Hacks' lackluster Season 2 raises the question: Was it always as great... - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 06-08-2022, 01:51 AM

as it was touted to be?

https://www.vulture.com/article/is-hacks-good.html

There's two separate threads when it comes to Hacks, says Kathryn VanArendonk. "One is less a criticism of Hacks than it is frustration with the heights of its praise. When the general expectation for a show is that it’s a nice, fun time, it feels downright s****y to say, 'No! Your fun time is wrong!' But when a show gets into Emmys territory and thinkpieces-about-its-importance territory, the impulse to pump the brakes seems more reasonable. The second thread is 'maybe the show does have some frustrating flaws that are worth examining.'" Jackson McHenry argues that Hacks is indeed bad, saying it "tastes like soap to me. I love Jean Smart. I like the concept of a show about the compromises you make working as a comedian. But Hacks doesn’t have the deftness or critical perspective to pull its setup into something compelling. Most of the dialogue is clunky, and the characterization is rote. Deborah feels like an outside-in replication of Joan Rivers that misses her core. Ava might as well be a collection of quirks described in a Shouts & Murmurs piece about the youth." Meanwhile, Nicholas Quah says "Hacks is not perfect, but it’s certainly not bad. I liked the first season quite a lot, and I think it’s one of the better things I saw last year. Still, I do share some of your criticisms, and the second season suffered from an overconfidence that made a lot of its first-season weaknesses even worse: clunky dialogue; failing to dig into its conceit of an aging female comedian by reconsidering her history, choices, and place in the world; the actual stand-up not being that convincing. But! There’s an essential sweetness to the show that speaks to me and, I think, many others."

06-08-2022, 01:51 AM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 124,453	Hacks' lackluster Season 2 raises the question: Was it always as great... as it was touted to be? https://www.vulture.com/article/is-hacks-good.html There's two separate threads when it comes to Hacks, says Kathryn VanArendonk. "One is less a criticism of Hacks than it is frustration with the heights of its praise. When the general expectation for a show is that it’s a nice, fun time, it feels downright s****y to say, 'No! Your fun time is wrong!' But when a show gets into Emmys territory and thinkpieces-about-its-importance territory, the impulse to pump the brakes seems more reasonable. The second thread is 'maybe the show does have some frustrating flaws that are worth examining.'" Jackson McHenry argues that Hacks is indeed bad, saying it "tastes like soap to me. I love Jean Smart. I like the concept of a show about the compromises you make working as a comedian. But Hacks doesn’t have the deftness or critical perspective to pull its setup into something compelling. Most of the dialogue is clunky, and the characterization is rote. Deborah feels like an outside-in replication of Joan Rivers that misses her core. Ava might as well be a collection of quirks described in a Shouts & Murmurs piece about the youth." Meanwhile, Nicholas Quah says "Hacks is not perfect, but it’s certainly not bad. I liked the first season quite a lot, and I think it’s one of the better things I saw last year. Still, I do share some of your criticisms, and the second season suffered from an overconfidence that made a lot of its first-season weaknesses even worse: clunky dialogue; failing to dig into its conceit of an aging female comedian by reconsidering her history, choices, and place in the world; the actual stand-up not being that convincing. But! There’s an essential sweetness to the show that speaks to me and, I think, many others."