Here’s something you don’t see every day — Max has just brought back a show (Hacks) that’s so entertaining, so consistently good, that through yesterday it had a perfect 100% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes for all three seasons of the show.
The show’s newest critics score has slipped ever so slightly since then, down to 96% as of this writing, but that’s still as strong an indication as you can get that Hacks — starring Jean Smart as a legendary Las Vegas comedian — is a solid show that’s very much worth your time.
The thing I still can’t get over about the show, which returned with the first two episodes of the new season yesterday, is that Season 3 debuted with a third perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, something I think you’re hard-pressed to find in another streaming TV show. In terms of what Hacks is about, meanwhile, Smart plays Deborah Vance, the comedy legend who’s struggling to stay relevant in an ever-changing industry.
Deborah’s agent connects her with a young comedy writer named Ava (played by Hannah Einbinder). They clash at first, then form an unlikely bond, and together they eventually navigate the shared challenges of show business, personal relationships and more. Hacks’ exploration of themes like ageism and female friendships in the entertainment industry also make it a particularly enjoyable watch.
The new season of Hacks finds Deborah riding high off the success of her standup a year after parting ways with Ava, who’s pursuing new opportunities in Los Angeles.
It’s certainly not the biggest or highest-profile show on Max at the moment, but Hacks nonetheless feels like a callback to the network’s pre-Max days when HBO was a risk-taking, premium network without the encumbrance of a hit-or-miss streamer. Other shows need to take notes from Hacks, which has somehow managed to maintain its wit and charm across three seasons now, and I, for one, hope it doesn’t end anytime soon.
