Veep: The Complete Second Season

Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as Selina Meyer, fictional vice president of the United States, in this satirical HBO comedy created by British writer-producer Armando Iannucci, who made his name stateside with the feature comedy In the Loop. Like Iannucci's U.K. productions, Veep finds its humor not in political issues but in the process: bureaucratic dysfunction, mistakes made by functionaries, public relations superseding government action, and the personalities and competing interests that trip over one another trying to get anything accomplished. The second season improves upon the first by reminding us that Meyer is, in fact, a savvy politician in a culture of powerbrokers, number-crunchers, PR flaks, sycophants, backstabbers, and a news media that will always rush for the shallow end of the pool. While her party melts down around her during midterm elections, and the (still unseen) POTUS cedes his decision-making power to a poll-watcher, Meyer rides out potential scandal and bad press by (often inadvertently or impulsively) sliding off-message and issuing statements that make her look decisive and honest—frequently in direct contradiction to the reality of the situation. Compiling all 10 episodes from 2013, extras include cast and crew episode commentaries, and deleted scenes. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)