Static Thoughts - The Thin Blue Line

Tonight marks the return of one of the more eclectic and bizarre installments of our new “Golden Age” of Television: Brooklyn 99.  When Brooklyn 99 premiered a couple years ago it was quickly treated as the next thing in sitcoms and heralded by a lot of critics as something you needed to be watching to be in the know.  However, 3 years later the show holds a very different place in the television landscape as it’s struggled to define its identity as a lighthearted and non-serious cop comedy in the wake of growing concerns over police misconduct and brutality.  Maybe I’ll dedicate more time to Brooklyn 99’s metamorphosis in a future review but for right now, the show’s shift in focus rather than risk getting into more serious fair reminds me of a highly underrated British comedy starring Rowan Atkinson and David Haig entitled The Thin Blue Line. 

Static Thoughts - The Thick of It, In the Loop, & VEEP

A couple of weeks ago HBO’s VEEP concluded its 4^th season.  This marks the end of showrunner and creator Armando Iannucci’s phenomenal work on the series as season 5 will see the show enter a period of new leadership.  This also marks the conclusion to a 10 year cycle of Iannucci’s in the realm of televised political comedy.  Iannucci first entered this domain in 2005 with The Thick of It, a political comedy show that revolved around a minister in the fictional British cabinet position of Secretary for Social Affairs.  The show proved popular, lasting for 3 seasons and 2 specials from 2007-2009 when it spun off into a feature film called In the Loop. 

In the Loop marked the first shift over from Iannucci towards American politics in addition to the previous British focusing, revolving around the misadventures of Simon Foster, secretary for international development, who is caught up in pre-war fervor surrounding the launch of the Iraq War.  After a fourth season of The Thick of It co-produced through Hulu Iannucci made the full transition to American politics with HBO’s VEEP in 2012.  With VEEP’s conclusion now seems like a good time to examine Iannucci’s ultimate commentary on American politics compared to England.