Customer Reviews

Veep - Complete HBO Season 1 [DVD]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays Senator Selina Meyer, newly appointed Vice President, who is trying desparately hard to make an impact on the US political stage. Constantly overlooked by a President who is never seen and never calls, she and her staff become embroiled in trivial Political manoeuvrings on the fringe of... nothing important!! Her staff are a mixed bag of wonderful characters, all with their own ambitions and agendas. The language is choice, but as you would expect in this type of environment (and from the writer of The Thick Of It). Whilst the political shennanigins resemble the UK version, it is still cutting, irreverant and intriguing. Timothy Simons as Jonah Ryan (from the White House) is fantastic and almost steals every show!
Fantastic and if you love political comedy, you will be enthralled.

This ought to be good. Armando Ianucci (OBE) is behind it. The style is that of 'The Thick of It' and 'In the Loop.' It stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and has a great cast. But it doesn't work. The creative vulgarities and aggression that were believable for backstage politics in the UK don't fit American politics. The Rumsfeld-like character of 'In the Loop' was believable, because his - largely profane-free - style of speech - chillingly polite and psychotically calm - was closer to the Washington reality. But Veep transfers too much of style and language of 'The Thick of It', which is very British. I just didn't believe these characters and so, sadly, it's not very funny.

Well at the time of writing this I have only seen a couple of episodes but I am definitely liking this show. Having not watched "The Thick of It" I can't compare the shows but i did laugh at the situations and the way the characters behaved with one another. I also was partially shocked by the amount of foul language but I did find it funny rather than inappropriate. Definitely a show I would buy on DVD and watch again. The cast are very good, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a brilliant actress. While not a fan of Seinfeld, I have seen her in various other things and always thought she was great. I love the fact that "Buster" from "Arrested Development (fantastic show) is also amongst the cast, as is "My Girl" herself, Anna Chulmsky (sp?)
I hear the show has already been picked up for a second season so I hope this has a decent run.

Selina Meyer is Vice-President of the USA in a new administration. She is attractive, looks good on television, and is able to connect with ordinary voters. That seems to be about the limit of her talents, although she doesn't recognise it. She is also finding what every Vice-President before her has found - that the job of the "Veep" is simply to be alive and available in case the President should die. Everything else is just trimming.

Like every Vice-President before her she tries to find some cause she can make her own, some role she can fill, something that will be useful and - most important - keep her in the public eye. Of course it doesn't work: if her schemes don't come apart on their own, the President will make sure they come apart or else (if they look good) he'll take them over and get the credit. He's not going to share power. Her situation is not helped by the way her staff - who show varying degrees of competence - spend as much time backstabbing each other and seeking new jobs as they do on their work, or by obvious fact that the President doesn't take her seriously (running gag - VP passing the PA asks "Did the President call?" The answer is always "no"). And then there's Jonah, the White House's minder, sorry, liaison with the VP's office. He makes no effort to hide the fact that he doesn't take her or them seriously, and the point is driven home as we gradually realise that the loathed Jonah, for all his self-aggrandisement, is in fact quite a low-ranking functionary.

"Veep" resulted from attempts to bring "The Thick of It" to American TV. Many British comedies have been similarly translated, some successfully, some not. It seems to have been decided that the British model of the arrogant and powerful behind-the-scenes staff telling the politicians what to do wouldn't work - surprisingly, as such figures are not unknown in the USA - or might take some of the shine off the iconic "West Wing". "Veep" is to "The West Wing" as "Scribs" is to "ER", which means it may be truer to life than its high-minded relation. Like "The West Wing" it can move with blink-and-you-lose-track speed, has sharp one-liners and some interesting characters - and it also has a rather worrying air of reality beneath the chaos. The level of profanity is over-the-top which is a pity as it'll put some viewers off, but that's really the only criticism I have of it.

If you liked the Thick of It or In the Loop you will seriously enjoy this show. Although no where near as aggressive as TTOI, the humour and language is still of a high quality. Although you can't really relate the characters to anyone who is actually office (unless it was an alternate universe where Sarah Palin actually was the Veep) it still manages to pull you in to it's universe. Well Done Armando... Well done HBO!

When I first heard that an American version of The Thick of It was being made, I had very mixed feelings. Popular sitcoms from one side of the Atlantic which are remade on the other have a pretty appalling track record - if you have a masochistic streak & a strong constitution for terrible TV, try searching on YouTube for 'Dad's Army US version'. But this one had three interesting names attached to it - Armando Iannucci, Julia Louis-Dreyfus & HBO.

I expected it to be just like the original but with American accents, so when I saw there was no American version of Malcolm, I was initially disappointed. But given the significant differences in the UK & USA's political systems, I see now that this simply would not have worked. Instead they have have exported the style of The Thick Of It & transplanted it to the Office Of The Vice President Of The United States. This ties in perfectly with TTOI's rationale since the role of veep is intrinsically absurd. While the job title of Vice President suggests a similar amount of responsibility to, say, the Deputy Prime Minister, apparently the veeps' entire role is to be ready to stand in if the President dies. And that's pretty much it - stood within reach of the seat of power, the VP has very little power of their own. They are generally given some work to do but it's mostly just to keep them busy. And while the President claims the credit for the VP's successes & the VP naturally gets the blame for their failures.

Veep's success owes a lot to Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She is simply superb at conveying the veeps' insincerity via a dazzling array of blatantly fake smiles. The supporting cast are all excellent to, including Anna Chlumsky of In the Loop fame. Being American, a couple of them are pathologically career focussed while others are cringingly sycophantic. Events occur at breakneck speed so it's difficult to keep track of at first but like TTOI, I found this meant that rewatching it is particularly rewarding.

This excellent series is different enough from the original to have its own identity, while retaining the stylistic elements which made The Thick Of It one of my all-time favourites. I hope it runs & runs.

Veep is definitely the best Louis-Dreyfus vehicle since Seinfeld, but that's not saying much.

She is perfectly cast as VP Selina Meyer, as is everybody else in the talented ensemble cast. The problem is the writing. Each episode crams two or three political (or occasionally personal) catastrophes into the less-than-30-minute slot, so there's practically non-stop angst and frenzy as they try to put out the fires. It gets tiring fast.

The catastrophes blow by so quickly that they are practically indistinguishable from one another, and every one gets resolved in some random way that never makes any more sense than the problem did. It's like slapstick without pratfalls and pies in the face. It's just frantic, meaningless running around, packed with non-stop texting and snide put-downs flying in every direction, but it's never funny at all.

Whatever entertainment value Veep has lies only in seeing gifted actors working well together at the speed of lightning; but the awful material they have to work with, and the frantic pace required to fit all that awful material into a half-hour show, make it hard - maybe impossible - to stay with for more than a few seemingly identical episodes.

I guess what I'm saying is that Veep (unlike Seinfeld) is just another frantic, mindless, infinitely repeating formulaic sitcom in the I Love Lucy line, but with snarky wisecracks instead of pies. It's disappointing that that tired formula still thrives in this century.

I'm surprised Veep was renewed for a second season, but I guess I shouldn't be. Maybe they'll hold on long enough to find better writers.

Veep is definitely the best Louis-Dreyfus vehicle since Seinfeld, but that's not saying much.

She is perfectly cast as VP Selina Meyer, as is everybody else in the talented ensemble cast. The problem is the writing. Each episode crams two or three political (or occasionally personal) catastrophes into the less-than-30-minute slot, so there's practically non-stop angst and frenzy as they try to put out the fires. It gets tiring fast.

The catastrophes blow by so quickly that they are practically indistinguishable from one another, and every one gets resolved in some random way that never makes any more sense than the problem did. It's like slapstick without pratfalls and pies in the face. It's just frantic, meaningless running around, packed with non-stop texting and snide put-downs flying in every direction, but it's never funny at all.

Whatever entertainment value Veep has lies only in seeing gifted actors working well together at the speed of lightning; but the awful material they have to work with, and the frantic pace required to fit all that awful material into a half-hour show, make it hard - maybe impossible - to stay with for more than a few seemingly identical episodes.

I guess what I'm saying is that Veep (unlike Seinfeld) is just another frantic, mindless, infinitely repeating formulaic sitcom in the I Love Lucy line, but with snarky wisecracks instead of pies. It's disappointing that that tired formula still thrives in this century.

I'm surprised Veep was renewed for a second season, but I guess I shouldn't be. Maybe they'll hold on long enough to find better writers.