The Comeback (TV series)

The Comeback
Genre	Comedy-drama Mockumentary Found footage
Created by	Michael Patrick King Lisa Kudrow
Starring	Lisa Kudrow Malin Åkerman Robert Bagnell Lance Barber Robert Michael Morris Laura Silverman Damian Young
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	21 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	John Melfi (season 1) Michael Patrick King Lisa Kudrow Dan Bucatinsky
Camera setup	Single camera
Running time	30 minutes 42 minutes (Season 2 premiere)
Production company(s)	Is or Isn't Entertainment Working Class Films Warner Bros. Television
Distributor	Warner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original network	HBO
Original release	First series: June 5, 2005 (2005-06-05) – September 4, 2005 (2005-09-04) Revived series: November 9, 2014 (2014-11-09) – present
External links
Website

The Comeback is an American television comedy-drama series produced by HBO that stars actress Lisa Kudrow as sitcom actress Valerie Cherish in modern-day Los Angeles. It was created by Kudrow and Michael Patrick King, a former executive producer of Sex and the City. Kudrow and King are also screenwriters and executive producers of the series, with King also serving as the director of some episodes. The series premiered on HBO on June 5, 2005 and aired for a single, 13-episode season before being canceled. The series was revived nine years later and an eight-episode second season started airing on HBO on November 9, 2014.^[1]

The show, a satirical, comedic look inside the entertainment television industry, is shot by a two-camera crew. Season One is presented as found footage shot for the fictional reality show within The Comeback, also called The Comeback. Season Two is presented as found footage shot by a camera crew originally commissioned by Valerie to pitch a pilot to noted reality TV producer Andy Cohen, later repurposed as behind the scenes web content, and then into a full-scale documentary.

On April 27, 2015 it was confirmed that The Comeback has been renewed by HBO for a third season.^[2][3]

Plot

The series initially follows Valerie Cherish (Kudrow), a veteran sitcom actress who has been out of the spotlight for more than a decade, as she attempts in 2005 to return to the industry that made her famous. Valerie lands a role on a new network sitcom called Room and Bored, but struggles with the matter of being an aging, non-influential performer in an increasingly youthful Hollywood, while her every move on and off the set is being documented for a companion reality show.

In 2014, she is cast as a fictionalized version of herself in an HBO series entitled Seeing Red, which chronicles the career of the sitcom writer/producer who tormented her nine years earlier. A documentary film crew captures her second career resurgence as it threatens to destroy her personal life.

Cast and characters

Main

• Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish, the central figure of The Comeback and the star of a 1989–1993 sitcom, I'm It!, in which she played a young superstar attorney called Becky. In the decade since, Valerie hasn't found acting work, and has fallen out of the limelight. She receives a call from her former network asking her to do a reality show called The Comeback, about an actress attempting to relaunch her flagging career by landing a starring role on the sitcom Room and Bored, a show featuring four sexy singles living in a condominium. Shortly after production of Room and Bored begins, Valerie's role on the show is reduced to an aging supporting character named Aunt Sassy. Valerie thinks she is (or should be) the real star of the show, and is very concerned about her image. She is extremely shallow and ego-driven, and takes great care to ensure that The Comeback doesn't portray her in an unflattering light, although she ultimately fails at this. Valerie usually doesn't bother to learn the names of crew members, nor does she take much interest in matters that do not directly involve her. She is woefully out of touch with current trends, as evidenced by her choices in fashion, decor, and music, as well as a general misunderstanding of reality television. Although she had become a housewife while unemployed, she engages in very little domestic activity. The family employs a housekeeper, and Valerie usually foregoes cooking, instead ordering take-out dinners from area restaurants. Valerie indicates that she had appeared in bit parts on shows such as Magnum, P.I., Knight Rider, and Remington Steele prior to her starring role on I'm It! After Room and Bored and The Comeback were canceled, Valerie was part of the original cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. She quit the show during early production after a disagreement with producers about her portrayal, worried that she would receive the same poor treatment as The Comeback. Otherwise, she appeared in several student films, procedural television crime dramas, and infomercials. After learning that HBO was planning a series called Seeing Red that would portray a fictionalized version of herself negatively, she tries to stop production, but instead is cast to play that character, Mallory Church. At some point in her past, Valerie had an abortion.
• Damian Young as Mark Berman, Valerie's loving (and extremely patient) husband. They had lived a quiet lifestyle until camera crews invaded their privacy. Mark is a dedicated businessman with very little understanding of show business. He doesn't seem to be impressed by Valerie's celebrity and is annoyed by the reality show cameras but admits to using cocaine and watching pornography on camera. Valerie refers to Mark most often as "Marky Mark" and also by the nickname "Love Ball". At some point during their marriage, Mark had an affair with another woman. The two are separated during the latter half of season 2, as Mark surmises that Valerie is putting her career before their marriage.
• Robert Michael Morris as Mickey Deane, Valerie Cherish's hairdresser since the late 1980s and her closest friend. Between I'm It! and Room and Bored, he only worked for the actress part-time. Mickey agreed to work for Valerie full-time as she was cast on Room and Bored in order to receive health benefits from the studio. In his free time, he watches a lot of reality shows, and he is delighted to be appearing on one. Mickey is an older, effeminate man who believes that his obvious homosexuality is a well-kept secret. He came out of the closet in the season 1 finale. He remains Valerie's hairdresser through (and beyond) the events of season 2. Valerie realizes how much Mickey means to her when she is terrified by his cancer diagnosis. Valerie refers to Mickey and Mark as "the two most important men in my life".
• Laura Silverman as Jane Benson, the producer of Valerie Cherish's reality show, The Comeback. Like many "reality" shows, Jane's production is a misnomer as she has no qualms with premeditated scripting, acting, urgings from behind-the-scenes crew to create specified situations of adversity and drama, or even product placement. Jane seems committed to seeing Valerie is comfortable on camera, yet is not above asking her questions that obviously are designed to provoke strong reactions. Jane is seldom seen on-camera, but her voice is often heard. Jane attempts to limit her communication with Valerie, so as not to sacrifice the "reality" content of the show, but the star constantly seems to be talking to Jane. Valerie will ask her director for advice and "re-shoots" of a particular event, and, while Jane herself has asked for multiple takes of a reaction, Jane will usually deny such requests of Valerie by repeatedly telling her she is forbidden to interact with her in any way. The relationship between the two comes to a head in the season 1 finale. Jane later wins an Academy Award for a short documentary film she produced with her lesbian partner, and has resigned herself to life away from the entertainment industry in the California countryside after the relationship ended. Following much persuasion, however, she reluctantly returns to Los Angeles to chronicle Valerie's life behind the scenes of Seeing Red.
• Malin Åkerman as Juna Millken (main cast season 1, recurring season 2), a beautiful, young, blond musician, who (in her first-ever acting role) plays Cassie, the lead character and niece of Aunt Sassy on Room and Bored. Juna and Valerie become fast friends on and off the set. Juna sees Val as her mentor, and Val calls Juna "baby girl," though Valerie is silently jealous of Juna's multifaceted stardom. Between seasons 1 and 2, Juna has become a worldwide superstar, constantly hounded by paparazzi, though she still genuinely cares for Valerie. Although no longer close friends, the two do remain acquainted and keep in contact after Room and Bored's cancellation. Juna indicates that she does not approve of the fictionalized portrayal of herself in Seeing Red, and is offended by Valerie's "endorsement" of Paulie G's side of the story by starring in it.
• Lance Barber as Paulie G, Valerie's main antagonist. He is one of the two co-creators, head writers, and executive producers of Room and Bored. His writing style and personality indicate he is a fan of sophomoric humor. He pushed the change in Valerie's sitcom character, as he is very unsympathetic to Valerie herself. Paulie G disagreed with Valerie's casting from the beginning, and constantly seeks to reduce her role on the show. He is resentful of Valerie's attempts to control the creative direction of Room and Bored, despite her efforts to butter him up. He often antagonizes Valerie (usually in a passive-aggressive manner), but otherwise avoids contact with her. Although he is churlish, the editors of The Comeback have polished the finished reality show to portray Paulie G in a positive light, while Valerie is shown to be the antagonist between the two. When Valerie reconnects with him in 2014, Paulie G reveals that he was on heroin for the duration of Room and Bored, and he has become clean in the time since. He is writing, producing, and directing an HBO series entitled Seeing Red, based on his account of his time as a sitcom writer and his struggles dealing with Valerie. He clearly does not agree with Valerie's casting in Seeing Red, and he indicates that his struggles interacting with Valerie led to his drug problem. He becomes overwhelmed while producing the series, and the network removes him from the director's chair in mid-production. While Seeing Red is critically praised for its acting performances, Paulie G's writing is widely considered the weak link.
• Robert Bagnell as Tom Peterman (main cast season 1, guest season 2), the other of the two co-creators, head writers, and executive producers of Room and Bored. While he tends to agree with Paulie G that Valerie is an overbearing presence, he attempts to accommodate her requests and show ideas. Unlike Paulie G, Tom tries to communicate calmly with Valerie and treat her with appropriate respect, although his motives are sometimes passive-aggressive. Valerie tends to speak to Tom first when approaching the producers. Tom and Paulie G met while studying at Harvard and worked as a team until 2008, even winning an Emmy for a The Simpsons script prior to Room and Bored. After the sitcom's failure, Tom and Paulie G had a falling-out and haven't spoken since. When Valerie reconnects with him in 2014, Tom has spent five years as the unheralded executive producer of Nicky Nicky Nack Nack, a popular children's show on Nickelodeon. He is resentful of Paulie G's career resurgence, and claims that his own career was destroyed by Paulie G's drug use.

Recurring

• Dan Bucatinsky as Billy Stanton, Valerie's publicist, hired to earn Valerie magazine covers (due mainly to her jealousy of Juna's photo appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone). Billy is a second-rate publicist who is just starting his own agency. He is very aggressive and tends to push and shove anybody who offends or disagrees with him. The first magazine cover he lands Valerie is for a yoga magazine, despite Val's ignorance of the yoga culture. He remains Valerie's publicist during the events of Season Two.
• James Burrows as a heightened version of himself, the director of a few early Room and Bored episodes. His interactions with Valerie indicate the two have previously worked together, and he doesn't always see eye-to-eye with Tom and Paulie G. Though Jimmy likes Valerie and genuinely wants to help her succeed, he becomes increasingly annoyed with the presence of the reality crew, as well as Valerie's on-set antics (such as goading the studio audience into pressuring the producers for an additional take of a scene). His attempts to escape Jane and her cameras are usually futile. Jimmy sternly reminds Valerie often that she is not the star of Room and Bored and that her input to the producers is unwelcome. Jimmy was scheduled to be the full-time director of Room and Bored, but he is removed from that post a few episodes into the show's run without explanation, and is later seen directing another series on the same studio lot. Valerie sees Jimmy at the Emmys in 2014, where he gives her some sage advice about how to balance her career with her life at home.
• Bayne Gibby as Gigi Alexander, a naive playwright from New York City, who is hired to write for Room and Bored. Valerie becomes fast friends with Gigi, with the ulterior motive of getting Aunt Sassy a greater role on the show, and to attempt to supersede some of the writing decisions of Tom and Paulie G. Sensing Valerie's intentions, the show's creators have forbidden any further fraternization between Valerie and Gigi, although Valerie later takes Gigi as her date to the People's Choice Awards. Gigi has a difficult time fitting in with the "boys' club" mentality of the writers' room, and puts on a considerable amount of weight as a result. Valerie has a chance meeting with her in 2014, when she learns that Gigi is a successful writer on Pretty Little Liars, but has become obese and emotionally damaged following the rejection of an earlier pilot she developed for HBO.
• Lillian Hurst as Esperanza, Valerie and Mark's housekeeper. She is uncomfortable around the cameras, often simply staring into them with a suspicious glare on her face.
• Kellan Lutz as Chris MacNess. Chris portrays Mooner, Juna's roommate and love interest on Room and Bored. He is curious why Valerie is even on the show, due to the fact she is twice as old as the remainder of the cast. Chris had a difficult childhood, and lived with an alcoholic father, which causes Chris to emotionally break down whenever he is put into a stressful situation with an authority figure. Chris has become a big movie star in the time between season 1 and season 2. He admits to having a crush on Valerie and unsuccessfully attempts to seduce her.

Season One

• Kimberly Kevon Williams as Shayne Thomas. Shayne plays Dylan, Juna's roommate on Room and Bored. As a teenager, Shayne starred on a Disney Channel sitcom. She is a Christian who objects to the sexual content of Valerie's reality show, but overlooks the obvious sexual innuendo included within Room and Bored because she is playing a character and is not being "herself".
• Jason Olive as Jesse Wood. Jesse plays Stitch, one of Juna's male roommates on Room and Bored. He had been turned down for several acting jobs before landing his role on the show.
• John H. Mayer as Wagner Fisk, Jimmy's replacement as the Room and Bored director. He and Valerie have an amicable relationship, as he directed every episode of the first season of I'm It!. Wagner is a pushover, and was the victim of domestic violence by his wife. Room and Bored is his first directing job in several years.
• Vanessa Marano as Francesca Berman, Valerie's preteen stepdaughter. Francesca has generally tried to avoid Valerie, but becomes very eager to bond with her stepmother when in front of the reality show cameras. Francesca lives primarily with her birth mother, but on occasion stays with Mark and Valerie. She is often seen text-messaging her friends, including those in the same room. In one episode, an unsupervised Francesca throws a pool party, complete with wine and cigarettes. When Valerie discovers this, the footage shot by Jane's crew is edited to portray Valerie as an irresponsible parent.
• Maulik Pancholy and Amir Talai as Kaveen Kahan and Greg Narayan, a comedy duo brought in by the network to spice up Room and Bored as Juna's foreign pen pals. Tom and Paulie G find them hilarious, but the original cast (except for Valerie) resents their involvement. They are antagonistic with the original cast, and one remark even causes Chris to start a fight with them. They are disaffectionately known as the "beetee beetee boys" by the original cast, mocking their comedy duo routine, which plays heavily on faux-Indian accents.
• Nathan Lee Graham as Peter, the wardrobe supervisor for Room and Bored.
• Tom Virtue as Eddie, the stage manager of Room and Bored.

Season Two

• Seth Rogen as a version of himself. Rogen is cast on Seeing Red as Mitch, the character based upon Paulie G. Rogen's charming personality and tendency to make sarcastic remarks helps to lighten tension on set. He has shown an ability to sense when Paulie G is being overly passive-aggressive toward Valerie, and he comes to her aid on more than one occasion in those situations.
• Mark L. Young as Tyler Beck, Mark and Valerie's nephew, a production assistant (and general nuisance) on the documentary crew following Valerie.
• Meryl Hathaway as Andie Tate, a choreographer-turned-director who relieves Paulie G as the director of some of the later Seeing Red episodes.
• Rose Abdoo as Marianina, Valerie's secondary hairdresser, whose only job is to apply her wig.
• Brian Delate as Ron Wesson, the line producer for Seeing Red.
• Zoe Chao as Shayna, an assistant director for Seeing Red.

Cameos

Because the show is set in modern-day Hollywood, celebrities and media personalities often play themselves in cameo appearances:

Series overview

Episodes

Season 1 (2005)

Season 2 (2014)

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Future

On the pressing question of whether we will get to see The Comeback for a third season – according to HBO, the show drew an average of 1.4 million viewers across its channels and on demand – Kudrow said she has not "heard it officially," but that she and King have gotten the impression that the door is open for more. Soon, she hopes she and King will begin to "talk about what more would look like." ^[4]

In an interview with E!, Kudrow also had this to say: "I would love to do more. In 2005, that was an ending, that was definitely an ending because I guess now we see that those episodes were a piece and these episodes were a piece and then if we do more then we will be doing that piece." ^[5]

On April 27, 2015 it was confirmed that The Comeback would return for a third season, but HBO has signed off the deal to wait until Kudrow and Patrick King are ready.^[6]

Reception

Season 1

Despite a coveted time slot after the hit series Entourage, The Comeback debuted to low ratings. It was also met with a mixed critical response, yet it was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards including Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Kudrow. HBO confirmed on September 21, 2005, that the series had been canceled after being on the air only 13 weeks. Its initial lukewarm reception and short run notwithstanding, The Comeback has been retrospectively lauded.

The show placed #79 on Entertainment Weekly's "New TV Classics" list. In 2009, the publication named The Comeback one of the 10 best shows of the decade, calling it "the most brilliantly brutal satire of reality TV ever captured on screen."^[7] In 2012, the magazine listed the show at #8 in the "25 Best Cult TV Shows from the Past 25 Years," saying, "Both painfully uncomfortable and deadpan hilarious, The Comeback was spot-on in its inside-showbiz look at the making of a sitcom – while featuring one of the decade's biggest sitcom stars, no less. But it was so inside, it was too inaccessible to a mass audience, or even an audience that might have returned for a second season on HBO."^[8] Entertainment Weekly also voted Valerie Cherish on The Comeback as Lisa Kudrow's second best performance.^[9]

The New York Times gave the show a lukewarm review, dubbing it "interesting", but also complaining about a lack of originality in the concept and finding The Comeback ultimately less entertaining than its fellow HBO series Entourage.^[10]

In a commemorative article in 2012, UK newspaper The Guardian praised the show for its "bittersweet comedy" and Lisa Kudrow for her "ego-free acting." The newspaper questions whether, in an era where "you can't move for meta-sitcoms," this sitcom was just "too far ahead of its time."^[11]

Season 2

The second season was met with critical acclaim. On the review aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes the second season received a 84% approval rating giving it a "fresh" rating.^[12] It also scored a 71 out of 100 on Metacritic^[13] Robert Loyd of the Los Angeles Times praised the show saying "The current episodes have more weight and intensity; they come off a shade darker and yet more sympathetic to its cast of co-dependent lost souls."^[14] Joshua Alston of The A.V. Club also praised it, writing: "The Comeback is the same as it ever was, and more highly concentrated. It still out-metas anything else on television. The performances remain stellar all around."^[15] On the other hand, Kristi Turnquist gave the show a mixed review, writing: "While the first few episodes of the new Comeback make stingingly accurate points about the sexism and ageism Valerie has to contend with, The Comeback has its own problems. As in the first go-round, Valerie comes off as cartoonish, a caricature of a so-so celebrity."^[16] The last episode of Season 2, "Valerie Gets What She Really Wants", received almost universal praise, scoring 10/10 and A scores across the board.^[17][18][19]

Awards and nominations

Home media releases

DVD

"The Comeback – The Complete Only Season" was released on Region 1 DVD on August 1, 2006, with the Region 2 version released on September 18, 2006. The discs include all thirteen aired episodes as well as the following special features:

• Audio commentary on Episode 1 by Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King
• Audio commentary on Episode 2 by Valerie Cherish
• Audio commentary on Episode 3 by Michael Patrick King
• Audio commentary on Episode 9 by Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King
• Audio commentary on Episode 12 by Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King
• Audio commentary on Episode 13 by Michael Patrick King
• "Valerie: After the Laughter" (8:47) is like an epilogue for Ms. Cherish as she tries to explain what she'll be doing now that Room and Bored and The Comeback have been put on hiatus.
• "Valerie Backstage at Dancing with the Stars" (6:12) is the sitcom/reality star backstage at Dancing with the Stars
• Both discs also offer an episode index

Season 2 will be released on DVD August 4, 2015 in a combo-pack along with Season 1 entitled "The Comeback: Limited Series". It will contain all 21 episodes of the series.

Video on demand

As of December 2014, both full seasons of The Comeback are available on-demand on HBO GO.

References

External links

• The Comeback at the Internet Movie Database