A thread for Armando Iannucci's VEEP

it's an established plot point that splett wrote his doctorate on election recount procedures in the west: he demonstrates the knowledge in an episode. it's also not meant to be a joke that he has a veterinary science doctorate. the interesting thing with the splett character is that he is that qualified but is very happy to be the underling fetching things, but then also is comfortable with the mantle of power when it arrives

A favorite Splett line is: “I feel like that classic scene in Heat with Robert De Niro and Amy Brenneman.”

*like I’m in

it's an established plot point that splett wrote his doctorate on election recount procedures in the west: he demonstrates the knowledge in an episode. it's also not meant to be a joke that he has a veterinary science doctorate. the interesting thing with the splett character is that he is that qualified but is very happy to be the underling fetching things, but then also is comfortable with the mantle of power when it arrives

― findom haddie (jim in vancouver), Friday, June 14, 2019 11:09 AM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the joke is that those are two wildly different and wildly specific doctorates that seem useless, but because fortune favors the splett, they both came in handy

fortune favors the splett

Hah, yeah.

the thing about splett isn't that he's dumb or even incapable of processing things imo, it's that he's extremely straight-forward and guileless. that can sometimes mean that he doesn't notice (or does and chooses to ignore) devious underhanded behavior from the other characters which could be read as naive.

Although sometimes it becomes clear that he was clocking that behavior all along, but is still just happy to be there.

like he didn't rat out the entire bribery machinery bc he "forest gumped" his way into it i don't think - like dan tries to smooth it over when the reporter asks him but splett says "no this is a fair question" (or something like that). i think he's just really honest + a good person and in DC that scans as stupid but it shouldn't.

Him supporting Jonah was as odd a development as Amy's sudden heel turn, but I just went with it.

jonah is an old friend of his it didn't seem out of character to me at all

splett is a candide character; his intelligence/guile is mostly beside the point

Splett's intelligent but hilariously naive in a way that makes him more open-minded than every other character

it's referenced a few times about how his family was religious and somewhat controlling but it doesn't seem to have stuck. the entire artificial insemination subplot starts with him saying something about masturbation being a horrible sin and how his mother (maybe grandmother?) told him there'd be terrible consequences but when he's told it's actually fine he's on board as a sperm donor

then when the pregnancy actually happens he says something like "well, I guess I don't have to do that ever again"

"self-husbandry"

oh god, I forgot the moment where he has the epiphany that his aunt is actually his mother and has almost no reaction, in his trademark "oh, that makes sense" way

Jonah is an old friend, but to be naive even to the point of looking past his old friend's extreme racism, islamophobia, etc. etc, just because he is an old friend, transcends naive. Admittedly, in the service of comedy!

splett is a candide character

yes otm

then when the pregnancy actually happens he says something like "well, I guess I don't have to do that ever again"

goddammit I am NOT going to go back and watch the season and a half of American episodes that I dipped out on, and there is no Splettnet supercut for that year

someone should make a splett reel for the good of humanity

I watched season 1 when it came out but wasn't really into it, though now I've been catching up -- just started season 5, and whoo boy DOCTOR Splett is a thing!

The studious lack of partisanship is weird, though, for what I'd assume would be satire; instead the underlying message is more in line with "everyone is bad and/or self-serving."

which, in a way, is a much more honest take than a certain Sorkin show

Ok a Jonah/ Splett ticket would be one that I’d commit voter fraud for, I’m not even kidding.

Jonah immediately going off script to be belligerent and the entire wife/sister thing is so good

I'm still waiting for that one intern who was fired for the data breach to exact her pound of flesh.

Finished the sixth season. It's weird that as awful as Selina is, I still find myself rooting for her.

Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that this show's 2019 season is nominated in the 2019 ILX TV poll:

ILX's Best Television of 2019 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends January 31

If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (4 minimum, 25 maximum, organized by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail by end of day today. It'll take five minutes; get to it!

thinking about the final moments of this series in re: tom hanks

Lots of talk about Armando's second HBO sitcom, Avenue 5, over in the Silicon Valley thread.

Ave 5 definitely got funnier and more apparent in its satire as it went along - the first couple were dire - but never really took off, and absolutely never found a tone that supported what it's doing. The building of multiple incompetencies and frustration of the less-incompetent characters has a Thick Of It feel, but the vibe never escalates within the scenes. It's like they're letting the jokes breathe for audience laughter, but without a laugh track in the show, it just means they never get momentum.

idk i really liked it? it doesn't hold up to his previous shows (i'm watching thick of it again right now in fact) but i like that the setitng allows him to create some of the most absolutely fantastically horrifying moments he ever has, in a way that veep and thick of it can't. the extended airlock sequence had me rolling. josh gad is SO GOOD in this, which shocked me as i've never really given him a second look in anything else. laurie's rapidfire code switching is remarkable. and of course zach woods' weirdo nihilism. i could definitely do with fewer important passenger characters (the two husbands don't really accomplish much as characters, nor does jessica st clair's character, as much as she is a delight), but if this show kept descending further and further into absolute existential dread i'd be satisfied.

it's like standard ianucci + sex house + space

i really liked it. the airlock scene had me howling

also, is the pope's face in the shit actually trump? i think it is

https://www.reddit.com/r/Avenue5/comments/ff0u42/the_turd_face_is_trump_right/

It was obviously JP2 for me, but without watching it again I'm not sure I could find the reference pic.