Lucky Hank

Paul Lieberstein and Aaron Zelman on the Lucky Hank opener, how it sets up the show, and bringing Bob Odenkirk aboard the new AMC drama.

Show](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/mr-show-with-bob-and-david) and [Saturday Night Live](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/saturday-night-live) as well as Lieberstein’s experience. He worked on [The Office](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/the-office) as a writer, showrunner, and actor (playing Michael Scott’s worst enemy, [HR manager Toby Flenderson](https://www.avclub.com/internet-sleuths-may-have-discovered-the-identity-of-th-1823764886)). Club](https://www.avclub.com/bob-odenkirk-interview-lucky-hank-amc-better-call-saul-1850214589) that the biggest challenge of adapting it was blending dry humor with sincere drama (the latter of which he perfected during six seasons of [Better Call Saul](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/better-call-saul)). They vote to try and get him replaced as Chair, only to give him the same position again by accident. [Bob Odenkirk](https://www.avclub.com/bob-odenkirk-is-starring-in-a-remake-of-the-room-1850207423) has a glorious meltdown less than five minutes into [Lucky Hank](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/lucky-hank-2023). In fact, the academia portion of the book is what drew him in. “But the fantasy is already in her head,” Lieberstein teases. “Bob wasn’t on our list as we were developing the show because he was unavailable, but then Aaron was getting to know him for something else, and Lieberstein and Zelman make it clear that the show is also about her own career problems. “mediocrity’s capital.” With that, [Lucky Hank launches into its protagonist’s dilemma](https://www.avclub.com/lucky-hank-tv-review-amc-bob-odenkirk-1850213525). “We wrote a lot of versions of the pilot, but not this scene. [Odenkirk recently told ](https://www.avclub.com/bob-odenkirk-interview-lucky-hank-amc-better-call-saul-1850214589) [The A.V.

Lucky Hank is airing its first episode on Sunday, March 19 at 9 p.m. The series stars Bob Odenkirk. There are several ways to watch with a free live stream.

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Bob Odenkirk flashes his acting versatility in his first TV role since Better Call Saul.

He brings a calm and a comfort that is hard to match in showbusiness. The crux of the program is to see the many different angles of a midlife crisis. The screen time for each of these problems isn’t equal and this allows an immersive and relatable tone for viewers. The camaraderie between the other faculty at the college is a unique and eclectic blend of personalities. Sometimes work is more relevant one day, and this exacerbates the problems in a person’s home life. Expanding the screen time for these folks without Hank will help to make the show a better workplace comedy, but that might not be what the creators are solely looking for. It strikes a great balance between the two genres, but this strategy might not always be a home run for every viewer, especially early on in a show’s run. Not only is he an unfulfilled teacher at a school that doesn’t prioritize actual learning (this is a common trope in on-screen education portrayals), but Hank’s worklife is exasperated by his personal sphere in which his wife is also struggling with her career and their daughter refuses to grow up. It wasn’t until he was casted as Saul Goodman on [Breaking Bad](https://www.denofgeek.com/breaking-bad/), one of the greatest characters in the history of TV, that he became a household success story. Early on, the audience is immediately given a comprehensive glance at all aspects of Hank’s life. Odenkirk always talks about how honored he was to be given the keys to such a complex role, but his humility undermines the brilliance of his performance. Without a single drug lord or strain of methamphetamine in sight, Odenkirk gets to explore the trials of a midlife crisis without the outlandish consequences of laundering Heisenberg’s money.

Bob Odenkirk (William Henry Devereaux Jr.) · Mireille Enos (Lily Devereaux) · Olivia Scott Welch (Julie) · Diedrich Bader (Tony Conigula) · Sara Amini (Meg Quigley).

He also has a current recurring role in The Goldbergs, and has had a main role on both Speechless and Carol’s Second Act, among many guest roles. Big nerd and lover of Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire. He also had a main voice role in the famous adult animated show, The Boondocks. Besides his copious amounts of guest roles and voice roles in television, he’s had main roles in big sitcoms such as The Drew Carey Show, American Housewife, Outsourced, and Better Things. Later on, she became a part of the He also was a part of the first season of Fargo. Besides that, the talent has also done plenty in film, specifically over the last decade since he’s become a lot more well-known. I’m eager to see her in this role after her performances in those movies, especially alongside some of these television greats. Show With Bob and David, Odenkirk has also written for the long-running An actor who has been around for decades but has really blown up in the last ten or so years, Odenkirk played the legendary Saul Goodman for four seasons on Breaking Bad, and then helmed his own spinoff for six. [Breaking Bad or its spinoff, Better Call Saul.](https://www.cinemablend.com/television/better-call-saul-vs-breaking-bad-which-is-the-better-overall-series) You want to know who was important to both of those? [main man himself, Bob Odenkirk](https://www.cinemablend.com/streaming-news/bob-odenkirks-best-movies-and-tv-shows-and-how-to-watch-them), who plays William Henry Devereaux Jr.

Review: Bob Odenkirk is an AMC leading man once again with Lucky Hank, which is shaping up to be an enjoyable campus-set comedy.

While Lucky Hank may not be for everyone, thanks to its niche subject matter and smart scripts that refuse to sensationalize the mundane, it might just win viewers over with its great cast alone. It’s an irreverent, often bittersweet campus saga built around a talented cast, with Odenkirk’s Hank leading the way one compelling misstep at a time. [Better Things‘ Diedrich Bader](https://filmschoolrejects.com/better-things-season-5-review/) shows up as the professor’s friend. She understands Hank better than he does, but she also has her own career in education, one that she excels at despite its lack of flashiness. It’ll definitely be the only show this year with a laugh-out-loud scene centering around a departmental faculty election. Yes, this is one of those campus stories: Hank is a middle-aged academic with a substantial chip on his shoulder. Despite centering around a man who insists he’s fed up with academia, the show itself seems to love its intellectual sandbox setting. There’s no combative, culture-war-commentary undercurrent that threatens to turn the story into bad satire. The misanthropy comes mostly from Professor Hank Devereaux (Odenkirk), a professor and chair of the English department at a not-so-prestigious college. It’s also oddly comforting – in a way that only a story based on a book written decades before discourse about safe spaces, trigger warnings, and “wokeness” turned college campuses into one of America’s silliest cultural battlegrounds could be. From what I have seen, the show is interesting and irreverent. This week, we review the new AMC campus comedy Lucky Hank, starring Bob Odenkirk.

Logline: Lucky Hank is a mid-life crisis tale set at Railton College, told in the first person by William Henry Devereaux, Jr. (Bob Odenkirk), the unlikely ...

He said, ‘Take the character and do whatever you want with him.’ I know Bob had a conversation with him early on and they talked about Hank.” When I did Fargo, I was asking why that was such a great part. Logline: Lucky Hank is a mid-life crisis tale set at Railton College, told in the first person by William Henry Devereaux, Jr.

The show tells the story of William Henry “Hank” Devereaux, Jr., an English chair at a small school in Pennsylvania called Railton College.

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Bob Odenkirk, of Better Call Saul fame, is back in a new show on AMC: Lucky Hank. The comedy drama show, which premiered on March 19, comes from the ...

With a VPN, you're able to virtually change the location of your phone, tablet or laptop to a US server and gain access Sling Freestream from anywhere in the world. Episode one of Lucky Hank is available to stream for free on Sling Freestream right now. If you find yourself unable to watch Lucky Hank in your region, a VPN can come in handy. Sling is currently discounting the first month of membership by 50% for new subscribers, too. Alternatively, you can add AMC Plus to your Freestream account for $9 a month. There's no credit card required to use Sling Freestream, though if you want to catch the rest of the series you'll need to upgrade to a paid Sling Orange or Sling Blue account, from $40 a month, to stream AMC.

Paul Lieberstein and Aaron Zelman explore entitlement and disappointment in this melancholy new series.

I think those are the psychological issues of the show. PT: Lily tells Hank at the end of the premiere, "I forgot that you were never going to leave this town." That we really wanted to write about our own lives and our friends and the kind of issues that develop around this age when you're married. So that gets at the heart of what entitlement is, right? Isn't that the trick of life? PT: I was struck by the different types and moments of entitlement. AZ: One of the things that we always say is we never wanted this to be an issues show. AZ: It's one of those towns where probably, I don't know what percentage, but most of it is centered around the university school. Lucky Hank is a TV show, so you have to make a lot of choices, a lot of updating. Were there some things that you knew couldn't be updated that you had to leave in the book? And conversely, were there some elements or characters you were very excited to keep in the adaptation? PT: You describe the show as a "unique mix," and you definitely have distinct sensibilities.

The star of AMC's new college-set comedy-drama offers insights into the key moves in the first episode — and what lies ahead later this season.

He has an outburst in class, and that shakes up his relationship to everyone on the faculty and in the college. And, of course, the goose is on the logo of the school; the Railton sweatshirts and clothes have the goose. [Laughs] All the problems that he has in the first season, and everything that will now alter his life, is all provoked by his reaction to his father's retirement and his sense of the world shifting under his feet. And the rest of the world goes, "No, no, we don't care." The great thing is that in the course of eight episodes, I'm not saying he works everything out — he doesn't — but there's such a degree of transformation that I'm not used to in a TV show. You'll have to see; I don't want to spoil it, but his life is changing and he didn't realize how on the cusp he was of everything evolving. It's not a ton of growth, but it's more than you are used to seeing and it's just refreshing in a TV show. The logic in my mind was he has a distance and a bemusement at life that he insists is a personal choice of his, but it's not. The misery — I noticed this is really not a choice I made, but how often the character kind of grunts and sighs and kind of does that exhale thing of like, "Ugh." I wanted to go there and see if I could handle that and present that lightness in a way that was watchable and entertaining. He was just a college professor, sitting in front of other college professors, about to find out if he was about to be removed as chairman of the English department. And how much of his misanthropy is inward and how much is outward?

Better Call Saul's Bob Odenkirk has debuted his new series on AMC and it's garnering a lot of praise.

The show stars Odenkirk as a professor in an underfunded college who does his best to avoid having a complete mental breakdown as he juggles the problems in his personal and professional life. You can get a sneak peek at the show by watching its official trailer below. With its first episode here, the show has debuted with a near-perfect score of 96% fresh on [Rotten Tomatoes](https://movieweb.com/tag/rotten-tomatoes). And he’s (surprise) phenomenal in it." Among those praising Lucky Hank is Rhea Seehorn, who co-starred with Odenkirk on Better Call Saul for all six seasons. [Bob Odenkirk](https://movieweb.com/person/bob-odenkirk) wrapped up his run on Better Call Saul last year, it wasn't long before he was doing something new for AMC.

Bob Odenkirk takes a break from prestige drama and faces a mid-life crisis in the light and witty AMC+ show Lucky Hank.

[Lucky Hank Review5h ago - Bob Odenkirk faces a mid-life crisis in the light and witty AMC+ show Lucky Hank.](/articles/lucky-hank-premiere-review) [Shazam 2 Director Responds to Middling Reviews: 'I'm Definitely Done With Superheroes for Now'6h ago - The director said he's looking forward to "disconnecting from the superhero discourse online." “The Little Mermaid” is directed by Oscar® nominee Rob Marshall (“Chicago,” “Mary Poppins Returns”)with a screenplay by two-time Oscar nominee David Magee (“Life of Pi,” “Finding Neverland”). John Wick: Chapter 4 will be available in theaters and IMAX on March 24, 2023 (or March 23rd in Australia/NZ).](/videos/john-wick-chapter-4-official-final-trailer) [The Little Mermaid - Official Trailer“The Little Mermaid” is the beloved story of Ariel, a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. The film stars singer and actress Halle Bailey (“grown-ish”) as Ariel; Jonah Hauer-King (“A Dog’s Way Home”) as Prince Eric; Tony Award® winner Daveed Diggs (“Hamilton”) as the voice of Sebastian; Awkwafina (“Raya and the Last Dragon”) as the voice of Scuttle; Jacob Tremblay (“Luca”) as the voice of Flounder; Noma Dumezweni (“Mary Poppins Returns”) as Queen Selina; Art Malik (“Homeland”) as Sir Grimsby; with Oscar® winner Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men”) as King Triton; and two-time Academy Award® nominee Melissa McCarthy (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” “Bridesmaids”) as Ursula. But it also provides the opportunity for some great jokes, particularly as the oblivious and entitled Julie tries to emotionally manipulate Hank with the power of nostalgia in order to avoid asking her mom for money. There’s also some more conventional family drama as Hank’s perpetual pessimism and unwillingness to change clashes with the worldview and aspirations of his wife Lily (Mireille Enos).

From show creators Aaron Zelman and Paul Lieberstein, and adapted from the novel Straight Man by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo, ...

Now, I just go project to project, and I look for something that feels it goes to another place from what I just did. I think that that’s what makes the characters you play so interesting to watch. It was a person and a world and a universe that I could relate to and that was just very refreshing, after the loneliness of Jimmy McGill’s world. And of course, I’d like to do more action because I did enjoy making that movie, a lot more than I thought I would. This part felt so fundamentally different from Saul because he was in on the joke of who he was, he was aware of the persona that he’d constructed, and he had connection to people in his world. But we knew it was a challenge from the start, and we talked about it all the time. That’s what I’m trying to do, and I’m always trying to do that with my next project. I love the idea that we took a run at this and that we’re exploring this world that’s closer to the stakes of real life, which are the stakes of your ego, the stakes of status, and the stakes of how you matter to your wife or husband and your kids. This is such an interesting character because he’s a bit reluctant, he’s kind of ambivalent, and he can be crabby, but he’s also quite funny and you can see that he loves his family. I love that you’re showrunners for Lucky Hank have done The Office and Bloodline because, even though those shows couldn’t be more different, the combination of those two things feels perfect for this show, which is fairly serious at times and a little melancholy sometimes, but it still made me laugh out loud more than once. There was so much that I liked about it, so I said I would do this show. The seemingly ordinary man with an ordinary life and an ordinary career, with a wife (Mireille Enos) and daughter (Olivia Scott Welch) that he loves, also feels like he’s on the brink of a mid-life crisis that could erupt at any moment, possibly on his students or co-workers.