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VEEP Season 4: Selina Meyer is President, God help us all.
Zephyr_Fate
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Registered User regular
Veep is a new HBO comedy directed by Armando Ianucci, who is best known for his British political satire The Thick of It and its movie version, In the Loop. Ianucci is known for writing fast-paced, incredibly vulgar but also whip-smart comedy, and Veep is no exception.
Veep is set in the political office of vice-president Selina Meyers (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in the best post-Seinfeld show for any of its cast) and focuses on the absolute incompetence of people who work in Washington D.C. In many ways, it's like a mixture of The Office and Arrested Development with the sort of breakneck dialogue of Aaron Sorkin. It's also becoming infamous for having an absolutely gratuitous use of vulgarity (New Yorker counted 250 f-bombs in its first eight episodes).
I definitely enjoy the show a lot, way more than the other show it shares the timeslot with, Girls, and even though its characters are just as unlikable, the comedy is actually hilarious.
Characters:
Selina Meyers
Intelligent vice-president who then shoots herself in the foot during a speech in the pilot. Running for the presidency in Season 3.
Mike McClintock
Assistant to the Vice President and Director of Communications.
Gary Walsh
Selina's personal aide, and also Buster.
Amy Brookheimer
Chief of Staff, also starred in In The Loop.
Dan Egan
A know-it-all and legend in DC, who likes to think he's smarter than the rest of the room but can also simultaneously be a huge fuckup.
Jonah Ryan
From the White House, this complete dickhead loves to reiterate that he is, indeed, from the White House. Glad that it's intern season, still has not gotten any pussy.
Sue Wilson
Selina's secretary, best known for crafting superbly sarcastic remarks and reminding her that no, the President did not call.
Anyway, the first episode is viewable online on Youtube. Why should you watch it? It's vulgar, it's quick humor, and it's Elaine dropping F-bombs everywhere. Isn't that what you always wanted since the subway scene in Seinfeld?
WHAT THE FFFFFUCK, AMY?!
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Let's play Mario Kart or something...
is it incompetence?
The casting isn't fantastic either, particularly the lead. Dan and Amy are the exceptions to this. Maybe the rest will find their feet given some time?
I knew I liked it the second I saw the picture of the Veep giving the thumbs up sign in her office.
I should get a citizenship access code for when I'm overseas.
Love The Thick of It and In the Loop, liked all the previews I've seen. Excited for the show.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
I'm just glad to have Buster back in my TV
Wha? JLD is fantastic.
Then again, I'm not really sure how much of my enjoying this show depended on the novelty of seeing Elaine be vulgar on TV, and I'm not sure how a show that leans on that novelty will hold up over time.
I can totally get behind this, especially since there is plenty of room for the premise to take this to fun places.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
If you follow AVClub's TV reviews, they're pleased with where the show's going as they've seen the first three eps. So it's only up from here.
Neither episode was bad. I'll keep watching. But I discovered The Thick of It a month ago and watched the whole series in a weekend, so I have both shows fresh in my mind. And Veep doesn't even come close to a single episode of The Thick of It.
I'm just not sure the Vice President is as a role as ripe for comedy as the The Thick of It's ineffective minister.
IMDB says no. And he doesn't look anything like him. My brain is apparently crazy.
This is about how I feel. Except I'm even more lukewarm about the casting. And not just the casting, but the characters themselves. There just isn't anyone that stands out besides JLD, and that's only because I know her better than the rest. There's nobody who can hold a candle to the likes of Malcolm Tucker, that's for sure, and as much as I like JLD she ain't no Chris Langham, nor is she a Rebecca Front. Maybe I just have an easier time accepting those actors in that type of role.
Anyway, without someone like Malcolm around to really drive the characters the show feels like an extremely wordy American sitcom. Like the plots and situations are more important than the characters themselves. Maybe it will get better. It wasn't bad, so I'll definitely keep watching.
It did remind me that series 4 of The Thick of It is finally on the horizon.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
Also
"He's got a brother in Rage Against the Machine"
"That's an Acronym for National Aeronautic..."
"The Rev.... He's a Baker" "Christ is Risen"
I absolutely fucking need to see all of The Thick of It but it doesn't seem to be available in the states at all.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
"Dan, why don't you look after Catherine while we attend to this urgent policy matter?"
"Dan, you've never met Catherine have you? Catherine, this is Dan, he works in yo' momma's office!"
"So why don't you tell Dan about the.... umm... the.... ermmmm"
"Experimental theatre course?"
My favorite moment. Look at Dan's reaction, haha. I love this show.
Sure it doesn't have the bite of The Thick of It, mainly because it doesn't have a Malcolm Tucker. But it's still great, and really funny. The thing that made TToI so good was that literally nothing the MPs did in that mattered. The entire Christmas special was two hours of blood and thunder with absolutely no change at the end. That's where the humor came from, because it was insignificant people doing insignificant things and being really worried about it.
In America, you can't really approach it like that. Politicians in the US have far more personal power and prestige than in the UK, so it wouldn't work. That's why they had to go with the Vice President, because it is one of the least influential positions in the US government. They had to repeat that same feeling of insigificance, which is why Selina's almost catchphrase is 'Did the President call? No? No.' The humor in Veep comes from that, that feeling of complete incompetence and pointlessness. It totally works I think.
There's certainly less anger than TToI, less swearing and less rage. But it also has a much better flow and a better ensemble cast. Jonah from the White House is another great character, who is sorta a hideous lovechild of Ben Swain and The Fucker.
Dan and Amy are rock solid, Buster is Buster and the rest of the staff have found their place. The lead still isn't working for me at all though.