Pssst, want to check out Veep in our new look?
Information
- Year
- 2012
- Runtime
- 28 min.
- Director
- -
- Genre
- Comedy
- Rating *
- 8.2
- Votes *
- 29,110
- Checks
- 539
- Favs
- 61
- Dislikes
- 6
- Favs/checks
- 11.3% (1:9)
- Favs/dislikes
- 10:1
Top comments
-
Siskoid
Season 1: Those responsible for The Thick of It try their hand at American politics in the same basic style with Veep, which stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the Vice-President of the United States, a position that, like the ministerial appointment in The Thick of It, holds very little power. Let the absurdity of the system be revealed! To its credit, Veep doesn't try to recapture its older cousin precisely. There's a Malcolm Tucker figure, but he wields none of the fear, for example. And the show looks much slicker despite a similar documentary feel. That makes it its own thing, with its own unique characters, and they're FUNNY. (Don't worry, even if there's no Malcolm, there's plenty of imaginative cursing.) I'm hooked and already have Season 2 in hand.
Season 2: With its second season, Veep came into its own, getting further away from its roots in The Thick of It. The British version of this show is about an ineffectual system breeding ineffectual people. I would say Veep is about a very effective politician, continually hamstrung by an ineffectual president, administration and staff. Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Selina Meyer gets a more important role in policy-making this season, tackling hostage rescues and government shutdowns, among other things, but she gets screwed by politics and the media, so her victories tend to be Pyrrhic at best. And because we're dealing with more serious subject matter, the show gives itself permission to be more dramatic as well, and some realities hit the VP quite hard. She never does go to the United Nations like the DVD cover suggests, but I'd love to see it.
Season 3: With season 3, Veep keeps itself fresh by putting Selina Meyer in the race to become the next president, ground rife for comedy. And even within those parameters, the show isn't content to let things stagnate, and there are lots of twists and turns. One of the characters that most benefits from these upheavals in the status quo is former White House insider Jonah Ryan (Timothy Simmons) who struggles to find his place in Washington's hierarchy. Is he a fringe blogger? A stooge for Selina's opposition? A pawn in a bigger game? He goes from pain the ass to secondary protagonist this season. The American version of The Thick of It continues to pull away from the British original because after all, it's a different political system and climate (there's even an episode when Selina goes to the U.K. to create that contrast, I suppose you could call it Veep's In the Loop). And it's all for the good.
Season 4: In Veep's fourth season, Selina has become president, but with only a few months to work with, must run for a full term. And being the first female president isn't the only way the show's reality will "make history". The writers have gone out of their way to torture this woman with every bit of constitutional research available. Of course, she's a not a GOOD president. No one on this show is good at their jobs (by which I may mean good at ethically doing their jobs, depending). And therein lies the satire. Unafraid to give the characters new roles and functions, Veep remains as fresh as it was when it premiered, and the setting simultaneously keeps it from being a mere shadow of its UK equivalent, The Thick of It. 6 years 8 months ago -
