Hulu’s ‘Battleground’ Is A Reminder That Political Campaigns Can Be Filled With Heart, Hope, And Actual Human Beings

In this current political election, it’s sometimes hard to remember that it’s not just about the people running for President, but the many, many folks behind the campaigns as well. Hulu’s original series Battleground is a fantastic reminder of this.
With all the shenanigans that we’ve witnessed over the past year and a half, it’s supremely easy to point to Veep as the scary accurate yet always funny TV show closest to the circus that is the 2016 election. But Battleground takes the inside look at what goes on in politics, on a smaller level, and pairs it with the intimacy of the interpersonal relationships among a small team, à la The Office. The 13 mockumentary-style half-hour episodes follow the campaign team for Wisconsin State Senator Deirdre Samuels as she runs for U.S. Senate. From the primaries though Election Day, the show chronicles the ups and many downs of those important fall months.
Battleground does mockumentary in an interesting way. With The Office, the whole point of the documentary that they were supposed to be shooting seemed to be lost along the way. And unlike Veep, where the cameras are rarely addressed, the characters in Battleground are much more intertwined. They break the fourth wall numerous times, telling the cameras to “fuck off” and shutting off their mics when swapping private information. They are acutely aware they are being filmed, and they’ve seen these types of documentaries before, so they will ask (first nicely, then menacingly) that certain footage be edited out. At one point, a subject even gets a peek at footage he was not privy to, also causing another subject to threaten crew members. All this is to say, the show sticks to its mockumentary premise tighter than many others ever do.

The show also stays true to what goes on behind the scenes at a campaign. There are goofballs and lovebirds and workaholics, and they must tackle the speed bumps that arise, including their candidate—gasp— naming the wrong quarterback! Scandals and switcheroos and cunning competition are all in a day’s work for this crew, a long day’s work. Between the calls and the pamphlets and speeches and the strategies, it’s impossible not to get caught up in the concoction of excitement and stress that seeps into every aspect of the political world.

Also seeping in? The hookups! The inevitable personal relationships bring a real human element to both the show and the way you’ll think about elections as a whole. Some are adorable and some are devastating, but seeing that actual people with feelings are hard at work for a cause they believe in, sometimes putting their entire life on pause, makes campaigns seem less…evil.
Battleground was released in 2012, but there is no better time to watch it than now. You’ll breeze through a binge of this show way before this election will be over, but it might even make you look at it in a new light. Or at the very least, it’s a worthy distraction.
[Watch Battleground on Hulu]