The political comedy VEEP that has had a good run on HBO has just released the DVD of their 6th season. Mostly tongue-in-cheek comedy the series involves the ins and outs of modern government from the viewpoint of a strong willed, dominant first lady who has tasted the Presidency of the United States for 6 months and has eluded her since. It’s a lot of fun and sort of takes the edge off the political rhetoric of today.
During last season Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who rose to the ranks of Vice President, was totally entrenched in government. Later in Season 5 she became President when the sitting President resigned from office. After holding the highest position in government for months the term of office runs out leading to her running for the highest office in the land. She loses to Laura Montez in a difficult “technicality” battle.
In season six we find Selina as the ex-President/Vice President and still getting involved in US politics. During the course of the 6th season she announces that she will be running for President opening up the door for a lot of campaigning, mostly under the table. Not accepting the situation she’s in Selina forges ahead with her plans raising money and getting important people to back her.
If you haven’t seen previous seasons Selina is divorced with one daughter Catherine Meyer (Sarah Sutherland) who is technically married to Marjorie Palmiotti (Clea DuVall) who heads up the Meyer Fund. Her former Chief of Staff, Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky), is now running the political campaign of her fiancée Buddy Calhoun (Matt Oberg) for Governor of Navada. Richard Splett (Sam Richardson) is helping as an assistant to Selina and Gary Walsh (Tony Hale) is still hanging on as Selina’s personal assistant.
The wacky episodes can be pretentious at times and even reminiscent of recent elections. But, it’s all in fun as they trash government, politics and even each other’s lives. I like Julia Louis-Dreyfus in this role as she has that certain wit about her that’s pretentious, but not offensive.
CAUTION: This Trailer for VEEP contains language and sexual innuendos.
VEEP has been rated TV-MA by the television rating bureau and contains language and sexual situations. The DVD has a bonus of seven audio commentaries featuring Julia Lous-Dreyfus, Tony Hale, Reid Scott, Matt Walsh, Timothy Simons, David Mandel and others.
FINAL ANALYSIS: If you would like to get a brain full of political comedy, this will do it. (2 out of 5 stars)
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tony Hale, Reid Scott, Matt Walsh, Timothy Simons, Sam Richardson, Sarah Sutherland, and Clea DuVall. Created by: Armando Iannucci. TV Rating: TV-MA. Genre: Comedy. Running Time: 285 min. Video Release Date: September 12, 2017. Original TV HBO Series Release Date: April 16 through June 25, 2017. Language: English (changeable to French or Latin America Spanish). Reviewed Format: DVD (Also available on Blyu-ray). Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1. Video: 16×9, Aspect Ratio 1.78:1. Subtitles: English SDH, French, Latin America Spanish. Number of Discs: 2 Discs + Digital Download Code. Distributed by: HBO Home Entertainment
