Veep is one of the best comedy series on the air. A political satire that became relevant without planning to!
Currently airing its final season is about time to know more about this TV series!
- Veep is an American political satire comedy television series
- Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus
- That premiered on HBO on April 22, 2012
- The series was created by Scottish writer Armando Iannucci
- As an adaptation of his British sitcom The Thick of It
- Veep is set in the office of Selina Meyer
- A fictional vice president (and, later, president) of the United States
- The series follows Meyer and her team as they attempt to make their mark
- And leave a legacy without getting tripped up in the day-to-day political games that define the American government
- Veep has received critical acclaim and has won several major awards
- It has been nominated six years in a row for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
- Winning the award for its fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons
- Its second, fourth, and sixth seasons won the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy Series
- And the third season won the Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy
- Louis-Dreyfus’ performance as Selina Meyer has won her six consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards
- Three Screen Actors Guild Awards
- Two Critics’ Choice Television Awards
- A Television Critics Association Award
- And five consecutive Golden Globe nominations
- For his portrayal of Selina’s personal aide, Tony Hale has received five consecutive Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
- Winning in 2013 and 2015
- Supporting cast members have also received Emmy nominations
- Among them Anna Chlumsky (five nominations), Gary Cole (one nomination), Hugh Laurie (one nomination), and Matt Walsh (two nominations)
- The series was renewed for a seventh and final season
- Which premiered on March 31, 2019
- And will consist of seven episodes
- The series follows the personal life and political career of Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus)
- The Vice President and later President of the United States
- Her party affiliation is unknown
- Though hinted in the fourth season finale to be Democratic
- Formerly a United States Senator from Maryland, Meyer campaigns for her party’s nomination in the 2012 presidential election
- And is initially the front-runner
- But ultimately loses the nomination to Stuart Hughes
- Meyer subsequently joins the Hughes ticket as his running mate
- And is elected Vice President
- Her staff as Vice President, upon whom Meyer is totally reliant
- Includes chief of staff Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky)
- Director of communications Mike McClintock (Matt Walsh)
- Deputy director of communications Dan Egan (Reid Scott)
- Body man Gary Walsh (Tony Hale)
- And personal secretary Sue Wilson (Sufe Bradshaw)
- Later additions to her team as president include White House Chief of Staff Ben Cafferty (Kevin Dunn)
- And political strategist Kent Davison (Gary Cole)
- Jonah Ryan (Timothy Simons), initially a White House liaison to the Vice President’s office and later a New Hampshire congressman
- Also features prominently
- At the outset of the series, Meyer frequently finds herself relegated and ignored by Hughes
- In the second season, Meyer comes to accrue some power and influence
- By the end of the season, is actively considering challenging Hughes for their party’s nomination in the 2016 election
- This becomes a moot point when Hughes decides not to seek a second term
- And Meyer begins her presidential campaign in the third season
- Hughes abruptly resigns and Meyer assumes the presidency at the end of the season
- The fourth season finds her adjusting to her new role while continuing her presidential campaign
- Both of which are undermined by a series of scandals
- The election results in a tie between Meyer and challenger Bill O’Brien (Brad Leland)
- Leading to a vote in the House of Representatives during the fifth season to decide the next president
- After a recount in Nevada fails to alter the election’s outcome
- The House vote ends in a tie
- Leading to the Senate voting to elect the Vice President
- The Senate vote also ends in a tie
- Meyer’s Vice President Andrew Doyle (Phil Reeves), who did not run for a full term, casts the tiebreaking vote for O’Brien’s running mate Laura Montez (Andrea Savage) instead of Meyer’s running mate Tom James (Hugh Laurie)
- Leading to Montez becoming president
- The sixth season follows Meyer out of office for the first time in the series
- As she attempts to ensure her legacy by authoring a memoir
- Setting up a foundation and attempting to establish a presidential library
- At the end of the season, Meyer decides to run for president again
- The series also explores Meyer’s personal life
- Such as her strained relationships with her daughter Catherine (Sarah Sutherland), ex-husband Andrew (David Pasquesi) and a number of significant others
- The lives, careers and relationships of the other characters are also explored
- Frequently intersecting with the series’ principal narrative
- Satirizing the political activities and inner workings of the contemporary U.S. government
- After The Thick of It was dropped by ABC, several networks including HBO, Showtime and NBC expressed interest in adapting the show
- Iannucci re-entered talks with HBO (his initial preference) about adapting the series
- With the result that a new pilot episode for a series situated in the office of the Vice President of the United States called Veep
- A nickname derived from the position’s initials “VP”
- It was commissioned in late 2009
- Iannucci was given much more creative control over the production
- And co-wrote the pilot with British comedy writer Simon Blackwell
- Who also contributed to the British series The Thick of It
- In April 2011, HBO announced that it had ordered Veep as a series
- And later announced in January 2012 that the series would premiere on April 22, 2012
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