Was Kamala Harris' rise predicted by 'Veep'? HBO series enjoys viewer surge

Are we really in unprecedented political times, or has Vice President Kamala Harris's rise already played out on HBO's political comedy "Veep"?

Ever since President Joe Biden dropped out of the running for re-election in the November election Sunday, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the spot, people have been looking for laughs ― and maybe some answers ― from "Veep."

The critically acclaimed hit, which starred Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Vice President Selina Meyer, ended its seven-season run in 2019. However, viewership of the first season was up 353% on Max on July 22, a day after Biden's bombshell announcement, with 2.2 million total minutes watched that day, according to Luminate’s Streaming Viewership data. That's compared to one day earlier, when "Veep" garnered 486,000 viewing minutes.

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"Veep" producer David Mandel trumpeted the increase on X (formerly Twitter) competitively comparing the increase to the 2020 movie adaptation of Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance's 2020 memoir "Hillbilly Elegy."

"Sure @VeepHBO viewership was up 353% yesterday, but the real question is are we beating Hillbilly Elegy’s VHS sales??" Mandel wrote.

"The Simpsons" might have "predicted" Harris' possible rise in a Season 11 episode , but the "Veep" parallels are eerily close as well.

In "Veep," Meyer (Dreyfus), a U.S. senator from Maryland, runs for president but loses her party's nomination to Stewart Hughes. Meyer joins Hughes' winning ticket and steps into the vice president role. In Season 2, Hughes abruptly resigns — due to his wife’s mental health, not his — and Meyer becomes president, before running for president at the top of the ticket.

A popular meme features Meyer giddily breaking the news to her staff, saying, "POTUS is not going to be running for a second term...I'm gonna run...It's totally for real."

After Biden's announcement, Mandel wrote on X. "If you never watched it, not a bad time to brush up on some VEEP!!!"

"Veep" creator Armando Iannucci poked fun at the parallels by reposting a picture of a sunglass-wearing Biden walking in the White House next to Dreyfus' smiling Meyer. (He guest-starred on the show .)

"Let’s remind ourselves that #Veep has already written a fictional version of this script .. Kamala *inherits* the actual presidency. Then runs," one X user wrote on July 21.

"Don't forget we made all that up, though," Iannucci responded back on X.

"Still working on the ending," Iannucci added.

Creator Armando fanned the flames

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Was Kamala Harris' rise predicted by 'Veep'? HBO series enjoys viewer surge