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VEEP

HBO's White House resident is back, better than before.

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America should really flip a coin. Would they be better off with House of Cards‘ Frank Underwood as their President or VEEP‘s Selina Meyers? The devil incarnate or a smiling, vacuous assassin? Because it’s pretty clear they’re not getting West Wing‘s Jed Bartlett back.

Thankfully both Presidents can run amok purely within the 16:9 limitations of a plasma screen. America’s First Female President (at least according to the universe of VEEP) begins her term in Season 4.

VEEP is a comedy that has improved with each subsequent season as Julia Louis-Dreyfus puts more distance between former projects, The New Adventures of Old Christine and the iconic Seinfeld.

In the series return she faces the historic moment of addressing Congress, given a standing ovation and rapturous hand-shaking as she makes her way to the podium. A gushing Meyers, shakes them all with lots of “Oh it’s you!” references to disguise the fact she can’t remember any of their names. “Am I talking? It’s hard for me to hear me!”

But as the autocue fails at a crucial moment in her inaugural speech, we flashback to 24 hours earlier and her haphazard team trying to assemble the speech.

Her team, comprising Chief of Staff Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky), Deputy Director of Communications Dan Egan (Reid Scott), Director of Communications Mike McLintock (Matt Walsh) and ex-Presidential Chief of Staff Ben Cafferty (Kevin Dunn) stumble through agreed paragraphs and struggle for inspired ideas.

“What do we do…Google it, like a best man’s speech?”

While the newly-installed President is juggling spending cuts and a way to fund her new family benefits program, there’s trouble in Greece and 3 hikers go missing.

“I’m the President, see? Everything’s my fault now,” she retorts.

Despite rumours of Hugh Laurie as her new vice-president, it falls to Phil Reeves, playing Senator Andrew Doyle. He looks unnervingly like Ross Perot. Yet despite having been neutered in the same office, Meyers now looks to freeze him out of the Oval Office’s power meetings.

“I wouldn’t want him to have the shitty experience I had,” she says, dismissively.

Also stuck in the new vice-president’s office is White House Liaison Jonah Ryan (Timothy C. Simons) who is subjected to sexual harrassment by the vice-president’s Chief of Staff played by Patton Oswalt.

Tony Hale returns as presidential aide Gary Walsh, fretting over Meyer’s appearance and floral centrepieces. Also appearing are Sue Wilson, Gary Cole and Diedrich Bader.

Not unlike Yes, Minister and UK forerunner The Thick of It (also by writer Armando Iannuci), the comedy lays in the powerful being seemingly inept. Call it satire, comedy of manners or mockumentary -whatever you prefer, there are plenty of amusing lines.

– “The Joint Chiefs are on their way. We should hear their big clanking balls any second and then all the paintings will fall off the walls.

– “I know you’ve been on the Warpath… I think it’s your favourite path.”

– “How big is $50B? Get it in here in $5 bills. I’m gonna climb it and see if I get frostbite.”

– “I gotta go save the world.”

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, no doubt inspired by Sarah Palin (or it that Tina Fey as Sarah Palin?), is pitch perfect as a White House show pony. Her ability to deliver clangers while smiling vacuously and then turning on those within earshot is scary to behold.

Anna Chlumsky and Matt Walsh are two other stand-outs amongst a fine supporting cast who barrel through deadpan lines and play the drama for sincerity.

By the time we return to the failed autocue to see how Meyers will rescue her address to Congress, it’s doubtful whether she will outlast America’s shortest-serving President, William Henry Harrison.

Only in America.

VEEP returns 4:30pm (7pm primetime) Monday on Showcase.

3 Responses

  1. @labonce – the article doesn’t suggest it is???

    On the topic of VEEP – Bring it on. Finally some decent TV in a landscape of MKR and Blockothons.

    I wish more Aussies were watching this, rather than the likes of the Big Bang Theory or the new Odd Couple

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