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Hacks - HBO series by Parks and Rec and Broad City writers

Michael Knight

By Michael Knight
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RomaVicta

RomaVicta 29907

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I'd call the Christmas episode the only weak one they've ever had.  The comic scenes and really emotional scenes mix together so very well. Ava's appeal about the relationship is gut-wrenching. The final scene is such a well deployed surprise.

I'm so glad that Jean Smart got to rise above the limitations of her character in Designing Women, which was actually a good show the first few seasons. I found her the most attractive to look at; her character was a ditz, so who knew what she was really like.

I saw her a few years later in a small movie called Mistress. That little movie has an all-star cast. It's a fun little diversion. She captivated me there. I felt like I was watching somebody paying their dues to move up. Bravo to her. 

She's great in everything and constantly works.

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Js1

Js1 85337

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2 hours ago, RomaVicta said:

I'd call the Christmas episode the only weak one they've ever had.  The comic scenes and really emotional scenes mix together so very well. Ava's appeal about the relationship is gut-wrenching. The final scene is such a well deployed surprise.

I'm so glad that Jean Smart got to rise above the limitations of her character in Designing Women, which was actually a good show the first few seasons. I found her the most attractive to look at; her character was a ditz, so who knew what she was really like.

I saw her a few years later in a small movie called Mistress. That little movie has an all-star cast. It's a fun little diversion. She captivated me there. I felt like I was watching somebody paying their dues to move up. Bravo to her. 

She's great in everything and constantly works.

She’ll always be Mrs Oblong to me 

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YGIFS

YGIFS 19450

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I always loved her in "Garden State" despite only having a couple scenes.  "Besides...he might be getting into real estate!"  

She's obviously had a helluva long and deep career, but to SafeSex's point...to see her do this later in life is a such a treasure.  It was like she meant for this show after being kinda under-utilized for decades.

Let's be honest, female comedic actresses get put into categories by show-business.  Tell me I'm being sexist, I don't give a shit.  But Jean doesn't really fill a bucket.  She can play it totally straight and dry, witty as hell, she can be goofy as fuck, she was always attractive but wouldn't be cast as the sexy girl, she can do physical comedy, she run scenes all by herself, or play ensemble.  She can play sad humor, self-depricating humor, romantic comedy, and then just also throw out old-school liners like a Borsch Belt comic.  This role is perfect for her and she's nailing every season.  She kinda reminds me of Tina Fey who can do all those things I just typed.  Tina had the benefit of also writing and producing so she could kinda craft herself into projects.  But Jean Smart made a wonderful career for so long and now has this masterpiece to enjoy and hone her true range of talents.  

csb/ About 10 years ago, for the Texas Book Festival...I got asked by C-SPAN (big network, yuge) to interview Yael Cohen about her book on female comics/comedic actresses called "We Killed."  The publisher even put me in touch with some of the comics she wrote about for background information.  Turns out Ellen Degeneres is actually quite cranky.  Everybody else was a delight.  But Yael also really wanted to include Jean Smart in the book as sort of a multi-media (movies, TV, streaming, voiceover/cartoon) trailblazer but Jean was apparently working on something and couldn't make the time.  But check out the book when you can, it's a wonderful foray into female comedy.  Not that there needs to be gender-specific types of comedy, that's just the subtitle of Yael's book so blame her.  But the range of the stories of the interviews she does in the book remind me Jean Smart's range.  

She's no Julia-Louis Dreyfus but damn I am glad she's doing "Hacks"  

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austingirl

austingirl 2191

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Just finished the S3 finale and wow. Their confrontation scene gave me chills - I've never thought Hannah Einbender was an amazing actress but she really brought it then. And the final scene was great, but I almost think it was too dark for the show. They usually do a good job of walking the line between humor and drama but I think it's going to be hard to get back to hilarity after that.

I did love the plane scene. Jimmy's escalating frustration with the lady filming was great. I'm glad they found a way to give Kayla more depth in this episode - she's always been kind of one note until now.

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NotActuallyALonghorn

NotActuallyALonghorn 4976

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On 6/2/2024 at 1:21 PM, RomaVicta said:

I'd call the Christmas episode the only weak one they've ever had.  The comic scenes and really emotional scenes mix together so very well. Ava's appeal about the relationship is gut-wrenching. The final scene is such a well deployed surprise.

I'm so glad that Jean Smart got to rise above the limitations of her character in Designing Women, which was actually a good show the first few seasons. I found her the most attractive to look at; her character was a ditz, so who knew what she was really like.

I saw her a few years later in a small movie called Mistress. That little movie has an all-star cast. It's a fun little diversion. She captivated me there. I felt like I was watching somebody paying their dues to move up. Bravo to her. 

She's great in everything and constantly works.

The lost in the woods episode was way worse. I mean, I get what they were trying to go for, but the writing was just bad and I found myself just waiting for it to end. 

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C-Man

C-Man 27227

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On 6/5/2024 at 7:42 PM, austingirl said:

Just finished the S3 finale and wow. Their confrontation scene gave me chills - I've never thought Hannah Einbender was an amazing actress but she really brought it then. And the final scene was great, but I almost think it was too dark for the show. They usually do a good job of walking the line between humor and drama but I think it's going to be hard to get back to hilarity after that.

I did love the plane scene. Jimmy's escalating frustration with the lady filming was great. I'm glad they found a way to give Kayla more depth in this episode - she's always been kind of one note until now.

Wife and I finally finished S3 last night. I still love the show but I enjoyed the first two seasons more (still loved this one). I thought Einbender's performance was weaker until the last couple of scenes with Smart when she knocked it out of the park. I guess S4 will take on a Larry Sanders' feel, which I'm 100% on board with.

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