Best bets: Sorry, Joe Biden -- Julia Louis-Dreyfus is HBO's 'Veep'

HBO

Julia Louis-Dreyfus in "Veep."

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, NBC News

Looks like a quiet week in entertainment. Three of our five recommendations this week are documentaries, two showing in theaters and one on the small screen. Here's our look at the week in movies, TV and home video.

TV
HBO's been soaring, with "Game of Thrones," "Girls," "The Newsroom" and more. Now Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as a female U.S. vice-president in "Veep," a new comedy series coming to the premium channel. The show's done in fly-on-the-wall documentary style, and if Louis-Dreyfus' Selina Meyer makes you think of "Seinfeld's" Elaine Benes, you're not alone. Jokes the HBO website, "The Buck Stops Somewhere Near Here." (Series premiere April 22, 10 p.m., HBO.)

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The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were so devastating that it's hard to imagine anyone actively lying about their involvement in the tragedy. But a woman who called herself Tania Head -- who apparently was in Spain at the time of the attacks -- not only claimed she was injured in the World Trade Center, but said she lost a fiance in the attacks. He was real, but apparently never even met her. And the plot only thickens from there. Her elaborate deception is told in "The Woman Who Wasn't There," a fascinating documentary film airing this week. (April 17, 8 p.m., Investigation Discovery.)

Movies
DisneyNature has been coming out with Earth Day nature documentaries for several years now, and this year's is "Chimpanzee." It tells the tale of Oscar, a young chimp who's left alone in the forests of Africa and eventually is adopted by a full-grown chimp. Oscar looks adorable, in true Disney form, but those who've followed the story of Charla Nash know that chimps can be as dangerous as they are cute. (Opens April 20.)

 

No, not "Marley & Me." The film opening this week is just "Marley," and it's a documentary about legendary reggae musician Bob Marley, of course. It's earning critical raves, with Variety calling it a "generous, absorbing" film and criticizing it only for being too long -- it runs almost two and a half hours. (Opens April 20.)

 

DVD
Start up that great theme music -- "Mission: Impossible" is back. Yes, that's star Tom Cruise hanging off the world's tallest building, and yes, he did his own stunts. "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" has all the action, breathtaking scenery, and heroics of a James Bond movie, and it's now on DVD and Blu-ray. (April 17.)

Does "Veep" look interesting? Do you pay for HBO, or are you tempted to add the premium channel? Tell us on Facebook.

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