'Hacks is one of the best shows on TV and the new season is now streaming on Stan.'

It's understandable when a hit show stumbles in its fourth season, buckling under the pressure of keeping the story going.

However, Hacks on Stan has not only kept the story going strong during its fourth turn on our screens, it's also possibly the best season yet. If you're one of the few people left on this Earth who are yet to devour this incredible show (don't feel bad, I'm jealous you get to experience it for the first time), Hacks centers on a legendary Las Vegas stand-up comedian named Deborah Vance, played to perfection by Jean Smart. In season one, we find Deborah struggling to keep her career afloat amid cancelled gigs and dwindling ticket sales, and so her management paired her with a young comedy writer named Ava Daniels, played by the incredible Hannah Einbinder, who had been cancelled after making a risqué joke online and was then in desperate need of a new job.

With their vast differences in age, experience, and comedy stylings, Deborah and Ava initially butted heads in an extreme way, but over the last three seasons they have swung between being enemies to the closest of work colleagues and back again. A journey that culminated in Deborah landing her dream gig at the end of season three, becoming the first woman to host a late-night talk show.

It was the ultimate career goal that Deborah and Ava had chased together, but their relationship took the biggest hit yet when Ava was passed over for the show's head writer job, ultimately blackmailing Deborah into giving her the role.

Take a look at the season four trailer for Hacks, now streaming only on Stan.

Season four picked up exactly where the last left off, in the high-stakes build-up to launching Deborah's new late-night TV show, with our two leading ladies locked in a battle with each other, involving pranks, HR complaints, and confessions of heartbreak.

Hacks is one of those entertainment industry unicorns where every element of the series has come together perfectly. The writing continues to be sharp, surprising, hilarious and heartfelt, while the performances, both from the two leading ladies and the wider ensemble cast, continue to be the best in the business.

If you're looking for a show to play in the background while you decompress from the day and scroll on your phone, then please know that Hacks is not the series you're looking for to fulfill that need.

Instead, Hacks is the type of show that will make you want to hide your phone in another room, cancel any plans, and turn your full attention to its onscreen magic. All to ensure you don't miss a moment of the incredibly fast-paced storytelling that will have you shaking from laughter one moment, then wiping away emotional tears the next.

Making it easy to see why Hacks has won a slew of awards since its debut, including Best Actress and Best Comedy at the 2024 Emmy Awards. 

Hannah Einbinder and Jean Smart in Hacks season four. Image: Stan.

Hacks has managed to widen its world and cast of characters even further, with the gang making the movie from Las Vegas to Los Angeles in pursuit of Deborah's late-night fame.

Along with the endlessly entertaining TV studio storylines,  this season has also gifted us with glimpses into the newly formed, dysfunctional but wildly entertaining talent management business co-run by Jimmy (played by series co-creator and show runner Paul W. Downs) and Kayla (played by comedian Megan Stalter, a true stand out from the series). Their on-screen pairing has truly been a gift from the comedy Gods.

Against all odds, Hacks remains the best show on TV. Each episode is packed with joke-heavy dialogue, celebrity cameos that will make you gasp, and razor-sharp observations about the world that will stick in your brain long after the latest episode has played.

Yet all these elements are not the only factors that keep a legion of fans tuning into new episodes of Hacks. There's also a strong element of joy and hope infused into each episode, all hooked on the electric on-screen relationship between Deborah and Ava. It's rare to see female friendship explored in this way on our screens, along with storylines wrapped up in career, dreams, ageing, relationships, sex, and betrayal.

Whether the characters are embarking on a drug-fueled writers' retreat in Las Vegas, hiding secrets while shooting magazine covers, or sitting quietly side by side in an emergency room while history is made, Hacks is guaranteed to be showstopping television that makes the rest of the world fall away.

And if you're like me, you'll want to watch every episode of Hacks at least twice, just to ensure you don't miss one moment of the magic.

The brand-new season of Hacks is now streaming, only on Stan. Seasons 1-3 are available to watch now on Stan.

Feature Image: Stan.