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TV Media Weekly | March 30 - April 5, 2019 By Joy Doonan TV Media P olitical satire is a beloved comedic tradition, but it can be tricky to pull off successfully, let alone consistently for a long period of time. There are few television series that have achieved this, and most of those have been news or talk show programs — "The Daily Show" and "The Col - bert Report" spring to mind. HBO's "Veep" is one of the very few narrative comedy se- ries that has managed to merci- lessly satirize politics over the course of numerous highly rated seasons. In fact, the comedy and several members of its cast have won multiple prestigious awards and nominations since its debut in 2012, including Crit - ics' Choice Awards, Screen Ac- tors Guild Awards and several Emmys. "Veep" follows fictional for- mer U.S. senator Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Seinfeld"), who has served as both vice- president and president of the United States over the course of the show's first six seasons. The series sharply mimics real-life petty political bureaucracy and manages to do so in a light- hearted, very watchable way. Af- ter a long, successful run, show- runners announced last year that the seventh season of this beloved series would be the last. The Season 7 premiere of "Veep" airs Sunday, March 31, on HBO. Last season saw Selina in tran- sition. Ousted from the presiden- cy, she tried to acclimate to civil- ian life but failed miserably. She wrote a memoir, burned down a barn, almost had her own presi- dential library built and made some personal psychological breakthroughs, but ultimately she found herself pulled back to- wards politics. At the end of Sea- son 6, Selina decided to run for president again, and Season 7 promises to be a hilarious ac- count of her attempt to regain the highest office in the land. Selina's entourage includes political advisers Dan (Reid Scott, "Venom," 2018) and Amy (Anna Chlumsky, "My Girl," 1991), sycophantic personal aide Gary (Tony Hale, "Arrested Development"), White House li- aison Jonah (Timothy Simons, "Gold," 2016) and the director of communications for the VP, Mike (Matt Walsh, "Comedy Bang! Bang!"). The clashing group of strong, dysfunctional characters comes together as a perversely whimsical clan as they scramble to cover up one political or public image mess after another. Impressively, the show's writ- ers have managed to stay fairly ambiguous when it comes to la- beling their characters political- ly and have strategically avoid- ed revealing Selina's party affili- ation. As Selina and her dedicat- ed (and often bumbling) staff navigate their way through the political landscape, they often commit missteps that result in PR nightmares. Usually, the re- sulting situations seem too out- rageous to ever occur for real, but on several occasions, life seems to have gone out of its way to imitate art. In Season 4, for example, Seli- na bungles a debate topic after forgetting one of the elements of her "Three Rs" (a nonsensical "reform, reaffirm and renew," if you're curious). Later on, during a real-life debate, Republican gov- ernor and presidential hopeful Rick Perry forgot one of the three government agencies he planned to ax should he win the presiden- cy, resulting in a similarly awk- ward scramble to come up with something to say. "Veep's" eerily accurate coincidental forecasting of actual campaign slip-ups has earned it a reputation for being shrewdly in tune with the materi- al it skewers. The antics of the characters' personal lives is another come- dic anchor of the show, as well as how those private issues of- ten bleed into their jobs. Talking about his role as Selina's car- toonishly loyal political aide, Hale told Stephen Colbert, "I do emasculation really well," and he described Gary as an inse- cure yes-man who "worships the ground Selina Meyer walks on." This dynamic is comedy gold, given Selina's penchant for self-absorption and insensitivity. For the cast, starring in the series has been an exceptionally emotional journey. On the final day of shooting the series, many of the stars posted emotional tweets about the show and the family they had found on the job. Hale posted a selfie in which he wears a sweater with a heart on it, with a caption that read, "I can't describe how blessed and thankful I feel for everyone here. The sweater says it best." A seven-season run is nothing to sneeze at, and many of the cast members have been through a lot while working on the show. Louis-Dreyfus herself battled breast cancer, and the show went on hiatus in 2017 while she was in treatment. She fought hard and won that bat- tle, and fans of the show will ap- preciate this final season all the more because of her strength and courage. Season 7 packs a lot into its seven episodes, and since the end of the line came about or- ganically (instead of by way of a sudden cancellation), fans can look forward to a satisfying and, of course, hilarious ending. You can watch the season premiere when it airs Sunday, March 31, on HBO. Anna Chlumsky in a scene from "Veep" Selina for president: 'Veep' returns for a triumphant final season 2 | Cover story A/Grindstone Charlie's B/Norris Insurance 1 x 4" Encompass Credit Union 5 x 2"

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