‘Running’ Review: RightNetwork Political Reality Show an Addictive, Heartfelt Winner

Big Hollywood ^ | 9/15/2010 | Darin Milller

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Last year, documentary director Karen Price, daughter of Rep. David Price (D-N.C.), chronicled the 2006 Democrat house takeover in a revealing film called “HouseQuake.” While the documentary followed a handful of Democrat nominees as they ran for Congress, it focused more on the tactics of then-House campaign strategist Rahm Emanuel. It’s a solid documentary, but the film is really less of a story and more of a campaign study guide. As the New York Times said of the film last year, “For Republicans, it may be a lesson in how they can do to Mr. Emanuel what he did to them.” Well, whether Republicans have learned from the Democrats in 2006 (and whether they even needed to, given today’s political climate), newcomer media company RightNetwork has. Beginning this month, RightNetwork is airing “Running,” an original series (available on demand) following eight candidates in their 2010 race for Congress.

Where “HouseQuake” was more the educational tool, “Running” is the thriller, complete with the political suspense – and sometimes the political shenanigans – that Americans know and “love.” The pilot episode focuses on two California Republican challengers: Former stand-up comic Ari David, running for Henry Waxman’s 30th District seat; and successful small-businessman John Dennis, gunning for the seat of Nancy Pelosi herself. While “HouseQuake” played on viewers’ knowledge, boosting excitement through rally scenes and media coverage, “Running” gives the gritty – sometimes boring – details of campaign life, even before the primaries are decided. But these details are anything but boring in the expert hands of the “Running” production crew. In the pilot, the RNC has yet to step in, since it as of then doesn’t know who Republicans want to back.