The third season of “Hacks,” the Emmy-nominated Max comedy series, has in one respect felt strangely dated, with veteran comic Deborah Vance pursuing a late-night TV show as a capper to her career, at a time when those series have lost much luster from their heyday. Yet the show also contains what feels like a timeless lesson about Hollywood and doing anything to get ahead.
艾美奖提名的Max喜剧系列《Hacks》第三季在某种程度上让人感觉有些过时，老牌喜剧演员黛博拉·万斯(Deborah Vance)在事业末期追求一档深夜电视节目，但在这个时代，这类节目已经失去了鼎盛时期的光彩。然而，这部剧也包含了关于好莱坞和为了成功不惜一切手段的永恒教诲。
The finale articulated that clearly, after Deborah (Jean Smart) lied to her writer/confidant Ava (Hannah Einbinder), telling her that the network had prevented her from installing Ava as the head writer on her show.
在大结局中，黛博拉(Jean Smart饰演)对她的编剧/密友艾娃(Hannah Einbinder饰演)撒谎，告诉她网络阻止她任命艾娃为节目的主笔。
As luck would have it, Ava had an encounter with the network boss (Helen Hunt), who made clear that choice belonged to Deborah, who later admitted as much, saying she didn’t want to do anything that might risk her blowing this belated shot at late-night stardom.
幸运的是，艾娃与网络老板(Helen Hunt饰演)有了一次会面，后者明确表示这个选择权在黛博拉手中，黛博拉后来也承认了这一点，说她不想做任何可能让她错过这次深夜成名机会的事情。
“You have to be selfish,” she told Ava, adding, “This show has to be bulletproof, and it has to work. I’ve lost way too much for it not to.”
幸运的是，艾娃与网络老板(Helen Hunt饰演)有了一次会面，后者明确表示这个选择权在黛博拉手中，黛博拉后来也承认了这一点，说她不想做任何可能让她错过这次深夜成名机会的事情。
While Ava’s first impulse was to quit out of principle over Deborah’s betrayal, the final scene marked a turning of the tables, with Ava blackmailing Deborah into giving her the head-writer position. When Deborah asks if she’s willing to use that tactic to get what she wants, Ava responds pointedly, “I would. Wouldn’t you?”
虽然艾娃的第一反应是因为黛博拉的背叛而原则性地辞职，但最后一幕出现了戏剧性的转折，艾娃威胁黛博拉，要求她给她主笔的位置。当黛博拉问她是否愿意使用这种手段来达到自己的目的时，艾娃尖锐地回应道：“我会的。难道你不会吗?”
What that means for their uneasy alliance going forward remains to be seen, although the two have experienced enough ups and downs that they seem unable to quit each other, for good or ill.
他们未来这种不安的联盟将如何发展还有待观察，尽管两人经历了足够的起起落落，以至于他们似乎无法彻底分开，无论是好是坏。
Yet what “Hacks” has nicely captured is the mix of narcissism and self-absorption that often feel like prerequisites to achieving show-business success, in this latest season somewhat mirroring another series set in the world of late-night TV, “The Larry Sanders Show,” whose titular host (played by the late Garry Shandling) possessed all kinds of power that barely concealed his neuroses, descriptions that also applied to those around him.
然而，《Hacks》很好地捕捉到了自恋和自我陶醉的混合体，这通常被视为在娱乐圈取得成功的先决条件。最新一季在某种程度上反映了另一部以深夜电视节目为背景的剧集《拉里·桑德斯秀》，剧中的主持人(由已故的加里·山德林饰演)拥有各种权力，几乎掩盖了他的神经质，这些描述也适用于他周围的人。
The irony is that “Larry Sanders” (which premiered in 1992 on HBO, while “Hacks” occupies its streaming service, Max) came about during a very different time in late night, when the image of Johnny Carson as a comedy kingmaker still loomed over the business. The series made its debut a few months after Carson’s final episode, playing as what became known as the “late-night wars” raged on.
讽刺的是，《拉里·桑德斯秀》(1992年在HBO首播，而《Hacks》则在其流媒体服务Max上播出)诞生于深夜节目截然不同的时代，当时约翰尼·卡森作为喜剧之王的形象仍然笼罩着这个行业。这部剧在卡森最后一集播出几个月后首播，当时所谓的“深夜大战”正在如火如荼地进行。
Today, names like Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel still command prestige and respect, but the audience has dwindled among overwhelming audience fragmentation, and other late-night shows featuring James Corden and Samantha Bee have been swept away amid less hospitable economics for such fare. There’s also a collegiality among the current hosts, who even teamed up during the writers strike, that bears scant resemblance to David Letterman and Jay Leno’s famous feud.
如今，像斯蒂芬·科尔伯特、吉米·法伦和吉米·基梅尔这样的名字仍然拥有威望和尊重，但观众在观众碎片化的冲击下已经大大减少，而其他深夜节目，如詹姆斯·柯登和萨曼莎·比的节目，在不太友好的经济环境下已经消失。目前的节目主持人之间还有一种同事情谊，他们甚至在编剧罢工期间联合起来，这与大卫·莱特曼和杰伊·雷诺之间的著名不和几乎没有相似之处。
Although Deborah appears to be living in the past, “Hacks” hasn’t been, as evidenced by its penultimate episode, which dealt with the comic having to address the fallout from resurfaced old jokes that hadn’t aged well, similar to the scenario that prompted Kevin Hart to withdraw as the host of the Oscars.
尽管黛博拉似乎生活在过去，《Hacks》并没有这样，这一点从倒数第二集就可以看出，这一集讲述了这位喜剧演员必须应对旧笑话重新浮出水面并产生不良后果的情况，这与凯文·哈特因类似情况退出奥斯卡主持人的场景相似。
Then again, after the show’s Christmas episode, perhaps it’s appropriate that “Hacks” would find a way to live in the past, present, and to the extent these dynamics persist, maybe the future.
话又说回来，在《Hacks》的圣诞节特辑之后，也许它找到了一种生活在过去、现在和未来的方式，在这种动态持续的程度上，也许是未来。
