Why "Veep" is the perfect election show

Like most Americans, this election is giving me crazy anxiety.

I like to rewind at the end of the day by hopping into bed, getting under a blanket and watching an episode or two of something before bed. In this November day and age, what’s the perfect show to watch besides HBO’s “Veep.”

The political man’s “The Simpsons,” “Veep” has done a scarily semi-accurate job of predicting certain events along the campaign trail that have made me giggle while watching.

I watched “Veep” over the summer as soon as President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee. My Twitter timeline was flooded with reaction videos from the show, and I knew I had to tune in.

The political satire centers around Vice President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), her dysfunctional family and her eccentric and politically incorrect staff as she moves up the Hill.

Right from the beginning, the pilot episode “Fundraiser” introduces us to the side characters. Let’s take a trip through them together:

There’s Gary (Tony Hale), Meyers’s personal assistant who is definitely in love with her. He’ll drop everything to do whatever Meyer asks of him.

Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky), Meyers’s Washington right-hand woman who not-so-secretly despises her boss.

Jonah Ryan (Timothy Simons), the liaison between the White House and Meyer, is a walking parasite.

Mike McClintock (Matt Walsh), Meyers’s anxious director of communications.

Lastly, how could we forget Dan Egan (Reid Scott), who joins Meyers’s team in the pilot, and who has an ego the size of the White House.

Other characters get added throughout the show, but as Meyer moves through the vice presidency and presidency, the audience gets to watch the side characters take on different jobs and thrust into different experiences.

White “Veep” is as much about politics as “Scandal” and “West Wing,” it’s also a guide on how to not be a horrible person through exposure therapy.

There isn’t one good role model in the entire show, but somehow, I learned more about how to be a semi-decent person by watching people who were not.

“Veep” has so many iconic moments – Meyer telling Gary she’s going to be president in a bathroom, the Congressional hearing, Meyer and Vice President Tom James making out in the green room and, of course, sacrificing her closest aide to the FBI to secure the presidency.

If you’re anxious about the election, throw on an episode of “Veep” and just know that it can’t really get any worse … right?

Adrianna Gallucci is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email amg7989@psu.edu.