LEST WE BE CONFUSED, the title is a joke… mostly. 

Hacks is the feel-good story of the television business right now. It’s firing on all cylinders – funny as f-ck, relevant, vulnerable, and nothing we’ve seen before, while also feeling like it’s a collection of super-familiar friends we know and love. And by “us”, I mean both we normals who are watching our parasocial friends – and the actual audience, who wasted no time jumping up for Jean Smart.

 

Who, in turn, wastes no time winning the audience back over to her side (as if they ever left) one more time…

Sometimes there are shows that just do the right thing at the right time. Hacks has been so sure of itself and where it’s going, and even though it’s a comedy, it shares a key trait with massive hits like The Sopranos and Breaking Bad in that it very overtly loves and hates the industry it portrays. Which makes everyone in the room free to love it, because they know it knows… you know, how the business is, the grossness and joy and everything in between. 

 

Which is totally due to the incredible (and honestly, improbable) three-person showrunning team of Lucia Anello, Jen Statsky, and Paul W. Downs, who have been through it and get it and are probably both delighted with the wins, and also keenly aware that they’re going to get all the deserved love for being an awesome show that hit an all-time high in season 3 – and the love for being “a real comedy” as opposed to certain other shows that maybe have worn out their welcome in the ill-fitting comedy category? 

 

Also, I should not be surprised that the acceptance speech from the Hacks team was surprising, but when’s the last time anyone in the entertainment business exalted getting older? No wonder these guys are so good - they’re playing a whole different game.

 

I don’t know how long Hacks will go, but given that Season 4 is a given, and that Deborah Vance would be terrified of staying too long at a party after you’re no longer the big thing, I think we all know this is a moment in time. Only this show can give us moments like this: 

My one and only nitpick? Where was Meg Stalter!? My panicked foray to her Instagram informed me that it was her birthday – but the show being nominated means she would absolutely be asked to be there. Of all the people in Hollywood, there is a very, very short list who would skip the Emmys for their birthday party but … why do I think Meg Stalter might be one of them? 

Outfit-wise, both Jean and Hannah went for the less-is-more option. Jean’s aubergine-with-chiffon is a standard issue gown – I mean, it’s custom couture by Laura Basci, but it’s also less memorable than her speech and her laugh, which is the point. 

 

As for Einbinder, she’s wearing a rose column from Louis Vuitton, and it’s beautiful, but also allows her to look like she DGAF, which you know was actually the shared directive between her and Jean. 

Hannah Einbinder and Jean Smart pose in the press room during the 76th Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theatre at L.A. Live in Los Angeles on September 15, 2024

Aren’t these two kind of inspiring? Can you imagine if somewhere out there is your perfect creative partner who is either 58 or unborn or like, Welsh, and someday you’re going to meet up and fulfill your shared destiny?