At the recently announced Emmy Awards, Hacks won for Outstanding Comedy Series and the lead actress Jean Smart won for her performance in the show for the third time. Over its three seasons, Hacks had earned multiple nominations and won many of them, which is both surprising and pleasing for a show, which, pared down to its essence, is about ageing. The protagonist is Deborah Vance, a 70-ish woman who is a stage and screen comedian fighting the marginalisation of older women in show business.
There is a lot that is wonderful about Hacks , most of all Jean Smart, who works magic with the role, which is also very well written—a woman who is self-aware, knows just what she is up against, but refuses to become a has-been. She has the younger and very enthusiastic Ava (Hannah Einbinder) as her writing assistant, sounding board and surrogate daughter. In the unapologetic pursuit of success and continuing relevance in a fast-changing, youth-oriented world, Deborah was not a hands-on mother to her own daughter DJ (Kaitlin Olsen), who grew up troubled, resentful and addicted to drugs.
Meanwhile, Ava has a problematic relationship with her eccentric mother and sees in Deborah a woman to admire, and even love as the kind of mother figure she never had. It is, of course, simplistic to reduce the unpredictability of their friendship to psychobabble, but they do give off both warm and prickly vibes. Deborah can be supportive and sympathetic towards Ava, and, at the same time, sue her for.