The Thick Of It (2005) & Veep (2012)

The Thick Of It (season 1), a television series involving British politics, gave birth to Veep, a television series involving American politics - both created by the seemingly indestructible Armando Iannucci. With Veep (season 1/2) there is the joy of seeing Julia Louis-Dreyfus playing another semi-distasteful, pseudo-likable, nuanced, cringe-inducing character (this time the Vice President of the United States) while The Thick Of It gives a less cringe-inducing (and more milquetoast) Chris Langham (as the Minister of Social Affairs) and throws in a learning curve in British politics as well (for this American anyway). Both series are very funny with great supporting casts, vivid characters, incredible NSFW epithets and storyline similarities but I did find myself laughing harder and louder while watching Veep - which must be the Louis-Dreyfus curve.

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...The New Adventures of Old Christine, Season 1 (2005)

Despite the fact that Julia Louis-Dreyfuss in The New Adventures of Old Christine beat out Lisa Kudrow in The Comeback for the Emmy, this show is charmingly fresh and funny. Louis Dreyfuss, Clark Gregg and Hamish Linklater, a delightfully droll Wanda Sykes, and the rest of the cast are wonderful, and the scripts are fast and furious. Now that I've seen Season 1 en toto, I can agree that Louis Dreyfuss deservingly won her Emmy (although Kudrow should've won also.)