I finally watched this last night and was pleasantly surprised. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss is a comedic actor of the first order and they’ve surrounded her with an outstanding cast and some crisp writing. I don’t know how long they can keep up the premise, but it should be a good first season.
I really enjoyed it, but worry that it will devolve into a Palin-bash fest. Not that bashing Sarah Palin isn’t hilarious or ripe for parody, but I can see it getting stale. But the “what would she be able to talk about if you took oil/plastics completely off the table” speech was hilarious.
Also, I can’t believe that Anna Chlumsky is back!
I really enjoyed it. Of course, I’m a big fan already of creator Armando Iannucci’s other show, The Thick Of It, and it’s related movie, In the Loop. Veep, whether intentional or not, fits right into the continuity of those two, so if you like it, you should check them out.
We thought it was a pretty funny episode as well. Tivo has it Season Pass listed. I already want several of the characters dead, so that speaks to its authenticity! 
I’ll give it a chance. A couple of chuckles in the first episode, and I see the potential. Julia needs to take her character a little more over the top. It’s only the first episode, but it had a sort of Larry Sanders feel to it.
Dryfus has stated that they are going to make this VP as unpolitical as possible. You will never know what party she’s in nor will you ever meet or see the president. So far she seem far to smart to be Palin. She’s insecure, clumsy and surrounded by idiots-- sort of the exact opposite of Palin.
Also, Anna grew into her nose, didn’t she?
We watched - I think SO wasn’t all that impressed, but I thought it was OK. Didn’t really laugh out loud, but thought it was mildly humorous so far. Have it on DVR list and will catch a few more to see how this progresses.
I did like that the cornstarch utensils sort of didn’t work all that swell when combined with heat and water. A minor flaw…Julia’s face was priceless when she pulled the spoon out of her coffee.
It’s tempting to think of JLD’s character as Palin, but I don’t think that’s the intent. Judging solely by the first episode, it seems more like a commentary on the irrelevance of the VP position than a knock on the VP herself, who seems pretty bright, although with a Larry David-esque penchant for getting into awkward situations.
I wasn’t at all interested in Veep until I heard he was behind it. I’m definitely going to take a look now when I get a chance.
The only moment where Palin even crossed my mind was where JLD was pausing to decide whether or not to wear glasses. I don’t get the feeling that’s the direction they’re headed.
The writing seems pretty sharp. Hope they can keep it up.
The only way the show would be about Palin is if JLD quits halfway through the first season.
Ha!
I’m going to have to watch it again, as the one-liners were coming so fast I couldn’t catch them all. The assistant doing the Frankenstein trying to write bit was hysterical.
Palin was done so well and so often by Fey that it would be a bad move to try to one-up her. In any case, I think Dennis got it right: I don’t think that’s what they’re going for. It’s more about how the VP gets to deal with issues the Pres doesn’t want to have to deal with and convince herself that they’re actually important; worse, she has to convince Congress-critters they’re important and deal with all the egos besides.
Hehe.
I thought it was fucking hysterical.
Where’s Malcolm Tucker?
I heard that at one stage Oliver Platt was going to take the role–which absolutely could have worked, imagine this, plus swearing, minus the good nature–but from the wikipedia it seems that was for a different pilot.
Malcolm Tucker is to *The Thick of It *and In The Loop, what Al Swearengen is to Deadwood.
As a fan who has, multiple times, watched his The West Wing complete series DVD set from start to finish, the thought that kept coming to mind for me was:
“They’re not walking fast enough!”
I actually thought it was short on laughs, but I could recognize the ingredients of a really great series so I will continue to watch with high hopes.
Also, I’m a huge Upright Citizens Brigade fan, so I’m happy to see Matt Walsh.
The writing was there. The actors are there. But the timing was just off. I chalk it up to being the first episode and they’re still trying to find their feet. I think there’s a lot of potential for this series.
I’ve only seen a few minutes of the show (so far), but I would be baffled how anyone could think this was based on Palin. Almost to the point where I’d think it was sexist*. Not only would JLD be competing with Tina Fey, Palin’s 15 minutes are long since used up (her response to the Gifford’s shooting was pretty much the last nail in the coffin).
*Obviously no one here seems to be leaning this way
The writing is funny enough that I’ll keep watching.
Nothing else has hooked me yet. The characters are stock, and the “no real politics” approach is probably smart but also…totally boring.
JLD’s character is an odd duck. She seems a little too…competant to be such a bumbling heel. Hopefully they find the right balance.
When I watched the first episode, I feel like the show was originally conceived as a Palin-inspired “fish out of water” bumbling idiot comedy. At some point, either they realized that was trite or realized they couldn’t get anybody interesting to play that, and they retooled it. But not really INTO anything.
Because the premise isn’t “what if the VP was a woman,” it’s closer to “what if the VP was a total fuck-up?”
Yes, I realize we have a proud history of dumb / useless VPs, but I also think a whole lot of people will always wonder, “what the heck would Palin-as-VP have LOOKED like?”
I’m not too fond of cringe humour, so I had to zip through the awkward speech. I have to admit the show would be more watchable, for me anyway, if JLD gets the occasional triumph showing that she is indeed smart and competent, if beset by pesky bad luck.