Friday, February 28, 2014

Veep (Season One)

Creator: Armando Ianucci
Cast:      Julia Louis-Drefyus, Anna Chlumsky, Tony Hale, Reid Scott, Matt Walsh, Timothy Simons

Julia Louis-Drefyus stars as Selina Meyer, the Vice President of United states, in this HBO series which kind of depicts what it would be like to have someone like Sarah Palin being just a heart beat away from becoming the most powerful person on Earth. It is not an imitation of Sarah Palin, like 'Game Change' was, but takes inspiration from the possibility of someone with that level of intelligence being in such a position.

The obvious comparison is to be made with Armando Ianucci's BBC series 'The Thick Of It', which is apparently my favorite comedy television series of all time. Veep is also shot in a similar way and concentrates largely on Vice President's office whereas in the BBC one it was the fictional office of  DOSAC. Almost all the main characters like Malcolm Tucker, Ollie, Glenn, The Minister have a counterpart in Veep but their importance to the show is different at least in the first season. Whereas the Spin Doctor Malcolm Tucker was at the center of the show in Thick Of It, it is the Veep in  Veep. This is one reason why show is not as good and the inner competition between her immediate staff is not as intense or as cringy as it was in the British one. Also the quotability is less. It is still a very good show and is miles better than most of what comes out as comedy from American TV.

Rating: 3.5/5

No comments:

Post a Comment