VEEP: The Complete Sixth Season (Blu-ray Review)
Two seasons of VEEP on Blu-ray in the same calendar year? What kind of awesome time to be a fan of great, top notch comedy is this? Yes, it is coming back again next year, but they have announced the show will be ending its run in the seventh season. All good things must come to a close and VEEP seems to have found its natural time. And boy has it made its mark. For every year the show has been on the air, Julia Lous-Dreyfus has won herself an Emmy for her role as Vice President/President/Former President Selina Meyer. That’s an incredible streak and a record for such. Will she cap it all off with a seventh win? We’ll have to see, but you can see her most resent representation of winning talent when the sixth season arrives on Blu-ray from HBO on September 12th.
Season 
We find President Selina Meyer now out of office for the first time in years after her loss in a Senate vote to resolve an Electoral College tie last season. Forging ahead to secure her legacy and find her place in the world, while much of her staff pursues endeavors of their own, Season 6 finds Selina and her band of fellow misfits hilariously attempting to make their mark while navigating the political landscape in Washington and beyond.
Its hard to constantly write about the belly laughs I get from this show, the brilliant writing and the amazing performers (Seriously, an amazing chemistry with this cast). My apology is issued if year after year, and now twice this year, you hear me just gush over the show. But, it truly is REALLY that good! It has its place with Arrested Development, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Parks & Rec among others as one of the greatest comedies to ever hit the small screen.
The announcement for the show taking a curtain call after the seventh season probably came at the perfect time. Season sixth is top notch once again, but the narrative was showing signs of running out of gas. And with the setup of where the seventh season is headed, it just feels like its coming to its natural close or else is faces just repeating a lot of things and running through the motions again. Smart folks in television tend to see their endgame and know when the perfect time to bow out is. Without even a person going before camera yet for the seventh season, I can tell you VEEP has done just that.
Season six shakes things up following President Meyer’s lost election. This season is about many of them split off in different directions and slowly circling back together. They aren’t completely separated in this season, as they will brush by each other here and there. Quite possibly my favorite subplot involved Dan Egan (Hilariously referred to as “Danny Egan”) working as an anchor on CBS. Its quite possibly the peak for both the character and actor Reid Scott in the entire series run.
As anyone can probably guess, my favorite character on the show is Jonah Ryan (Probably yours too). In the sixth season Jonah is getting settled into his new role as a Congressman and recovering from his testicular cancer. He also has a relationship as only Jonah would and leads a government shut down being labeled a bad boy after creating a radical group called the “Jeffersons”. He never fails to disappoint and when it comes to awards for this show, Timothy Simons is probably the most overlooked player.
VEEP continues its surge of greatness in comedic television in season sixth, which is now the final turn before it goes on to take its victory lap. Julia Lous-Dreyfus’ Selina Meyer has likely passed Elaine Benes as the greatest character she’s ever played (Though, Selina has plenty of Elaine in her). The show is about to achieve seven rather perfect seasons. If you aren’t on the VEEP train, I hop you at least grab yourself a ticket sometime soon.
Episodes
Omaha
Library
Georgia
Justice
Chicklet
Oatar
Blurb
Judge
A Woman First
Groundbreaking
Video 
Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Layers: BD-50
Clarity/Detail: Video is clear and crisp, if not but a little bit soft. Detail is at a solid level, but for the most part is smooth. Wood grain on office furniture, carpet texture and surfaces of walls and such is nicely real looking with its detail.
Depth: The image does a decent job of being 3 dimensional enough to make for a good image. Smooth movements and a real feeling of space is felt.
Black Levels: A solid display of rich blacks. Not a lot of differences in shade, but most of this show takes place in well lit settings, so its not really a big deal.
Color Reproduction: Colors are bold and bright. Flashy clothing looks nice, and most of the “professional” attire looks lifelike. Some of Selina’s gowns and flashier clothing gives a nice pop to the image. Whites are pretty strong too.
Flesh Tones: Flesh tones are consistent. Plenty of detail is noticeable in close ups but is more smooth in appearance from medium and farther away shots.
Noise/Artifacts: Clean
Audio 
Audio Format(s): English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, French 5.1 DTS, Spanish 2.0 DTS
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Dynamics: I’ve said every season that the show really doesn’t need to go the extra mile and give us 5.1, as a 2.0 track is more than enough to effectively translate the show. Its a program rooting and dependent on conversation. However, the effects are all well handled and the underlooming score sounds very nice. Environments prove accurate for a 360 trip around the room. This gets the task at hand done very well.
Height: N/A
Low Frequency Extension: The subwoofer isn’t called upon constantly, or needed to be boom, but it does have effectiveness when necessary.
Surround Sound Presentation: This is a very front-heavy track, but the rear channels do provide voices and ambiance for good accuracy. Movements are done with a precise match to screen.
Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue is clear and crisp. At times it can sound very “mic’d up”, but that’s the nature of the show and part of the source.
Extras
VEEP: The Complete Sixth Season is a 2-Blu-ray Disc set the comes with an UltraViolet digital copy of each episode.
Disc 1
Audio Commentary
- EP.1 – With Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Executive Producer/Actress), Reid Scott (Actor), David Mandel (Executive Producer/Director, Lew Morton (Writer)
- EP.3 – With Matt Walsh (Actor), Timothy Simons (Actor), Sam Richardson (Actor), David Mandel (Executive Producer), Billy Kimball (Writer)
- EP.4 – With Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Executive Producer/Actress), Tony Hale (Actor), David Mandel (Executive Producer), Lew Morton (Executive Producer), Rachel Axler (Writer)
Disc 2
Audio Commentary
- EP.6 – With Reid Scott (Actor), Matt Walsh (Actor), David Mandel (Executive Producer), Lew Morton (Executive Producer), Steve Hely (Writer)
- EP.7 – With Matt Walsh (Actor), Timothy Simons (Actor), Clea DuVall (Actress), David Mandel (Executive Producer), Morgan Sackett (Director)
- EP.9 – With Timothy Simons (Actor), Sam Richardson (Actor), Clea DuVall (Actress), David Mandel (Executive Producer), Erik Kenward (Writer)
- Ep.10 – With Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Executive Producer/Actress), Timothy Simons (Actor), Sarah Sutherland (Actress), Clea DuVall (Actress), David Mandel (Executive Producer/Director/Writer)
Summary
More great stuff and tons of laughs in the sixth season of VEEP as it gears up for its final season. Said final season is a ways away, but you can start catching up now or just rewatching this hilarious triumph. This Blu-ray set is up to snuff with what’s come before, though the only extras are commentaries. Don’t count those out though, as they add some good extra depth and laughs to the show.
