Can ‘The Comeback’ Come Back Again?

In 2005, the fabulous first season of “The Comeback” premiered on HBO. Co-created by and starring “Friends” star Lisa Kudrow, the story follows a former sitcom leading lady turned reality TV diva on her journey to stay relevant in Hollywood. 

The show was canceled after one season, but achieved a cult-like following, which led to a long-awaited second season being released nine years after the first in 2014.

On March 22, the first two episodes of a third and final season premiered — the show regenerating itself over the decades like a brood of cicadas.

The renewed interest of the show is due in part to its ability to capture the zeitgeist of the television industry and the challenges faced as time goes on.

The first season focuses on the decline of traditional sitcoms and the rise of reality TV in the early 2000s. 

Valerie Cherish, played by Kudrow (Mad About You, No Good Deed), was on a hit comedy series in the ‘90s but has since struggled to find consistent work. The network decides to create a new sitcom about Cherish on the condition that she shoots a reality show companion piece showing her trials and tribulations while making her titular comeback in the industry. The debut season shows her struggles with the writers of her sitcom, fellow actors, her family and the network. 

The second season focuses on the new fad of dramedy in the 2010s. Cherish’s reality diva status slowly fades away and she attempts to revitalize her career for a second time by acting in an edgy comedy series on HBO. The network also urges her to film a behind the scenes documentary for her new show. Cherish quickly learns that all the same problems she had in the previous season are only intensified. 

The show’s well-crafted characters and engaging story are the main cause for its return. Kudrow plays Cherish with a relentless optimism and an often self-destructive need to please the people around her to get ahead. Valerie’s work ethic is inspiring and sympathetic, but also incredibly tragic. 

The series contains countless excruciating and cringeworthy scenes depicting what the main character has to go through to achieve the specific kinds of recognition she believes she deserves.

The show is a brutally honest portrayal of the price of fame and challenges the notion of celebrity as a life goal. It emphasizes how much dignity and autonomy people are willing to lose to achieve stardom.

In the new season, Cherish has been offered a part in a multicam sitcom written entirely by artificial intelligence, once again chronicling the recent issues plaguing the entertainment industry. 

With only two episodes released thus far, this season is already noticeably different from the previous two. 

The previous seasons had a mockumentary structure, telling the story through a show within the show with footage from the Valerie Cherish projects. This season is much more traditional in its storytelling, abandoning the diegetic style of past seasons.

Two episodes in, the season is off to a slow start. The topical story makes sense for the characters and most of the performances are as solid as ever, but the writing feels slightly stale and predictable. A few of the new performances, including Jack O’Brien’s as Tommy Tomlin, feel wooden.

The style change seems a little out of place. In the social media age, it would make sense that Valerie Cherish would have a YouTube channel or TikTok account for the show to depict her new adventures through. 

Still, this season of “The Comeback” is very promising. It embarrasses modernity and embraces a natural evolution of the story and characters.

The first two episodes of “The Comeback” are available to stream now on HBO Max. New episodes from season three release every Sunday at 9:30 p.m. on HBO Max.