‘Lucky Hank’ Panders Directly to Book Nerds, and It’s Working

Lucky Hank seems like it’ll be a much slower burn than star Bob Odenkirk’s previous AMC show. But considering it’s the kind of dark comedy where an entire episode centers around our antihero’s rivalry with a real-life literary titan, this is a slow burn I am very much here for.

Episode two of Lucky Hank’s first season is called “George Saunders”—as in, acclaimed short story writer George Saunders. Author of Tenth of December, Lincoln in the Bardo, and the recent Liberation Day George Saunders. George Saunders, whom the New York Times dubbed in 2013 as “the writer for our time.”

To me, a book nerd, naming an episode after Saunders is already intriguing. But that the episode is actually about a visit from Hank’s one-time friend George Saunders (played by comedian Brian Huskey) is the kind of hyper specificity that makes for some artful, engrossing, bibliophile-focused comedy. It also establishes Lucky Hank’s interest in authenticity. Not only is this a show about an English professor, after all, but it’s adapted from a novel by one of Saunders’ contemporaries, Richard Russo. (Russo, like Saunders, is himself a professor.)

Read more at The Daily Beast.