A thread for Armando Iannucci's VEEP

im not suggesting their insult skills are plausible but the show's rationale for it seems to be that the culture of politics is one in which youre allowed to be egregiously offensive to your colleagues at all times and so it's basically just practice that makes them so good at it.

By my count there is only one character whose sole purpose is to be the butt of insults--Congressman Furlong's aide Matt

man today feels like the finale of this

the georgia episode this season it feels like they hit their stride again, after sort of establishing the pieces in play this season. so many great lines this ep.

I saw she was credited as a producer but didn't think any of the leftover British writers were still doing scripts this year? (Isn't it just her and Smith now?)

Minna is so incredible

I'm surprised in the era of reactionary thinkpieces this show isn't v controversial?

"It's actually my favorite joke ever!"

Minna is so incredible

otm !!

This episode was fantastic, probably because, with the exception of Dan and Amy, they got the band back together.

lol Minna is so funny. I thought that she was always secretly disdainful of Selina, but it's even funnier that she thinks that she and Selina are best of friends.

And she's so relentlessly upbeat even though her 'best friend' hates her and her son tried to drown himself in an ice hole.

"there are literally no laws in Georgia. and I'm using the term 'literally' correctly"

my favorite joke though was at the beginning when Selina won't take a picture with the guy and his daughter and he just says "I don't have a camera anyway."

oh, Georgia the country, not Georgia the Veep writer

lots of good individual jokes in this but also some really lazy stuff (like ^), that definitely feel like the product of longtime American sitcom pros making a show in LA vs amused foreigners making a show about and near DC. "in post-communist Georgia, election fix YOU!"

<3 Splett

Scab Calloway! lol

That finale did a hell of a lot of expository lifting. Can't wait for Jonah's campaign!

fantastically filthy season; lost a bit of heart but stayed funny. agree with you maura, curious to see the new reset universe.

great season yeah. felt totally resurrected after the s5 finale but ended up if anything deepening its world (while remaining just as funny as ever) - second half of the season in particular

the finale was a bit of a mess but i still like this show. yeah they are spinning the same wheels but it's still funny. Selina has always been a horrible person focused entirely on her own ego and the show has never shied away from this. weaker shows would have turned her into a cartoon villain by this point, glad that she's still believably horrible.

just finished the season. surely this is the funniest show currently on tv?

"He's not exactly on the yes-fly list"

Selina has always been a horrible person focused entirely on her own ego and the show has never shied away from this. weaker shows would have turned her into a cartoon villain by this point, glad that she's still believably horrible.

eheh, yeah. she's a terrible human being. yet somehow they manage to make her likeable... even to people who are not Gary Walsh !

Is the season worth watching, then? I enjoyed the first episode but general exhaustion (with the show and US politics in general) has kept me away.

yeah, it's good.

In regards to her horribleness they've been leaning way too hard into the terrible-mom thing but yeah otherwise they've kept it totally plausible

it's maybe the best season yet tbh and they're starting to do serious world building all over the place which has just been fantastic

the gary origin reveal was lol. actually all the flashbacks were amazing. they're talking about getting rid of mike like a decade ago already lol.

btw did i miss it how did they get the reporter onto the campaign team?

Was it to get the diary back?

I think part of the joke is he's just there after going in so hard earlier

finale was weird. Loved Margery's reaction to getting the wipe warmer. The terrible-mum thing is getting lazy though.

also he was replacing mike!

loved the finale but felt the rest of the series often missed the mark. hard to pin down but few bits felt hammy and cartoonlike, esp jonah in the early few episodes - far-fetched scene of him shaving his head in the mirror. this is the first season where armando's absence was notable, lost his light touch, went more sitcommy. no one else think this?

I thought it during the previous season. There are enough good jokes that I still enjoy it tho - I liked the reveal of the one senator's home life just as I'd been getting tired of his routine with his assistant (and I know a big part of the gag is how rote & stale this has become)

I thought the finale felt like an overlong in case you missed it for an episode we never saw... much preferred the run of episodes

Unlike many I wasn't that into a lot of the flashbacks but I did like the ellipses in the main storyline - I think it was a really well conceived & structured episode

Gary is bad tbh (character and performance) this is consistent

yeah gary this season didn't feel right. they really tried to play up the angle of him being in love with selina, where it was never really about that previously. some weird nod to his arrested development character maybe

plus i know it's always been a bombardment of gags but it felt muddled and almost exhausting at times, so much dialogue done so quickly, im sure i missed a shit ton of jokes.

I meant Gary was always bad - bad idea - they shouldn't have done it

we've all seen a Smithers before this was just terribly conceived and executed from the beginning

no way Gary is great dude was born to play sycophants

loved the finale but felt the rest of the series often missed the mark. hard to pin down but few bits felt hammy and cartoonlike, esp jonah in the early few episodes - far-fetched scene of him shaving his head in the mirror. this is the first season where armando's absence was notable, lost his light touch, went more sitcommy. no one else think this?

No, I tapped out 3 or 4 episodes in, because the tone of the LA version was this year so different to what I used to get out of the show – all the political satire was drained away, with nothing left but the characters abusing each other. Except without the abuse being motivated by them being either unpleasant or reasonable people with no reason to like each other, forced together by common goals (whether or not those clash with their own regard). And without it being written by the people who developed that style of abuse.

Was the finale really so worthwhile that I should bother checking back in for it?

I haven't seen any of the post-Iannucci material and nothing I've heard has tempted me

Well their goals this season were : the library and the memoir + mainly trying to find a job to rebound after the crash of the previous campaign.
That's a pretty good motivation imo ! I mean I can totally understand having to cope with assholes for a job...
As for Gary, his reaction was so great when Selina announced she wanted to run for president again at the beginning of the season.
other favorites were the running jokes : "it was a spa" and "daylight savings time".
As many people said already, the finale was lots of fun in a "previously" wtf way.

This series got wayyyy better after the first 3-4 episodes imo

the ep with the elections in georgia was great !

I keep re-checking for a Death Of Stalin release date, nothing yet. I think Iannucci is a complete dick, but there is no way this movie is not going to great.

I haven't seen anything to suggest AI is a dick (other than his characters' ornate insults)?

I think they did the best they could with a central character who was out of office and unemployed.

xp

on a recent post-election appearance on a BBC panel he came across like a right slimy Blairite apologist.

idk I think his constantly imploring his millions of 18-year-old followers to vote made a real difference to the election

I mean he does criticise Blair's legacy, but not near enough for my liking.