Julia Louis-Dreyfus in 'VEEP.'
Bill Gray/HBO
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is just perfect in Veep. She gets to show off the spiky claws beneath her patrician finesse. The obvious way to play Veep would be to make Louis-Dreyfus a folksy heroine, one with more common sense or populist heart than her enemies. But she isn't one. Her character isn't any more sincere or well-meaning than any other D.C. hack. She isn't even smarter. She just has a bigger office. And because she's played by Louis-Dreyfus, she's funnier. In Veep, she approaches government with the famous Seinfeld code: no hugging, no learning.
