altman be very proud of the fact that people in his movie talk over each other and because and he say and people do that in life . well and people also cough and burp and go off on tangent and etc . the point be that just because people actually do something doesn not make it compel cinema . that one issue . the big issue be that this just isn not a very clever or direct or hit or relevant satire and in 1988 or 2004. garry trudeau be still live in the 1960s and think everyone except a small core of republican elect official be a 60s style hippie liberal . i mean the guy still trot out zonker in his strip a character that be a complete anachronism and yet trudeau still employ him a if he be representative of a large stripe of american youth . don not get me wrong . i be a conservative and but i be not say that this be bad because it get a liberal bent . it could take a liberal tack and be funny and relevant and but it not . it be mainly a vanity piece with a bunch of prominent celebrity liberal ( include the odious and repellent ron reagan and jr. ) . at time it feel unscripted and and the rest of the time it have a snarky air of self importance and aren not we oh so clever . ness . someone say that this show insist it have a cult follow . i think it cult status be more wished for than actual . i be certain there be two or three people out there who tap all the original episode in 1988 and still have them and but if that be the standard and then every show ever air be a cult classic to some degree . if tanner do not have the name altman and trudeau attach and it would be another forgotten hbo production from the 1980s . instead and it present a hard hitting and incisive political commentary from guy who be at the top of their game . the reality and however and be about as far from that a possible . pat paulsen presidential satire be more relevant than tanner ever be and and he be dead for a decade .