Veep hints at the toxic careerism we imagine hiding beneath the surface of politics.
It typifies American politics with a brand of acidic cynicism that yields big laughs and increasingly unlikable characters.
We have no doubt that we’ll be miffed by how some of these categories shake out on Sunday night.
Veep has become a vulgar, merciless satire of the emptiness of power itself, as funny as a knife in the side.
Glancing over this year’s Emmy nominations is to marvel again at just how much the television landscape has changed in 20 years.
It seems to suggest that political life is so all-consuming that no happy, well-adjusted person would ever choose to be a part of it.
It isn’t a disservice to Louis-Dreyfus to say that her Emmy award for the role is in many ways a reflection of the quality of the supporting cast.
It’s perhaps a sign of Veep’s realism that the new HBO comedy feels a lot like a receptacle.