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Since the vice president announced her candidacy, streaming numbers have increased by 350% for “Veep,” which aired from 2012 to 2019.
A United States senator tries to run for president but is selected to become vice president instead. Over time, the president’s popularity wanes. Then, as his term is ending, the vice president runs for president.
This sums up Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid. It is also the plot of “Veep.”
These similarities were not lost on the American people.
Data from entertainment company Luminate showed that the streaming numbers of “Veep” jumped 350% after Harris announced she’d be running for president after President Joe Biden said he would not seek re-election.
Since then, social media platforms like X have been filled with “Veep”-related memes as people revisit the cult classic which aired on HBO from 2012 to 2019.
But relevance to current events isn’t enough on its own to keep people watching. What draws viewers into Veep is its quippy one-liners, documentary style camerawork, and characters you love to hate, said Steve Granelli, associate teaching professor of communications at Northeastern University.
“It is cutting,” Granelli added. “The dialogue is very quippy. The shots are not always clean. We’re cutting to two characters at the last minute as opposed to them being perfectly framed. It feels very fly on the wall, seeing things you shouldn’t see, hearing things you shouldn’t hear.”
“Veep” follows the rise and fall of Selina Meyer, who is willing to do anything to become president. Throughout the series, she and her team of similarly ruthless staffers bargain their way through D.C. politics to help her get to the top, even if it means hurting those closest to her and supporting questionable causes.
The show’s zippy one-liners and relevance to real life (many clips circulated of a scene where Meyer finds out she’s going to be president after Harris announced her run) make it perfect for circulating on social media, Granelli said, drawing old and new eyes to it.
Meyer and her political staffers together make for an unusual ensemble cast, Granelli said. They are frequently stabbing people in the back and insulting each other. They lack any morals, which Granelli said is a trademark of shows created by Armando Iannucci.
But unlike your typical ensemble, the flaws of Veep’s main crew don’t balance each other out. Instead, they clash as they all work toward a common goal of keeping Meyer in power (sometimes at the expense of the American people), creating humorous dynamics.
“There’s something to be said for showing the incompetence of each character as part of who they are as a person,” Granelli said. “We like and identify with these characters because we see their strengths and (more often) their weaknesses. … I think we end up rooting for them because we probably identify with some of the weaknesses.”
For example, Meyer herself is portrayed as a blatantly bad mother and overall “terrible person” who cares more about her image and power than doing good. But Granelli pointed out there’s also a vulnerability and intelligence to her that people like, especially when it comes to her biting comebacks (that her staffers also readily employ as well).
“There’s this ability to cut anybody down with words at any single moment,” Granelli said. “Part of that ends up being very attractive to the viewer … (who might also wish) they could pull the perfect insult in the moment.”
Most of the characters on the show are presented like this and the writers were not shy about exploring different dynamics.
Also adding to the show’s watchability is its cast. Julia Louis-Dreyfus played Meyer and earned six Emmy awards in a row for her portrayal. Granelli said having one of the most recognized comedians of a generation on cast helped push the other actors.
“I think the show was amazingly cast,” Granelli said. “Julia Louis-Dreyfus is just widely respected and one of the funniest people. Her stature among her peers is beyond reproach. Nobody has anything bad to say. They talk about how hard she works all the time. The rest of the cast, I think, were willing to adopt that same mentality. Her ability to set the tone on that set was an important thing.”
And then there’s the fact that the show is seemingly imitating real life. Granelli said he expects to see more people posting comparisons on social media as they work their way through the show’s seven seasons.
“I think as people dive deeper into the show over the next few months, they’re going to discover more and more of those perfect little moments,” he said.