Hacks
A Slippery Slope
TV Flash files “A Slippery Slope” as hour 36 of 47 in the TV Flash guide — Hacks (2021–) on Max, season 4, episode 9, aired 2025-05-22, 37 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E09: listed hour 36 of 47 in the Hacks guide, hour 9 of 10 in season 4. It aired 2025-05-22 (37 min). The listed hour before it is “Witch of the Week” (S04E08). Next is “Heaven” (S04E10).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
When Late Night is forced to censor an interview, Deborah and Ava get inadvertently embroiled in controversy. Meanwhile, Jimmy hits rock bottom and Kayla gains clarity on where she belongs.
Viewer FAQ
Where does A Slippery Slope sit in the Hacks guide?
S04E09 is listed hour 36 of 47 — hour 9 of 10 in season 4, season 4 episode 9.
When did Hacks S04E09 air?
A Slippery Slope aired 2025-05-22 and is listed at 37 minutes.
Where should I start?
Season one, when Deborah hires Ava. The mentor-monster bond is the engine; later seasons deepen it through industry upheavals rather than replacing the pair.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch Jean Smart's career-redefining comic monster opposite Hannah Einbinder in Max's flagship showbiz satire. A legendary Vegas comic hires a canceled young writer; punchlines are the love language. Best when you want Hollywood half-hours with teeth and a writing staff that knows the mic.
Fading Vegas comedy icon Deborah Vance hires canceled young writer Ava, and suddenly the old network night has a new two-hander: punchlines as love language, knives out, mutual reinvention. Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky's Max series premiered May 13, 2021, and Jean Smart's late-career supremacy became inseparable from Deborah. Hannah Einbinder matches her. Carl Clemons-Hopkins orbits the workplace. Showbiz cruelty is the office; respect is the long game. On the palate: cigarette haze and perfect…
Filed against
- Jean Smart as Deborah Vance
Jean Smart’s Charlene Frazier gave Designing Women its sugared drawl, then Watchmen, Hacks, and Mare of Easttown proved the 1980s catalog comic had a second, third, and fourth act. TV Flash files her as the long game: Atlanta living-room…
- Hannah Einbinder as Ava Daniels
Hannah Einbinder's Ava Daniels is the canceled young writer across from Jean Smart's comic monster on Hacks — Max flagship showbiz satire, punchlines as a love language, Vegas legend hiring the intern the industry already tried to throw…
- Carl Clemons-Hopkins as Marcus
Carl Clemons-Hopkins plays Marcus on Hacks — the staff-room pulse around Jean Smart's career-redefining comic monster and Hannah Einbinder's canceled young writer. Punchlines as a love language, Vegas as a workplace, Hollywood half-hours…