Storylines were often manipulated by Shandling to create more favorable outcomes or simply to speed the story along. One episode ended years later, for example. Another allowed Shandling to tell the audience that time had passed in order to console an angry neighbor whose wall he had damaged; by the time the scene transitioned, the workmen had already fixed the wall. On America's presidential election night in 1988, Showtime presented a live episode wherein Shandling brought in "Soul Train" host Don Cornelius to incorrectly announce that Michael Dukakis had soundly defeated George H. W. Bush.