Season 1
A dark mentorship forms between Deborah Vance, a legendary Las Vegas comic, and an entitled, outcast 25-year-old comedy writer.
There Is No Line
An entitled young writer and a waning comedy legend must put aside their differences to save their careers.
Primm
Deborah tests Ava's limits.
A Gig's a Gig
Ava gains insight into Deborah's past.
D'Jewelry
At DJ's jewelry expo, Ava comes to better understand Deborah and DJ's complicated mother-daughter relationship. Deborah receives an unexpected piece of ammunition against Marty.
Falling
Deborah blackmails Marty. Ava has a wild night to remember in Vegas that puts everything in perspective.
New Eyes
While Deborah recovers from surgery, she and Ava have a unique bonding experience when Deborah dispels a major misperception about her past.
Tunnel of Love
DJ's birthday party becomes a surprise dual function. Meanwhile, Deborah and Marty reconnect.
1.69 Million
With a little encouragement from Ava, Deborah’s unpolished set sparks a career-defining moment.
Interview
Ava tries to keep a secret from Deborah, but someone in Deborah’s inner-circle leverages the truth. Meanwhile, Deborah stares down the barrel of her first radically honest show.
I Think She Will
For her final performance at the Palmetto, Deborah must decide between playing it safe and putting her entire career on the line. Meanwhile, Ava deals with a family crisis.
Avis de la communauté (7)
I have always listened to the story that clowns are in real life sad and lonely. So are Ava and Deborah. The mix of comedy and drama is genius and, while I love the main characters, in particular Ava , what stands out is that all the other characters and side stories have a relevance and a reason to be there. They make the drama more real and give it a depth that is unexpected.
Enjoyed this a lot. I've seen Ava being divisive in many corners, and my two cents is that Hannah Einbinder is pretty good, but her character's writing just never delve much deeper beyond the various character archetypes at the outset, which is the opposite of Jean Smart's Deborah who continue to deepen in various interesting ways as the season goes on. It makes the show's structure that gears towards a two-hander feels unbalanced, and my interest flagged in any stretch that focuses only on Ava. Maybe the writers are in love with Smart('s character) too much; who can't blame them though when she is so phenomenal in this. It just that the most interesting and fertile material (both comedic and dramatic) with the two main characters comes like this: Deborah & Ava > Deborah >>> Ava. Looking forwards to Season 2 though, as the second half of Season 1 already shifts the story to be mostly of the first one in that ranking.
There is so much potential here, but it does not fly as much as I expected. The characters remain fairly superficial. I wanted it to go deeper but that rarely happens. The last episode was written way way better than the rest of the show. Episodes fly here and there and are not cohesive. It worked for me in bits and pieces though.
Honestly, it surprised me that I had this much fun with a comedy show like this. Was expecting a lot of anti-male jokes, but that wasn’t the case at all. Really good balance in the types of jokes, so I get why this speaks to a broad audience. Good comedy shows are rare and I’m glad that I have a few seasons left to binge.
the first season has some really nice moments, but what kept me watching is deborah and ava dynamic, it’s truly the best thing in this show.