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Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Hacks' EP and star Paul W. Downs on Deborah's shocking choice: ‘It is the most pivotal episode of the series so far'
Hacks, "A Slippery Slope." Not to be hyperbolic, but Thursday's episode of Hacks might be its most important one yet. "It is the most pivotal episode of the series so far," co-creator, co-showrunner, director, and star Paul W. Downs says on the latest episode of Awards Magnet. More from GoldDerby 'Solo Leveling' takes top prize at 2025 Anime Awards Cannes 2025: Why Oscars could be next for Palme d'Or winner Jafar Panahi's 'It Was Just an Accident' 'Lilo & Stitch': Director Chris Sanders reveals the iconic blue alien's surprising original design (exclusive art) In "A Slippery Slope," written by Downs and fellow creators and showrunners Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky, the repercussions of network head Bob Lipka (Tony Goldwyn) doing Deborah (Jean Smart) a "favor" the previous episode by firing Winnie (Helen Hunt) start to build when Bob asks Deborah to have scandal-ridden movie star Ethan Sommers (Eric Balfour) on her show. After Deborah acquiesces when she's asked to cut her joke about his secret Snapchat, a peeved Ava (Hannah Einbinder) spills all to her old On the Contrary boss Lewis (Aristotle Athari), who decides to do an exposé on the coverup and refuses to kill it despite Ava's pleas. Bob tells Deborah to fire Ava because he needs give a head on a platter to the board. Just when it seems like Deborah will do just that and let Ava down again — she sends Ava on a fake assignment at the Oscars, Ava's badge is deactivated when she returns to the studio — she instead pulls a first: by putting someone else first for once. During her monologue on her post-Oscars show, Deborah announces that she won't fire her head writer and "creative partner" and "someone I love" as asked, and that this will be her final Late Night show, because she won't cave to corporate pressure. It is a slippery slope, and she says she's drawing the line — a nod to the title of the pilot, "There Is No Line." "It's really the first time Deborah chooses a relationship over her career, chooses it puts Ava first," Downs says. "And also it allowed us in this episode to really address a lot of the stuff that we meditate on in the season, around the changes in the television industry." SEE Hacks stars and EPs break down Deborah's promise: 'That's the thing that Ava is constantly dealing with' One of the themes of Season 4 has been art versus commerce. By dropping Deborah and Ava, independent creatives, into the corporate world, they not only have a boss to answer to now, but shareholders, advertisers, and disruptive tech that constantly shift the goalposts. "This is a business, and I get that," Deborah says in her monologue. "And there are good people on the business side who are trying to navigate the difficult intersection of art and commerce. But thanks to Wall Street and big tech disrupting our industry, it's gone too far. It's not enough to be No. 1 anymore or to make a profit or to even make you laugh. I might be a capitalist pig myself, but first and foremost, I'm a comedian. And I care more about making this show the right way than I do about making shareholders happy." "As she says at the end of the day, 'I'm a comedian and I'm here to make people laugh,' and that is the thing that she loves to do and wants to do," Down says. "She says the dream changed because as much as this has been the dream, to do the dream today when our industry has been so disrupted by tech and just being a part of publicly traded conglomerates that have shareholders to answer to. ... This industry has been a profitable industry for a century. This was not a broken industry because people want entertainment, they want stories. Since the dawn of language, we've wanted stories, and for it to be disrupted in the way that it's been disrupted is really a shame because it's not just enough to make a profit." And it's "impossible" to make a profit, Downs continues, "if you don't push down on all of the people, all the crews, all of the creatives, all the people that make those stories." While Hacks and Deborah's speech is about the entertainment industry, Downs believes it's a mutual feeling across any industry "where corporate greed has impacted the way in which people make things." Downs, Aniello, and Statsky spent a great deal of time on the monologue as they also wanted to explore what it means to get your dream in 70s and the glass cliff, the phenomenon whereby underrepresented groups are put in leadership positions during crises. "What it's like to finally give a woman an opportunity to do something at a time when things have really changed or it's higher risk because the the potential for failure is even greater?" he says. "We were able to, I think, put in Deborah's mouth a lot of the stuff that we think about in this industry, that it's not just enough sometimes to make people laugh." Jake Giles Netter/Max The episode is also a big one for Jimmy (Downs), as the pressures of his new job — starting his own company with Kayla (Megan Stalter), who's being poached by her dad — begin compounding. "We really think of Jimmy and Kayla as sort of this bizarro version of Deborah and Ava. They are their own duo, but we always try and dovetail their stories and have them reflect the larger themes that we're dealing with in the season," Downs says. "And so this season, it's one thing if you work at a management company and have deal with the culture there or deal with the downward pressure if it is again a publicly traded company, but now they're starting their own. So there's all the pressures of being a startup, being a sort of this fledgling management company, but also he's dealing with the stress of Deborah and Ava having the grist they have in the beginning of the season." Like Deborah and Ava, Jimmy and Kayla also have completely different management styles. "She goes guerrilla mode, he leads with love, but this was such a fun episode because Jimmy was on a real emotional roller coaster." Jimmy and Kayla frantically search for Dance Mom (Julianne Nicholson), whom they find passed out from a bender on the streets of Wisteria Lane. Dance Mom insists on doing cocaine to straighten out before her Late Night performance and demands that Jimmy "boof it." A hilarious tug-of-war ensues over Dance Mom's eight ball-loaded purse. "We do a lot of alts, so there's not a lot of time to sit and rehearse, but that was one scene that, because there was so much physical comedy in it, it was so choreographed between, like, running to the door, cutting the coke, getting her out of the ice bucket," Downs says. "And obviously resets are so tricky with cocaine and ice water and all that stuff that we did rehearse that scene the night before. And so there was not really a lot of room for improvisation because it was very, very choreographed. "People had to knock on the door at the right time. We had to get her into the couch at the right time. She had to knock into a cart." One thing Downs did improvise was Jimmy angrily putting the purse on his shoulder as he walked out the room. "You know, I had to take the purse and then why not wear it out?" he says. "There was a little bit of discovery on the day, and that was one of those moments." SEE 'No one ever asks me to do comedy': Julianne Nicholson explains how she became Dance Mom on Hacks After Dance Mom manages to perform, Jimmy reaches his breaking point, and just like Ava in the sixth episode, he drives off the studio lot (in a golf cart). But the nice guy that he is, he doesn't break the studio gate. After the ultimatum from Bob, Deborah goes to Jimmy's house to apologize for not showing enough appreciation for all he does, and to clue him in something. Before Deborah goes on for her monologue, she has a brief chat with Jimmy, and it's still murky what her big plan is. "It was really tricky because you don't want to tip it one way or the other. You don't wanna like overly be mustache-twirly and make it seem like she's definitely done something sinister and you don't want it to seem like, 'OK, we're about to blow up the show, we're in cahoots in some way.' So it was very, very tricky cause we didn't want to push the misdirect. We wanted to make it a little bit neutral, and so there were a bunch of different versions of it," Downs says. "We did try a bunch because I was very aware. I think the way that I played it when I was thinking about it was I was playing it as if [Ava] was fired because I, knowing the truth of the scenario and what she was about to do, it was very hard not to be like, 'Poof, OK, you're about to go on television [and quit].'" At the end of the episode, Bob tells Deborah that she can't do anything because that the network has an 18-month non-compete on her. The reveal after that doozy of an episode could've served as the season finale — and it nearly was. "It was the finale initially," Downs shares. "We considered it going out on the static [when the feed is cut] that it's like, 'Well, what happened there?' We also considered going out on, 'We own you, we have a non-compete.' ... But then we thought, why are we delaying that?" "That" being what transpires in the season finale. The Season 4 finale of Hacks premieres Thursday, May 29 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Max. Email your questions to slugfests@ Best of GoldDerby 'The Pitt' star Tracy Ifeachor thinks about Collins and Robby's backstory 'all the time': 'It just didn't work out because it's not the right time' How Eddie Redmayne crafted his 'deeply unflappable' assassin on 'The Day of the Jackal' TV composers roundtable: 'Adolescence,' 'Day of the Jackal,' 'Interview With the Vampire,' 'Your Friends and Neighbors' Click here to read the full article.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Deborah Vance Drops the Mic: "Hacks" Season 4, Episode 9 comes with twist
Deborah's Defining Stand Ava's Story Comes Full Circle Supporting Cast and Subplots Live Events What's Ahead for "Hacks"? (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel "Hacks" never hesitated to play with expectations, but Season 4, Episode 9, "A Slippery Slope," breaks Max's Emmy-winning comedy to its most daring turning points ever. In a shocking move that is as funny as it is poignant, Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) gives up her hard-earned late-night talk show- her "white whale" -to support her creative partner Ava (Hannah Einbinder), causing shockwaves in the world of the show and its show's drama heats up when late night leader Deborah is lobbied by network exec Bob Lipka (Tony Goldwyn) to book a hit franchise star with a scandalous cloud of accusations surrounding them. Deborah's effort to lighten the controversy by a few safe jokes is censored by the network, frustrating both her and Ava. When Ava, in a moment of conscience, leaks the network's cover-up to a news producer, the fallout is immediate: Bob demands Deborah fire Ava or lose her the first time, Deborah prioritizes loyalty over legacy. In a live monologue, she reveals the network's censorship and declares her departure, not wanting to betray Ava or her own values. As co-creator Paul W. Downs put it, "She proves not just to Ava, but to herself, what's most important". Jean Smart also weighed in, declaring the moment a "huge leap" for her path in this episode parallels her from the first episode, where she employed honesty to confront powerful industry leaders. The possibility of being terminated by Deborah- her friend and mentor -closes their relationship in a circle, but this time, Deborah opts for Ava over ambition. Critics have called out the episode for returning to the essence of the show: the offstage relationship between Deborah and Ava, and their readiness to risk everything for one Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) and Kayla (Megan Stalter) have their own drama, with Jimmy formally naming their agency "Schaeffer and LuSaque"-a touch that honors their new partnership and the show's signature format of acerbic, character-based humor. Smart and Einbinder, in particular, are a central attraction, with actors such as Dan Bucatinsky bringing attention to real-life friendships off-set that contribute to the narrative's emotional series concludes with Deborah contractually forbidden from performing for 18 months, which leaves her and Ava at a turning point. A finale teaser suggests the pair may embark on a long-overdue vacation together, indicative of a new beginning for the show's core relationship. As Hannah Einbinder pointed out, shooting these scenes was "very emotional," highlighting the implications for both characters and viewers."Hacks" keeps retooling, combining scathing industry satire with affectionate storytelling. With the Season 4 series finale airing May 29 and still no Season 5 renewal announced, fans are left waiting eagerly to see what comes next for Deborah, Ava, and the world they've created—on stage and off.
UPI
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- UPI
Tony Goldwyn on 'Hacks' Ava firing: 'Bob was just doing his job'
1 of 5 | Tony Goldwyn, seen at the 2023 premiere of "A Good Person" in New York City, guest stars on "Hacks." File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo LOS ANGELES, May 22 (UPI) -- Editor's note: This article contains spoilers for Hacks Season 4 Episode 9 "A Slippery Slope." On Thursday's Hacks, studio executive Bob Lipka (Tony Goldwyn) ordered Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) to fire her talk show's head writer, Ava (Hannah Einbinder). Instead, Deborah told her audience on a live show she refused, knowing Bob would cancel her show. In a recent phone interview with UPI, Goldwyn said he understood his character's position. Ava had told a reporter friend about the show cutting a joke about a controversial movie star, leading to a damaging exposé. "It was fun to take a perspective that Bob was just doing his job," Goldwyn, 65, said. "In any company, that person would be let go immediately for doing what she did." The episode uses Hacks' drama and comedy to explore the ethical dilemma. Deborah joked about Ethan Sommers' (Eric Balfour) alleged controversy, but did not resist when Sommers' publicist and the studio asked her to edit out the joke. Ava disagreed with the decision but made it worse for herself when she vented to a reporter friend. Bob wanted to make an example of Ava, but Deborah gave up her entire talk show rather than let him. Bob even tells Deborah her talk show is a supporting player to what he considered the "starting lineup" that includes Sommers' Shadow Soldier franchise and theme parks with attractions based on those films. Goldwyn said he understood Bob putting Deborah in her place. "I think he needs Deborah to know that she's not getting too big for her britches," Goldwyn said. "He's telling her, 'Look, you're amazing but you do not make me the $5 billion that this franchise has made me and you have not made me the half a trillion dollars that my theme parks have made me.'" As both an actor and director, Goldwyn acknowledges that he needs businessmen to allow him to do either job. He has been acting in film and television since the '80s with credits in Ghost, Oppenheimer, Scandal and Law & Order. He made his directorial debut in 1999 with the film A Walk on the Moon, and is currently workshopping a theater revival of Pal Joey with Savion Glover. "It's a constant tension of needing to do something that's very expensive to do, that people must buy tickets in order to consume what we're creating," Goldwyn said. "Yet, we're artists that want to express the thing we want to express." Hacks takes place at a fictional studio but reflects the real entertainment industry where franchises like Marvel and legacy sequels to classics dominate the box office, and both Disney and Universal Studios have thriving theme parks. Where executives of classic Hollywood would make a movie and then try to sell it, executives now try to anticipate which franchises people will pay to see. "It costs so much to make it," Goldwyn said. "You've got to go make a multi, multi-million dollar investment just to get it in front of an audience to see if it's going to work or not. That's a big risk that financiers and studios take. I have a lot of respect for that but I wouldn't want to do that." The ethical dilemmas Goldwyn has faced in his career tend to be "more of a creative battle where you're fighting for something and the studio or whatever wants you to do something different, not a personnel issue like this." Still, Deborah and Ava had some leverage they didn't use against Bob. Both know that Deborah slept with Bob last season to get her late night talk show. Had either woman threatened to expose Bob, Goldwyn suspects their short-term gains may have been outweighed by Bob's long-term wrath. "Bob's a pretty ruthless person in business," Goldwyn said. "You don't get to be one of the Bob Lipkas of the world if you don't fight pretty rough." Goldwyn got a chance to do physical comedy in the episode. When Deborah is making her speech on the live episode, Bob goes to the control room to pull the plug. Deborah's manager, Jimmy (Paul W. Downs) wrestles the cell phone from Bob's hands and they have a comedic scuffle. Goldwyn said they only filmed two takes and the funnier one was in the show. "It wasn't exactly choreographed but in rehearsal we decided to do that," he said. "It was very messy and fun." The season finale of Hacks premieres Thursday, May 29 on Max.
