Behind the scenes with aides behind candidates

There are no islands, roses or boardrooms in this reality show. Instead, it is the pure adrenaline of politicking that powers the TV series “Staffers.”

The Discovery Times Channel’s half-hour peek behind the curtain of a presidential campaign follows fresh-faced political interns and assistants to various candidates through the early morning plane rides, late nights in hotels and hastily gobbled fast food meals that are staples of life on the trail. The program, closer to a fast-paced documentary than the competitive win, lose or eat-live-millipedes reality schlock in prime-time, will air its third episode, about Democratic candidate John Kerry’s staff, tonight at 9.

“Staffers” typifies the media trendlet that bubbles up every four years -- the proliferation of hip political fare skewed to news-averse twentysomethings. MTV correspondent Gideon Yago tossed mostly softballs to Kerry in last Tuesday’s “Choose or Lose” special that trailed the Massachusetts senator and highlighted his military service as OutKast thumped in the background. Showtime will debut “American Candidate” this summer, a reality program produced by documentarian R.J. Cutler and “Austin Powers” director Jay Roach, which will whittle 12 ambitious contestants down to one would-be politician.

“Would it be possible to actually make a show that has all of the charm and wit and pathos of real TV, but would be meaningful and you could actually learn something about politics?” said director Steve Rosenbaum. “ ‘Staffers’ was kind of the embodiment of that idea, to make politics user-friendly.”

The first episode, which opens with a rockin’ guitar riff, follows Sandra Abrevaya, 24, as she drives into Des Moines to toil, unpaid, as a press aide for Howard Dean’s campaign; Amad Jackson, 26, as he temporarily shelves his acting career to shuttle Gen. Wesley Clark in and out of appearances as his “bodyguy”; and Chris Lavery, 29, the beleaguered deputy political director to Sen. Joe Lieberman.

The staccato editing and testimonials spoken directly into the camera are reminiscent of MTV’s “The Real World,” but the similarities stop there. Instead of petty infighting and volatile romances, “Staffers” is infused with idealism. “I’m not a Mother Teresa at all, but I am the kind of person that feels like if they’re not doing something that affects others, I’m not doing anything,” Abrevaya says in Episode 1.

“I just really felt myself wanting to do something to affect the outcome of the next election,” Jackson, who lives in Franklin Hills, said in a telephone interview. Working for Clark’s campaign appealed to him because “it’s bigger than you; it’s bigger than acting. I had no idea really if I was going to get paid; it wasn’t really an issue.”

The show’s dramatic tension isn’t rooted in personality clashes among the key players, but springs from the unpredictability of election results and the attendant uncertainty of their professional futures.

Lavery glumly lugs Lieberman’s bags to a waiting airplane after the Connecticut senator’s disappointing fifth-place finish in New Hampshire. Abrevaya anxiously awaits primary results from her new deputy press post in South Carolina as the Dean campaign begins its downward spiral. Marvin Nicholson Jr., personal assistant to Sen. John Kerry, makes his ebullient entrance in Episode 2, and is prominent in Tuesday’s installment.

“The funny thing is, as the series goes on, figuratively some of the staffers are voted off the island by virtue of the fact that their candidate has dropped out of the race. It’s sort of the ultimate reality show, isn’t it?” said Vivian Schiller, a senior vice president and general manager of Discovery Times, a partnership between the Discovery Channel and the New York Times that is available on satellite and digital cable systems. The channel, which is not yet fully rated, reaches 33 million homes; its target audience is 25 to 54 and viewers are 66% male.

“Staffers’ ” first season’s six-episode run, culled from about 600 hours of footage shot from January to Super Tuesday (March 2), will focus on the who’s-up, who’s-down horse race of primary season.

That timetable could prove problematic for viewers of the program, which will be doled out every three weeks through June -- they already know how the story ends. But creators are banking on the show’s insider perspective to draw people in.

“On the nightly news you see bits and pieces from stump speech ... but we don’t see what happens when the cameras, or most of the cameras, get turned off, what’s out of the three-minute package,” Schiller said. “The really interesting thing is, regardless of what anybody’s view of the candidates are, the passion and dedication of these staffers is really tremendous. No one could really put up with what they put up with.”

You get an idea of what she’s talking about when Jackson agrees to rub Preparation H hemorrhoid medication under his eyes to test whether it’ll work to remove the bags under Clark’s, or how he fumes when prankster staffers have stolen his hotel bed as a joke after a long day on the trail. “You know, if I have kids, I think I’m a lot better prepared to deal with them,” Jackson said of his constant attention to Clark’s every need.

But in brief, 22-minute installments that track three or four individuals, “Staffers” mostly manages only to skim the red, white and blue surface of life on the trail.

It’s exhausting, it’s arduous, but viewers never quite learn why these people are willing to abuse themselves in the name of the electorate.

Glimpses of the candidates in unscripted moments are some of the program’s highlights. As Lieberman’s entourage scarfs down pizza at a campaign pit stop, Lavery tells his boss, “You can get as much as you want, it’s buffet.”

“What a country this is,” Lieberman responds, wife Hadassah munching beside him, “and I’m not even president yet.”

And that’s basically “Staffers” at its core -- a love letter to political participation.

“Work hard, play hard, stay up late, get up early. That’s the fuel of the democracy,” Rosenbaum said.