As part of Variety‘s 100 Greatest Television Shows of All Time issue, we asked 12 of our favorite creators of television to discuss the series that inspire and move them. Check out all the essays, and read our full list of the best TV shows ever made.
When we would go over the scripts for “Mad Men,” we would laugh and laugh — for that hourlong read-through, you would have thought we were making a comedy. As crazy as it may sound, I thought Peggy was really funny — some of the ridiculous things she did, and her vulnerability. That’s the most fun place to be, when things are so real that your skin hurts, and you laugh because you don’t know what else to do.
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That is what Julia Louis-Dreyfus does as Selina Meyer on “Veep.” What she’s doing is just essential to acting — finding that painful truth and being completely open about it. And without that vulnerability that she brings to the character, it’s a totally different show. It may not be a bad show, but it’s not this show.
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I’ve seen all of the great dramas, but part of me knows that that’s kind of what I make. I don’t want to come home and watch something really serious. But “Veep” isn’t a break either — I actually just think it’s one of the best shows ever made. The thing that is important to me, and keeps me going back, and lands shows on a list like this, is the humanity. It’s not unlike “The West Wing” (which was really funny at times too): You’re seeing real people in a real environment. That’s what makes the show timeless, even as it’s rooted in a specific political time. And it’s why “Veep” actually seems to get more and more important.
I’ve probably watched all of the seasons of “Veep” five to 10 times. It strikes the perfect balance — incredibly intelligent, prescient and ahead of its time, but also funny, silly, entertaining. You see so many great shows that err on one side or the other, but the balance “Veep” strikes is remarkable. It would have been so easy to sway “Veep” in a direction that would be fun, entertaining slapstick — quirky characters doing stupid things and behaving badly. Instead, the actors elevate it to a symphonic level that becomes something more like art. They never went too far into silliness and never took themselves too seriously. And no one ever did something like that again.
Elisabeth Moss, an Emmy winner for starring in and producing “The Handmaid’s Tale,” has also appeared in series including “Mad Men,” “Top of the Lake” and “The West Wing.”