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Warning: Spoilers ahead for the eighth episode of season four of Hacks.<\/em><\/p>\n Helen Hunt<\/strong> is a big fan of late-night talk shows. \u201cI\u2019m very plugged into that world and how it\u2019s shifted,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s helped the whole country metabolize a lot of really hard things when they go to bed.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s why it\u2019s so hard for her to believe that the fourth season of Hacks,<\/em> in which Jean Smart<\/strong>\u2019s Deborah Vance becomes the first woman to host a major late-night show, is highlighting a glass ceiling that still exists in the real world. All of the major broadcast networks\u2019 longest-running late-night shows are still hosted by men; the last time a woman hosted one was when Joan Rivers had a short-lived stint behind the desk of The Late Show<\/em> in 1986. And even beyond the big networks, women remain underrepresented in this genre.<\/p>\n On Hacks,<\/em> Hunt plays Winnie Landell, the network executive responsible for helping Deborah land her late-night gig. \u201cThat my character would take it on as her mission to put this woman in that position\u2014I had fun taking that really personally,\u201d she says. But sadly for Winnie, Deborah\u2019s success is what leads to Winnie\u2019s demise. In the eighth episode of season four, which aired May 15, Deborah\u2019s show becomes the number one late-night show. While congratulating Deborah, Winnie reminds her that they also need to be pursuing a spin-off series. Deborah complains about Winnie to her media-mogul boss, played by Tony Goldwyn.<\/strong> Winnie is then fired, sending shockwaves through Hollywood. Deborah\u2019s cutthroat move reminds Ava (Hannah Einbinder<\/strong><\/a>) that even now, her boss is looking out for number one.<\/p>\n Hunt, who won four Emmys for Mad About You<\/em> and has starred in iconic films such as Twister<\/em> and As Good as It Gets,<\/em> spoke to Vanity Fair<\/em> about the power dynamics at play in the episode, what she\u2019ll miss about Winnie, and the never-ending battle between art and commerce in Hollywood.<\/p>\n Vanity Fair:<\/em> What did you think when you learned that Winnie would be fired?<\/strong><\/p>\n Helen Hunt:<\/strong> I think these writers are so great and so smart. They know that Jean\u2019s character has to be incredibly likable and fierce and ruthless again and again, unpredictably. What you want good writing to be is surprising and inevitable.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a power shift from Winnie to Deborah after Deborah\u2019s show is a hit. How accurately does that represent Hollywood?<\/strong><\/p>\n The thing that I found the most fun\u2014I just watched it last night in preparation for this\u2014is that she doesn\u2019t say \u201cfire her.\u201d She says, \u201cTell her to back off.\u201d She has more power than she thinks, and so she sort of passively aggressively asks for a slight course correction, and then Tony Goldwyn\u2019s character just lops my character\u2019s head off. And you see Jean\u2019s shock when she hears the news. That goes back to their good writing. It\u2019s much better than Jean diabolically planning my demise. She just complains, and then somebody\u2019s head gets cut off for it, which seems very true to life about that moment of hubris that comes with success\u2014when you don\u2019t realize the power you have, and you don\u2019t realize what you\u2019ve lost touch with.<\/p>\n What did you enjoy about playing Winnie over these last two seasons?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jean and Hannah are so good, so good together. They hold their own with each other. They let each other win. They love each other in real life, and it\u2019s a love story, in the way that Breaking Bad<\/em> was a love story. So getting to step in with good writing underneath me to that beautiful pair of actors was amazing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n