Emmy Experts Typing: Can ‘Hacks’ put up a fight against ‘The Bear’?

Joyce Eng and Christopher Rosen
·11 min read
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Welcome to Emmy Experts Typing, a weekly column in which Gold Derby editors and Experts Joyce Eng and Christopher Rosen discuss the Emmy race — via Slack, of course. This week, we revisit comedy as “Hacks” returns with its third season on May 2.

Christopher Rosen: Hello, Joyce! We’ve circled back around to the 2024 Emmys comedy category — a genre we’ve paid little mind to so far because it seems obvious “The Bear” will sweep through the ceremony again. I love being a contrarian whenever possible — or, at least, speaking truth to power and groupthink — but even I’m not here to type about potential upsets, particularly with “The Bear” Season 3 set to debut in June, again, right when academy members are sitting down to vote. But in the interest of keeping things interesting — and because it’s probably now the best continuing show with “Succession” off the air (remember when we had it so good?) — I think we should start banging the drum for “Hacks” Season 3. The Max comedy returns in less than a week with two banger episodes that pay off the show’s outstanding Season 2 finale. (I don’t know about you, but I love a well-orchestrated time jump.) The remaining seven episodes are, dare I say, perfect? There isn’t a clanger in the bunch and it builds to a finale that felt both completely obvious and unbelievably surprising. I haven’t loved a season finale this much since “With Open Eyes” and I feel like “Hacks” is good enough to take a bite out of “The Bear” supremacy. Our odds, of course, don’t agree. “Hacks” is positioned as the runner-up in multiple categories, including Best Comedy Series, Best Comedy Actress for Jean Smart and Best Comedy Supporting Actress for Hannah Einbinder. To quote one of the predicted winners, however, I have such doubts. While I know “The Bear” will win series, I think “Hacks” can easily win both actress categories. Smart is a two-time winner and she’s maybe better than ever in Season 3, getting to play sides of Deborah we haven’t really seen before. Her top competition is Ayo Edebiri for “The Bear,” making the jump from the supporting category to lead for the show’s second season. Edebiri is fantastic on the show and she was arguably even better in Season 2 (with untold great moments presumably coming in Season 3). If she were to win, I wouldn’t be shocked at all. But I don’t think it’s as cut and dry as it might seem and I’m not sure Emmy voters will be so willing to move away from Smart. As for Einbinder, she’s never won for “Hacks” but she’s also never been as good as she is in Season 3. Were Edebiri still in the supporting category, I don’t think Einbinder would be able to withstand the competition. But Streep feels like she’s vulnerable. Emmy voters like “Only Murders” but I don’t get the sense they love “Only Murders” and Streep feels like she’s being over-predicted because she’s Streep. If anything, I could see another “The Bear” actress winning here instead of either Streep or Einbinder (Liza Colón-Zayas in particular, especially if she’s given great material in Season 3). But until then, I feel like Einbinder should have the edge and I guess I’m just surprised many don’t seem to agree. Joyce, you love “Hacks” even more than me — how do you feel about its chances in the race this year?

joyceeng: It’s true, I do. I don’t truly love a lot of things, but I love “Hacks” Season 3 a whole lot. As you know, I loved the season so much I watched it twice! And I’ve been seriously considering watching it again as the premiere date draws closer. It’s just that good. If you’re someone out there who thinks “Hacks” could’ve/should’ve ended with the superb Season 2 finale and were concerned about how it could go on, you’ll very, very likely feel silly for ever thinking that as Season 3 unfolds. The time jump, for the lack of a better word, solves a lot of issues while also creating new fertile ground for them to mine. The writing is as sharp and witty as ever (my friend and I have been quoting a “30 Rock”-related joke for weeks), the characters and their relationships evolve in interesting ways, the finale absolutely cooks, there’s lots of fake media (my fave), and it dunks on pickleball. What more could I want?! And yet it, sadly, won’t win series. It’s unfortunate that “Hacks” will trade one rival Emmy juggernaut (“Ted Lasso”) for another now because it might never win the top prize unless “The Bear” takes a year off (and we know that’s not happening next year since it’s filming Season 4 concurrently). And that’s also assuming no new series becomes a huge smash in the future too. But anyway, yes, Smart and Einbinder are the show’s best chances at above-the-line wins. I don’t think anyone would be shocked if Smart maintains her undefeated win streak in the category. And lest we forget, she’s never lost an Emmy in a comedy category, having gone 5/5 thus far. I’m not surprised Einbinder is not atop the odds since she’s never won before, the majority of people predicting have not seen the season, and like you said, Streep is chronically over-predicted everywhere. I’ve always had Einbinder in first and feel better about it after seeing the season. I’ve honestly never seriously thought about Streep taking it. I feel like her reputation precedes her and people think she’s won more awards than she has. This is why I predicted Elizabeth Debicki to win the Golden Globe over her in the genre-neutral category. Streep has no issue bagging nominations, but outside of an Emmy win for Best Narrator in 2017 for “Five Came Back” (who even knows about this?) and a Critics Choice victory for “Only Murders,” she has not won a major competitive award for an onscreen performance since “The Iron Lady.” She’s also currently in the middle of the longest Oscar nomination drought of her career. I agree that “Only Murders” feels like a perennial bridesmaid above the line. I adore that show too, but it’s kinda like a weaker “Hacks”: Emmy voters love other shows more. Not that I thought about this for more than six seconds, but I don’t even have Streep in second. I have the “Abbott Elementary” ladies, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Janelle James, above her. Speaking of banger third seasons, “Abbott” has been excellent this season (its spoof of “The Bear” in last week’s cold open is an all-timer). We discussed voters possibly returning to SLR last year. They did not. But what if they did this year if they’re not feeling Einbinder or Streep, and “The Bear” ladies might be like J. Smith-Cameron? James might have a tougher hill to climb though.

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Christopher Rosen: I guess the voters may return to Ralph and “Abbott,” but we’ve seen that they’ve been reluctant to do that. Emmy voters aren’t a borg, but sometimes they all act like they’re a borg and once they’ve moved on from a show, they’ve moved on from a show. So I wouldn’t bet on it despite the great run “Abbott” has been on as well. (And I agree, James feels like she’s a safe distance behind Ralph, and if she were going to have won it would’ve been for Season 1.) What about the fellas? We know Ebon Moss-Bachrach is going to win, rightly and officially, for “The Bear” and “Forks.” I’ve got the rest of the category made up of his co-stars (Lionel Boyce, Matty Matheson and Oliver Platt), “Abbott” star Tyler James Williams and then two “Hacks”: former nominee Carl Clemons-Hopkins and our fave Paul W. Downs. Of those two, I’m feeling more confident about Downs, who is just hilarious on “Hacks” in general and has a really nice arc this year with Megan Stalter (who herself should be a nominee if we’re being real). I’m less convinced Clemons-Hopkins can make it back in but I will remain steadfast in my prediction. His character, Marcus, has some really solid moments in Season 3 but maybe not enough and, as I typed at the top, once Emmy voters move on from someone they usually just stay away. Clemons-Hopkins missed out on a nomination for Season 2, so I guess it’s possible he also misses out for Season 3 — which would leave Paul Rudd safely ensconced as a nominee. Most people are predicting Rudd for “Only Murders,” but I just don’t really see it for all the reasons we mentioned about Streep. She’s at least safe for the nomination, but I’m not sure the ageless Rudd can say the same thing. If it’s not Rudd or Clemons-Hopkins or Downs, who else could make it into this category? Am I sleeping on the “Saturday Night Live” cast?

joyceeng: As I’ve said before, comedy supporting actor was the easiest for me to fill out because I could not slot in the quartet of “Bears” fast enough. TJW will obviously return, and then I did CCH and PWD. I would not hold the Season 2 snub against Clemons-Hopkins. All it told us was that he’s largely dependent on the strength (or lack thereof) of the field. 2021 was way weaker. 2022 saw the return of my beloved “Barry” and former winner Henry Winkler and former nominee Anthony Carrigan, the return of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and former champ Tony Shalhoub, while Williams was a surprise nominee — he was in 20th (!) place in the odds — for “Abbott,” the word-of-mouth new hit of the season. (You could say CCH was the TJW of 2021.) “Hacks” was ineligible last year, of course, but I would not have predicted Clemons-Hopkins were it eligible because it was one of the most competitive fields of the year. I don’t think that’s the case this year. It’s very top-heavy with “The Bear” dudes and Williams, so what do you do after that? “Hacks” is top three in series, so I’m erring there. PWD is more of a hopediction, but I think he has a better shot of coattailing this year than in 2022 (when I also hopedicted him). I love me some Rudd always and he was great on “Only Murders,” but I just don’t really see this for him. Not that his precludes him from being nominated, but he’s not what people are talking about from the season. Like with Streep winning, I haven’t seriously thought about the “SNL” gang getting in. I do think this might be a case in which voters have moved on from something. “SNL’s” nomination total has taken a hit the past two years and Bowen Yang missed last year after two consecutive bids. If they do dip back into the “SNL” well, I think Yang would get in before Kenan Thompson. And besides Yang, the Emmys haven’t taken to the younger guard of “SNL” stars yet on the male or female side. The most talked-about sketch this season was “Beavis and Butt-Head,” but that episode as a whole makes Ryan Gosling win-competitive in guest more than anything.

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Christopher Rosen: I’m with you on “SNL” and if I were going to predict someone other than the seven we have (four “Bears,” two “Hacks,” and an “Abbott”) it would be another “Abbott” in Chris Perfetti. (Pause here to acknowledge the possibility of Daniel Ings for your fave “The Gentlemen” as well.) Joyce, we’ve had plenty of laughs today (we have?) so I’ll leave you with the last word.

joyceeng: Yes, “The Gentlemen,” my “fave,” a show of which I’ve only seen the pilot and will not watch more. This is my new “will never hear ‘No Time to Die.'” I did not have plenty of laughs today, but I do laugh a lot when you mock my predictions (cough, “The Gentlemen,” cough) and then copy them. Peak comedy!

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