X
- 2023
- TV-14
- AMC
- 2023
- TV-14
- AMC
- 2023
- TV-14
- AMC
- 2023
- TV-14
- AMC
Lucky Hank
Season 1 Premiere: Jan 11, 2023
70
6.7
Where to Watch
Where to Watch
All Seasons
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 25 Critic Reviews
70
72% Positive
18 Reviews
18 Reviews
28% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 25 Critic Reviews
70
72% Positive
18 Reviews
18 Reviews
28% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
With Leiberstein and Zelman at the helm, Lucky Hank does an attractive job of balancing salty comedy with bittersweet moments for an intimate, easily identifiable show that will be a new favorite for viewers.
Lucky Hank is a funny show with a fine cast. We hope it keeps its light tone as Hank’s life falls to pieces, at least the way he’s perceiving that it is.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 27 User Ratings
6.7
74% Positive
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
11% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
15% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 27 User Ratings
6.7
74% Positive
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
11% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
15% Negative
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
Bob Odenkirk as a liberal arts college professor made this an automatic must-check-it-out series - for me.
And then there are other top-talents such as Mireille Enos, Diedrich Bader and Kyle MacLachlan that push the talent to the top for a series of this budget-level.
But, there was another actor, Olivia Scott Welch (as the daughter), which I just had to check out to see if she was going to be able to produce like I thought she might have the talent to reach... and she is probably going to get there in the first season. In the initial episodes I had the feeling that Olivia Scott Welch was being pushed to hit her first-take mark and produce - just like the other top experienced actors probably were and it was not good enough - in my opinion. Perhaps the producers had budget targets that had to be met until it was clearer if the series was going to be good enough for additional investment. Regardless, in the final scene of episode 7 everything came together... acting, writing, directing, etc... and Olivia Scott Welch produced the best acting I have seen from her.
I hope this series gets a couple of more seasons - because it could be a very, very good as all the parts start to come together.
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Lucky Hank is a show you can hang around with, feel basically mellow, and just enjoy the ride. It’s not superlative, and I’m not sure it’s actually trying to say very much, but as an anachronistic detour onto the university campus as it never truly existed (and certainly doesn’t now), it’s an unreal reality that’s worth the visit.
Hank is the least compelling person there. ... Yet miraculously, it still manages to be extremely watchable. If the supporting characters manage to crowd out Hank, it could evolve into a new workplace dramedy hit.
Through only two episodes, it’s hard to tell if “Lucky Hank” could use a bit more of “Saul’s” eagerness to gaze into the darkness, or if it’d be better off dialing up its softer side. The “everything and the kitchen sink” approach taken by co-showrunners Aaron Zelman and Paul Lieberstein leaves enough room to pivot toward what’s working as the season goes on, but also too many questions about an amorphous story that could be described any which way: Is it a dark comedy? A light drama? A mid-life crisis cringe-fest, or an inspirational everyman saga?
“Lucky Hank” so accurately captures professorial ennui. But it might capture ennui a little too well, resulting in a show that seems to amble in no particular direction with little indication of when it might hit a stride. ... But Hank is the type of lovable curmudgeon that some viewers relate to so deeply that his mere involvement can create genuine stakes.
Oedenkirk’s always going to give you fair value. But there’s very little here that either suggests “bingeworthy” “destination TV,” or even the chance it might work its way towards that.
Thoroughly enjoying this. It's serious drama as only comedy will allow, to protect it from melodrama. What could you expect from Bob Odenkirk? Great cast to boot.
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Well, it's a change of character for Odenkirk, and the setting is fresh for a series, but it's not half as clever as the writer(s) think it is. Every characters sounds the same - witty - and the zingers fly back and forth, ad nauseam. It's really not much different than the 70s series where the dialogue consisted of one put-down after another. Way too precious. Sure isn't going to convert anyone with a hyper-sensitivity toward liberal education.
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Bob Odenkirk. That name is now gilded with advance laurels since his brilliant rendition of Saul Goodman in the Breaking Bad original & especially the so-named Prequel series. But is it enough to carry what is supposed to be a "real life" or rather mid-life (crisis) serialized "comedy/drama"? I'd say the first episodes have proven that the answer for me is a reverberating "nope".
The series has the title "Hero" Hank meandering as a lustless, emotionally deprived and professionally and humanly unsatisfied professor of English studies in a middling, mid-country US university. He is surrounded with equally dissatisfied co-workers and a family that either is disinterested or has been flying apart. Performances are kind of underwhelming, including that of the title Hero's - but that is down to the subject matter, which let's be honest, is every 2nd "knowledge worker's" personal life being drawn on screen.
Do I want to flee my daily life by looking into some other everydayman's boring and dull existence, where they lustlessly go through their motions, trying to "sabotage" others that are just as bored, disappointed as they are in a never-ending slow grind towards their inevitable deaths?
The answer for me is a clear "nope", and I'd rather have someone try to make some truly deep characters along the lines of Walther White and Saul Goodman, if you want to go down the "Drama road" in all its darkness. If you wanted to explore the whimsical, something I haven't seen in a long time, try to find another Hal from Malcolm in the Middle, where Modern Family drifted off into the "satisfy everyone" niche too quickly.
This one is an unfortunate "third time's not the charm" for a big B. Odenkirk series - even though I hoped for a bit more, the trite everyday overpaid and underworked "University shtick" is a) so far away from Joe Everywoman and b) so drawn-out and sadly close to what must be a lot of people's real lifes that I am happy to pass on watching it further.
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Production Company:
- AMC Studios
- Afternoon Nap
- Gran Via Productions
- LeFoole Inc.
- Ponyboy Productions
- TriStar Television
Initial Release Date: Jan 11, 2023
Number of seasons: 1 Season
Rating: TV-14
Awards
ReFrame
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Astra Television Awards
• 1 Nomination
TV Scholar Awards
• 1 Nomination
