I’m kicking myself yet again this morning, a choice I’m well aware an awful lot of people would cheer. Suffice to say that I’m guilty of a lot of behavior that I’ve later learned to regret, often driven by spur-of-the-moment choices that are driven by triggerings from past situations where I probably should have taken action but for various reasons, often rooted in unreasonable fear, I didn’t. Yes, I’ve had a substantial amount of therapy over the years, and it sometimes surprises even me that in calmer and more introspective moments I’ve picked up enough to have the capacity for such self-introspection. As that great philosopher Frank Sinatra once crooned, “Regrets, I’ve had a few, but, then again, too few to mention”.
And that yang side of me was on no more obvious display then when I foolishly chose to enter the dating pool shortly after I chose to end my second marriage. Yes, at the time I had enough savings to at least be able to afford to treat someone decently, and I was still not far enough removed from my most recent executive position to still be able to legitimately call myself one. And fresh from my dramatic weight loss and surviving my near-death experience, I was feeling surprisingly worthy and feisty.
Truth be told, and I can admit this now via the lens of hindsight, at the time I was anything but emotionally ready to try to put myself out there. I was still quite raw from the trauma that escalated as my second marriage unraveled, and I was directly dealing on a far more regular basis with the fallout from it. I was being rejected and ignored a lot more often by folks I thought I could count on for emotional support and friendship. It was indeed a trying time. We were still all desperately trying to find loopholes to get vaccinated and there were still numerous draconian measures being imposed by Los Angeles that made in-person connecting seem like a treasonous act. And because I fell into a very narrow demographic and employment (more accurately, lack thereof) cell that had me far, far down that list for sticking, I was seen by an awful lot of folks as someone who should be physically avoided at all costs.
I dredge this all up because those memories all came flooding back when the fourth season of the acclaimed MAX comedy HACKS dropped earlier this week. When it premiered in the spring of 2021 I heard glowing stories about how hilarious and relatable it was from an otherwise lovely woman who I had begun communicating with that was an early adopter. She was in my age bracket, which meant we’re closer to the one that Jean Smart’s deliciously bitchy lead character Deborah Vance finds herself in. She had worked in production for years and spent several on the staff of Jay Leno’s TONIGHT SHOW, where she saw up close the behavior of many with similar resumes as Vance–an entrenched Las Vegas comedian with a writing staff and a massive ego. She raved over how close to home she felt the biting wit and concerns about aging resonated with her. And she was especially complimentary of the chemistry Smart/Vance had with the show’s other lead protagonist, the engaging Hannah Einbinder, who plays the struggling Gen Z-ish writer Ava Daniels, a character that latches onto a job on Vance’s staff as almost a last resort and eventually rises within that world to become both friend and adversary.
We had an extended discussion on these points–and yes, we talked about other subjects, too–when this woman finally agreed to meet me in person as a quasi-celebration of my second vaccine. But mind you, with an awful lot of that “utmost of precaution”–at an outdoor venue, where she was double-masking and clearly intent on keeping social distance. The outdoor tables at this particular West Hollywood eatery where we met were reconfigured accordingly for folks with such concerns, and she had done her homework to give herself enough comfort to be willing to even sit in the same space with someone she couldn’t be completely certain wasn’t a walking virus.
Those of you who are early adopters of these musings might note that I have never quite comprehended the degree of unfounded paranoia that folks like my date have had about all of this. And, dammit, it’s not because I’m a vaccine skeptic–I’ve had five more since then. But at the time I simply could not fathom a mindset where someone was determined to believe that a family member or established friend’s body chemistry is somehow deemed “safe” enough to be around–a fact she freely confessed to when I asked her how often she was getting out at all–and yet somehow a stranger is immediately deemed a biohazard. She couldn’t explain it either, and was clearly uncomfortable that I even broached the subject at all. You’d probably not be surprised to learn that was our first and only in-person “date”.
So whenever a subsequent season of HACKS was dropped, or I saw Smart accept yet another Emmy or similar award, or I saw how engaging Einbinder came off when teamed with her rejuvenated mother Laraine Newman on the SNL 50 special, all I could think of was that inexplicably uncomfortable evening. And how selfish and foolish in hindsight I came off for being so unwilling to accept my date’s behavioral quirks at a time when I clearly brought a duffle bag of my own to the table. I never did get around to watching full episodes.
But for this fourth season, on a platform I’m already watching on a more regular basis than ever thanks to the likes of Bill Maher, John Oliver, WHITE LOTUS, THE PITT and CELTIC CITY, I was acutely aware that this season’s plot line has the Vance character fronting a late night talk show–a job she got by sleeping with the network’s chairperson–and Daniels blackmailing her way into becoming the show’s head writer because she knows about Vance’s dalliances. It’s an arc that has the potential to be both hilarious and emotionally gripping, and in the season’s first two episodes the seeds are planted for such a roller coaster.
And how ironic that it’s set amidst a backdrop of a woman fronting a late night talk show–obviously fictitious now given the current state of the genre and the mindset of those in charge. But a world that the person who introduced me to the show in the first place lived in and loved.
So I mini-binge watched the two episodes made available on Thursday, and after a short nap I plowed through the first four of the first season (algorithms are sometimes a good thing). And, more than ever, I regretted rejecting the show in the first place because it reminded me of someone whose life choices I was far too pig-headed to respect and acknowledge.
So now I’m pretty much in the camp of THE DAILY BEAST’s Kevin Fallon, who yesterday offered up this accolade of his own:
Following its Emmy win for Best Comedy Series, Hacks is now back for Season 4, and is unrelenting. The jokes are vicious. The relationships between its characters are toxic. It’s breathtaking television. Hacks…is comedy done at the sharpest and smartest level, with some of the most fascinating performances on television. There’s a reason Jean Smart wins every award there is for her work as Deborah, and Hannah Einbinder should be holding trophies next to her after every ceremony.
And GOLD DERBY’s Marcus James Dixon underscored that sentiment in his own season preview story:
The fourth time could be the charm for Hannah Einbinder at the 2025 Emmys. The Hacks costar was nominated in Best Comedy Supporting Actress for each of the first three seasons for playing young comedy writer Ava Daniels. Einbinder lost to Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) in 2021, Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary) in 2022, and Liza Colón-Zayas (The Bear) in 2024. According to Gold Derby’s Emmy predictions, Einbinder is out front to finally win her first trophy for Season 4.
“I was really looking forward to channeling all the great mob bosses,” Einbinder declared at PaleyFest. “Like, I was trying to go Ava Corleone on her. Me and Jean, we have fun with that stuff, because we have so much love. So, for us to be fighting, we’re completely playing … because we’re just girlies.”
I’m now even more of a champion for Einbinder and her character’s fight for relevance and respect than Smart’s, and I’ve learned that she’s as much, if not more. of a reason to watch than even the already anointed Smart. Throw in a season that’s also populated by the likes of Helen Hunt and will even feature cameos from trade press writers I’ve actually had drinks with, and I’m most definitely hooked. 
About the only criticism I have with what I’ve seen so far is seeing several scenes clearly shot at Television City, yet Daniels’ character somehow tries to hijack a Universal Studios tour bus in order to be less late to a team dinner. I’m not sure what lot this all is supposed to take place on, and I do tend to obsess on those sorts of details.
Maybe someone reading this who’s been a fan for the entire series might be able to explain it. Maybe you’d be open to grabbing a bite somewhere in person to do so. I know the option to do so with the date I treated so shabbily isn’t on the table any more. I’d sure like to tell her in person how badly I feel both for how I acted and for not taking her sage advice to watch HACKS sooner.
Until next time…