Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

So many bastards, so little time.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

This fight is for everything.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Medium Cool – West Wing / VEEP Shenanigans In Search of a November Victory

Medium Cool – West Wing / VEEP Shenanigans In Search of a November Victory

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This fundraiser for WisDems (Wisconsin Dems) starts at 8 pm blog time, 7 pm central and it looks to be a good time.

The casts of West Wing and VEEP are coming together for this, but I have never seen VEEP so I hope that most of it doesn’t go right over my head.  I suppose the opposite could be true, but who hasn’t seen West Wing?

So what do we need to know about these shows if we haven’t seen them, in order to get at least half the jokes?

Here’s the link to RSVP and donate to get your “ticket”.

Or maybe you’re not up for this fundraiser but you’d still like to help?

I am hearing that the Wisconsin candidates are in good shape money-wise, but that in Wisconsin in particular, it’s all about turnout.  WisDems can definitely help with that, so here’s the thermometer.

 

Reader Interactions

94Comments

  2. 2.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Donated a week or more ago, whenever I first saw the announcement.

    Like you, WG, I was a West Wing fanatic, but somehow never did watch VEEP. If I like what I see tonight, perhaps I’ll search out DVDs or a streaming service so I can watch the entire thing.

    I do remember seeing some kind of sketch with JLD and then-VP Biden. As I remember, it was pretty entertaining. Can’t recall the occasion — perhaps a long-ago WHCD or something.

  4. 4.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne: here it is, from 2014, the opening image is jackal-bait

    The premise of Veep is that JLD plays Vice President Selena Meyer, an underused and very ambitious and foul-mouthed running-mate to a never-seen POTUS. I think it’s hilarious, but I have a dark, cynical and foul-mouthed sense of humor. The creator is Armando Iannucci, who did  Death of Stalin, and Veep is kind of the American version of The Thick of It.

  6. 6.

    Steeplejack

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    You can stream Veep on HBO Max and Spectrum on Demand. Purchase it (digital) from Amazon, Apple TV and some other sources.

    The sketch with Biden was sort of a Veep tie-in, with Louis-Dreyfus getting tips from the real VP.

  11. 11.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I’ve never seen either of these shows, believe it or not.  I have seen Borgen though, and loved it so much that I don’t really have any interest in any other political shows because I doubt they would ever be anywhere near so good.

  13. 13.

    frosty

    WaterGirl@top;@Siubhan Duinne: I’ve never seen West Wing and don’t care to, but VEEP was hilarious! An exquisite level of cursing and some really clever writing too.

  15. 15.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne:  @Edmund Dantes: that’s what I meant, a lot of people don’t like comedy about purely cynical people with few to no redeeming qualities ETA: Veep makes Seinfeld look like Ted Lasso in the regard.. I would exempt Gary and to some degree Amy, and poor Mike.

    ETA: Gah! How could I forget Richard Splett!

    @WaterGirl: Oh no, no spoilers but Vice President Meyer doesn’t run anything. The POTUS she works for never appears, but he’s talked about, kinda like Vera in Cheers. A lot of the comedy comes from her desperate fight to be, to borrow another Iannucci title, In the Loop, a thinly veiled look at how we (the US and the UK) blundered our way into Iraq.

  16. 16.

    UncleEbeneezer

    My impression of West Wing (built almost entirely from the scorn that I’ve read by Lemieux and others at LG&M) is that it presents a ridiculously naive Mr. Smith Goes To Washington-esque version of US politics where Presidents can be Great Men and move mountains by giving fiery speeches on their magical, Bully Pulpit.  As such, it sounds like something I have no interest in.

  19. 19.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Anyone else already signed in? I recommend doing it now. Some people had trouble getting in when they did the table read of the The Princess Bride a couple of years ago.

  20. 20.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @UncleEbeneezer: Yup, as I forget who pointed out (maybe somebody here) that people who were always clamoring for Obama to give one of those Sorkinesque speeches neglected the fact that Sorkin always wrote the responses. I never watched it because I find both Rob Lowe and Martin Sheen off-putting

  22. 22.

    eclare

    Raises hand, I’ve never seen West Wing, and I’ve only seen one episode of Veep.  But I know a lot of people love the shows, so I hope they raise a ton of money!

  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: As long as we are waiting, are there any WI house races that are close where $$ might make a difference?

    Alan at Voces said the executive races and the senate race have plenty of funds, so those are going to come down to turnout.

    So I’m wondering about House races.

  33. 33.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Just got an email from Josh Shapiro– teh West Wing Cast is doing a fundraiser for him next week

  34. 34.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Omnes Omnibus: I probably wouldn’t like either then.  I have very little tolerance for earnestness outside of Sex Education and Great Brittish Bakeoff.  I turned The Good Place off almost immediately and have a hard time not rolling my eyes back into my skull with Ted Lasso (except for the dark/serious episodes which are great).

  35. 35.

    Gin & Tonic

    but who hasn’t seen West Wing?

    [Raises hand.]

    I may have seen a few brief snippets of it here and there, but that’s about it. I have seen zero minutes of the other show.

  38. 38.

    CaseyL

    I’m on the link, but things haven’t started yet.  (Of course: has any political event ever started on time? Ever?)

    @WaterGirl:  Dem candidate for PA Governor, running against the godawful Mastrioanni.

  41. 41.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    The comments are scrolling by so fast it’s almost impossible to read them. But I think I saw a few “we will be starting shortly” messages!

     

    ETA: Hahaha, when I went back I caught one comment that said “I love foreplay, but let’s go!”

  44. 44.

    zhena gogolia

    @Gin & Tonic: I watched the very first episode of The West Wing. That was enough, not my thing. Never saw Veep but I liked death of Stalin and his show with Peter Capaldi

  47. 47.

    CaseyL

    I watched West Wing while it aired.  It wasn’t as happy-nice as the LGM crew seems to think.

    Maybe in the first season, when Martin Sheen was stealing the show from Rob Lowe – the show was written for Lowe, and he was supposed to be the main character.  That lasted maybe one season.

    I loved it.  It did have a more hopeful than not view of American politics, but there were controversies, and the Good Guys didn’t always win (and weren’t always Good).

    The characters were amazing.  I mean, jeez: Allison Janney as Press Secretary C J Gregg; John Spencer as CoS Leo McGarry; Bradey Whitford as Asst CoS Josh Lyman…

    The writing was, of course, whipsnap smart and funny.

  52. 52.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @WaterGirl: It was ’99-2006, which explains it, for me.  That was a time when I really wasn’t watching much scripted tv.  I’ve still never seen The Sopranos.

  55. 55.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    It’s quarter to three
    There’s no one in the place
    Except you and me
    So, set ’em up, Joe
    I got a little story you oughta know

    We’re drinkin’, my friend
    To the end of a brief episode
    Make it one for my baby
    And one more for the road

    Mr. Met’s season on the brink of ending not with a bang, but with a whimper

  57. 57.

    frosty

    @WaterGirl: ​
     See Uncle Ebeneezer at #16. That was the impression I got; “this is how all the good stuff would happen if liberals ran the show”

  61. 61.

    frosty

    @Alison Rose 💙🌻💛: ​
     My favorite moment: Selena is at the Iowa State Fair and meets a local woman with many (10?) kids:

    Selena: Are those all yours?
    Woman: Yes, they are.
    Selena: That’s a busy little beaver.

  63. 63.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @frosty: I think it was in ’18 or ’20 the Veep cast did a Jonah-insult-off on one of these. Timothy Simons (sp?) was a very good sport about it

  79. 79.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @billcinsd: Borgen is superb.  And underscores the truth that having multiple parties instead of two, doesn’t magically erase the fact that a non-trivial % of voters in any/every country, are Fascists.

  80. 80.

    SiubhanDuinne

    People are offering like THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS if CJ does “The Jackal.” Such a great routine; I hope she does, even if she needs the words in front of her.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Love the woman candidate drinking a beer who says “My opponent is a Mean Girl.” LOL, and good on ya, lady.

  88. 88.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Ivan X:

    I couldn’t bear West Wing. I loved Veep.

    I’m not gonna say “You are dead to me” or anything like that, but I really am wondering if the two shows appeal to completely polar opposites. Is there anyone who watched and loved both shows?

  89. 89.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’m more intrigued by WW than I’ve been in a while at this point. I may dip into it during the coming long nights

    I do like a lot of the actors

  90. 90.

    eclare

    @SiubhanDuinne:   I don’t know what the issue was with West Wing, I also don’t remember any of my female friends (all D, vote every chance) ever mentioning it.  We got together every Sunday to watch Sex and the City, that is the show I remember most from that time.  Well, and the occasional Sopranos get together.

    I watched the first episode of Veep, because I loved JLD in Seinfeld, but it just didn’t catch my fancy.

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