Veep: The Complete Series Blu-ray review
Oct 20, 2024- Permalink
In a release perfectly timed during the US presidential election, Warner Brothers Discovery Home Entertainment has released Veep: The Complete Series on Blu-ray. The HBO political satire, which earned 17 Emmy wins and 59 nominations over its seven season run, follows politician Selina Meyer as she first becomes Vice President and eventually President. Though there are big issues to deal with, a lot of the time she and her team are bogged down in the day-to-day minutiae of governing and the horse-trading required to get anything done in Washington. That team includes her chief of staff Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky), director of communications Mike McLintock (Matt Walsh), deputy director of communications Dan Egan (Reid Scott), personal aide Gary Walsh (Tony Hale), and personal secretary Sue Wilson (Sufe Bradshaw). As the seasons progress, we also get to know the White House Chief of Staff Ben Cafferty (Kevin Dunn), political strategist Kent Davison (Gary Cole) and White House liaison and later Congressman Jonah Ryan (Timothy Simons). Though the individual episodes have previously been released on Blu-ray, this is the first time they have been released as a complete series Blu-ray set. I had a chance to take an early look. The WB likes disclaimers, so here goes: Though Warner Brothers provided me with a copy of this release to review, the thoughts and opinions below are mine.
The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The video presentation is crisp and detailed but the colour palette is purposefully muted. Some might dream that Washington might be all pomp and bright red, white and blue, but this is an office comedy. Some of the issues might be huge, but it boils down to “can we squeeze another meeting in at 3:15?”, “what food should be at the press conference?”, and “is this memo worded right?” all while trying to corral the votes they need to get things done and cement relationships to get ahead.
On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack as well as French DTS 5.1 and Spanish DTS 2.0 tracks. Subtitles are available in all seasons for English SDH, French and Spanish, while seasons 1-4 also include subtitles for Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish. The soundscape is front-heavy, with the surrounds and subwoofer getting light and occasional work for ambient sounds. Dialogue is clear and prioritized in the mix.
The Veep: The Complete Series Blu-ray spreads the series’ 65 episodes over 13 discs. The set does not come with a digital code. Extras are spread across the seasons and include multiple commentaries, a large number of deleted scenes and outtakes, and production featurettes. This is all legacy content from the previous Blu-ray releases and there is no new content for this complete series release.
Veep: The Complete Series Blu-ray combines great acting and writing with a solid audio and video presentation as well as a nice amount of extras. Recommended.