and written by "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau. Leave it to Altman to have anticipated the reality-TV trend by a decade; the original series was a fake documentary about presidential hopeful Jack Tanner (Michael Murphy), shot on the real political trail in New Hampshire and beyond in 1988.

The new "Tanner" series catches up with most of the major characters from the '88 campaign, now older, possibly wiser, definitely harder up for cash but at least smoking less. Ex-campaign chronicler Deke Conners (Matt Malloy), his arty film theories cast aside, is now editing porn videos for cash under the table. He also helps Tanner's daughter, Alex (Cynthia Nixon), an indie filmmaker, with her more worthy projects.

One of those projects is a documentary about Tanner's '88 campaign, scenes of which serve as an unobtrusive refresher on the history of Jack Tanner's presidential bid. Alex also teaches film students at an unnamed New York university, and one of her students follows her around for his own movie project, another sly commentary on the pervasiveness of cameras in modern life. "Everybody's making pictures," sighs Martin Scorsese, whom the Tanner crowd runs into at a reunion dinner at the New York restaurant Elaine's.

What works with the Tanner crew this time around is what worked last time; the portraits of the people on the campaign trail are often more effective, thanks to the talented actors, than the political commentary, which is sometimes strident or pedantic.

Murphy, the perennially rumpled and slightly bemused Tanner, is, if anything, even more likable this time around. (perhaps that was Tanner's fatal flaw as a candidate -- he was just too nice). But the show is stolen by Nixon, most famous for her Emmy-winning role as Miranda Hobbes on "Sex and the City."

In the second episode, which airs Oct. 12, Alex and her crew head to Boston to shoot the elder Tanner reminiscing with real politicians visiting the Democratic National Convention, where former Tanner campaign manager T.J. Cavanaugh (Pamela Reed) appears to be running the show.

But what happens off the floor of the convention (and yes, it was shot at the actual Democratic summit) is the most compelling part of the new Tanner tale. In a hotel room late at night, Alex explains to her tag-along student what happened in her personal life after her dad's campaign, and the scene is simply riveting.

Tanner on Tanner
When: Tonight at 9
On: the Sundance Channel

'Update' addition

"Saturday Night Live" unveiled the newest face on "Weekend Update" on its season premiere Saturday. Cast member Amy Poehler joined Tina Fey for the first all-female "Update" team in the show's 30-year history.

Poehler replaces Jimmy Fallon on the segment. Fallon left in May after six years on the NBC live sketch-comedy show. Fallon and Fey had read the fake news together since 2000.

"Weekend Update" has a storied history of hosts, including Chevy Chase and Dennis Miller.

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Globe on NECN

Here's what's happening on "Around the Globe" today on NECN:
9:30 a.m.: "Talk of New England" -- Media critic Mark Jurkowitz joins the discussion about the investigation into CBS airing disputed documents raising questions about President Bush's National Guard service.
12:30 p.m.: "Globe at Home" -- Anne Lindsay, president of the Massachusetts Animal Coalition, talks about license plates in support of pets.
4 p.m.: "Around the Globe"
6:30 p.m.: "New England Business Day"
8 p.m.: "NewsNight" Schedule is subject to change.

Talk of the dial

2 p.m. WBNW-AM (1120) -- "PM Magazine." Guests: John Fox, author of "10 Tax Questions the Candidates Don't Want You to Ask"; John Curtis, PhD, political and media analyst; Kerry Patterson, author of "Critical Confrontations."

Other radio highlights

7 a.m. WGBH-FM (89.7) -- "Classics in the Morning." Mozart's 10 Variations in G; Wagner's Rienzi Overture.
9 a.m. WCRB-FM (102.5) -- Mozart's Symphony No. 39; Schumann's "Rhenish" Symphony.