In the first two seasons of “The Comeback,” sitcom actress Valerie Cherish was defined by her almost shocking need to be exposed. In the first season, which began in 2005, she wanted to revive her career with a role in the new sitcom, “The Boredom Room,” and to enter the pre-“Real Housewives” era of reality television.
In the second, which came in 2014, her desire to stay fit led her to portray a naked version of herself in the HBO series based on her experiences in “Room and Boredom.” That project put him in front of the camera for the first time in a famous game, which obviously outweighed the fact that it forced him to revisit painful events that were exaggerated for larger and unpleasant purposes. That’s because Valerie Cherish’s life mantra consisted of just seven words and an ellipsis: “It must be noted … for Valerie Cherish.”
Twelve years later, Valerie is back for the third season of “The Comeback”, which, to my great surprise, is the best mockumentary. Co-hosted by Lisa Kudrow, who brings Valerie wonderfully into the life of self-centeredness, and Michael Patrick King of “Sex and the City” and “And Just That…”, these eight episodes play like a time capsule of what it feels like in 2026 to work in Hollywood, or in any art form, really.
Where the previous two seasons emphasized how desperate Valerie was to get and keep a good job, the third season of “The Comeback” understands that actually everyone in Hollywood is now equally desperate to get and keep a good job. It doesn’t matter if you are above the line or below it. Everyone can feel that a business is on the brink of hitting an iceberg and will do whatever it takes to get their ass on the floor, no matter how absurdly restructured.
Jane (Laura Silverman), the Academy Award-winning filmmaker who produced Valerie’s original show, also called “The Comeback,” now works at Trader Joe’s for a living, but nevertheless agrees to start shooting behind-the-scenes portraits of Valerie again. Sharon, a casting director played by actress and real-life casting director Marla Garlin, literally walks into a restaurant while trying to ask Valerie if she can get her a job. Even Mark (Damian Young), Valerie’s cool, non-showbiz husband, is currently appearing in a reality show about finance guys, a gig he took after being fired from a real finance job. At one point, Valerie Cherish didn’t seem particularly shy. Now, having a sense of shame is a luxury that no one can afford.
“I’m just trying to get me and my kids out of this town before it explodes,” veteran TV reporter Mary (Abbi Jacobson) tells Valerie. Unfortunately, Mary and her husband Josh (John Early) are cast in Valerie’s new broadcast sitcom “How Did That Happen?!,” a show the network’s head (the sarcastic Andrew Scott) insists will be written by Mary and Josh, with occasional help from artificial intelligence. But AI, the shameless villain in the third season of “The Comeback,” turns out to be more “in charge” than Valerie expected, a fact she’s told to keep a secret from the rest of the cast and crew.
That set-up allows King and Kudrow to create funny villains—“I’m sure I did a sheriff joke back in ‘Mama’s Family,’” says one of Valerie’s bewildered co-stars when she receives a new script—and create moments of genuine drama. “This is an extinction event,” veteran racer Jack Stevens (Bradley Whitford) tells Valerie about the rise of AI. That fact is evident in almost every scene of “The Comeback.” You can smell the fear from Valerie and everyone else on her LA trail with your digital device’s connection to HBO Max.
Yes, Kudrow is still the boss of this studio circus; once again, she’s incredibly buried in her portrayal of Valerie, whose insistence feels more like a character flaw in this storyline and more like a superpower. Valerie is still entitled, involved, and anxious to put herself out there. But where Valerie came across as a try-hard in previous seasons, those qualities now underscore just how tough a player she is. A fighter who often can’t, but still: a fighter nonetheless. There is a set piece in episode four that involves Valerie trying to navigate the Warner Bros. property. in a golf cart while Doechii’s “Anxiety” plays a song that goes up there with the “Get On Feet” ice-skating scene from “Parks and Recreation.”
Kudrow is surrounded by the usual extremely talented cast, including Young, Silverman, and Dan Bucatinsky as her manager, Billy, but the absence of Robert Michael Morris, who died in 2017, as Valerie’s hairstylist and lead singer, Mickey, is certainly felt. (Valerie explains that Mickey died of COVID; in one shot of the dressing room she briefly occupies, there are two pictures on her dressing table: one of Mickey and one of Lucille Ball.)
The series also features a host of guest stars, including Jacobson, Early, Whitford, both Andrew and Adam Scotts, and James Burrows, the acclaimed sitcom director who worked with Kudrow on “Friends.” He plays a version of himself, a famous TV director who advises Valerie that only real, flesh-and-blood writers can make the kind of television audiences will want to watch. He says: “Val, those beautiful, broken souls are the ones who make something beautiful.
In many ways, “The Comeback” comes across as a love letter to a television comedy eulogy. It can also be seen as a television-centric companion to “The Studio,” Seth Rogen’s Apple TV+ series about the craziness of working in the modern movie business, except that “The Comeback” does an even better job of showing the power of panic that’s become commonplace for anyone who makes a living in Los Angeles—or anywhere, for that matter—trying to tell stories. Valerie Cherish has been nervous. His default setting was always “survival mode.” Or as he puts it: “I think you have to accept the humiliation, and I didn’t sign up.” Both and this season of “The Comeback” are made for this time.
All eight episodes were screened for review.
