# VEEP: New HBO series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809 "2012-04-24T15:25:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/41 "2012-05-25T15:49:09Z")
Haven’t been back to this thread because we’re four eps behind at this point due to travel. Catching up this week. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/42 "2012-05-25T18:10:24Z")
I think Selena should have voted “Aye.” What’s the President going to do? Fire her? Plus she can always retort that she was kept out of the loop so she didn’t know the President didn’t want the bill. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/43 "2012-05-25T19:49:42Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I think Selena should have voted “Aye.” What’s the President going to do? Fire her? Plus she can always retort that she was kept out of the loop so she didn’t know the President didn’t want the bill. The VP’s power comes entirely from the President. All the VP can do is make promises on behalf of the President. Meaning that if everyone knows the President dislikes the VP, the VP is powerless. The tie breaker vote in the Senate is pretty much the only power the VP has that doesn’t come from the President. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/44 "2012-05-25T20:20:57Z")
And, in a previous episode, she was worried about being dropped in favor of another VP candidate in the next election, so she’s got some motivation to keep the president happy. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/45 "2012-05-25T20:35:06Z")
She really should have voted yes. But she’s such a suck-up. She _wants_ the president to like her. She wants the First Lady to like her. Though I don’t understand how she’s been in government for, what was it-- 20 years?-- and is so inept at playing the game. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/46 "2012-05-25T23:20:46Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > The tie breaker vote in the Senate is pretty much the only power the VP has that doesn’t come from the President. Well, that and protecting the space-time continuum. Read the Constitution. ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/47 "2012-05-28T21:27:41Z")
This show is great. I don’t think it’s particularly partisan. It’s more a statement about the cynicism, egocentricity, and ineptness of politicians, especially those in Washington DC. I bet a lot of people who are inside the political system are cringing at the show’s realism. The show is not laugh-out-loud funny, but more like Larry David’s CYE-type funny. In last night’s episode I particularly liked the Veep’s ignorance of baseball (“You don’t have multiple starting pitchers. There’s one pitcher’s mound.”) and the side discussion on a 1D vs. 5D camera by the wormy photographer and the aide. My kind of humor. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/48 "2012-05-28T21:50:47Z")
Regarding the ending of this most recent episode: I’ve read that the onset of menopause, despite Selena’s repeated claims that she wasn’t going through it, can indeed cause false-positives on pregnancy tests, so I figure we’ll get treated to lots of awkwardness relating to the unnecessary back-dated engagement and pending marriage that neither she nor what’s-his-name really want. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/49 "2012-05-29T00:42:25Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > what’s-his-name Ted. Played by Andy Buckley (David Wallace on _The Office_) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/50 "2012-05-29T00:47:44Z")
We’re finally caught up. Holy shit, this show is hysterically funny at times. That whole bit about the croissant and dildo had us both in tears. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/51 "2012-06-05T02:45:48Z")
“Full Disclosure” was brilliant – the suicide pact falling apart was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/52 "2012-06-05T13:34:40Z")
I especially liked the way Selina dealt with it; it didn’t faze her in the slightest. It’s good to see that she is pretty adept at handling some things (not including break-ups). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/53 "2012-06-07T13:08:02Z")
I was about to give up on the series when I saw it just has one more episode left this season. I like it OK, but probably not enough to come back for the second season. IMHO it’s just not as funny as it has the potential to be, and the “humor of awkwardness” has never been my thing. > [@I'm Not Dennis Bergkamp](#): > > I especially liked the way Selina dealt with it; it didn’t faze her in the slightest. It’s good to see that she is pretty adept at handling some things (not including break-ups). Yes, I thought that too. It was the most competent we’ve seen her all season. Favorite lines: “My guitar is an instrument of seduction, not crowd control… although, granted, there are times when it’s both.” “You’re networking with an eight-year-old?” Nice touch: Her much-put-upon personal assistant is the only staffer whose initial reaction to the news of her pregancy is happiness for her. But they dropped the pregnancy storyline like a hot potato, didn’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/54 "2012-06-07T13:40:07Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > But they dropped the pregnancy storyline like a hot potato, didn’t they? If they hadn’t have, it would have taken over the whole show. It’s would no longer be a comedy about the vice president in the context of regular Washington politics. It would be a comedy about the _pregnant_ veep who had to get into a shotgun marriage. It would have closed a lot of comedic opportunities and plots. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/55 "2012-06-07T16:07:30Z")
She really should have fired the older guy (I don’t know his name or what his job is, except to fuck up royally at every single thing he’s supposed to do). I also didn’t understand why the two guys were being so obsequious to Amy during her take-the-fall interview. I also want to add the Julia Louise-Dreyfus is excellent in this. The montage of her looking pained in the episode before this one was the best still-frame acting ever. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/56 "2012-06-07T16:29:04Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I also didn’t understand why the two guys were being so obsequious to Amy during her take-the-fall interview. They were being extra nice, like to a woman that you knew had recently suffered a miscarriage. It was performance for the reporter. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/57 "2012-06-07T16:48:16Z")
Ah, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/58 "2012-06-07T17:10:35Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > If they hadn’t have, it would have taken over the whole show. It’s would no longer be a comedy about the vice president in the context of regular Washington politics. It would be a comedy about the _pregnant_ veep who had to get into a shotgun marriage. It would have closed a lot of comedic opportunities and plots. But opened others, I think. Ah, well. Another nice bit: the personal assistant showing he can pull anything (“Scented or unscented?”) out of his bag for the Veep without even looking. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/59 "2012-06-07T17:11:29Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > They were being extra nice, like to a woman that you knew had recently suffered a miscarriage. It was performance for the reporter. Should have gotten her a dickcake. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809/60 "2012-06-10T17:55:01Z")
I heard an interview on N.P.R. with Armando Iannucci and it made me curious about his prior work. In particular, it was noted that Anna Chlumsky’s character was based on her role in _In the Loop_, so I looked it up on Netflix. It was freaking fantastic, especially Peter Capaldi’s Malcolm Tucker. Freaking fantastic. I loved his foul-mouthed Scottish bully, and his mini-me, played by Paul Higgins. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-new-hbo-series/619809.md?page=4)