Skip to main content

Review: "Veep" Some New Beginnings

Review: "Veep" Some New Beginnings





"Veep" just keeps getting better. The third season, which premiered April 6 on HBO, features Vice President Selina Meyer running a campaign for President. The campaign plot provides many opportunities for more hilarity."Some New Beginnings" is the perfect example of how good "Veep" can be when its firing on all cylinders.


Julia Louis-Dreyfus is looking at her third Emmy for her role as Selina. Her interacting with the people at the signings is what "Veep" does best. It's very smart and clever. The rest of the cast is at Mike's (Matt Walsh) wedding. The bits at the wedding are cute and fun, and a nice change if pace from the insincere nature of the show.

Other standouts of the cast are Emmy winner Tony Hale, who is as funny as ever, as Gary, my personal favorite character. Anna Chulmsky is hilariously uptight  as Amy, Reid Scott shines as Dan, Walsh and Sufe Bradshaw are perfect in their roles. But it's Kevin Dunn as the President's chief of staff that gives me the most hope that this is going to be the best season of "Veep" yet.

The dialogue is fast and full of details, so multiple viewings of every episode are more than necessary. And most of the time that isn't a problem because "Veep" episodes tend to be better the second or third time around. The jokes are as smart as ever, the cast is as humorous as ever, Selina is as despicable as ever. "Veep" is as good as it will most likely ever be. I wouldn't be surprised if "Veep" wins the Emmy this year. Not surprised at all.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

"My Mind Turns Your Life Into Folklore": Why Taylor Swift's "Gold Rush" Is a Song About Songwriting

"My mind turns your life into folklore." That line, from the song "Gold Rush," is the only time the word "folklore" is spoken on either of Taylor Swift's 2020 records, Folklore and Evermore , the latter of which is where the song appears. The presence of the line indicates that "Gold Rush" is a pivotal song not only in Swift's lockdown duology, but in her maturation as a songwriter.  Swift's early albums often drew heavily from her own experiences, with fans and the media scouring her lyrics for clues as to which ex-boyfriend her numerous breakup songs referred. Her tumultuous dating life made as many headlines as her music, in part because it informed so much of the music. The discourse was often ridiculous and reductive, and thankfully, that period of her career is over (Swift has been in a relationship with the actor Joe Alwyn since 2016).  Both of her 2020 albums have their fair share of autobiographical songs, but they also see

The Ten Best Movies and TV Shows of 2021

  No explanations. No apologies. These are the lists and they ARE definitive.  Top Ten Films 10. The Last Duel (Scott) 9. Halloween Kills (Green) 8. No Sudden Move (Soderbergh) 7. Cry Macho (Eastwood) 6. West Side Story (Spielberg)  5. The Dig (Stone) 4. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (Greenbaum) 3. CODA (Heder) 2. Bergman Island (Hansen-Løve) 1. The Lost Daughter (Gyllenhaal) Top Ten Television Shows 10. Invasion (AppleTV+) 9. Evil (Paramount+) 8. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (Bravo) 7. Ghosts (CBS) 6. Maid (Netflix) 5. It's a Sin (Channel 4 in the UK, HBO Max in the US) 4. Couples Therapy (Showtime) 3. Succession (HBO) 2. Mare of Easttown (HBO) 1. The North Water (BBC Two in the UK, AMC+ in the US)

Paramount+ Review and Breakdown

  Paramount+, the rebranded CBS All Access streaming service from ViacomCBS, launched today. It got me thinking about this photograph. Are you familiar with it?  If you aren't, perhaps you're wondering why Tom Cruise is standing next to Charlton Heston who is standing next to Penny Marshall who is standing to Bob Hope who is standing next to Victor Mature who is standing next to *squints* Elizabeth McGovern who is standing next to Robert De Niro. The whole photo is full of weird combinations like that - Shelley Long next to Jimmy Stewart, Molly Ringwald next to Dorothy Lamour, Gregory Peck next to Debra Winger. This photograph was taken in celebration of Paramount's 75th anniversary in 1987. But you're forgiven if you didn't guess that, because who looks at all these people and thinks immediately that what they all have in common was working for Paramount at one point? Certainly not I.  And therein lies the problem with Paramount+'s marketing strategy. Paramoun