Paul W.Downs Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeAs “Hacks” takes Deborah Vance’s show on the road, she’s encountering a bevy of new characters in Season 2. The series, which is expected to return later this spring on HBO Max (premiere date still TBD), has added Laurie Metcalf, Martha Kelly and Ming-Na Wen as recurring guest stars this season.

Season 2 of HBO Max‘s hit series has added Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird, The Conners), Martha Kelly (Euphoria, Marriage Story), and Ming-Na Wen (The Book of Boba Fett, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as recurring guest stars; Margaret Cho (The Flight Attendant, Fire Island), will also appear as a guest star. Details regarding the characters they will portray have not been released.

The cast of Hacks is at the SAG Awards!

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeTwo decades ago, then-NBC executive Jeff Zucker made headlines by “supersizing” “Friends” episodes as a monthlong stunt. But in the streaming era, viewers are frequently caught off guard by run times that vary considerably from one episode to another.Freed from the need to fill a half-hour (actually, 21 minutes with commercials) or an hourlong (e.g., 44 minutes plus ads) time slot in linear TV, producers are allowing their shows to breathe — and let the story dictate how long or short an episode can be.Netflix’s new Shonda Rhimes drama “Inventing Anna,” for instance, is an hour long … sometimes.

Emily Longeretta Jen Statsky, Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello, the creators of HBO Max’s massive hit “Hacks,” will receive the inaugural Variety Showrunner Award at the 10th annual SCAD TVfest.The series, which follows the relationship between a comedy legend (Jean Smart) and a young writer (Hannah Einbinder), launched in May 2021.

Addie Morfoot Contributor“Hacks” is a dark comedy about two women in different stages of life desperately trying to hold on to their careers, but it’s also a character study that defies genre.The series stars Jean Smart as comedian Deborah Vance and Hannah Einbinder as Ava, a young, struggling comedy writer brought in to revamp Vance’s stale Vegas residency.The 10-episode first season of the HBO Max series, created by “Broad City” trio Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky, tackles isolation, loneliness and, according to Variety’s Daniel D’Addario, “successfully argues that there is a virtue all its own in showing up and gutting it out — in being a hack.”At the heart of the show is the relationship between Vance and Ava – a pair of strong-willed, hardheaded women from opposite worlds and generations who share a common passion: comedy.

The stars are stepping out for the House of Gucci premiere in Los Angeles!

EXCLUSIVE: Hacks co-creators Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello are taking to market the first project following their multiple Emmy wins for the HBO Max comedy series.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorLucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs were among the countless couples around the world whose wedding plans in 2020 were up-ended by the pandemic.The pair, who are co-creators and executive producers of HBO Max “Hacks” with Jen Statsky, wound up postponing the ceremony originally set for May 2020 wedding to September of this year.

Hacks. Written by the Emmy-winning team of Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky and starring Emmy winner Jean Smart, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Christopher McDonald, Mark Indelicato, Poppy Liu, Johnny Sibilly, Meg Stalter, Rose Abdoo and Kaitlin Olson, Hacks examines the relationship between a legendary Las Vegas comic and a younger comic who soon becomes her mentee. is streaming now on HBO Max.

Jean Smart has arrived!

“Hacks” co-creators Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs have signed a multiyear overall deal with Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Television Group has signed an overall deal with Emmy-nominated Hacks co-creators Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs and their production company Paulilu Productions after a competitive situation. This marks the first overall deal for Paulilu with WBTVG.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterLucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs have signed an overall deal with Warner Bros.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterJen Statsky has extended her overall deal with Universal Television.Statsky is the co-creator, co-showrunner and executive producer of the HBO Max comedy series “Hacks.” The series, which she created alongside collaborators Lucia Aniello and Paul W.

Jen Statsky, co-creator of HBO Max’s Hacks, is staying in business with Universal Television.

Shortly after “Hacks” premiered, one popular fan theory about the Jean Smart-led HBO Max comedy was that her stand-up comedian Deborah Vance was modeled after the late Joan Rivers. After all, she was an older female comedian who experienced a lifetime in front of the camera, including an all-too-short tenure as a late-night TV host.

It all began in a Honda Pilot en route to Portland, ME.

One of HBO Max’s breakout hits (well, at least that’s what social media tells us), “Hacks” has been the third jewel in the Jean Smart renaissance that began with “Watchmen” and was followed by definite ratings hit, “Mare of Easttown.” Of course, you could argue that the veteran Hollywood actor never went anywhere or that her “comeback” really started with an Emmy-nominated turn in the second season of “Fargo” or maybe her run in another FX standout, “Legion.” Whatever the case, Smart has gotten

SPOILER ALERT - Stop reading now if you don’t want to know what happened in the season one finale of Hacks!

Following its premiere on HBO Max in May, Hacks became a runaway hit, generating awards buzz and swiftly landing a Season 2 renewal. While the comedic two-hander’s success hinged on chemistry between its stars Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, it also has a great deal to do with the sharp scripts penned by series creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky.

Ahead of its season finale on Thursday, HBO Max has renewed breakout comedy “Hacks” for a second season.The series stars Jean Smart as Las Vegas comedian Deborah Vance and Hannah Einbinder as Ava, a 25-year old struggling comedy writer who works for the acerbic Vance. The series is from creators Paul W.

After already landing a buzzworthy breakout with “The Flight Attendant,” HBO Max has done it again with the critically acclaimed dramedy “Hacks.” Created and produced by Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky, the series focuses on a legendary Las Vegas comedienne, Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), who finds herself dealing with a “canceled” television writer, Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), who wants nothing more to return to her life in Hollywood.

If pop culture insists on telling stories about tortured comics with deep-rooted personal issues veiled by their stage personae, at least do viewers the courtesy of democratizing that outline and producing good examples with something to say, like “Hacks.” Created and showrun by Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky, “Hacks” has something to say.

Jean Smart is a fading comedian who won’t give up her long-standing Las Vegas residency without a fight in the new HBO Max series “Hacks”.

Hannah Einbinder (Just For Laugh’s 2019 New Face of Comedy, standup The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) and Carl Clemons-Hopkins (Hamilton, Candymanare) are set as leads in HBO Max’s as-yet untitled comedy starring Jean Smart, from Broad City alums Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky.

By Nellie Andreeva, Denise Petski

By Will Thorne

Kevin Hart and Malcolm D. Lee are reteaming for a Universal comedy from Broad City writers Lucia Aniello and Paul W.

By Nellie Andreeva