The new season of Veep premiered tonight (overshadowed by Game of Thrones, as always), and it was surprisingly good, given that the original show creator has departed. Usually, that presages a sharp decline in quality (see Community and West Wing), but in this case I wouldn’t have known anything had changed.
Lots of funny lines as always. Two questions:
(1) If there’s a tie in the house of representatives, then the vice president elect becomes the president? But how can there be a vice president elect? Why would it be Hugh Laurie instead of the other guy’s running mate? Does anyone know how it actually works?
(2) Does anyone remember what crime Bill Erickson committed? Was he her campaign manager for a while last season? I frankly don’t remember who he is at all. Thanks!
It was a pretty good season premiere. I guess the whole season will be about the outcome, with the Nevada count and then the House and Senate votes.
As I understand the 12th amendment, if the electoral college is tied, then the House chooses the President and the Senate chooses the Veep. If the House vote is tied (each state’s congress people vote as a bloc so each state gets one vote), then the Veep chosen by the Senate becomes President. Similar to Presidential Succession. If the Senate is *also *tied (DC doesn’t get a vote) then the Speaker of the House becomes President. Again, Succession.
In the shows case vs reality, it’s a little unlikely that Selena would have had such a close election as we’re told the Dems made some big gains in Congress.
Bill Erickson was involved in the illegal use of names and information related to the Family Act (?), and with everyone questioned pointing fingers, he was the one eventually thrown under the bus.
It doesn’t have to a tie; anytime no candidate fails to win a majority of votes in the Electoral College the election get’s kicked to Congress. It’s been almost 50 years since a 3rd party candidate got any electoral votes; let alone denied a candidate a majority (that was in 1824). Also while the Senate his limited to the top 2 VP candidates the House get’s to pick from the top 3 presidential candidates.
Well I guess they really are going to have Selena demoted to serving as Tom’s VP; it’s be really anticlimactic if they just had the House keep voting until it elects a President. Also Catherine’s a *terrible *documentary filmmaker; good think she’s rich.
And now Selina isn’t even going to be Vice-President anymore. So is next season going to have a whole new cast, or what? Or flash forward 4 years and she’s somehow managed to get an a presidential ticket? Or are they just going to pull a Bobby Ewing?
Yes. I always imagined the series finale would have Selina having a meltdown on national TV (or to really go dark ordering an unwarranted nuclear strike).
They’ve written themselves into such a hole that this should have been the series finale. Just end it with the question that Dr. House asked and leave it at that.
Unless he plans to keep her around as a sex slave of sorts so he can keep privately humiliating her (in followup to their earlier “I fucked you!” “No, I fucked YOU!” conversation, that ended in them fucking each other), I find it a tad implausible that he’d want her as Veep, but I guess I could tolerate it as long as the level of comedy remains consistent.
He’s certainly under no obligation to choose her as Veep, as far as I know.
There was a definite awkward moment when Laauuuuura, was quizzed by Selina regarding her birthplace and background.
Did I read too much into that? it seemed to pass off as Selina having yet another bitchy moment but it wasn’t definitively put to bed.
The next series could switch sides quite easily. Armando Iannucci did switch focus to the other political flavour in “the thick of it”
The current plan is to keep flowing Selina Myers in retirement, though that can change.
Myers was digging at the new presidents background because the new president panders heavily her Latina roots, which are about as deep as Elizabeth Warren’s native American roots.
It certainly had a series finale feel to it. Hard telling where they go from here. There’s really no excuse to reassemble her staff, which I thought was the strength of the show.
Selina’s point seemed to be that Laura played up her Hispanic ethnicity but she was born and raised in Indiana (as I remember) and was basically a white American woman.
So is next season going to have a whole new cast, or what? Or flash forward 4 years and she’s somehow managed to get an a presidential ticket? Or are they just going to pull a Bobby Ewing?