Veep (TV series)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Veep is an HBO comedy/satire about the various dysfunctional people in the office of ineffectual Vice President of the United States Selina Meyer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus (of Seinfeld and The New Adventures of Old Christine fame). Developed by Armando Iannucci, it is a long-awaited (five years!) American adaptation of The Thick of It. It keeps most of the biting satire of the original, and although the swearing level is about the same, it would appear that American politicians and staffers prefer sarcasm to straight-up bollocking.

Other members of the cast include Anna Chlumsky (Chief of Staff Amy Brookheimer), Tony Hale (Gary Walsh, personal assistant to the VP), Matt Walsh (Mike McLintock, Director of Communications), Sufe Bradshaw (Sue Wilson, executive assistant to the Vice President), and Reid Scott (Dan Egan, Deputy Director of Communications).

Tropes used in Veep (TV series) include:
  • Ambiguously Jewish: Both "Selina Meyer" and "Amy Brookheimer" are completely realistic names for assimilated American Jews. Given that both actresses are Jewish, one would not be surprised to find that their characters are, as well.
  • Beleaguered Assistant: All of Selina's staff, who are completely overworked and constantly forced to put out fires.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: Hints of this between Amy and Dan - and Dan at least clearly thinks that's what's happening.
  • Blunt Yes: "Frozen Yoghurt".

Gary: Everything you say to me is emasculating. Do you realize that?
Dan: Yes.

  • British Brevity: Eight episodes scheduled for the first season.
  • Butt Monkey: Gary.
    • The whole VP office holds Jonah in contempt... as, it seems, does everyone in the District.
  • The Cameo: Several of the Baltimore Orioles appear as themselves in "Baseball".
  • Cluster F-Bomb
  • Convenient Miscarriage: It really is.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Nearly everyone, with the exception of Gary.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Selina getting some unpleasant news in "Baseball", when Gary whispers into her ear while she's in front of a class of schoolchildren is strongly reminiscent of George W. Bush getting the news on Sept. 11, 2001 from Andrew Card.
  • Establishing Character Moment: In the pilot, personal aide and willing slave Gary Walsh (played by Tony Hale) burns his hands holding VP Meyer's hot coffee cup while she has an idle conversation. He'll go on to do similar things in later episodes.
  • Fun with Acronyms: White House liaison Jonah does this incessantly. He almost always calls the president "POTUS", pronouncing it as an acronym, "poh-tuss", and occassionally calls Selina "vee-poh-tuss". He even drops "FDOTUS", pronounced "eff-dotus", for the First Dog of the United States. He also makes up initialisms on the fly, such as "VPVP", standing for "vice-president visual presence", which irritates Selina's staff.
  • The Ghost: The President. Much like the PM in The Thick of It, it's confirmed he'll never be seen; thus far, he doesn't even have a name.
  • Government Procedural
  • Hypocritical Humor: In "Catherine", Selina says, "I know not everything is about me," to her daughter--while hiding in a closet filled with pictures, posters, and cardboard cutouts of herself.
  • Informed Ability: Selina must be a politician of some ability--she was a U.S. Senator, she ran what apparently was a serious campaign for President, and she was tabbed to be Vice President. Yet on the show, she appears to be clueless, surrounding herself with an even more clueless staff, and being unable to effectively engage in the kind of small talk with voters that real politicians do all the time.
  • I Take Offense to That Last One: While playing devil's advocate, Dan predicts that Selina's policy will destroy America, capping it off by saying that she'll become so infamous that no one will ever name their child Selina again. After a stunned moment of silence, Gary says, "My God... no more Selinas?" He's immediately shushed.
  • Kicked Upstairs: Vice President Meyer used to be a U.S. Senator of some influence. Now she struggles to get anyone to pay attention to her. Louis-Dreyfus notes in interviews that no one dreams of being the vice-president. From the pilot:

Selina: What am I missing these days?
A Senator: Power.

  • Law of Inverse Fertility: In "Baseball", Selina finds out to her horror that she is pregnant.
  • Mistaken for Racist: Two separate incidents on one day caused by poor staff research cause Selina to appear prejudiced against Asians.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Much like the parent show, most are mish-mashes rather than straight expies.
    • Selina Meyer draws several parallels to Hillary Rodham Clinton, but also to Al Gore (a policy wonk relegated to VP status by a failed presidential run).
    • The anti-immigration Senator from Arizona is remarkably similar to (a caricature of) Jon Kyl for someone who looks nothing like Jon Kyl.
  • No Name Given: The President, again.
  • No Party Given: Louis-Dreyfus has stated that the show will never reveal Meyer's political party. However, the issues she stands for, and her staff, seem to be vaguely liberal (and therefore probably Democrats). Her big push in Season 1 is "clean jobs", and she's reluctant to make a deal with anti-immigration politicians as a compromise. The previous Armando Iannucci show The Thick of It also never overtly named the political parties.
    • More hints that Selina is a Democrat come in "Full Disclosure"--an unflattering viral video says that she considers herself an environmentalist, and Fox News (overtly Republican) jumps on the embarrassing Secret Service story.
  • Potty Failure: Selina suffers this at the end of "Frozen Yoghurt". Suffering from diarrhoea, she visits a frozen yoghurt shop for publicity. The owner's elderly mother is using the toilet when the inevitable Potty Emergency happens, resulting in Selina taking a massive dump in her dress in the car. One of her colleagues, understandably, chooses to walk instead.
  • Running Gag:

Selina: Did the President call?
Sue the Secretary: No.

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