Leaving Las Vegas on HBO’s ‘Hacks’
“Hacks” returns for a second season, streaming on HBO Max. Jean Smart, who has been great in so many roles, from “Designing Women” and “Frasier” to “24,” “Fargo” and “Mare of Easttown,” plays Deborah Vance, a Las Vegasbased comedienne of a certain age whose “legendary” act has grown stale.
When Marty (Christopher McDonald), the CEO of the casino where she performs, suggests she downsize her venue, Deborah makes some changes, including hiring Ava (Hannah Einbinder), a young self-involved comedy writer exiled from Los Angeles for an insensitive tweet.
“Hacks” contrasts Deborah’s mansion lifestyle with Ava’s millennial striving as well as making the most of generational takes on “funny.” In many ways, “Hacks” offers a peculiar bookend to “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” examining the career decline of a brash, outspoken comedy pioneer. Both shows seem loosely based on the career trajectory of Joan Rivers.
If TV series must pass audiences’ “why should I care” test, “Hacks” offers an exhaustive compendium of the uninteresting. Writers discussing the “craft” of comedy and breaking down jokes has all the charm of an autopsy table. Ava’s narcissism doesn’t just grate on Deborah. And if there’s anything more cliche than a Vegas mansion, it’s a parody of one.
At the same time, “Hacks” seems to embrace the ephemeral tawdriness of its Las Vegas setting. As the second season begins, Deborah and Ava prepare to leave the casino and take the act on the road. And this departure makes Deborah realize that as dreadful and third-rate as Vegas can seem, it was the only city that loved her back. She comes to that conclusion only after a chat with a real — but seemingly animatronic — Wayne Newton at an ultimate fighting event.
In a clever twist, Deborah’s malaise is deepened when she discovers that Marty’s new girlfriend isn’t some young thing, but a woman of his own age. Nothing makes her feel older than the fact that she can’t compete on that level.
Season two will introduce the audaciously low-key performer Martha Kelly (“Baskets”) as a human resources manager refereeing the pettiest squabbles imaginable. A role she was born to play!
› Netflix imports the six-episode South African melodrama “Savage Beauty,” about a mystery woman who insinuates herself into a family controlling a global cosmetics empire.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› The parents of a transgender teen become embroiled in domestic violence on “Station 19” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
› An exhausted EMT (Nicolas Cage) mentally unravels in the 1999 drama “Bringing Out the Dead” (8 p.m., Cinemax), directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. Look for Aida Turturro, cast here as a nurse, shortly before joining “The Sopranos” as Tony’s sister, Janice.
› A former patient returns as his wife gives birth on “Grey’s Anatomy” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-14).
› A fateful phone call on “Big Sky” (10 p.m., ABC, TV-14).