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Hacks season three review – finally! TV’s best comedy makes it to the UK
The third outing of this dysfunctional love story has taken nine months to get a UK release, but the winner of the Emmy for outstanding comedy series is here – and it’s hugely compelling TVTo get a handle on the US sitcom’s evolution over the past few decades, look no further than the artform’s highest accolade: the Emmy award for outstanding comedy series. Until the mid 00s, wisecrack-heavy domestic crowd-pleasers (Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld) tended to scoop the prize. Then came the cringe, with mockumentaries (The Office, Modern Family) and workplace satires (30 Rock, Veep) taking over. The 2020s, however, have seen the award undergo something of an identity crisis. After the saccharine dramedy Ted Lasso triumphed two years on the trot, the gong was given to The Bear, an emotionally haunting series about a grieving Chicago chef that many believe is categorically Not a Comedy – including Emmy hosts Dan and Eugene Levy, who made a gag to that effect during the 2024 ceremony.That year, fittingly, The Bear lost out – to HBO Max’s Hacks, a show nobody could accuse of being light on jokes. Chronicling the fortunes of seventysomething standup Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) – think a slightly less outrageous Joan Rivers – who is paired with young comedy writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) to revamp her stale Vegas act, Hacks is myopically fixated on comedy, from the mechanics of the one-liner to the near-the-knuckle banter that forms the bedrock of Ava and Deborah’s relationship. But funnily enough, the show doesn’t really diverge from the recent Emmy pattern: it might be preoccupied with humour, but the script never once tips into giddy hilarity. Hacks just isn’t that bothered about making you laugh. Continue reading...
The third outing of this dysfunctional love story has taken nine months to get a UK release, but the winner of the Emmy for outstanding comedy series is here – and it’s hugely compelling TV
To get a handle on the US sitcom’s evolution over the past few decades, look no further than the artform’s highest accolade: the Emmy award for outstanding comedy series. Until the mid 00s, wisecrack-heavy domestic crowd-pleasers (Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld) tended to scoop the prize. Then came the cringe, with mockumentaries (The Office, Modern Family) and workplace satires (30 Rock, Veep) taking over. The 2020s, however, have seen the award undergo something of an identity crisis. After the saccharine dramedy Ted Lasso triumphed two years on the trot, the gong was given to The Bear, an emotionally haunting series about a grieving Chicago chef that many believe is categorically Not a Comedy – including Emmy hosts Dan and Eugene Levy, who made a gag to that effect during the 2024 ceremony.
That year, fittingly, The Bear lost out – to HBO Max’s Hacks, a show nobody could accuse of being light on jokes. Chronicling the fortunes of seventysomething standup Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) – think a slightly less outrageous Joan Rivers – who is paired with young comedy writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) to revamp her stale Vegas act, Hacks is myopically fixated on comedy, from the mechanics of the one-liner to the near-the-knuckle banter that forms the bedrock of Ava and Deborah’s relationship. But funnily enough, the show doesn’t really diverge from the recent Emmy pattern: it might be preoccupied with humour, but the script never once tips into giddy hilarity. Hacks just isn’t that bothered about making you laugh. Continue reading...
