Selina Meyer

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Selina Meyer
Veep character

Julia Louis-Dreyfus who plays fictional Vice President of the United States Selina Meyer, with Joe Biden, the real Vice President of the United States.
First appearance

"Fundraiser" (April 22, 2012)
Created by

Armando Iannucci
Portrayed by

Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Information
Gender Female
Occupation Politician
Family Andrew Meyer (ex-husband)
Children Catherine Meyer (daughter)
Nationality American

Selina Meyer is a fictional Vice President of the United States portrayed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the HBO television comedy series Veep. Louis-Dreyfus has been critically acclaimed for this role, earning two Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series awards and two Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy nominations.

Meyer is a former United States Senator. During the first season of the show as Vice President she was powerless and disregarded by most other important officials leading to various types of humiliation and indignities. During the second season she began to amass some power and influence. In the upcoming third season, she is a presidential candidate.

The role garnered Louis-Dreyfus milestone awards. Her fourteenth Primetime Emmy Award nomination for a role in the regular cast of a comedy series surpassed Lucille Ball as the most ever. Her Primetime Emmy Award for her third different regular cast role also was a record-setting achievement for a comedy actress.

Reception

Louis-Dreyfus in 2012

The role has established Louis-Dreyfus as the all-time most Primetime Emmy Award decorated actress in terms of regular cast roles in a comedy series (i.e., not counting guest acting Emmys). It is the third character (Elaine Benes on Seinfeld and Christine Campbell on The New Adventures of Old Christine being the first two) for which Louis-Dreyfus has earned a Primetime Emmy Award (Outstanding Lead Actress or Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series).[1] When Louis-Dreyfus earned the second Emmy nomination for this role it marked her fourteenth Primetime Emmy nomination for either Outstanding Lead Actress or Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, surpassing Lucille Ball's all-time record.[2] The win tied her with Ball with a total of four and made her the first actress to win Primetime Emmy Awards for three different regular cast comedy roles.[3] Her second win also made her the first actress to become a two-time awardee as a comedy actress for HBO.[4]

She earned Primetime Emmy Awards for her season 1 and season 2 performances in 2012 and 2013 at the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards and 65th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremonies.[1][5] She was nominated at the 70th Golden Globe Awards and 71st Golden Globe Awards for her season 1 and season 2 performances.[6][7] Her season 2 performance also earned a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series award at the 20th Screen Actors Guild Awards.[8] Dreyfus has earned a wide range of additional awards and nominations for this role including nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award Best Actress in a Comedy Series,[9] TCA Awards Individual Achievement in Comedy,[10] Satellite Award Best Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical[11] and Women's Image Network Awards Best Actress in a Comedy Series.[12]

Character description

Meyer was a former influential United States Senator and a leading contender to be President who even won the New Hampshire Primary during a Presidential campaign that resulted in her becoming Vice President.[13] As Vice President, her world is kept in balance by her assistants: Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky) is the Vice President's chief of staff, while Gary Walsh (Tony Hale) is Meyer's grovelling personal aide.[14] Selina also hires Dan Egan (Reid Scott), who threatens Amy's place in the staff and Mike McLintock (Matt Walsh) a press spokesman.[13] Meyer has no significant other, and requires that her daughter Catherine, from a past marriage, make appointments to see her.[15]

Some suggest that Meyer is likely a Republican,[16] while others feel she is more of a Democrat.[13] Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times notes that Meyer's party affiliation is unknown because rather than focus on ideological sparring the show focusses on bullying.[17] James Poniewozik of Time explains the ambiguity as follows: Veep is "almost all politics and almost no political issues".[13] Robert Lloyd of Los Angeles Times explains the lack of need for party affiliations, or even political ideology in a similar manner saying Veep is "less a show about politics than about politicking".[18]

Poniewozik describes the season 1 Meyer as a "bumbling and overwhelmed" shadow of her former self.[13] Merissa Marr of The Wall Street Journal describes Meyer as "inept".[19] James Parker of The New York Times describes her as animated, powerless, prone to fits, and at times distracted. He notes that she motorcades and entourages with importance, but also passes time rotating dreamily in her swivel chair. Parker opines that Meyer "swears her head off" because that is what the modern "gaffe-phobic, linguistically constipated" public servant who has sold his/her soul to a lobbyist group does behind closed doors after public speeches about "ceaseless, toneless platitudes".[20] Variety television critic Brian Lowry describes Meyer as "easily flustered, foul-mouthed" saying she is "over-reliance on profanity" as a comedic crutch.[21] David Renshaw of The Guardian describes Meyer as "a perfect combination of ineptness and amorality".[14]

T. A. Frank of The New Republic says that in season 1 she is completely ignored by the president, dismissed by Congress as she endures repeated indignities with a high degree of cynicism. According to Frank, Meyer slowly gains some respect and power, but it is not without effort.[22] Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker, noted that the premise of a politician without influence striving for it suited itself well to a comedy and that her frequent cursing should not have been much of an issue given that it was an HBO production.[16] Laura Bennett of The New Republic states that in season 1 Meyer was "a hapless buffoon, fluffing her hair and running in circles" who endured marginalization and irrelevance, but in season 2, which is set during midterm elections,[23] she was a "a player in the administration with concrete involvement in foreign policy".[24] By season 3, presidential candidate Meyer becomes fashion conscious on the campaign trail.[25]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Itzkoff, David (2013-05-03). "Artsbeat; HBO Orders Third ‘Veep’ Season". New York Times. Retrieved 2013-12-05. 
  2. ↑ Wilson, Stacey (2013-08-06). "Emmys: 12 Categories With Potentially Historic Wins". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2013-12-05. 
  3. ↑ Fernandez, Maria Elena (2013-09-18). "Julia Louis-Dreyfus is on the trail to tie Lucille Ball in Emmy wins". Today. Retrieved 2013-12-05. 
  4. ↑ Lewis, Hilary (2013-09-22). "Emmys 2013: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Wins With Record-Breaking 14th Nomination". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2013-12-05. 
  5. ↑ Itzkoff, David (2013-09-22). "‘Breaking Bad,’ ‘Modern Family’ Take Top Honors in a Tribute-Heavy Emmy Awards". New York Times. Retrieved 2013-12-04. 
  6. ↑ Gavin, Patrick (2013-04-02). "Julia Louis Dreyfus: Joe Biden congratulated me on Emmy win". Politico. Retrieved 2013-12-05. 
  7. ↑ Farley, Christopher John (2013-12-12). "Golden Globes Nominations 2014: ’12 Years a Slave,’ ‘American Hustle’ Lead Field". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2013-12-12. 
  8. ↑ King, Susan and Rene Lynch (2014-01-18). "SAG Awards 2014: 'American Hustle' cast takes top honors". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2014-01-19. 
  9. ↑ "'Big Bang Theory', 'Breaking Bad' score Critics' Choice Awards". United Press International. 2013-06-11. Retrieved 2013-12-28. 
  10. ↑ Raftery, Liz (2013-06-10). "TCA Award Nominations Announced". TV Guide. Retrieved 2013-12-28. 
  11. ↑ Pond, Steve (2013-12-02). "’12 Years a Slave’ Tops Satellite Award Nominations". The Wrap. Retrieved 2013-12-28. 
  12. ↑ "The Women's Image Network (WIN) Awards 14 NOMINATIONS Announced". PR Log. 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2013-12-28. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Poniewozik, James (2012-04-20). "TV Weekend: Veep". Time. Retrieved 2013-12-08. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Renshaw, David (2013-08-08). "Veep – box set review: Julia Louis-Dreyfus is fantastic as a politically impotent vice-president in Armando Iannucci's enjoyably silly sitcom". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-12-08. 
  15. ↑ McElvoy, Anne (2013-11-19). "All the single ladies: Borgen's Katrine joins the small-screen power mothers". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 2013-12-08. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Tucker, Ken (2012-04-22). "'Veep' premiere review: Julia Louis-Dreyfus was great, but did you actually laugh much?". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2013-12-08. 
  17. ↑ Stanley, Alessandra (2013-11-14). "Four Eccentric Senators as Capitol Hill Roomies: ‘Alpha House’ Is Garry Trudeau’s TV Comedy From Amazon". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-12-07. 
  18. ↑ Lloyd, Robert (2012-04-20). "Review: Julia Louis-Dreyfus makes a first-rate, funny 'Veep': It's a treat to watch Julia Louis-Dreyfus put her smart comedic skills to the political test as Selina Meyer in Armando Iannucci's 'Veep' on HBO.". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-12-08. 
  19. ↑ Marr, Merissa (2013-11-07). "A Place Where Pols are Popular: 'Alpha House' is the latest in a flurry of shows". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2013-12-07. 
  20. ↑ Parker, James (2012-04-20). "What’s It Like Having Power? How Would I Know?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-12-07. 
  21. ↑ Lowry, Brian (2013-04-08). "TV Review: ‘Veep’". Variety. Retrieved 2013-12-08. 
  22. ↑ Frank, T. A. (2013-11-26). "America's Least-Favorite City Has Become Television's Favorite Subject". The New Republic. Retrieved 2013-12-08. 
  23. ↑ O'Donovan, Gerard (2013-10-16). "Veep, Series 2 Episode 1, Sky Atlantic, review: The second series of Veep, the Emmy-winning US politcal drama, set off at a blistering pace, says Gerard O'Donovan". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2013-12-08. 
  24. ↑ Bennett, Laura (2013-04-29). "The Sneaky Feminism of 'Veep' Selina Meyer and the problem with female characters in political comedies". The New Republic. Retrieved 2013-12-07. 
  25. ↑ Scharf, Lindzi (2013-11-16). "'Veep': Selina Meyer gets a Presidential makeover for season 3". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2013-12-07. 

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