The original post: /r/television by /u/BeepBeepGoJeep on 2024-06-10 06:28:40.
Just to be clear, I love all three shows but this seems to be where I’ve settled with them on its accuracy.
The West Wing had too many plot lines on thorny political knife fights that were miraculously solved by the oratory skills of its President Bartlett. Characters like Josh and Sam were walking encyclopedias who could rattle off projections from the OMB and tell you the names of every staffer on the Hill. The writers seemed to think the solution to every problem was the power of Great Men who rise to the occasion.
House of Cards portrays DC as if it’s filled with Machiavellian strategists who have an almost animalistic lust for power and money at the expense of their own souls. Frank Underwood, his wife, Doug and several others are willing to lie, cheat, steal and kill their way to satiate their own ambitions.
Veep, while a comedy, seems to understand that while politicians (and those who work for them) are ambitious, they’re also human and have all the petty grievances and brain farts that come with it. No one really knows what they’re doing and Selina seems both wholly unqualified and consistently failing upward.
Let me know what you think about these shows and how they relate to each other.