VEEP (review)

CREATED BY: Armando Iannucci
SEASON: 1
STARRING: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tony Hale, Anna Chlumsky, Matt Walsh, Reid Scott, Timothy Simons, Sufe Bradshaw
GENRE: Comedy/Political Satire
RATING: M

VEEP follows Vice President Selina Meyer (aka the ‘veep’) as she and her staff members navigate the slippery slope of government and politics.

The opening titles set up the back story of the show nicely and succinctly so you get a sense of Meyer’s journey to the Vice Presidency before any scenes start.

VEEP delivers as a comedy show although less so as a drama. All the characters are humorous in their own way although Gary (Tony Hale) is a clear stand out with such well delivered spoken and physical comedy. VEEP is mainly episodic in format and suffered from a lack of a strong seasonal arc. Although there are continued references to suggest arcs, it failed in that it had no credible impact on the day to day occurrences of Meyer and her team.

What works about VEEP are the characters and their relationships with each other. They bicker, they love each other, they hate each other, they have enemies, they have romantic history - it’s just a bit of a mess but it works so well.

Although VEEP has such a strong female lead in Julia Louis-Dreyfus it was slightly disheartening to find only one other recurring female lead - Anna Chlumsky’s Amy. Honourable mention to Sufe Bradshaw as receptionist Sue but she plays as more a token character than a member of the main cast. However they are all wonderful actresses and have an interesting friendship on screen. 

Although obviously a cynical take on government and politics, as opposed to the optimism of The West Wing, one of the flaws of VEEP is that most of the characters are just a little too mean. Whilst this is not a defining character trait of any of the main cast, they are all, bar Gary, subject to going a little over board – nasty comebacks, offensive nicknaming, excessive swearing and treating others harshly. Some may enjoy this as part of VEEP's political satire but it put me off.

VEEP is a show that gets better as it goes along. The best episodes were Baseball and Full Disclosure, episodes 6 and 7 of the eight part series.

Right from the first episode there are some recurring jokes set up. See if you can spot them.

VEEP is enjoyable, easy to watch, easy to understand and fun. I'm looking forward to watching the next few seasons.

My rating: 3 out of 5

Until next time.