Julia Louis-Dreyfus Begins Her Reign on 'Veep', -This Day in Pop Culture History (April 22)

Sitcoms based on the events that go on within the White House aren’t typically popular, but Veep is the exception. Debuting on April 22, 2012, Seinfeld’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus made pop culture history as the first female vice president.

Other pop culture event that happened on this day include a dragon that got out of hand and America’s first two-cent pennies.

2012: ‘Veep’ Premieres

Julia Louis-Dreyfus in "Veep" — Julia Louis-Dreyfus in *Veep (TVDB)*

After a successful run on the sitcoms Seinfeld (1989-1998) for NBC and The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006-2010) for CBS, Julia Louis-Dreyfus turned to HBO for her next project. Veep was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom The Thick of It. Veep focused on Selena Meyer (Louis-Dreyfus), the first female vice president of the United States albeit a fictional one.

Debuting on this day, Veep also starred Anna Chlumsky, Tony Hale, Reid Scott, Timothy Simons, Matt Walsh, Sufe Bradshaw, Kevin Dunn, Gary Cole, Sam Richarson, Sarah Sutherland and Clear DuVall.

Over its seven-year run, Veep won numerous awards including 17 Primetime Emmy Awards. Julia won “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series) six times. The show’s finale episode aired on May 12, 2019.

2023: Why Fire-Breathing Dragons are Bad for Business

Maleficent in dragon form during a performance of Fantasmic! in Disneyland. — Fire-breathing dragon in *Fantasmic!* (Wikimedia Commons)

On this day in 2023, thousands of fans watching the show Fantasmic! along the shores of Disneyland’s “Rivers of America” were evacuated when the evil character, Maleficent (from the movie Sleeping Beauty) had turned into a fire-breathing dragon – and then proceeded to burn herself down to the ground.

While children saw Sorcerer Mickey Mouse defeat Maleficent, in reality, a leak of hydraulic fluid dripped out of the dragon’s mouth before being engulfed in flames. Yes, Mickey was supposed to vanquish the beast, but not like that. While the dragon became extra-crispy, no one else was hurt by the blaze.

As it turns out, Disneylnad had some trouble with the dragon in 2022 too. She was replaced by fuzzy images being projected in front of a water mist “screen” for a few months before being restored in place and many months ahead of the fiery inferno. So severe was the damage, the dragon did not appear again on the show until May 2024

This incident is not the first time that the dragon has caught herself on fire. In 2018, over at the Magic Kingdom in Florida, the dragon was featured in the Festival of Fantasy parade traveling down Main Street U.S.A. and promptly engulfed into flames for no apparent reason. Again, no one was hurt except the park’s reputation.

1864: America’s Two-Cent Coins

1865 two-cent coins. *(Wikimedia Commons)*

On this day in 1864, US federal law changed the design of the penny coin and authorized the minting of the two-cent piece coin with the Coinage Act. As a result of the law, the phrase, “In God We Trust” was first minted on the new coin. Later the next year on March 3rd, Congress allowed the Mint Director to place the phrase on all gold and silver coins. In 1865, the three-cent piece was minted too. Both coins were popular at first, but by 1873, the two-cent piece was gone (the three-cent piece stayed around until 1889.

Fun Fact: In 1956, “In God we Trust” replaced “E Pluribus Unum” as the nation’s motto.