April fools (and thrills) on HBO
T.S. Eliot once called April “the cruelest month,” but not so for HBO viewers, who can pencil in the eagerly awaited return of Game of Thrones (premiering here Monday, April 25), along with new seasons of Veep and Silicon Valley the same day.
What this means for TV gorgers is a shame-fest of viewing, an embarrassment of riches that should comfortably take us through to the end of this hot summer. (Phew!)
This month sees not only the return of the gang from Westeros, but two Emmy-winning comedies that specialize in cruelty — one set in the White House, the other in California’s high-tech world.
What we know about the return to Westeros is pretty much limited to a few released trailers. They hint that this season will shift its focus from the warring parties seeking power to the rise of the White Walkers and the fate of Bran Stark and his party — up wandering the northern parts with (we hear) “new powers.” And of course there’s still the fate of Jon Snow to clarify, for those millions of GOT fans nibbling their cuticles. (Come on, already — you don’t really expect them to kill off Jon Snow, do you?)
Indeed, the trailers have set fans ablaze (that “Hall of Faces” teaser in particular raises many questions). With claims that a character fitting Snow’s description was shown on horseback, hints of Theon and Sansa surviving that near-impossible plummet off of Winterfell castle, and signs that Cersei will exact some savage payback for her “walk of shame,” you know this month will only be cruel for those who miss the season premiere. (And as an added bonus: since the HBO series has now outpaced George R.R. Martin’s written output, those who’ve finished the books already know exactly as much as the rest of us.)
In more reality-based climes, HBO brings back Veep and Silicon Valley, two teams you would not necessarily want on your side in a match-up against White Walkers.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus returns as US President Selina Meyer, America’s first female leader (and probably the worst advertisement for such a scenario ever occurring in real life). In a case of art perhaps preempting reality, Meyer accidentally finds herself on top when the unseen POTUS resigns. Surrounded by a dream/nightmare team that includes high-strung chief of staff Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky), ambitious communications director Dan Egan (Reid Scott), insecure personal aide Gary Walsh (Tony Hale) and incompetent press secretary Mike McLintock (Matt Walsh), Meyer walks the narrow line between Red states and Blue states (we’re never really sure which party she belongs to, probably to avoid insulting either one), and season five continues with sharp writing and witty banter that makes it one of the few 30-minute comedies you can actually watch repeatedly, if only to pick up on all the withering sarcasm you missed the first time.
When last we left Meyer, she was stuck in an electoral college tie — waiting to see whether she would comfortably hold the Oval Office; see it occupied by her vice president, the affable if ambitious Tom James (Hugh Laurie); or lose it to her closest rival in a vote recount. With Philippine elections only a month away, it’s comforting perhaps to see that, at least on this HBO series, even US elections can be full of eff-ups.
In the season premiere, Meyer must contend with a vote recount in Nevada that could either sink her chances or seal her victory; a vice president who refuses to accept a post as her Economic Czar; a staff that’s more interested in counting steps on their phone apps than focusing on the race; and a huge zit that threatens to steal Meyer’s spotlight.
Over on the West Coast, HBO’s gang from Silicon Valley are equally adept at screwing things up. The new season finds Mike Judge’s cast of nerd balls trying to stay afloat in an environment where genius app algorithms are snatched away and put on the market faster than Avengers sequels, and the learning curve inside Erlich Bachman’s Incubator is about as slow as Sarah Palin coming to accept global warming. As usual, ace coder Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch) is surrounded by well-meaning idiots who never quite help lift his company, Pied Piper — built around a game-changing algorithm that can compress files faster than Quicksilver playing Pong — off the ground.
Last season saw Hendricks fighting off a lawsuit from rival Hooli, run by the evil Gavin Belson (Matt Ross), only to find himself exiled from the very company he started (shades of Steve Jobs). The new season picks up with Hendricks having to decide whether to accept an outside, experienced CEO running Pied Piper, or quit and transform another up-and-coming tech company.
The gang again includes competitive coders Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) and Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani), shell-shocked CFO Jared (Zach Woods) and the perpetually pot-smoking self-styled guru Bachman (T.J. Miller) around for extra FUBAR. Will they follow the orders of older CEO Jack Barker (Stephen Tobolowsky) who wants them to build an expensive hardware “box,” or release their Pied Piper app for free to transform the consumer market forever? Season three of Silicon Valley offers more of the same, but as long as the same is this bitingly funny and up to date, we’ll take it.
The thing all these HBO series have in common is this: no matter how many seasons we sit through, the principals involved — whether seeking the throne of Westeros, a crib on Pennsylvania Avenue, or a high-tech payday — always manage to find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Perhaps April is the cruelest month after all.
* * *
Game of Thrones premieres Monday, April 25, 9 a.m. on HBO (with encore at 9 p.m.); Silicon Valley premieres same day 10 a.m. (encore 10 p.m.) followed by Veep at 10:30 a.m. (encore 10:30 p.m.).
