Recently, I came across this tweet from Kylie Ora Lobell:
It immediately made me think of a moment I had a few months ago, watching the latest season of “Hacks.”
If you’re not familiar with the show, Ava, a comedy writer in her early 20s, is hired by Deborah Vance, a Joan Rivers-inspired legendary comedian in her 70s. The two women develop an unexpectedly heartfelt relationship. Hijinks ensue! And in the second-to-last episode of the most recent season, right after [redacted for spoiler], Ava walks out of Deborah Vance’s house and we get this shot:
I didn’t realize I was, as Kylie’s tweet above suggests, looking for the mezuzah until I screamed “A mezuzah!” loud enough to wake up my children and possibly the neighbors’ children.
My husband said logically, “They’re probably just filming at someone’s house who’s Jewish.”
I don’t know — I’ve been told my entire life that Hollywood is run by a) Jews and b) an army of very hardworking, competent crews that include set designers and editors and producers and other jobs I probably don’t know exist. Not one of the many people who scroll by on my screen at the end of each episode noticed the very prominent mezuzah in the very important shot?
We here at Jewish TV Club have one (1) connection to the show, so we checked in with our source. “Important question: is this a mezuzah on Deborah Vance’s house?”
The answer we received was a simple no, which I just do not accept.
One of our colleagues mentioned she’s also noticed two other mezuzahs in “Hacks”. So our question to you is: Have you also noticed this? What is going on?
That is *most certainly* a mezuzah, and your husband is *almost certainly* correct that this is a location shoot at a house belonging to Jews.
Location scout or production manager may have missed it, or ignored it, or whatever. I don't watch the show, so I can't speak to the details, but it'd be interesting if the same house shows up, looks the same, etc.
Also, it looks like Deborah (Jean Smart) is walking out of Ava's (Hannah Einbinder) house, not the other way around? And given Hannah's *very* Jewish background (and also comedy legacy - her mom is Laraine Newman!) the mezuzah is even less surprising. It could totally be a detail the set decorator/production designer missed or didn't care about or knew very well what it was and purposely put there. I don't really accept the answer you got either 😂
Absolutely saw it. Said to my husband "Is that a mezuzah?" It's too high and tilted to be a doorbell. It looks just like what a mezuzah would like like
That is *most certainly* a mezuzah, and your husband is *almost certainly* correct that this is a location shoot at a house belonging to Jews.
Location scout or production manager may have missed it, or ignored it, or whatever. I don't watch the show, so I can't speak to the details, but it'd be interesting if the same house shows up, looks the same, etc.
Also, it looks like Deborah (Jean Smart) is walking out of Ava's (Hannah Einbinder) house, not the other way around? And given Hannah's *very* Jewish background (and also comedy legacy - her mom is Laraine Newman!) the mezuzah is even less surprising. It could totally be a detail the set decorator/production designer missed or didn't care about or knew very well what it was and purposely put there. I don't really accept the answer you got either 😂
Absolutely saw it. Said to my husband "Is that a mezuzah?" It's too high and tilted to be a doorbell. It looks just like what a mezuzah would like like
I saw this too!!!
Sometimes a mezuzah is just a doorbell.
I saw it as well, but as I recall, it wasn't Debra's house!
This one was on Deborah's door, but we also spotted one at the frat house where they go to a party, AND another one in Deborah's basement!
Hameivin yavin.