What Hacks Got Right (and Wrong) About Late-Night TV in 2025

Ted Linhart has worked in television research for 35 years, most recently at NBCUniversal. He writes about TV on his Substack: tedontv.substack.com.

Movies and television have been trying to capture the fast-paced, ego-driven world of late-night TV for decades—with mixed results. From The King of Comedy and The Larry Sanders Show to Studio 60 and Late Night (the 2019 Emma Thompson movie, not the timeslot), these portrayals have ranged from sharp satire to pure fantasy.

Enter Season 4 of Hacks, which delivers a punchy spin on the late-night landscape of 2025. The series might be a comedy, but it swings hard at the industry—sometimes with uncanny accuracy. As Conan O’Brien recently said while interviewing co-showrunner Paul W. Downs, parts of it are surprisingly realistic. Other parts? Not so much.

Let’s dig into what Hacks gets right—and where it takes liberties. (Spoilers ahead.)

Late Night’s Glass Ceiling
Even the most casual late night observers are surely aware of the scarcity of women hosting their own shows.  Even when considering Joan Rivers as official guest host for Johnny Carson and Taylor Tomlinson hosting After Midnight on CBS, no woman has officially led a traditional 11:30pm or 12:30am talk show on one of the “Big 3” networks.  (And outside of Samantha Bee and Chelsea Handler, attempts elsewhere have been short-lived, including Rivers’ run at Fox.) Rings True

Deborah’s Late Night Backstory
Paradoxically, it’s also entirely plausible that a network might have tested the waters with a female late-night host back in the ’70s, only to yank the rug over a scandal that wouldn’t have sunk a male counterpart. Joan Rivers’ brief ascension and abrupt fallout at Fox is proof enough. Rings True

Guest Hosting as Audition
Deborah (Jean Smart) nailing a guest-hosting stint and turning it into a job offer? Absolutely true to the industry. Jay Leno, David Letterman, Arsenio Hall—they all turned guest gigs into long-term late-night runs. One standout night can absolutely change a career. Rings True

The Wooing Process
Realistically, Deborah doesn’t land the job overnight—she hits the circuit, roasting herself, playing charity golf, performing improv, and courting industry insiders. It’s a classic campaign strategy, and exactly what a wise wannabe network late-night host would do. Rings True

Past Jokes Come Back to Bite
The resurfacing of Deborah’s old politically incorrect material nearly derailing her shot? That’s straight out of the headlines. It happened to Trevor Noah. It cost Shane Gillis his SNL job. The way Hacks handles it feels firmly rooted in today’s media climate. Rings True

Sleeping with the Boss
On the other hand, the idea that a CEO (Bob Lipka, played by Tony Goldwyn) would greenlight Deborah’s show because they slept together once? Please. The character is portrayed as far too crass and powerful to be swayed by one fling—especially since he shows no signs of honoring any promise. TV Magic

The Blackmail Plot
Also unlikely is the idea that Ava (Hannah Einbinder) could blackmail Deborah into making her head writer by threatening to reveal her affair with a media exec. Deborah’s power and stature make it improbable she’d be vulnerable to such leverage—especially from someone with as low a profile as Ava. TV Magic

Writers Room Dynamics
Ava defending her staff while Deborah treats them with cold indifference is very much in line with late-night lore. Head writers do often serve as shields, and stories of diva hosts abound.  Rings True

Booking Wars
Today’s crop of late-night hosts may be pals, but the scramble for guests, the backchannel competition, the ever-shrinking window for exclusives—it’s all spot-on. Hacks nails how the late-night ecosystem operates in a post-linear, post-loyalty world. Rings True

Kimmel’s Cameo
But Jimmy Kimmel popping in to deliver a threat over Kristen Bell? It’s a fun bit of meta, but that’s all it is. TV Magic

“Mark From Data”
As someone who analyzes TV ratings data for a living, I appreciated the portrayal of “Mark from Data.” Yes, his references to unmeasured demos like “college-educated Singaporeans” are played for laughs, but he nails the cadence and jargon of a real research team. Surprisingly accurate—and funny. Rings True

Winnie Lindell’s Obsession with IP 
Though network execs are often reduced to cartoon villains in fiction, Helen Hunt’s Winnie Lindell is refreshingly grounded. Likewise, her insistence on developing segment IP that can live beyond the show is spot-on. Linear TV today survives by spinning off viral hits—Carpool Karaoke, Stupid Pet Tricks, Lip Sync Battle. Like it or not, this is the business now.  Rings True

Stacey From HR
Assigning a chaperone (Michaela Watkins) to monitor Ava and Deborah’s interactions? Entertaining, but absurd. Media companies rarely do enough to address toxic workplace dynamics, let alone overcorrect with HR chaperones. TV Magic

Dance Mom
Julianne Nicholson’s Dance Mom steals the spotlight—and yes, viral hits like hers do sometimes come out of nowhere. But the “no kids” twist and her drug-fueled collapse veer into absurdist territory. Fun? Yes. Believable? Not so much. TV Magic

Bob Lipka
If Dance Mom stretches credibility, Tony Goldwyn’s Bob Lipka blasts right past it. Portrayed as both ruthless and bafflingly disengaged from his own network’s success, his storyline is pure fantasy. Firing Winnie over a spin-off dispute? That’s not how media CEOs operate—at least not the ones who care about the bottom line. TV Magic

Deborah’s Exit
Would a real Deborah Vance give up her dream gig on principle? Probably not. But her choice to walk away in defense of Ava speaks to a larger truth: today’s late-night hosts have a point of view—and they use their platform for more than punchlines. In that way, it tracks. Rings True

Control Room Revolt
The most implausible moment of the season might be the control room ignoring a direct order from the network CEO to cut the feed. When the boss says “cut,” you cut. No matter how heartfelt Jimmy’s plea is. That director isn’t a hero—he’s unemployed. TV Magic

The Fallout
TMZ reporting that Deborah’s departure spells the end of the entire Late Night franchise? Sadly, all too real. Even Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers have recently mused that the current roster of network late-night hosts might be the last. The genre is vulnerable—and the exit of a high-profile host could absolutely bring down the whole tentpole. (See: Taylor Tomlinson and After Midnight.) Rings True

Hacks may be a comedy, but when it comes to late night, it largely knows what it’s talking about. Some details are exaggerated for effect—sure. But that’s showbiz.