Television series

Hacks

Name: Hacks
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Released: 2021
Cast: Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Paul W. Downs, Mark Indelicato, Carl Clemons-Hopkins

Hacks is a mentor-and-protégé comedy that keeps sharpening into something sadder and funnier than you expect. Jean Smart's Deborah Vance, a Vegas legend clawing to stay relevant, and Hannah Einbinder's disgraced young writer circle each other with real contempt and real need. It's about ambition, ego, and the brutal economics of making people laugh for a living — witty, precise, and never as cosy as it looks.

TVMaze rating

7.4

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The Bear2022

Another prickly master-apprentice bond, another kitchen instead of a stage — the tension between an exacting perfectionist and a talented mess crackles the same way, with just as much love hidden under the shouting.

But The anxiety is dialed way up; if Hacks' bite already stresses you out, this will not relax you.

Barry2018

A hitman trying to become an actor sounds like a stretch, but the show's interest in performance, self-delusion, and the moral cost of show business rhymes with Deborah's world uncannily well.

But It gets much darker and stranger as it goes — this is not a comfort watch by the later seasons.

Better Things2016

Pamela Adlon plays a working comedian and single mother with the same unsentimental, lived-in honesty Hacks brings to its own industry — funnier the less it tries to be.

But Looser and more plotless than Hacks; if you need forward momentum, this will frustrate you.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

All About Eve1950

Deborah Vance's entire dynamic with Ava — mentor threatened by protégé, admiration curdling into rivalry — is a direct descendant of Margo Channing and Eve Harrington. Same story, seventy years earlier, in theatre instead of Vegas.

The original — an aging Broadway star watches a fawning young admirer angle to replace her, every line dripping with wit and dread. It's the blueprint Hacks is knowingly writing on top of.

But Black-and-white and stagey by modern pacing standards; some viewers will find it talky before it turns vicious.

GLOW2017

Female performers clawing for relevance and control of their own image, set against a scrappy, unglamorous show-business backdrop — the underdog energy is Hacks' comic-rage cousin.

But Wrestling camp isn't stand-up bite; the tone is broader and warmer than Hacks ever allows itself to be.

Feud2017

Two aging legends fighting for the industry's last scraps of attention — the venom, vanity, and grudging respect between them is exactly the energy Deborah Vance was built from.

But It's a heavier, more tragic register throughout; don't expect Hacks' rhythm of jokes landing between the knives.

Girls5eva2021no page yet

A one-hit girl group trying for a comeback in middle age shares Hacks' interest in women whose talent outlived their moment, told with the same rapid, generous joke density.

But Broader and sillier by design — it wants big laughs more than the slow-burn character work Hacks specializes in.

Grace and Frankie2015

Two women in their seventies refusing to become invisible, with the same insistence that getting older is material, not an ending — a gentler, sunnier cousin to Deborah's fury.

But Multi-cam sitcom rhythms and a much softer edge; the stakes rarely bite the way Hacks' do.

30 Rock2006

If you love watching the machinery of a comedy show get built and broken weekly, this is the gold standard — dense, absurd, and full of showbiz cruelty played for maximum laughs.

But Pure joke-machine sitcom, almost no emotional undertow — a different animal from Hacks' slow character work.

Dead to Me2019

An odd-couple female friendship built on secrets, resentment, and genuine need, swinging wildly between comedy and grief in a way that mirrors Deborah and Ava's volatile push and pull.

But The plot leans hard into soapy twists that Hacks would never bother with.

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work2010no page yet

Jean Smart's Vance is widely acknowledged to be modeled on Joan Rivers — this documentary is the unvarnished, nonfiction version of the exact life Hacks fictionalizes, right down to the drawer full of jokes and the terror of an empty calendar.

A ferociously honest documentary following the real comedian Deborah Vance is built from — her hunger, insecurity, and refusal to stop working even at seventy-five, filmed with no flattery at all.

But It's a real person's very real fear of irrelevance and death, not a comedy; there's no fictional safety net here.

Whiplash2014

Swap comedy for jazz and you get the same central question Hacks keeps circling: does genuine mastery require cruelty, and is a brutal teacher worth what they cost the student who needs them?

A student drummer and a monstrous, brilliant teacher push each other toward greatness and ruin — same engine as Hacks' mentorship, stripped of jokes and turned up to a scream.

But There is almost no comic relief; it's tense, punishing, and offers none of Hacks' warmth.