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Yahoo
3 days 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.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Awards Magnet': Our updated Emmy predictions — for the last time together
With just one week left to go in the 2024-25 Emmy cycle, Awards Magnet hosts Christopher Rosen and Joyce Eng are here with another round of predictions — for the final time together. Sadly, this is Chris' last episode of Awards Magnet — an end of an era! — but he's going out with a bang with a new set of predictions. He's back on The Four Seasons train, but has forsaken one of his favorites from Hacks despite this week's major episode. This week also marked the end of the first season of The Studio and saw the release of The Bear Season 4 trailer. Season 4 is eligible next year, of course, but hope springs eternal for those who feel a good fourth season will boost Season 3's Emmy chances. More from GoldDerby Summer streaming guide: The 25 TV shows you need to watch 'The Last of Us' Season 2 finale: [Spoiler] dies, and a tease of what's to come in Season 3 'Solo Leveling' takes top prize at 2025 Anime Awards SEE Awards Magnet: Hacks, The Studio, and 2 Emmy-worthy episodes On the drama front, The Last of Us wraps up its second season on Sunday. If you know the game, you can kind of figure out how the season will conclude. The show is in third place in the Best Drama Series odds, behind Severance and The Pitt, but it has more in common with the latter than the former in many ways. Meanwhile, after a terrific flashback episode last week, Pedro Pascal feels right back in the hunt. While his category placement is still TBD, he has fallen to fourth place in the Best Drama Actor odds since his character Joel was killed in the second episode. Plus: What if Sam Rockwell were snubbed for The White Lotus? 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.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Awards Magnet': ‘Hacks,' ‘The Studio,' and 2 Emmy-worthy episodes
It's a great week to be a fan of Hacks and The Studio. Awards Magnet hosts Christopher Rosen and Joyce Eng are here to discuss the comedies' big episodes this week and how/if they affect their Emmy prospects. On Hacks, Deborah (Jean Smart) and Ava (Hannah Einbinder) — spoiler alert! — finally reconcile after the former concedes she was wrong about the direction of her late-night show and begs Ava not to quit, promising she won't let her down. Whether she does or not remains to be seen, but the episode, titled "Mrs. Table," is a great showcase for Einbinder's comedic and dramatic chops, as Ava has a breakdown that includes tossing a branzino at a window and driving her car through a gate. Should this be her Emmy submission? And will it be enough to win? More from GoldDerby 'Hacks' stars and EPs break down Deborah's promise: 'That's the thing that Ava is constantly dealing with' 2025 ACM Awards winners list: Lainey Wilson, Chris Stapleton, Ella Langley win major trophies 'Wicked' leads the 2025 Golden Trailer Awards with 15 nominations for film, while 'The Last of Us' tops TV SEE Awards Magnet: The Four Seasons enters Emmy season and category moves You can get an extra dose of Hacks this week on The Studio. Set at the Golden Globes, Smart and Hacks creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky are among the numerous cameos in the episode, which includes Adam Scott, Quinta Brunson, Aaron Sorkin, Zoë Kravitz, and Ted Sarandos. For anyone who's been low on The Studio's middle run of episodes, this wild installment is a booster shot in the arm and would also made a good submission for Ike Barinholtz, whose Sal Saperstein becomes the man of the Globes, much to the chagrin of Matt (Seth Rogen). But with so many potential guest nominees, how and who will The Studio submit? Plus: Did Kaitlyn Dever make the right move going guest for The Last of Us? Email your questions to slugfests@ Best of GoldDerby 'I've never been on a show that got this kind of recognition': Katherine LaNasa on 'The Pitt's' success and Dana's 'existential crisis' How Charlie Cox characterizes Matt Murdock through action scenes in 'Daredevil: Born Again' 'Agatha All Along' star Joe Locke on learning from Kathryn Hahn, musical theater goals, and the 'Heartstopper' movie with Kit Connor Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Awards Magnet': Our first 2025 Emmy nomination predictions in comedy
Does Hacks need to watch out for Only Murders in the Building? How many new comedy can break in? Can Awards Magnet hosts Christopher Rosen and Joyce Eng make their first Emmy predictions in the comedy categories. Reigning Best Comedy Series champ Hacks is in first place in the Gold Derby odds, with former champ The Bear right behind in second. But what if Hacks' closest competition is Only Murders in the Building? The Hulu hit, which is in third place, is coming off two surprise Screen Actors Guild Awards wins for ensemble and actor for Martin Short, while The Bear failed to win a major guild award in the winter for its divisive third season. Last year, Only Murders also cracked series regular acting categories outside of Best Comedy Actor for the first time, including for Selena Gomez in Best Comedy Actress. Is she safe for another nomination in an ostensibly tougher field this time around? More from GoldDerby 'The Last of Us' creators explain one big Abby change before Season 2 premiere 3 things we learned about Mike White's forgotten first show 'Pasadena' The drama over 38 Down: The New York Times crossword declares 'The Bear' a 'TV drama' SEE Awards Magnet: Our first 2025 Emmy nomination predictions in drama With three open spots in Best Comedy Series, multiple new shows could make the cut. The Studio is highest in the odds in fifth place. The Apple TV+, which premieres March 26, series from Seth Rogen, in which he plays a newly installed studio executive, is packed with celebrity guest stars, and its meta commentary ought to play well with the industry. It wasn't too long ago that Nobody Wants This was the top freshman series in the predicted lineup, but the Netflix rom-com has now slid to seventh place. While a big hit, the show missed nominations at the top guilds. Not to mention, Netflix has several comedies to juggle, including Tina Fey's The Four Seasons, premiering May 1. Plus: Will Abbott Elementary start losing acting nominations? Will Poker Face's split-season gamble pay off? Email your questions to slugfests@ Best of GoldDerby The highest-rated Emmy contenders include 'Adolescence,' 'Severance,' 'White Lotus': Meet the 95-plus percent club Is 'SNL' new tonight? Host, musical guest details 'American Idol' deaths: Full list of singers we've lost Click here to read the full article.
