Veep: The Complete Fourth Season

Vice President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is deep in the primary campaign—running for her party's nomination—when the President resigns over a scandal and she is instantly elevated to the Oval Office in the fourth season of this HBO comedy centering on political dysfunction and cynical bureaucratic calculation in the White House. Of course, her staff competes for prime positions, leading to the same kind of mistakes and embarrassments that have plagued her B-team collection of functionaries throughout the series. This time, a few are even sacrificed when gaffs become scandals and Amy (Anna Chlumsky) and Dan (Reid Scott) end up parlaying their political contacts into lobbyist jobs. Hugh Laurie joins the show as Selina's running mate, a veteran politician and born campaigner whose easy manner with both the public and the media makes her almost pathologically jealous. Veep is a snarky show that is the polar opposite of Aaron Sorkin's more serious series such as The West Wing and The Newsroom, serving up a comedy of petty personalities, political waste, ineffectual leadership, and public relations opportunism triumphing over government action that is presented with an often nasty sense of humor and snappy wit. Diedrich Bader and Patton Oswalt are guest stars for this season, which ends on a cliffhanger. Compiling all 10 episodes from the multi-Emmy-winning 2015 fourth season, extras include deleted scenes. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)