Veep: The Complete Series - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Veep: The Complete Series



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
As a direct foil to the more serious drama that was The West Wing, we have the very polar opposite. An HBO comedy show starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the female Vice President (Veep) and her foibles and tribulations as the generally “useless” role of vice president. Back in 2012 before all of the political shenanigans, before all the Trump vs. Biden vs. Kamala debates, before MOST of the balkanization, it was a different time. And by that I don’t mean that politics wasn’t a dirty business, it always has been. It’s just that we seemed to be able to joke and lampoon our political leaders without getting ready to go to war with the other side. And that’s exactly where Veep sprung from. A semi satirical look at modern day politics mixed with goofy antics and bumbling idiots (to be fair, that DOES describe most politicians in real life).

Veep is really Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s landing on her feet after years of fumbling around post Seinfeld. Not to say that she hasn’t had a decent career after the iconic sitcom ended, but this feels RIGHT for her. Like she finally found her way home and got that second wind that everyone was hoping she would get. Created by Armando Iannucci Veep showcased all of the ins and outs of “current” faux vice president of the United States and trying to get out of the President’s shadow.

The Vice President just so happens to be a go getter by the name of Selina Meyer, who we see start out the show with a little TOO MUCH exuberance at hopefully taking over the oval office. The series follows Meyer and her staff around as they do the dance of trying to look useful in a job that has jokingly been considered nothing more than a figurehead position in politics (or more accurately, a back up in case the current president keels over or is incapacitated). Her crew is a bit of a misfit toys ensemble, complete with dorky communications director Mike McClintock (Matt Walsh, no not THAT Matt Walsh) who basically is just coasting along till his retirement. And on the other hand we have the Deputy Communications director Dan Egan (Reid Scott) who is the polar opposite of Mike. He’s young, full of zest and hope for the future, and of course we have Selina’s personal aid Gary (Tony Hale) who is a few fries short of a happy meal due to his tendency to work non stop and never sleep.

The show itself is almost a slice of life comedy, but set in a weird sort of The Office environment, but instead of a boring middle manager office, we have a political scenario. But to be fair, that’s ALMOST like a middle manager level office too. Lots of suits, boring people who don’t really know more than the people under them, directing said people under them with the full confidence of Mensa member billionaire. But I digress. As silly and trite as it sounds, Veep is a brilliantly done comedy show that plays off of fantastic chemistry between the cast, a constant rolling of side cast members, Julia Louis-Dreyfus playing the character she was meant to be (since she left Seinfeld).

Every episode ending leaves you wanting more, and the show runners utilize the “less is more” theory as they make a trim and clean 10 episode or less season run time. It’s not perfect, but it’s a dang FUNNY show, and one that has kept me laughing for the better part of the 7 year run (sadly I took a break around the season 5 finale and forgot to come back and finish the show until now). Warner has released the original 7 seasons on their own, but ever since the show ended back in 2019 we were HOPING for a complete series box set, and here it is finally (although with the caveat of that stupid case Warner is using recently).




Rating:

Rated TV-MA by the MPAA




Video:

AS this set is simply the 7 season discs already released put inside of a giant single clam shell case, you probably already know what to expect. The show is present on Blu-ray with a very solid looking 1.78:1 framed transfer in the AVC codec. Visually it’s like many of the HBO comedy shows, featuring neutral looking color grading with a slightly hazy “warmth” that follows the full 7 seasons. This is never going to be “knock your socks off awesome” quality, but the HBO discs have a strong bitrate and a very stable image quality over the course of all 7 seasons. Color saturation is very good, but never too explosive (except for some of those red outfits that Selina wears, for some reason red REALLY pops on this show when it comes out). All in all, this is a very nice video encode that may not reach the heights of some of the greats, but fits in very nicely with the typical “looks like a comedy” motif.







Audio:

Very much like the video encode, the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track found on all 13 discs is very stable, just without providing a lot of “wow” and “ahh” factor considering the fact that this is a dialog centric comedy. Nothing shocking there. That being said, everything is done quite well, with great dialog, strong presence in the mains during arguments, and a few instances where the surrounds really come into play (usually during a loud press briefing etc). Bass response is moderate considering the comedy routes, but even that is relegated mostly to the score. As I said above, a very solid comedy style track that does everything well enough without any major issues.








Extras:

Season One
• Audio Commentaries
• Deleted Scenes
• The Making of Veep
• Anti-Obesity PSA and Outtakes
• Governor Chung Retraction and Outtakes

Season Two
• Audio Commentaries
• Deleted Scenes

Season Three
• Audio Commentaries
• Deleted Scenes
• Governor's Visit

Season Four
• Deleted Scenes

Season Five
• Deleted Scenes
• Audio Commentaries

Season Six
• Audio Commentaries

Season Seven
• Audio Commentaries
• Inside the Final Season
• Character Retrospectives

Final Score: ​

Veep is arguably one of the funniest comedies to come out of the mid 2000s, filled with self deprecating political humor, satirical jabs at the White House in general, and a VERY talented group of comedians on a rotating roster much like the more serious West Wing did. I completely forgot that the show had ended and realized I had left on on season 5, so I spent the last week catching up on the final 2 seasons and remembering just why I had spent so much time watching this every week at a buddy’s house when he was going through a rough patch. It’s hard not to laugh at all the hijinks and little jabs at our political system, especially with it as in as much disarray as it is now. The show itself has a solid array of extras (though nothing TOO wild) and the only real “flaw” I can find in the set is that Warner is still using those frustrating “overlapping disc” giant DVD height clamshell cases for these “complete series” released the last few months. Great show, and a great watch if you haven’t picked up the seasons individually so far.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tony Hale, Anna Chlumsky, Reid Scott, Matt Walsh, Kevin Dunn, Gary Cole
Created by: Armando Iannucci
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French DTS 5.1, Spanish DTS 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish (Seasons 5-7 only has English SDH, French, Spanish)
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: TV-MA
Runtime: 1864 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: October 22nd, 2024

Recommendation: Good Watch