Coming back had gaps between seasons even Larry David would envy; Season 1 was in 2005 and Season 2 was in 2014. But those seasons also mean that the haughty and self-aggrandizing Valerie Cherish never outstays her welcome, and she returns just as things in her show business have completely changed. Now Lisa Kudrow is back for the final season as Valerie, and now the naive star is faced with the entertainment problem known as artificial intelligence.
THE RETURN SEASON 3: STREAM OR SKIP?
Opening shot: Valerie Cherish (Lisa Kudrow) makes a social media video in front of her poster, appearing playful Chicago.
Idea: This was during the writers’ strike in 2023, and Valerie realized that this was a good way to keep herself in the spotlight while not crossing filming lines. Not only does he have his new social media persona, Patience (Ella Stiller) with him, but Jane Benson (Laura Silverman), a filmmaker who made a documentary about him called. Coming backhe also records.
Most of her fellow trainees aren’t happy that the TV star seems to be floundering on her show, and it doesn’t help that Valerie can’t keep up with “We Both Reached For The Gun.” He decides to quit when the always sick or injured Patience tests positive for COVID, revealing the fact that he is betraying the actors and writers on the set. Yes, he’s really quitting because he can’t stop working.
He decides to film with SAG-AFTRA, and tries to get a photo with Fran Drescher, the union president at the time, who was a little busy.
After three years, Valerie made a boring podcast with no guests, and after a few years she appeared in a mystery series called. Mrs. Hatwhich no one saw because it was on Epix. Her manager, Billy Stanton (Dan Bucatinsky), arrives at the new apartment Valerie and her husband, Mark Berman (Damian Young), moved into months ago, with an orchid and the promise of a job: A new multi-camera sitcom, clearly designed. No auditions are required. One problem: It is written entirely by AI, and there is no test script yet.
Valerie, for all her desire to stay in the limelight, wonders if it’s a bad idea to take the gig, as she’s recently been recruited by writers and actors who fight against AI intrusion. But then he plays the part of a day actor in an indie film that is literally shot in a nursing home, where he meets Tommy Tomlin (Jack O’Brien), who does hair and does some of his early sitcom roles, and the resident literally has a heart attack as he does his scene.
What Shows Will Remind You? Coming back it feels like a cross between Reduce Your Enthusiasm again Extras.
Ours: Which is always attractive Coming back that Kudrow manages to make Valerie desirable and dim, but sympathetic and happy at the same time. He’s definitely an opportunist, but this time he managed to build a successful career for himself, which combined with the golden parachute Mark received after being fired from his finance job, got him a nice house in an exclusive building.
Kudrow and Michael Patrick King, who co-wrote the series (King also directed all episodes of Season 3), both have showbiz baseball content down, but they also have a good hand in writing Valerie at different stages of her career. Now, she’s a “woman of a certain age,” who usually finds roles like this in the comfort of invisible privacy, but now in an increasingly algorithm-driven industry, she’s back in fashion.
Oblivious at times, Valerie somehow manages to know where she is on the ladder, and somehow manages to keep finding opportunities like this AI-written sitcom. It will be interesting to see him in charge of this new frontier, and if he ruins it before filming the pilot.
Performances to Watch: Lisa Kudrow had a very interesting post-Friends the work of all the actors, and her unlikable performance as Valerie is a big part of what made it interesting.
Sex and Skin: Nothing.
Splitting gun: Dressed as her ’80’s-obsessed aerobics calendar, Valerie busses an indie “set” with a following; she’s on the phone with Billy to accept a sitcom gig. Olivia Newton-John’s “Magic” plays over the credits.
Sleeping Star: Laura Silverman’s Jane is very depressed, who seems to fit the profile of a documentary filmmaker who can’t seem to stop filming her subjects. Although there will be plenty of stars playing themselves, Andrew Scott also appears as the boss of a technology-oriented network, while Abbi Jacobson and John Early play the supervisors of Valerie’s new sitcom, who constantly feel threatened by the excessive use of AI programming.
Most Pilot-y Line: We’re not sure how to feel about the interaction between Valerie and Mark inside their house which is shot using the security video monitors they have. We also hope that patience cuts the seemingly hours that Valerie spends making her snaps into 2-minute TikToks.
Our Phone: It’s already spread. The final season of Coming back is just as funny and self-aware as the first two seasons, mostly because Kudrow continues to make Valerie Cherish one of the least recognizable characters on television.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and technology, but he’s no joke: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.comFast Company and elsewhere.
