An off-putting season of ‘Hacks' just opened the door in the Emmy race
'Hacks' won the comedy series Emmy last year on the strength of a campaign that proclaimed: Vote for us! We're actually a comedy (unlike, you know, 'The Bear').
So what happens this year when the show stopped being funny?
I'm Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter. There's not much to laugh about these days, so let's pick our spots and consider the TV series vying for television's top award.
Let me just say at the outset that I enjoy 'Hacks.' And like everyone else on the planet, I adore Jean Smart and appreciate that Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky created a role worthy of her talents. Comparing notes with Smart on the best sad sing-along songs is a memory I'll always treasure, and even inspired me for a time to dip back into listening to 'love songs on the Coast.'
At its essence, 'Hacks' is a love story between Smart's stand-up legend Deborah Vance and Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), the young writer who helped Deborah reinvent her career. They come from different generations and possess distinct comic sensibilities. They fight, hurt each other, separate and ultimately reunite after realizing that they're better together. They get each other. Or at least, Ava gets Deborah. And that's enough because Deborah is the star and she doesn't really need to bother understanding Ava's Gen Z peculiarities. She can just roll her eyes.
Their mutual dependence is believable enough. They both live for work. So much so that at the end of 'Hacks'' third season, Ava has blackmailed Deborah, an act that lands her the head writer job that Deborah had promised to give her on her late-night talk show. Ava was but the learner, now she's the master. Well played, Dark Lady of the Sith.
It was, as our old friend Jeff Probst would say, an epic blindside, and you can understand why this current season would begin with bitter acrimony between the two women, a situation so toxic that the network brought in a human resources rep to keep them from harming each other.
The animosity wasn't fun to watch. The tone was shrill and off-putting. Was there a joke that landed in the season's first half? I don't remember one, but maybe that's because I was curled up in a fetal position watching the plot unfold.
At least amid the drama of 'The Bear,' I could get some some inspiration for a good set of kitchen knives.
Of course, Deborah and Ava got back together, which was a relief because that HR lady was annoying. The season's penultimate episode was ridiculous, but in all the best ways, surprising and emotionally satisfying. Helen Hunt finally scored a big moment. And Julianne Nicholson showed some moves as Dance Mom that I never imagined her possessing. Get that character to rehab and into Season 5.
Yes, 'Hacks' can still entertain. Even the anticlimactic final episode gave Smart the opportunity to play boozy and bored, showcasing her depth as a dramatic actor. One would think that after what transpired, Deborah would have more opportunities, even with a noncompete clause, to parlay her ethical stance into something more meaningful than a sad casino gig in Singapore. But the finale set up one final comeback — final because 'Hacks' was pitched with a five-season arc. And we're on the doorstep.
At least they won't have to contrive to separate Ava and Deborah again.
So, by all means, nominate 'Hacks' for comedy series again. I'd rather rewatch it than nod off during the tepid 'Four Seasons.' And maybe since the show's creators have known (since 2015) what the final scene will be, we'll have a persuasive fifth season possessing the energy of a great Deborah Vance comeback.
In the meantime, keep last year's mandate going and give the Emmy to a show that was consistently funny.
Give the Emmy to 'The Studio.'
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