8 Reasons Why ‘Hacks’ Should Be Your Next Comedy Obsession

Hacks, one of TV’s wittiest and most heartfelt comedies, returns to streaming platform Max for its eagerly anticipated third season May 2. If you haven’t started watching, what are you waiting for? The Las Vegas–set series stars TV legend Jean Smart, 72, as stand-up comedian Deborah Vance, one of the biggest (and hardest-working) performers on the Strip and off. When she’s not busy with her residency at the Palmetto Casino, she’s shilling products on a home shopping channel or doing fan events that might make you think of the late Joan Rivers.

​When her position at the Palmetto is threatened, Vance realizes she needs to give her career a major shot in the arm to appeal to a new generation of fans. Enter Ava (Hannah Einbinder), a 20-something L.A. comedy writer with whom Vance shares an agent. Ava is on the verge of being canceled for an insensitive tweet and could be just what Vance needs. Their mismatched partnership kicks off the odd-couple relationship that fuels the series. If Smart’s presence alone isn’t motivation enough to binge it, here are a few more reasons to fall in love with the comedy, which has won six Emmys.

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(Left to right) The cast of "Designing Women": Delta Burke, Annie Potts, Meshach Taylor, Jean Smart and Dixie Carter.

Lifetime TV/Everett Collection

​1. Hacks proves that Jean Smart can do anything

The Designing Women star has been an awards magnet for decades, with two guest actress Emmys for Frasier and a supporting actress win for the sitcom Samantha Who?, plus nods in the drama and limited series categories. In recent years, she’s taken on darker roles in must-see projects such as Fargo, Watchmen and Mare of Easttown, but Hacks offered a chance for her to once again flex her comedic muscles. And she’s just as sharp as she’s always been. When she won back-to-back lead actress Emmys for Hacks, she earned a unique honor: She’s only the second actress after Betty White to win lead, supporting and guest actress Emmys in the comedy category. And at the age of 70, she was one of the oldest to win in the lead category. She technically ranks second after Ruth Gordon, who was 82 when she won for her one-episode stint on Taxi, before the guest category had been created.

Jean Smart, left, and Hannah Einbinder.

HBO Max

​2. The show is a celebration of intergenerational friendship

One of the beauties of Hacks is the amazing chemistry between Smart and Einbinder — despite their nearly 45-year age gap. They banter, they fight, they hone their comedy-writing skills, and at different times throughout the series, they might think of themselves as frenemies, enemies, confidantes or collaborators. “They complement one another so beautifully,” Einbinder said on Today. “They exhibit a very classic dynamic that we haven’t really seen between two women before, and frankly, I think they are both compelling, funny, interesting people.” In some ways, that mentor/mentee relationship continues off-screen. Einbinder said the lessons she’s learned from Smart go “far beyond acting,” and “it centers more around being a good person and a lovely light in the lives of other people. That’s really what Jean is to me and, I know, to all of us on set.”

​Don’t miss this: Jean Smart Talks Family, Grief and Aging: ‘Every Day Is Precious Now,’ on AARP Members Only Access