Lisa Kudrow was already a sitcom legend with her iconic portrayal of everyone's daffy, bohemian BFF Phoebe Buffay on "Friends," so it's not like she really needed to add yet another unforgettable character into the comedy pantheon. But the TV star did just that with Valerie Cherish, the spotlight-craving fictional actress at the center of HBO's woefully overlooked but extremely excellent satire, "The Comeback."
Co-created by Kudrow and "Sex and the City" vet Michael Patrick King, "The Comeback" originally ran on HBO for a single season of 13 episodes in 2005 before getting cancelled; nine years later, the show was revived for a second season of eight eps. And now, nearly 12 years after we last caught up with Cherish and all of her cringeworthy Hollywood antics, "The Comeback" is, well, coming back for a long-overdue third season, which will premiere on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday, March 22.
Despite that rocky television tenure, the series has proven to be one of the best HBO Max shows around. Need proof? Here's why you should catch up on "The Comeback" before Valerie Cherish makes her much-anticipated return to TV later this month.
What is 'The Comeback' about?
As mentioned, "The Comeback" focuses on Valerie Cherish (Kudrow), a veteran B-list sitcom actress living in Los Angeles who found fame on the late 1980s sitcom "I'm It!" However, her star power has faded in the decades since, leaving the actress determined to reclaim her space in the spotlight.
When she lands a new gig on a network comedy, Cherish agrees to chronicle her return to the television industry on a reality series called — you guessed it — "The Comeback," with TV cameras following her every hilariously desperate move.
And in the upcoming third and, sadly, final season, Valerie is still very much at it — this time, however, she has a starring role in a multi-camera sitcom written entirely by AI, forcing the ridiculous heroine to navigate a modern-day entertainment industry made messy with artificial intelligence, streaming wars and the relentlessly uphill climb to relevancy.
Why you should watch 'The Comeback' on HBO Max
Well, first, there's the Lisa Kudrow of it all. Though Phoebe will always be her defining work, the actress is never better than when she's tapping into the sheer, hilarious humiliation of Valerie Cherish's misguided attempts at stardom. However, she never lets the character fall too deeply into cartoon territory, wisely offsetting Valerie's over-the-top narcissism with a good deal of vulnerability and hard-won resilience.
Inhabited by the likes of Damian Young as Valerie's patient husband Mark, Robert Michael Morris as her longtime hairdresser Mickey and Laura Silverman as "The Comeback's" producer Jane, Cherish's world is a sharply drawn and always knee-slapping funny takedown of the entertainment industry, touching on everything from ageism to sexism with searing humor and surprising heart. Valerie's go-to catchphrase might be "I don't need to see that!" but you sure should!
Watch "The Comeback" on HBO Max now
