Hacks Season 4 - Part 1

I’ve loved the show but, you know….maybe it’s time? How much more can they stretch it out realistically? The constant “I’m a lesbian GenZ” shtick is sort of played out too.

R1: I think season five should be its last season and we all know it's getting renewed for season five. I agree Jean and the creatives shouldn't be the last ones at the party.

Just watched both episodes and this remains the best comedy in TV. I had no idea who Robby Hoffman was, but she's hilarious, not a beat missed. Jimmy's red sweater in the second episode was to die for. Helen Hunt is starting to look like the Changelings in DS9, I have no idea what's going on there.

r1 The reviews are all glowing, it's most definitely not the time to pull the plug yet, show is as fresh as ever.

[quote]The constant “I’m a lesbian GenZ” shtick is sort of played out too.

I found it telling that she had to consult an even younger Zoomer on the Insta caption for her NYT cover because she's already losing touch with what's cool. Kayla, on the other hand, still seems in tune with what's hot and not.

This is one of those shows I keep watching even though I get no enjoyment out of it. It feels like something to get through and get it over with. I can tell that some of the dialogue is supposed to be funny, but it’s not to me. It’s mostly unpleasant. The fat chick is the saving grace for the comedy. Mark Indelicato Is always adorable, even when he’s chunky and I don’t like chunky, so that’s saying something.

I don't understand how you can allow yourself to get chunky when you're on one of the best shows on TV. Especially now with Ozempic around. I mean, that's a pretty noticeable transformation for Indelicato in my eyes.

I think it will get at least two more seasons.

It's not just the Deborah and Ava stuff anymore, the Jimmy and Kayla side of things is getting funnier and funnier as well. When he trod in dog shit in his own office, I nearly lost it. A Lassie reboot!

I do wonder what they intend to do with Marcus, he's the one character I could actually see leaving the show.

I think the best moment was at the very end of season 1.

When Jean Smart told Ava that after the show ended that she would never speak to her again…and meant it.

The look on Hannah’s face when Jean said that was very moving.

[quote] When he trod in dog shit in his own office, I nearly lost it.

I had a feeling that there would be people who would find that funny.

Yes, it takes all sorts to make the world go round, surprised your humourless ass hasn't learned that yet at your advanced age.

r9 is why this whole place is getting more and more deserted.

I really enjoy this show - but the tension some times makes it hard to watch. I'm going to be devastated if its not a happy ending. 😀 Debra's show had better kill it!!

I felt like it was a setup for developments later in the season. That said, there were some good moments like the Deborah/Ava hug after the dinner party.

Helen Hunt did well in her speech emphasizing that they weren't taking the job seriously enough, but my God, as was mentioned above, she looks like someone threw acid in her face. Given her sour reputation, that's entirely possible.

I think Mark Indelicato is looking super hot these days. I kind of want to hit it. When he isn't speaking.

First two episodes were very good. Marcus leaving was sad, but makes sense. I am just not a Robby Hoffman fan. Much like early Kayla on the show, it's not like her presence will ruin the show for me or anything. But, I don't find her schtick that funny.

Still enjoying the show as much as ever. Hard to see what direction they are going to go in. Deborah realizing that she's turned Ava into a version of herself and tries to stop it?

So is the feuding completely over? I thought that aspect could get a lot of mileage and be explored more - getting the show together despite being at war with each other.

I fucking love when Deborah showed up outside Ava’s mall apartment and she tried to run up the escalator the wrong way.

I thought the first two episodes were great and very funny.

I found it dark compared to earlier seasons... so not quite as funny, for me. But they effectively mined the fury on both sides. It just feels a bit different to me. Still, can't miss.

[Quote] but doesn't Paul W. Downs know woke is over?

Why, because the stupidest 23% of America put your boyfriend back in office?

Think again.

I feel like this shows popularity is made up. Unlike the White Lotus. I don't know anyone who cares about it.

Jean Smart is brilliant. Keep the show going on and on. I'm nowhere tired of any of it.

'Hacks' is the best show to come along in ages.

I'm glad Marcus is leaving the show (hopefully). There's nothing wrong with that actor but they were never able to do anything interesting with his character.

I didn't even notice that Damien had gotten chunky. He looked fine to me.

I enjoyed the first few seasons but lost interest during a plot line about the lead characters getting lost on a hike. I made the mistake of telling my sister that I felt the writing was getting preachy and some plot elements were strained and implausible, like Jean Smart’s character doing a keg stand on a college campus. My sister was pretty disappointed in me for saying that.

[quote] I didn't even notice that Damien had gotten chunky. He looked fine to me.

Are you saying that compared to your size?

We share your sister's disappointment in you r25 Please invite her to post here while you proceed to the nearest grease fire.

Please post a shirtless pic, r26

Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder have an insane amount of comedy chemistry. I love any scene with the two of them in it together.

R20, I completely agree. It’s good but the tone has changed. Hoping it bends back again.

I can’t help but admire Jean Smart in almost any performance. She’s a great pleasure to watch. I do agree that some of the conflict feels constructed, but that’s needed to advance a plot and storyline.

Some funny lines make it into the script. I liked one about “the oldest whore after Mary Magdalene”.

The best exchanges between the two leads are when they use humor to call out each other’s inherent flaws and weaknesses. I also like the production quality of the series (the lighting in particular).

R30, I rewatched both episodes and now I'm reversing my opinion. They've made some clear and unsentimental choices. They moved to LA, but it seems they haven't moved the whole original cast a la Laverne and Shirley or some such bullshit where every character uproots their lives and moves. People come in life, people go. Jean Smart so far as I am concerned won her next Emmy with the this is what happens to me every time my dream comes true melt down monologue. It was a great riff on what drives these people and the intensity of the need that never really goes away... Norma Desmond without the camp? It's definitely getting a little more dramedy than comedy with a few dramatic insights, but it's a really well crafted reinvention. By series four you could be running out of gas.. I think they've breathed new life into it, just takes a bit of getting used to. (I still feel they've a bit heavy on the Jimmy and Kayla content.)

Hacks - The Ozempic Season

I can definitely make use of the "I hear you're in the running with Mary Magdalene for world's oldest whore."

Mary Magdalene being a hooker was debunked long ago. Typical of this show's lazy approach to comedy.

None of Deborah's supposedly hilarious stand-up is at all believable; that's been the show's problem since the beginning.

I agree with what was said upthread — people are pretending this is a great comedy, and it really isn't. It's a career hosanna for Jean Smart (well deserved), but the anemic writing lets her down constantly.

The whole "women power" thing that Jimmy was saying wasn't meant to be woke, it was him kissing Ava and Deborah's ass.

I think the creators/writers have said they mapped out a five season show, and while I love the show I also agree that there's only so many times they can do the push/pull between Deborah and Ava, so hopefully it's five and done. I think this review says it all.

I hated last season but this season so far is MUCH better. I really liked it.

[quote]I agree with what was said upthread — people are pretending this is a great comedy, and it really isn't.

Thank you for pointing out that the empress has no clothes.

R35 I agree but got flamed above and in real life for mentioning that. I wish we could be honest about the quality of media without arousing competitive progressivism.

Please, if you want to Hate Watch, just say you're hate watching. Nobody's being fooled by using scholarly terminology.

Love the show; thought first two episodes of season 4 were very good. But, episode 3 was pretty bad.

As a huge fan I have to be honest; I’m not digging this season thus far.

The writing is sharp and the plot is focused. But there are just no laughs. Every episode of every previous season had at least one outrageous, laugh-out-loud moment. This season…not so much.

The Deborah-Ava feud has been so mean spirited and ugly that it’s left no room for humor. They’ve boxed it into a challenging corner where the situations are so intense and coarse that it’s challenging to mine for laughs.

There were a couple of chuckles with the writers’ retreat but nothing memorable. The main supporting cast is also being wasted as they make room for the writing team members.

Hopefully it can get back on track because when it’s on, there’s no funnier show on television.

I love Mayor Jo.

Liked episode 2 more, 1 and 3 seemed a bit try hard/meh. But definitely still liking it overall. Just get back to a good dynamic with the two main characters. Do that.

I'm eager to binge watch. Fan of Jean (although enough with the repeated Emmy wins) Maybe Hannah will win this year finally.

I prefer the more objective reviews instead of the eye rolling "Greatest show on TV ever!" hyperbole.

I actually don’t mind that it is more dramatic lately.

I think that would have saved Veep. Julia Louis Dreyfus is a good dramatic actress too and if the show had sometimes leaned into the drama, I think it would have sustained the last few seasons better.

Roseanne back in the 90s was good at mixing pathos with comedy

Episode 3 was a waste of time. Just the final scene with the HR woman made me smile.

I thought it started rolling once the mayor showed up. That was some funny stuff.

Mayor Jo is a scream, she should have a scene in every episode.

A roomful of new writers, and they’re mostly ugly, not funny, an annoying bad actors. That throw-up guy was horrible. That creature who goes by the name “Holmes,” got a huge makeover since her days on that horrible show, Welcome to Flatch—but she's still difficult to look, and she’s never been funny.

Kayla and this bland passel of new writers seriously dilute what was once a solid comedy with two great leads and a strong ensemble into a puddle of “let’s get this over with."

The eternal problem with this show, probably similarly to Mrs. Maisel (which I never watched past the first season), is that “famed comedienne” Deborah Vance has never once told a legitimately funny joke. So the “comedy” and success thereof is always based on the other characters’ reactions, including fake audiences who undoubtedly would need to be told what “jokes” are actually funny.

Centring an episode - probably this entire season - on whether the characters can right funny jokes or not doesn’t bode well for entertainment purposes because Hacks will certainly never rely on the laughter of its actual viewing audience to determine if anything Deborah says is funny.

It’s sort of like watching a show about a master composer made by people who can only tap out notes with one finger on a Casio keyboard. We already know where this is going. Deborah’s show will be No. 1 as the actual show drifts off into its own fantasyland of how a late night show works as if The Larry Sanders Show actually never happened.

Why did Kayla need her own “Kayla”? That seems really tired. And Jimmy is supposed to roll his eyes at both of them?

When the show started they spent a lot of time casting the perfect actors for the characters they had written. Now they are just trying to plug "friends and family" into supporting roles as they enjoy watching them, but they don't make sense for the show.

I love Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder is very good, but I'm over the repetitive feuding between Deborah and Ava. The writers' room segments weren't funny, though I did love the mayor of Las Vegas.

My partner insists on watching the behind-the-scenes featurettes after each episode, where Jen Statsky, Lucia Aniello, and Paul Downs walk us through every narrative beat and metaphor. Some of it is very obvious and heavy-handed "the coyote blocking Deborah's car is Ava, because she won't back down!". I don’t know when this trend of over-explaining became so ubiquitous, but I miss when the work was allowed to speak for itself.

[quote] By series four you could be running out of gas.. I think they've breathed new life into it

It's their Edna's Edibles.

What we think about Debra’s poppers related injury this week.

R56 Honestly? The only genuine laugh in the show.

Still the most unfunny season yet.

Is Paul Downs' character gay?

R58 he feels almost asexual to me. I don’t think we seen him express sexual attraction to either men or women? It would track if he was gay. Most of the men that Debra has around her are gay.

I'm sure Paul wouldn't mind having some on screen action.

I don’t mind the drama. When Jean listened to Carol Burnett and chose to present the show to just Ava, that was incredibly moving

Not as bad as last week but not great. First two eps of the season were good.

The first episode of Deborah's Talk Show was dreadful. NOTHING new and exciting - and the big get? Randy Newman who looked like he was melting into a wheelchair? Are you f*in kidding me? That show would only kill with the DL demographic. Terrible writing. So disappointed. And the traffic on this thread proves it.

R63 I assumed that was the point of Randy Newman? She choosing things she knows her audience likes. And honestly if deb was real her most devoted audience would be datalounge users. It looks like next episode is being set up to be about response to show getting low ratings.

I could see Jean submitting "I Love LA" as her Emmy episode but I'm sure she'll have better material later in the season.

She might as well have Dorothy Kilgallen as a guest!

I thought it was typical of this show that when her late night debut was premiering in the hospital waiting room nobody laughed. But people still said she was great. Sure.

Jimmy looks good for 42!

This show has largely been driven by Jean's acting. If the show writers were capable of writing a truly funny late night show, they could make a lot more money doing that than writing this niche show.

[quote] I could see Jean submitting "I Love LA" as her Emmy episode but I'm sure she'll have better material later in the season.

I wouldn’t be so sure. Extremely weak season and could qualify as a drama at this point.

I’m surprised no one’s mentioned Ava being groomed to be part of a throuple. That came out of nowhere and was telegraphed like a lightning bolt.

And Helen Hunt with a toddler? She’s in her 60s. I guess it was adopted or a frozen egg. Helen Hunt having heterosexual relations, even for a role, is the stuff of science fiction.

I hate to say it, as I've been a fan of the show since the beginning, but this season is really not good.

And in what world would a network let a 70 year old helm a late night talk show?

^^and not just a 70 year old, but a 70 year old who isn't funny.

r72, she GOT Randy F*cking Newman as her guest on the opener. That's AMAZING!

I'm glad someone else noticed the absurdity of Helen Hunt having a small child, r70.

She's VERY stiff and one-note considering how long she's been acting. Jean Smart is way more believable and natural.

Maybe the kid can have playdates with Nicole Kidman's adorable toddlers

"And in what world would a network let a 70 year old helm a late night talk show?"

They briefly reference that in the fictional world of Hacks, late night has nose dived and Deborah got the job because no one else wanted it, yet the out-of-touch network still wanted to give late night a go. So, the answer is in the fictional world of Hacks.

Agree that this season is lacking.

Looks like the show's entering the pre-Jump The Shark period where they can now get famous guest stars, but most of the time, they really shouldn't.

If you watch the post-credits round table with the creators, it becomes obvious they’re inhaling their own fumes this season. I sense after the reaction to this season thus far, Season 5 will be a “back to basics” approach that returns the laughs and hopefully the Vegas setting.

It’s become clear how crucial Vegas was as a character this season and how truly cliched and boring Los Angeles is as a poor substitute.

I've just sat through the first two episodes of season four. They were surprisingly watchable.

Well of course they’re all inhaling their own fumes, R78. They’re all working on a set where they have to pretend Paul W. Downs is straight.

The first two were good. The last two were questionable . So sad.

[quote] She's VERY stiff and one-note considering how long she's been acting.

Helen Hunt is the Sam’s Club Jodie Foster. Only less feminine.

My biggest beef with this season is how unrealistic all of this network stuff is. Last year when they were setting it up it felt like it had some gravitas - Tony Goldwyn felt like an actual executive and there were high stakes with Jean sleeping with him, etc

The blackmail scheme with Ava was masterfully done.

But now what we’re in the trenches of the network it all seems so inconsequential- bumbling executives and dopey HR classes and employees.

As a result, Eva and Deborah have no real stakes - they’re smarter than the people they’re working for!

Imagine how much better it would be if their employers were actually concerned about the bottom line and her success in the new role! Deborah and Eva would be forced to set aside their fued in order to prevail over their corporate overlords.

What were are gonna get is some mushy makeup probably around episode 6 that is completely unearned.

It saddens me how much this show has declined. The previous seasons were so good and consistent. Yet each episode this season feels like a chore to watch. Even Jean Smart’s charisma can’t save the lackluster writing this time around.

“ My biggest beef with this season is how unrealistic all of this network stuff is….. dopey HR classes”

That is practically a documentary about how awful those HR classes are in real life

So true r85. As one who has suffered through bullshit HR classes, they are pretty close to what is shown on Hacks. They're interminable.

The writers/creators have made the mistake of basking in the acclaim that was 89% Jean Smart, 6% the ensemble and 5% the writing.

Having said that, iffy episodes of this show are still superior to so much else. Jean Smart is sublime.

It's lame that they can't even come up with consistency with such short episode seasons. The BBC has done this for decades without breaking a sweat.

Americans want a pat on the back for being "daring" for doing shorter seasons and still churn out tired, reductive writing in limited time frames. I'm not impressed.

The Emmys will still reward this, along with The Bear, despite the fact that both seasons are considered excrement. Just because. Again, reductive.

Also see Ted Lasso.

You may be right r78. Isn't there some old rule: don't give your characters their heart's desire. Well maybe not, but I did worry that giving Debra the talk show she'd always dreamed of, they were going off track. I don't think she has to lose all the time, but it's a big risk when you win in the way you always wanted. Make them win in some other, unexpected way seems better. Reinvent herself in some new, unexpected way that surprises everyone.

r82 More like the Temu Jodie! LOL

She should have hit Burnett up as her first guest.

[quote] I sense after the reaction to this season thus far, Season 5 will be a “back to basics” approach that returns the laughs and hopefully the Vegas setting.

The Plan To Save Hacks!

R91, the rule is if you ever go looking for your heart’s desire again, never look further than your own back yard.

I thought episode four strengthened again, a little... the dark hostility ebbed a little. It was better. But yeah, I agree there's a problem generally in that Deborah isn't that funny on the show. Markoe was funny. But there could have been a whole episode built around Ava's insecurity over Markoe - Ava watching out of the corner of her eye and the resolution is the whole time Markoe wasn't scheming to get Ava's job, she was scheming to get an OK on bringing her dogs on set - or decided to bring the dog on set in defiance of some rule at the end. There was something there maybe. Agree with the assertion upthread the season would have been better with a quick pivot from blackmail to both Ava and Deborah realizing they're in over their heads in a shark tank and building the whole season as the two of them as voices of reason in a world of Hollywood cutthroat losers. They could have done a Howard Beale thing where Deb turns against her corporate overlords and her comedy keeps going from strength to strength - and the ratings with it - as she turns her comedic sights on them and their products. They work better as team and while the sentimentality can be moving in moments, I have a feeling we're just building toward a great big hug.

Was there something in the ER waiting room scene, because the only people into it were the two leads - and they were only chuckling.

The poppers thing was funny if a fairly tired trope.

I found Ava's three way build kinda sexy. I don't get the Einbinder hate. I think she's a very likeable presence with a great voice.

Finally, is there some significance in the Randy Newman scene? Because I just don't get it.

This season feels like one with an idea, but no themes.

Ava is the only humor this season.

Hannah E ^^

Do they have a writer from late night working on the show? They should, and have that person write the monologues for Deborah.