Did you watch The Thick Of It? It occurred to me that if people had seen that beforehand they might think this was... well... different, apart from anything else. Of course, ANY show would miss a fella like Malcolm Tucker but I'm not sure it's possible to reproduce the sheer ferocious 'energy' of the character in something new. As much as anything because everyone will be expecting it so it's not a shock in quite the way he was when he first appeared on our screens. Maybe it's suffering from 'sequel-itis' in that sense? The thing is TTOI wasn't a 'laugh-a-minute' comedy either. It was more of a slow-burn kind of thing, much like 'The Office' in many respects where the comedy comes more from the developing situations and the characters involved. Still, early days and it looks promising as you say.
Yeah I watched TTOI, and ITL. And I like that they've tried to make a fundamentally different show. I think I was probably more comparing it to something like The West Wing in terms of energy. For some reason it's hard to imagine the top echelons of US government where everyone meanders about like they're in Yes Minister. I expect people running and yelling into mobile phones.
I was expecting to be let down, to be honest, just because Thick of It is so damn good. But I was happily surprised. And I think the lack of urgency is very intentional: It's the V.P. So every thing is on the verge of meaninglessness. Which is kinda funny. But JLD was hilarious, full stop. Her little freak out about the condolence card (again, totally meaningless) was just plain funny.
I didn't think it was as strong as Ep.1, but I'm still looking forward to this season. The two high points for me were: "..and I heard you talked about soup." I don't know why, but that killed me. That and the reporter's exchange with the woman in the wheelchair. "Don't patronize m--"/"You got it..."
Watched Ep 3... OK! Now THAT was funny Particularly liked the back and forth with the oil lobby guy on the task force and her interaction, (aka, conflict), with her daughter.
This show cracks me up every single week. JLD really is the best comedic actress of the last 25 years.
Did I hear Dan's character call the Senator's widow a WILF? I think I did. And the daughter saying "It's always all about you, Mom," in the room with all the giant posters of the Veep was pretty damn funny.
Particularly when she's desperately arguing the point. Not entirely convincing, was she. And yes, you did!
V.P. Selina Meyer: Fighting Obesity. Please watch both, in order. That's Emmy stuff right there (although I don't think viral videos are eligible -- New Category!).
I caught up last night. Something is missing. I can't quite place it, but it's lacking a bit of... something. I enjoyed and of course I'm all in, but I was watching it and trying to think about what was missing the entire time. Perhaps I just don't like Baltimore.
Had to wait until Saturday to watch this. First, I laughed my ass off at number 2 (yes, watch them in order). Second, the amount of...I dunno...acting stuff JLD crams into both of those clips just blew me away.
I'm not sure how many episodes the upcoming season of The Thick of It will have, but it just occurred to me that Veep will likely have more episodes no later than a third season.
The UK one will be 7 episodes according to wikipedia. It was supposed to start filming in March this year.
So in just over two seasons (and only two years!), Veep will pass it? There are advantages of using source material and a room of writers.
Most of the writing is by the same people as TTOI. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_thick_of_it#Writing There always were quite few writers but I think a significant part of it comes from the cast as well during recording, the same as the UK show. Hey, if it works