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If Aaron Sorkin’s “West Wing” represented an idealized Democratic presidency (powerful people doing good things) and inspired a swath of young viewers to enter public service, the latest generation of political television offers a more dystopian vision of the nation’s capital. The distinctly dark “House of Cards,” on Netflix, serves up powerful people doing bad things, while “Scandal,” on ABC, provides powerful people doing bad things in what they believe are in the service of good things.

But “Veep,” which is in the running for four Emmy Awards this Sunday, including one for best comedy, manages to repurpose politics as lowbrow farce, and offers perhaps the most realistic glimpse at the banal tasks, humdrum days and outsize egos that make up the daily lives of the city’s political staff members: largely powerless people doing … things.

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– http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/fashion/veep-hits-lots-of-nerves.html?ref=todayspaper