The cast of Veep.

I’ve just watched the series premiere of Veep, which aired last night, and I thought it lived up to all the positive reviews I’d read in advance.

Smart, witty, sharp, with characters that can all be totally competent or completely moronic at any given time. It’s a great political satire, and a show I can see myself watching for several seasons.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays Selina Meyer, a one time presidential hopeful who’s now the Vice President of the United States. It’s a job that comes with, it seems, a lot of responsibilities but sadly little power and it’s fun to watch Selina try to navigate those waters.

I love thatVeep doesn’t identify what political party Selina is supposed to be associated with, or attempt to make her a caricature of any known real-life politician. This is a satire about media gaffes and fundraisers and the tit-for-tat world of politics more than it is a slaying of a particular set of ideologies.

In “Fundraiser”, Selina finds herself in hot water first by accidentally pissing off the plastics industry and later by making an unfortunate “retard” joke during a speech. At the same time, her chief of staff accidentally signs a sympathy card for a deceased high profile senator with her own name rather than the veep’s, causing another mishap.

I liked how funny the episode was, especially for a pilot, and I liked how we got to know what all the characters’ deals are so quickly. I enjoy the personalities that are at play here, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of this series.

What did you guys think? Did you watch?