Thank God, no more Mike McLintock: Veep ending after season 7

After seven seasons, HBO’s hit comedy Veep will step down and give someone else a shot at glory, so get ready to say goodbye to Selina and Gary soon.

After several years of pushing the boundaries, HBO has decided to that season 7 will be Veep‘s last. It’s a bittersweet announcement, considering it put Anna Chlumsky on our televisions as the spectacularly shrill Amy Brookheimer and solidified Julia Louis-Dreyfus as an unparalleled comedy giant (seriously, I lost track of all her Emmys). Although her character of Selina Meyer can be hard to stomach at some points, the entire cast of Veep is buoyed by spot-on comedic timing and all-around excellent performances. (And also, their uncensored language and the many creative ways they insult each other, obviously.)

To be honest, I hold mixed feelings about the unexpected announcement that Veep will end after season 7. Of course, shows prefer to go out on their own terms instead of facing cancellation, but this feels more like a personal loss.

On one hand, I spent most of season 6 praying for Mike McClintock to be hit by a bus or some other outrageous calamity. Like, I wanted Selina to take him to a Target in the middle of nowhere and just leave him there. Of course, Veep writes his buffoonery for comedic effect, but his well-meaning ignorance seemed so out of place on a show where its greatest bit is a play on all the different ways to mispronounce “Jonah.”

Seriously, the funniest lines in Veep are often offensive and cringe-worthy. And Mike mostly just got in the way of that.

Instead, a character like Gary Walsh is the only moral compass that Veep ever needed. And television will never have a character as great as Selina’s “calendar, Google, and Wilson the volleyball.” But the dynamic between Tony Hale and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ character can’t carry the show forever.

Admittedly, after Selina lost the Oval Office (the second time around? Or did her loss to Tom James’ underhanded plot to get everyone to abstain mark the third?), it felt pretty obvious that the show struggled to find another place to put the “veep.” If she’s not in White House, how much does anyone really care about her memoir endeavors?

According to the show’s star and its executive producer David Mandel, the story pretty much set itself up for a natural ending and season 7 feels like the right time to end. Both used phrasing that highlighted a fear to “repeat” themselves or “wear out [their] welcome.”

So while I’ll miss Veep, just like I miss all the impeccably-written televisions shows that leave before I’m ready, there are only two things left to do: Re-watch from the beginning and incorporate all its best insults into daily use or pray that the show gets picked up for a reboot five years from now.

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