I only watched the first episode of this series, but I feel there's no reason to believe the show would get any better.
The basic premise is an ex-U.S. president regrets his actions in office and decides to rectify all the awful choices that make him a historically terrible president. (Graves seems to be mainly based on GW Bush, who certainly ranks as one of the worst presidents.)
First off, this is a very silly fantasy premise. Politicians are huge egotists, and they really feel qualified to make all these decisions. Certainly some presidents have looked back at some of their decisions with regret, but I suspect most of them would insist that at the time of those decisions it was a sensible option. I certainly don't think any president would do a 180 because pundits and historians were attacking him; after all, there would also be pundits and historians praising him - even Bush gets that.
But the first episode suggests the real problem with the series will be cowardice. Because the first thing Grave says he'll try and rectify is cutting funding for cancer research.
Is there any issue that is safer than saying, I'll do more for cancer research? As terrible as cancer is, it's very well funded and thus not struggling as much as a lot of other programs.
If this were a political satire, which it pretends to be, it would start off with something genuinely controversial. Voter-suppressive ID laws, immigration policies, abortion.
Perhaps the series is just warming up, but here's the thing; satire doesn't dip its toe in the water to check the temperature. It doesn't ease you in. Satire is cutting and savage and strikes out in all directions. Satire, in other words, is Veep. Graves is, well, not much of anything.
I wouldn't be as annoyed with the series cowardice if it just had the decency to be funny. But I didn't laugh once.
That being said, the acting is good, even if the characters are stock.
The basic premise is an ex-U.S. president regrets his actions in office and decides to rectify all the awful choices that make him a historically terrible president. (Graves seems to be mainly based on GW Bush, who certainly ranks as one of the worst presidents.)
First off, this is a very silly fantasy premise. Politicians are huge egotists, and they really feel qualified to make all these decisions. Certainly some presidents have looked back at some of their decisions with regret, but I suspect most of them would insist that at the time of those decisions it was a sensible option. I certainly don't think any president would do a 180 because pundits and historians were attacking him; after all, there would also be pundits and historians praising him - even Bush gets that.
But the first episode suggests the real problem with the series will be cowardice. Because the first thing Grave says he'll try and rectify is cutting funding for cancer research.
Is there any issue that is safer than saying, I'll do more for cancer research? As terrible as cancer is, it's very well funded and thus not struggling as much as a lot of other programs.
If this were a political satire, which it pretends to be, it would start off with something genuinely controversial. Voter-suppressive ID laws, immigration policies, abortion.
Perhaps the series is just warming up, but here's the thing; satire doesn't dip its toe in the water to check the temperature. It doesn't ease you in. Satire is cutting and savage and strikes out in all directions. Satire, in other words, is Veep. Graves is, well, not much of anything.
I wouldn't be as annoyed with the series cowardice if it just had the decency to be funny. But I didn't laugh once.
That being said, the acting is good, even if the characters are stock.