Hacks' creators say the comedy is a tribute to the funny women who never got their due
TV Features Hacks
Though Hacks is a comedy about a legendary stand-up whiling away her career in Las Vegas, its origin traces back to a surprising place: A monster truck rally in Portland, Maine. Series creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky had hit it off while working on Comedy Central’s beloved Broad City, so the trio were collaborating on Downs’ episode of Netflix’s erstwhile (and underrated) sketch showcase, The Characters. En route to a monster truck rally to film the “Big Trucks” sketch, they found themselves reminiscing about women in the entertainment industry—like Broad City supporting player Susie Essman—who haven’t received the same kind of industry veneration as some of their male contemporaries. In the video above, Aniello, Downs, and Statsky share how that discussion spun out into their new dark comedy, Hacks, starring the great Jean Smart as Deborah Vance, a very funny woman who has resigned herself to thinking her best days are behind her. The group also shares their favorite Smart performances, discusses how they knew newcomer Hannah Einbinder was perfect for the series’ co-starring role, and reveals just how quickly the first season came together.
Hacks first two episodes premiere on May 13 HBO Max, with two new episodes dropping every Thursday.
13 Comments
I’ve watched both episodes, it’s just fantastic.There’s a scene in the 2nd episode where Deborah tells Ava what “hard” really is. As a woman about the same age as Jean, it just broke my heart. I’ve been there. You scratch and claw and work your ass off and get treated like shit by people with half your ability, and the only way you get respect and power is to take it. AND IT NEVER STOPS. I like how Deborah will do stuff for herself, she tells her housekeeper, “No you’re busy” and changes out the CO tank on her at home soda fountain. She’s not a prima donna.
Jean Smart is a national treasure, like I need to tell you that.
Yes to everything you said. While watching it, my husband said Jean Smart is the next Betty White – she can do anything and does everything well.
It amazes me this is the same woman who played Charlene on Designing Women. I had no idea the depth of her talent. Jean & Regina King (IMO) are two women I just cannot get enough of. I’m rewatching Southland on HBO Max. Again, my opinion, but one of the best shows about police I’ve ever seen.
Southland was written, directed and paced like a film, with honesty and attention to detail, emotional heft and a superb cast. Certainly worth another watch, thanks for letting me know where to find it.
You’re right on all counts. And the fact that every character has flaws, but still tries to do the right thing. I do want to smack Sammy’s wife Tammi. She is the worst. I’m almost finished with my rewatch, but I’m sure I’ll just go back and watch again.
I didn’t even know Jean Smart was the only non-Southerner in the cast of Designing Women. Now I am even more impressed with her!
It was a surprising treat, fresh and uncompromising. Smart plays it perfectly but has a great cast of character actors surrounding her. Two episodes showcased but I could have kept watching, it was really enjoyable. Putting the pepper shaker next to the one she already has with a satisfied smirk, little touches like that keep it funny and clever.
I wondered about that scene….duplicate pepper shaker or completing the the S&P set?
I did enjoy the two I saw and am looking forward to more in a few days. I hope we get to see more Kaitlin Olson soon!
As a measure of her smug/satisfied look, I was guessing it is a duplicate. She HAD to have this “rare” thing and..Oh! Wait! She already has one. My favorite thing about the writing so far? These people are not really admirable, in fact they are self-involved, selfish and downright cringy. Yet instead of disliking them, you are happy to go along for the ride. One bad step and you’ve lost the audience; the writers walked the fine line and pulled it off. In addition they jumped right in to the story rather than spend 1-2 episodes on backstory origins, which is refreshing. We have time to find out what these people are all about and right now it is more interesting to simply watch them struggle. The cast so far is wonderful— not the obvious choices and surprisingly cohesive for a new show. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Thanks for this piece, Cameron. I was going to give Hacks a pass because what little advertising there is didn’t do much to sell it. I’m always grateful for more (positive) content about women in the Industry and I could sure AF use a laugh right now.
Scratch that. 13 minutes into the first episode and I never want to see any of these people again.
Am I the only one who thinks HBO is doing their shows a disservice by releasing them serially, week by week? I enjoyed the first two episodes of this show we’re discussing, but I’m not 100% I’ll be on board this time next week. We’ve become so easily distracted by the sheer volume of new shows that are regularly available. I mean, as soon as the new season of Ragnarok is released, I’ll be off binging that. Who knows if I’ll make it back to Hacks.That’s not to say the show isn’t good or that it’s unworthy of my time – by all means it is.
I actually think comedies work better spread out than binged.
Anyway, yes there’s plenty of distraction, but then the app remembers what you’ve watched right? I’m sure HBO’s programmers are constantly tweaking their, ‘hey remember you started this program?’ recommendation algorithms.