Hacks dominates the Emmy’s Comedy categories with 17 nominations
Celebrated for its portrayal of queerness, Hacks is among the top Emmy-nominated shows.
Words: Emily Maskell; pictures: Warner/HBO Max
With 17 Emmy nominations, HBO Max’s second season of Hacks is a dominating show on the 74th Emmy Award nominations list announced Tuesday (12 July).
Created by Paul Downs, Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky, the American comedy-drama has been widely praised for its authentic depiction of bisexuality and queerness.
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The show’s leads, Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, who play a veteran LA comic and a younger outcast writer trying to find their way in the world of comedy, have both received nominations.
From a gay cruise to hijinks in Las Vegas, the show is a fresh offering of comedy with fabulous performances: Smart is up for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series while Einbinder is nominated for her second Supporting Actress Emmy nomination.
Einbinder is up against the likes of SNL‘s Kate McKinnon and Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham in her category.
“It’s one of the few times in TV where we get to see a bi character [whose] bisexuality isn’t part of them being some sort of villain,” Einbinder told Deadline after the news of her nomination.
“That means a lot to me,” the actor added.
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Einbinder celebrated her nomination on Instagram with an image of her character exhaustively smoking a cigarette with the caption: “My [Hacks] family secured 17 [Television Academy] noms so I’m feeling like this !!”
Hacks won three Emmys for its first season and this year is in the running for the prestigious title of Best Comedy Series for the second time.
This year, the competition includes What We Do in the Shadows, Barry, Abbott Elementary, and Ted Lasso which won last year.
Both seasons of the show have an impressive 100% Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus.
Hacks picked up a number of production nominations including casting, cinematography, contemporary costumes, directing, and editing.
While Christopher McDonald has got a nod for Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series Hacks dominates the Guest Actress in a Comedy Series field.
Jane Adams, Harriet Sansom Harris, Laurie Metcalf, and Kaitlin Olson are among the total of six nominations in the category.
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