HBO's 5-Part Comedy Is A Rare TV Series That Ends With Its Best Season

Published Sep 8, 2026, 9:01 AM EDT Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock. In the streaming age, it’s getting rarer and rarer that a TV series gets to enjoy a perfect run. If a show has a great first season, like The Bear, then the streamer will keep it going for more seasons than it needs, and it’ll eventually become hit-and-miss and have a couple of weaker seasons. If a show isn’t a hit from its very first season, then the streaming service responsible will have no qualms about axing the show early, even if it ended season 1 on a cliffhanger. The Office stayed on the air after Michael Scott left, House of Cards stayed on the air after its star was engulfed in sexual misconduct allegations, and Arrested Development — formerly the gold standard of television comedy — was ruined by a reboot. It’s always been rare that a TV show hits the ground running with an amazing first season, just gets better and better as each season passes, and calls it quits at just the right time, with just the right ending. We’ve seen it with The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Succession, but those shows are unicorns, especially in the trigger-happy streaming era. Hacks is one of the very few streaming shows to pull it off. The series was incredible from the offset — funny, heartfelt, thought-provoking — and it just got better and better every year, building to the perfect ending at the perfect moment. It’s a spectacular achievement for any TV show, but especially a streaming show. What with the ever-changing corporate regimes, the fickle nature of the monthly subscription business model, and the ruthless whims of Big Tech, streaming shows have to fight tooth and nail for survival in a barren wasteland of digital content. But Hacks’ creators managed to weather all that behind-the-scenes turbulence and deliver a deeply moving story. Now that the series is over, and I’ve rewatched it as a whole, I can safely say it’s one of the greatest TV masterpieces of the 21st century so far. Hacks Is One Of The Few Perfect Streaming Shows Created by Broad City’s Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky, Hacks takes place in the cutthroat entertainment industry. Jean Smart stars as a legendary, Joan Rivers-style comedian named Deborah Vance, who blazed the trail for women in comedy but whose material is starting to feel outdated, while Hannah Einbinder plays Ava Daniels, a “cancelled” comedy writer who reluctantly takes a job working for Deborah to salvage her career after a controversial tweet. Deborah and Ava are the ultimate odd couple: the former is a boomer with antiquated social views while the latter is a queer millennial with bleeding-heart liberal politics; the former is an old-school nightclub comic while the latter came up in the alternative comedy era; the former is a glitzy, glamorous celebrity who goes through a dozen outfit changes a day while the latter dresses like Adam Sandler and rarely showers. When they first meet, Deborah and Ava can’t stand each other, and they’re only collaborating to save their respective careers. But what grows out of that begrudging partnership is a mutual respect and, eventually, a real love for each other. It’s a sharp satire of show business, and particularly the way that women of a certain age get treated in Hollywood, but it’s also just a touching two-hander between these two characters. Hacks is a thinly veiled love story; Deborah and Ava’s relationship isn’t romantic (no matter how much some fans might wish it were), but over the course of the series, they did fall in love with each other — they’re comedy soulmates. Throughout Hacks’ five seasons, Aniello, Downs, and Statsky continued to evolve Deborah and Ava’s relationship, shifting the power dynamics and raising the stakes, until they reached a bittersweet emotional catharsis to end their story. With its consistent quality and even pacing, Hacks is a unicorn in the streaming age. Hacks 9/10 Release Date 2021 - 2026-00-00 Network HBO Max Showrunner Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Jen Statsky