'Veep' leads nominated comedies at the Primetime Emmy Awards with 17 nominations

I concluded Infidel 753 and I discuss zombies by telling my readers to "Stay tuned for the post about the Emmy nominees I promised in "13th" vs. "O.J.: Made in America" plus other non-fiction political programs nominated at the Primetime Emmy Awards."  It was supposed to be "a post about the scripted comedies and dramas about poliitics, including shows starring two fictional presidents, Selina Meyer and Frank Underwood," but I decided to split the comedies and dramas into to posts.  To quote "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," "tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight!"

The leading comedy, political or otherwise, is "Veep" with 17 nominations.  It's won Outstanding Comedy Series the past two years in a row and its star Julia Louis-Dreyfus has won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series every year the show has aired, which makes for five consecutive wins.  Impressive.

What's also impressive is the number of Washington insiders who say that it is the most realistic portrayal of political life on American television, more so than "House of Cards," the subject of tomorrow's entry.  I'll begin with WYNC's quote.

According to Jess Mcintosh, a democratic operative who works in communications, “Our lives are not like 'House of Cards.' There is really nothing that 'House of Cards' presents other than the names of certain Washington locations that bear any relation to reality.”

“'VEEP' is sometimes so painful to watch because it is so close to things that have happened in my world. I’m aware that it is funny, but I can’t possibly laugh at it,” she continues.

The Wrap elaborates on what "Veep" captures that "House of Cards" does not.

“The funny thing about ‘Veep’ is, we as people who worked in the White House always get asked, okay, what’s the most real? Is it ‘House of Cards? Is it ‘West Wing’? And the answer is, it’s ‘Veep.’ Because you guys nail the fragility of the egos, and the, like, day-to-day idiocy of the decision-making,” [Tommy] Vietor said.

I finish the comparison with this passage from The Atlantic.

House of Cards does get some things right. Its set design is impressive, down to the decor of the congressional offices and the style of the nameplates on the doors. And it correctly captures a new media landscape influenced by Politico and Buzzfeed (er, Slugline) while only somewhat exaggerating the corrosive impact of money on modern politics.

But Veep gets much more of the total picture, and it does so more enjoyably by presenting the capital as folly, not awash in soul-crushing darkness.

It may not make Congress's approval ratings rebound from the gutter, but the truth that Veep captures is that the worst of the worst in Washington are more likely to be buffoons than monsters: Politicians and their aides are probably not killing people in D.C., but they often are shooting themselves in the foot.

There you have it.  To paraphrase what a Canadian politician said about the Canadian left, our politicians are more likely to be gauche than sinister.

There are two other comedies with a political slant, "Black-ish" with four nominations and "South Park" with one.  Follow over the jump for all the nominations of scripted comedies with political themes at the Primetime Emmy Awards.