# Lucky Hank (2023)

> A disillusioned English department chairman at a cash-starved Pennsylvania college tries to salvage his marriage, career, and sense of self through a midlife reckoning.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/131843

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 8
- Episode runtime: 45 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: comedy, drama
- Created by: Paul Lieberstein, Aaron Zelman
- Network: AMC
- Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Mireille Enos, Cedric Yarbrough, Diedrich Bader, Olivia Scott Welch, Sara Amini, Suzanne Cryer, Shorya Lamba
- TMDB rating: 6.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19785210/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: wry, melancholic, sardonic, bittersweet, warm

## What critics say

Reviewers found the series a mixed but affecting mid-life comedy-drama, admired for Bob Odenkirk's performance and its wry tone, though its uneven structure and modest scale left it short of its ambitions.

## Synopsis

Lucky Hank (2023) is a single-season American dramedy created by Paul Lieberstein and Aaron Zelman for AMC, adapted from a novel. Bob Odenkirk plays William Henry 'Hank' Devereaux, Jr., the reluctant chairman of the English department at a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt, a man whose literary ambitions have quietly dissolved into committee meetings, budget cuts, and sarcastic classroom asides. Mireille Enos plays Lily Devereaux, his wife, whose patience with his drift is thinning, while Cedric Yarbrough as Paul Rourke and Diedrich Bader as Tony Conigula bring friction and absurd institutional politics to his days. Suzanne Cryer plays Gracie DuBois, adding another colleague's wry perspective. The engine of the show is simple and relatable: Hank wants to recover some dignity and meaning, but every attempt is undercut by a shrinking budget, a stagnant marriage, and his own self-deprecating habits. Each of its eight episodes is built around small academic crises and domestic frictions rather than a single case. The tone is wry, melancholic and often funny, with a rueful warmth that suits viewers who enjoy the midlife comedy of The Chair and the dry workplace absurdity of Better Off Ted. Set in a contemporary rust belt campus, it offers a quiet, bittersweet portrait of a man reckoning with lost ambition in an unglamorous, fading town.

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- [Mrs. Fletcher (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/70011)
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