Hail to the Veep: ABC Prepares Vice Presidential Drama

The office of the vice president has long provided comic relief in Washington, D.C. Thanks to former Vice President Dan Quayle, we now have an alternate way of spelling "potato.''

Now ABC is developing a dramedy about the Veep, according to Variety. The series will be written by Sheldon Turner ('Up in the Air') and Shaun Cassidy ('Invasion'), and will focus on a fictional vice president and his staff.

The show will focus on the underdog nature of the vice president's office and explore the interpersonal relationships therein, including a romance between the female chief of staff and the vice president's son.

Variety called the show a political version of 'Glee,' but rest assured -- no cast members will break into song. The series will not delve too heavily into the actual politics of the office.

The Potomac provides the backdrop to another upcoming series, also being developed by ABC. That one is produced by Josh Schwartz ('The O.C.,' 'Chuck,' 'Gossip Girl') and centers on the lives of twentysomething politicos in Washington, D.C.

While politics can be contentious, it's also a prime target for plenty of jokes -- the politics-centered 'fake news'' programs of 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' and 'The Colbert Report' are popular for a reason, after all. 'Spin City,' a comedy about local politics, aired from 1996 to 2002 on ABC and 'The West Wing,' a drama about a fictional president, earned multiple Emmys during its 1999-2006 run on NBC. So, the idea of a successful scripted political show on TV is not unprecedented.

We've come up with a few plot lines this new series could explore:

-- Like Dick Cheney, the fictional veep could accidentally shoot his best friend.

-- The VP could drop an F-bomb in a public setting like Joe Biden.

-- For a more dramatic turn, the veep could take bribes while in office and thus be forced to resign, like Spiro Agnew.

-- How about showing up drunk for the president's inauguration like Andrew Johnson did for Abraham Lincoln's second term in 1865?


Tell us: Would you watch this show?