Veeps: Our Final Profile
September has come to an end and so has our series on Vice-Presidents, or Veeps as they're colloquially referred to. We have now looked at every Vice-President, excluding those who became president or those who were featured in our "Also-Ran" series in May. If you think I've missed one of the Veeps who was neither a President or a candidate for President for one of the major parties, let me know of my omission. In the meantime behind the cut I'll profile one more Veep who doesn't fit into any of these categories.
In the universe of the HBO program Veep, the Vice President of the United States in Selena Meyer, a former Senator and Presidential candidate. We don't really know what party she belongs to or who her President is, but we do know that Vice President Meyer is a divorced mother with a college aged daughter and that she has presidential aspirations.
In the past two seasons that the show has been running, we have seen Vice President Meyer's efforts to make the implementation of a Clean Jobs Commission her main legacy. In doing so, she has offended the plastics industry. She has made an offensive joke at a fundraiser, and a slip of the tongue by the Veep gets misconstrued as a racist shot at one of her political rivals. Another one of her causes was a conference to promote healthy eating at Baltimore's Camden Yards baseball park, but offends some foul-tempered fast-food executives in the process.
When her party does poorly in the midterm election, pollsters notice that Vice-President Meyer helped the candidates that she campaigned for, something which she attempts to leverage into greater influence for herself. As a result she is assigned responsibility for foreign relations. A hostage crisis in Uzbekistan results in conflict with the Secretary of Defense. Vice President Meyer represented the President on a visit to Helsinki to lock in a trade deal, where she has an awkward encounter with the husband of the Finnish Prime Minister. The second season ends with potential good news for the Vice President's political future.
Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays the role of Vice President Selina Meyer. The lead character is portrayed as someone who often feels powerless, disregarded and discontent in her position and her relationship with the President is portrayed as a strained one. Louis-Dreyfus has received considerable critical acclaim, winning two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Critics' Choice Television Award for her performance. She has also been nominated for the Golden Globe Award, Television Critics Association Award and Satellite Award.
Other cast members include Anna Chlumsky as Amy Brookheimer, the vice president's self-sacrificing chief of staff; Tony Hale as Gary Walsh, the vice president's personal aide; Matt Walsh as Mike McLintock, the vice president's director of communications; Reid Scott as Dan Egan, deputy director of communications, a highly ambitious up-and-comer; Sufe Bradshaw as Sue Wilson, the vice president's strong-willed personal assistant; and Timothy Simons as Jonah Ryan, White House liaison to the vice president's office.
I don't know if President Barack Obama has ever watched the show, but Vice President Joe Biden has, and earlier this year he met with Julia Louis-Dreyfus at his office. According to the actress, she told a Huffington Post reporter "He left the room for a second, and one his staff said to me, ‘Go behind his desk, so when he comes back you’ll be sitting behind his desk.’ And he came back and I was sitting there and said, ‘Hey, Joe’ ... He started giving me papers as if he was working for me and doing all these bits." Louis-Dreyfus also said that Biden's staffers introduced themselves to her by naming their counterparts on the show.
For those of you who like humor in the style of Larry David, this is a witty and funny show that is well written and well acted. It manages to find the perfect boundary between the ridiculous with events that are quite possible in the politically charged inane world of Washington DC, and I suspect that most
potus_geeks will be amused by it. Season two has just concluded and will probably be out on DVD next spring. Season one is already available on DVD.
I still haven't decided on a theme for October, and welcome any ideas. I'm sure I'll come up with something.
In the universe of the HBO program Veep, the Vice President of the United States in Selena Meyer, a former Senator and Presidential candidate. We don't really know what party she belongs to or who her President is, but we do know that Vice President Meyer is a divorced mother with a college aged daughter and that she has presidential aspirations.
In the past two seasons that the show has been running, we have seen Vice President Meyer's efforts to make the implementation of a Clean Jobs Commission her main legacy. In doing so, she has offended the plastics industry. She has made an offensive joke at a fundraiser, and a slip of the tongue by the Veep gets misconstrued as a racist shot at one of her political rivals. Another one of her causes was a conference to promote healthy eating at Baltimore's Camden Yards baseball park, but offends some foul-tempered fast-food executives in the process.
When her party does poorly in the midterm election, pollsters notice that Vice-President Meyer helped the candidates that she campaigned for, something which she attempts to leverage into greater influence for herself. As a result she is assigned responsibility for foreign relations. A hostage crisis in Uzbekistan results in conflict with the Secretary of Defense. Vice President Meyer represented the President on a visit to Helsinki to lock in a trade deal, where she has an awkward encounter with the husband of the Finnish Prime Minister. The second season ends with potential good news for the Vice President's political future.
Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays the role of Vice President Selina Meyer. The lead character is portrayed as someone who often feels powerless, disregarded and discontent in her position and her relationship with the President is portrayed as a strained one. Louis-Dreyfus has received considerable critical acclaim, winning two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Critics' Choice Television Award for her performance. She has also been nominated for the Golden Globe Award, Television Critics Association Award and Satellite Award.
Other cast members include Anna Chlumsky as Amy Brookheimer, the vice president's self-sacrificing chief of staff; Tony Hale as Gary Walsh, the vice president's personal aide; Matt Walsh as Mike McLintock, the vice president's director of communications; Reid Scott as Dan Egan, deputy director of communications, a highly ambitious up-and-comer; Sufe Bradshaw as Sue Wilson, the vice president's strong-willed personal assistant; and Timothy Simons as Jonah Ryan, White House liaison to the vice president's office.
I don't know if President Barack Obama has ever watched the show, but Vice President Joe Biden has, and earlier this year he met with Julia Louis-Dreyfus at his office. According to the actress, she told a Huffington Post reporter "He left the room for a second, and one his staff said to me, ‘Go behind his desk, so when he comes back you’ll be sitting behind his desk.’ And he came back and I was sitting there and said, ‘Hey, Joe’ ... He started giving me papers as if he was working for me and doing all these bits." Louis-Dreyfus also said that Biden's staffers introduced themselves to her by naming their counterparts on the show.
For those of you who like humor in the style of Larry David, this is a witty and funny show that is well written and well acted. It manages to find the perfect boundary between the ridiculous with events that are quite possible in the politically charged inane world of Washington DC, and I suspect that most
potus_geeks will be amused by it. Season two has just concluded and will probably be out on DVD next spring. Season one is already available on DVD.I still haven't decided on a theme for October, and welcome any ideas. I'm sure I'll come up with something.