When “Veep” premiered in the middle of Barack Obama’s presidency, its brand of dark satire — and its take on narcissism in American political life — seemed at odds with reality.
Seven years on, the award-winning HBO comedy — which embarks on its final season on Sunday, midway through Donald Trump’s first term — seems positively prescient.
The sitcom’s wacky storylines of yore are almost charming when compared to the daily barrage of news from the Trump White House.
In season seven, the only one shot since Trump took office, bumbling former vice president and president Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is once again running for the Oval Office.
And her coterie of incompetent staff are back for more crass laughs, profane insults, wildly inappropriate zingers and hilariously meaningless campaign slogans.
Meyer is facing a number of primary challengers, including one-time White House staffer and long-time nemesis Jonah Ryan (Timothy Simons), who is just as useless and infinitely more dislikable.
The final season almost wasn’t: Louis-Dreyfus, who won six consecutive Emmys for the role and is also a producer of the show, was forced to halt filming for months to battle breast cancer.
The 58-year-old actress is back to work.
The action in season seven is intensified by the context of Trump’s America: the rise of the bombastic real-life Republican has lent the show an extra shot of venom — and absurdity.
