MARK RUSSELL'S '88 (TV)
Summary
One in this series of comedy/musical specials featuring political satirist Mark Russell. In this program, culled from segments of the "Mark Russell Comedy Special" which aired in 1988, Russell entertains an audience-in-the-round at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Buffalo, NY with irreverent song parodies and barbed monologues inspired by current events. Topics of satire include the following: the sex scandals involving televangelists Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker; Gen. Manuel Noriega, the CIA, and the Medellin drug cartel; the Iran-Contra affair; "CBS Evening News" anchor Dan Rather; the circus atmosphere of the presidential election campaign; the New Hampshire and Iowa primaries; the turmoil in the Democratic Party; the contrasting foreign policies of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan; the evident tensions between Nancy Reagan and Raisa Gorbachev at the summit conference in Moscow; the promises made by candidates at the Democratic Convention; Republican vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle's behavior during the Republican convention; the absurd video footage of Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis riding around in a tank; and the ability of Republican nominee George Bush to fill the White House vacancy. Russell concludes the program with a mock tribute to the eight-year presidency of Ronald Reagan.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WNED-TV
- DATE: December 31, 1988 11:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:28:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:34259
- GENRE: Comedy; Music
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; Parody; Political satire; U S - Elections - 1988
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1975-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Tony Buttino … Executive Producer
- Wiley F. Hance … Producer
- Gary V. Reinbolt … Director
- Mark Russell … Performer
- Jim Bakker
- George Bush
- Michael S. Dukakis
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- Raisa Gorbachev
- Jesse Jackson
- Edward I. Koch
- Manuel Noriega
- Quayle, J. Danforth "Dan"
- Dan Rather
- Ronald Reagan
- Nancy Reagan
- Jimmy Swaggart