The Comeback Trailer
The Comeback comes back Sunday, November 9th at 10PM on HBO.
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The Comeback Trailer
The Comeback comes back Sunday, November 9th at 10PM on HBO.
The news we've all been waiting for is finally here and finally true: The Comeback is coming back.
HBO's The Comeback, arguably the most underappreciated comedy in TV history, is coming back for a six-episode run, with production scheduled to begin May 19, sources confirm exclusively to E! News.
Though HBO hasn't confirmed anything regarding the project, we are told by multiple insiders that the writers already have been at work on scripts for the new episodes for two weeks, and that new episodes will pick up nine years after the series left off, with original stars like Malin Ackerman, Kellan Lutz and (duh) Lisa Kudrow expected to return. Ackerman and Lutz likely won't be in every episode, but will be woven in and out, subject to availability. (via)
I started rewatching the series a few years ago and recapping them, but maybe got sidetracked or something, but with this news it seems like a good time to continue rewatching them again.
Rewatching The Comeback: Valerie Bonds with the Cast
"That’s why I’m here!"
Episode Three opens up on Valerie sitting on a park bench being questioned by Jane about the cast of her two shows. Valerie, always one to put her special spin on the subject, says that she has been so lucky to be “thrown in center” of two shows. It is apparent that she is obviously not in the middle of Room & Bored, but somewhere on the far outskirts of this show. The best part about this scene is the soft lighting and perfectly done hair when it is all supposed to be so ‘real’.
Valerie is seated next to Juna at the table read for the first official episode and watches her highlight all her lines while she highlights very few. Just as the read through begins, Valerie stands up to make a speech about how lucky everyone was to find each other and to take this moment in. It was all very awkward. She sits down and the read through begins. It is also apparent that the writes Tom and Pauly G (more Pauly G) hate Valerie as noted in the description of her character in the script being ‘pathetic’. Valerie laughs this off, but you can tell she’s hurt. Once the read through is over she invites the cast out to lunch for some ‘cast bonding’ and then runs off so she can talk to the writers about something really important I’m sure. She stands around the group of writers who are blatantly ignoring her even though she tries to interject. She finally gets the attention of Tom and wants to clarify a few things, mostly is she supposed to be called ‘Aunt Sassy’ or ‘Ant Sassy’ and then she wants, no, she needs to know if Juna’s character is her brother’s daughter or sister’s daughter. Tom tells her they didn’t really think about it and Valerie responds with “That’s why I’m here.” At this point I sorta just wanted to shake Valerie. She doesn’t stop though until she is interrupted to let her know that her dressing room is as far away from everyone as possible and on a second level. As Mickey says, “Bring your sherpa!”
"Today is the day I’ve been working toward for a very long time."
Mark and Valerie are in their bedroom while she is talking about her dressing room and how she has to climb down from a pedestal everyday and will the cast mates be jealous. Mark is clearly naked or hiding morning wood and doesn’t want to get out of bed. The camera crew tries to mic him, but it’s difficult when he’s not wearing any clothes. He wants to make a deal and asks Jane if they could start shooting after breakfast. Valerie says to him that this is supposed to be intimate, just the two of them getting ready for the day, when Mickey pops out of the closet and then Mark’s daughter, Francesca, knocks on the door, well, and obviously the camera crew is in the bedroom too. So this is super intimate and Mark is still trying to get that morning wood down I am sure of it. Francesca asks Valerie if she will drive her to school so they can talk, it’s sad that Valerie thinks this is real and not that Francesca wanting to be on TV. Valerie feels really moved and wanted to record a personal video diary, but Jane suggests that they do it on the fly. “Today is the day I’ve been working toward for a very long time and we’re crossing from Step-Mom to friend.” This of course is done super naturally as Valerie chooses to change camera angles to get her best features.
Francesca asks Jane on the ride to school if she’s worked on The Real World or the Ashlee Simpson show and Jane just sits there and ignores her. They pull up to the school and there is another reality show filming called Switch-A-Roo (I made up that spelling of it, but I assume from my in depth knowledge of TV that’s how Nickelodeon would spell it.) Francesca tells them it’s about a father and son that trade places and it’s stupid. The two camera crews are fighting for space and Valerie doesn’t want to deal with the attention not on her so she tells Francesca to get out of the car so she’s not late for rehearsal. “So you’re not coming in?” Francesca says crushing, slightly, her reality TV dreams.
"Why are you so worried about this show? That’s your show."
Valerie sits up in her dressing room reading her lines when she is told that they won’t get to her until after lunch. She tells him that she is going to stick around cause they are having a special cast lunch. From her dressing room, she can her the rest of the cast laughing and soon heads down to the set to watch things happening. Valerie interrupts the end of the scene and asks Jimmy about the whole Aunt/Ant thing again. Jimmy (who hates the cameras) asks her, “Why are you so worried about this show? That’s your show (pointing to the reality cameras). This show is just a vehicle to get to your show.” It’s just not that simple for Valerie. She wants it all and want to be the star on both shows. She tells the cast to get ready for lunch and then says that she will meet them there after she freshens up and climbs Everest (her dressing room).
Everyone except for Juna, a chair is being saved for her, is sitting at a counter in the restaurant. Someone comes up and asks if the seat is taken and then walks away. Valerie tries to call Juna, but it goes straight to voicemail. The cast complain about the food a little and Valerie says that she thought you kids would like that, but thought of going to The Ivy. Of course they all love that idea. The thing I love most about this scene is that in the background you see Mickey talking to a young guy the whole time. At this point everyone assumes Mickey is gay, but this issue doesn’t officially come up until later in the season. I’ll be interested to see if anything else like this pops up since I don’t remember noticing it the first time I watched. A woman comes over and asks for the seat. Valerie gives it up.
Mickey and Valerie are at a kiosk getting key chains made for the cast with the words ‘Aunt Sassy’s Condo’ written on them. She picks out keys for each of the cast members and the two head writers, making comments about each person as she picks them out. She asks if there is one with little chainsaws on it for Pauly G. Valerie is trying to make a joke and the guy at the key stand just doesn’t care or gets it.
Jane asks Valerie how she feels about Juna not showing up for lunch and she’s obviously very uncomfortable about this and wants to change the subject. “Jane, if I talk about it then it gives the idea that I was hurt by it.” I love this line so much because it really encapsulates so much about Valerie’s character and her wanting to create her own reality.
"Good luck getting her to sign a release!"
On the night of shooting, Valerie bumps into Juna on her way to her dressing room. Juna apologizes for missing lunch and asks her to lunch at The Ivy. She says of course and gives her her Aunt Sassy key chain. She sees Shanye next and she breaks the fake key in her door and followed by Tom who says to just put the gifts in his & Pauly G’s room. She walks into the room to drop off the gifts and sees Pauly G getting a blow job. Pauly G yells at her and she runs out of the run, not until she tells him that the key is not to be used in the door because it will break. She and Jane laugh about this in the hallway and in a moment of honest humor she tells Jane, “Good luck getting her to sign release!”
The next day Valerie is sitting at a restaurant waiting for Juna to show up. “She’s 40 minutes late. I don’t think she’s coming.” Valerie says to Jane and the camera. She is visibly upset again and starts to eat some bread when Juna finally comes running in, “I’ve been at the Ivy waiting for you and I just checked my messages.” Valerie makes a joke about an actress not checking her messages every 15 minutes to lighten up the situation and again not make her situation seem like it was out of her control. Juna confesses that this is her first acting role ever. Valerie decides to give her some words of wisdom and they make a pact that they will watch out for each other. This comforts Juna until Valerie notices a camera and tells Juna to “put a pin in it.” The paparazzo (there’s only one) starts calling Juna’s name. This floors Valerie, “How does he know your name?” She tells her that she is in a well-known LA rock band. They give in, at Valerie’s urging, to give him a couple shots. The show ends with Valerie waiting for over 15 minutes for her car to come from valet having awkward conversation with another valet to the sounds of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’.
Rewatching The Comeback: Valerie Triumphs at the Upfronts
“You don’t want to play the cameras.”
The genius of The Comeback is the constant juxtaposition of what is said and what is done by Valerie. The cast of Room & Bored is getting ready for their first photo shoot. Juna is getting her hair done and is told “messy sexy is in” and then we pan over to Valerie with a head full of curlers worrying about one curler being too high. While getting ready, Valerie pulls out her old cast photos from “I’m It!” to show the girls (and cameras) what it’s like to do a cast photo since, you know, she’s done this before. Chris (Kellan Lutz) comes in hollering and playing to the cameras about being excited for the photoshoot and Valerie stops him to check in with Jane about not being able to use that since he played to the cameras. Jane tells her they can edit it, but that’s not quite good enough for Valerie so she tells Chris, “You don’t want to play the cameras.” Valerie is saved by any more awkward moments thanks to the costumes arriving. She then tells Mickey that the curler is way too high making sure she has some control over this entire situation since it probably didn’t go quite as well as she planned on it going.
Picture this: four sexy singles, in bathing suits, on a round mattress, laughing and having fun. Picture this next: four sexy singles, in bathing suits, on a round mattress, laughing and having fun while Valerie stands about 8ft behind them. The photographer is shouting out, “Sexy. Yes. More. Sexy.” while the four on the mattress are following his orders Valerie, unfortunately, is too. She doesn’t want to be this unhip lady in a tracksuit standing “in Siberia”, she wants to be part of the cast, mostly just be part of the cast photo. The two writers, Tom and Pauly G, again prove they are just almost inhuman. Tom is almost tolerable, but you know the minute Valerie steps away he talks about how annoying she is while Pauly G just blatantly shows his disgust toward her. Valerie asks them about possibly doing a bit during the up-fronts in New York when they go out there and don’t really respond to her beside saying that it’s cheesy. This will not be the last time Valerie tries to control the up-fronts.
“Wish me luck!”
Valerie and Mark are picking paint for the water destroyed (now repaired) ‘It’ wall. In a brief moment you once again see the real Valerie when she bites her nail and Mark taps her fingers. Mark’s daughter (from a previous marriage) walks in dressed like an Olsen exploded on her. Valerie tells her to head into the kitchen so Esperanza can fix her some breakfast, but Francesca tells her that she’s only drinking coffee. Valerie breaks out into her terrible Woody Allen impersonation, she even tells Jane that’s my Wood Allen so it’s clear.
Valerie and Mickey go to check in at the airport and are met with a Ticket Agent. This is one of my favorite scenes from this episode.
Ticket Agent: Is this a reality show? Valerie: Yes, it is. Ticket Agent: I’m not really interested in being on it. Let me see if I can get someone who would be. (walks to another Ticket Agent) Ellen, do you want to be on a reality show? Ellen: Sure, you don’t want to? Ticket Agent: No, I just think they’re over.
The new ticket agent helps them check in until it is discovered that Mickey doesn’t have a ticket on the plane. She asks Valerie if it will be first class too and the look and her face is priceless, like one of those MasterCard ads. She assures Mickey that the network will reimburse her, when in reality she is just trying to reassure herself and not wanting to look bad on camera for making Mickey sit in coach. Valerie is told the cameras can’t be in First Class due to FAA regulations and she settles into her wine drinking. Jane starts interviewing Juna back in Coach/Business until Mickey sees that happening and tells Valerie, “I thought this was supposed to be about you?” We know that was the exact thing that needed to be said to get Valerie involved so the focus of her show stays on her. Valerie starts walking down the aisle with her glass of champagne while singing. She stops at Juna and starts talking to her about what they should do at the up-fronts (she can’t let it go). Juna tells her that Pauly G told them to just “go out and look hot.” That is not good enough for Valerie though. The flight attendant comes over during this time to tell her that they are coming into some turbulence and she needs to go back to her seat. The plane starts shaking and Valerie crawls back to her seat.
“And then that happened.”
Valerie is seated at a table getting the personal video diary camera set up when Juna walks in to her room. She invites her to dinner and then mentions to her about the gift baskets and how great they were to give them a spa treatment too. Valerie didn’t get a spa certificate and frantically searches for it. She makes the whole thing out to be like someone must have forgotten to put it in her basket and hopes it didn’t happen to one of the other stars of the show cause that could be devastating for them. On her way downstairs to meet the rest of the cast getting ready to go out for dinner she starts talking to Mark about who Francesca invited out for dinner and then misses everyone leaving. She walks around the lobby asking if anyone saw a group of kids leaving until she realizes that there is no way for her to get in touch with them.
“It was great to stay in tonight,” Valerie tries to flip the situation that happened with her being left behind so she could “find her center.” Pauly G knocks on her door interrupting her false thoughts. She starts talking while he stands there disgusted that he even has to go talk to her. She thanks him for getting her note and then talks again about doing a bit for the up-fronts. She tries to work in her show The Comeback to the bit and then Pauly G points his fingers like a gun and shoots her. Valerie is kind of stunned and says, “And then that happened.” Pauly G continues to just stand there until Valerie says that it’s getting late. He grabs a couple bottles from her mini-bar and leaves. Even though Valerie is annoying this is where you can’t help but feel for her. She walks around the room for a minute seeing that her personal video diary caught the entire interaction before shutting the camera off and going to bed.
“You want to throw the fucks around? I’ll throw the fucks around.”
There’s a great interaction the next morning while Valerie is getting ready. Jane told Mickey at some point that he needed to use some hair products for Valerie’s hair because it was for one of the sponsors. Valerie puts her foot down and says no, not today. She then does her Woody Allen impersonation again.
Backstage at the up-fronts Valerie gets yelled at by the stage manager that the camera can’t be there. This is just the beginning of the clashing of him and Valerie. We also get to see some of the other reality shows that are previewing, including a show where couples beat each other up with shovels and 2x4’s for cash and The Search For America’s Great Next Porn Star. In between the clips, Valerie notices how sexy Juna is dressed and takes off her purple blazer so she’ll be a little more sexy too. They introduce the show Room & Bored and do not include Valerie in the introduction so she remains backstage. This does not sit well for her and meltdown commences now. The stage manager tells her she needs to leave and get the fuck out of here. She does not appreciate this and tells him, “You want to throw the fucks around? I’ll throw the fucks around. I have two shows for this network! They forgot to fucking introduce me.” She begins to get visibly upset and her eyes get teary. She keeps talking to herself out loud asing why they even brought her here, when Mickey tells her that they are introducing her now. Oops. “My mistake.” She goes out on stage and then is sent back off with the whole cast before she even has a chance to do her bit.
Valerie starts to tell Mark that she didn’t get a chance to do her bit when someone comes up and says her catch phrase to her. She tells Mark that having a catch phrase is everything. The cast then takes a couple of pictures with the Room & Bored poster. The closing scene shows a closeup of Valerie on the Room & Bored poster where they (the network, the writers?) chose Valerie at her worst.
Rewatching: The Comeback S01E01
“This is my Comeback!”
I am definitely biased when it comes to The Comeback. I think it is one of the most brilliant pieces of television ever made and I’m not even sure that everyone even knows this show existed. The show was created by Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King, this was his first show after Sex & The City ended and her first series after Friends. I think viewers expected very similar shows from the two of them and this may have been one of the reasons the show only lasted one season.
The opening scene introduces us to Valerie Cherish (Kudrow) repeating the phrase, “This is my comeback!” into camera. She is filming a reality show about her big comeback into acting on a new sitcom. We see her obviously trying to control her reality, which I think is one of the best parts about the show. Valerie is aware of everything that is going on and wants to try to dictate how the audience will eventually see her. Jane, the director of Valerie’s reality show, is also introduced and appears briefly in the scene, but generally is just the voice directing and probing Valerie. Jane is played by Laura Silverman (fun fact: this is Sarah Silverman’s sister). Esperanza, Valerie’s housekeeper (every reality show now has a housekeeper as cast member which I can’t help, but think this show paved the way for that) enters the scene and is completely horrified by being on camera, so much so that she drops all the sodas she is carrying. As I watched the audio-commentary on the dvd for this episode Lisa Kudrow explains that the actress (Lillian Hurst) accidentally dropped the sodas, but the improvised through the scene. Valerie tries to apologize for Esperanza saying that, “she’ll loosen up.”
Valerie shows us her ‘It’ wall which is basically all her memorabilia, pictures, and awards from her last series, I’m It!, that made her a star. Her husband Mark (Damian Young) walks in awkwardly trying to avoid the camera to get his stuff from the desk. As he is leaving he notices water on the floor and asks Valerie to clean it up and call the plumber. She closes the door on the camera, but we can still hear their conversation. As Valerie walks back in she tells Jane that they can’t use that footage, once again showing her trying to control what the audience will eventually see, but Jane assures her that this is raw footage and they can edit it out later.
The doorbell rings and enters Mickey, Valerie’s hairstylist. My favorite thing about Mickey is that he believes that his obvious homosexuality is a well-kept secret. The other thing this scene with Mickey tells us is that Valerie’s show ‘I’m It!’ only made it to 97 episodes which is three episodes away from getting syndication. I believe that this is really important to consider when thinking about the motivation of Valerie and her choices and how desperate she is in actually wanting this comeback.
“Put a pin in that.”
Valerie and Mickey are walking into her audition and she is telling him all about the show she is auditioning for called Room & Bored (“B-O-R-E-D”). Mickey hopes she gets it cause he needs the health insurance (don’t we all) because his doctors found two more questionable melanomas. At that remark Valerie tells him to “put a pin in it” obviously shutting him down so the story revolves around her story and not Mickey’s tragedy. She walks into the studio and sees Marilu Henner and Kim Fields, both auditioning for the same role as her, both with camera crews (although their crews are not filming at the moment). This scene also tells us where in Hollywood Valerie fits; she’s a b-list actress. another important piece of dialogue and camera work comes when Kim Fields says, “Who is so desperate for a comeback that they actually want cameras to follow them around all day?” and then the camera pans up to show Valerie. She leaves the two of them due to bad energy and is holed up in an office waiting for her audition when she gets a call from her agent telling her that she needs to lower her price per episode. We get to hear only Valarie’s side of the conversation and hear her say that the price is still more than she made on [her voice trails off, but I assume] ‘I’m It!’. One of my favorite lines in this episode comes from the casting agent telling Jane that the cameras can’t be in the audition room because the executives don’t want them in there. Jane asks not even for one of them because this is such a big part of the show and the agent says, “yeah...they don’t care.”
“Well, I got it!”
One of the best scenes in television history comes at this point when Valerie let’s us know that she got the role in Room & Bored (I will argue with you forever about this if you disagree...I didn’t say THE best, get off my jock already or not if you’re single). Watch it here, repeatedly. Ok, you’re back? Jane continues to interrupt Valerie after she says, “Well, I got it” to “make her reality more excited”. Valerie is obviously getting upset with this and quits for just a second and then comes running back to say, “Well, I got it!” in the most crazy way. She tells Jane she can’t use that and “I need to know I’m being heard.”
Valerie goes off to her table read and gets a call from her husband that there was water damage. She doesn’t take the blame, which again is indicative of her character’s focus on only herself and her career and not anything else around her. Another back and forth between her and Jane (breaking that fourth wall or is it fifth with Reality TV?) where Valerie asks if Jane has a boyfriend and Jane responds by saying no to which Valerie let’s her know that she’ll find one and Jane just to put the nail in the coffin says “Well, I’m not really looking.” Valerie ignores her and moves on to touring the set and meeting her new cast mates. Two of her cast mates later become bigger stars than they were at this time, Malin Akerman (plays Juna) and Kellan Lutz. Malin plays a much bigger role. She eventually sees Valerie as a mentor and they become fast friends. This is also the point where Valerie realizes that the cast is all much younger than she originally thought they’d be, “The network went a little younger” is what the casting agent lets her know. We also get to meet the writers, Paulie G & Tom Peterman, who play against Valerie quit often in future scenes.
“Note to self: After a long day at work I don’t want to see that!”
Valerie’s obsession comes to light here. She has one line to memorize and spends an entire night working it through while devouring a cake. The next day is the first day of run-throughs and Valerie’s one line bombs. Here’s a little bit of foreshadowing: Paulie G comments that line would have been funny if Valerie was their mom. Valerie gets called to the writers room and on her walk there Jane tries to probe her on how she’s feeling. Again this scene if very telling of Valerie’s awareness in the filming of the reality show. She tells Jane that this happens a lot while filming pilots and that they probably want to ok some dirty jokes or something. Tom and Paulie G. tell her that they are making some changes on the show and the major change is a change in character for Valerie. She is no longer just one of the roommates on the show she is Juna’s (well, Cassie on the show) aunt Sassy. Valerie tries to spin it like this is a good thing all while Paulie G is playing online blackjack. Paulie G playing blackjack is very telling of his character and how many fucks he actually gives about Valerie.
Valerie goes in to get her new costume for Aunt Sassy fit and the interaction with Peter the costume designer is one of my favorite scenes in the pilot:
Valerie: Peter, darling, Tom said, “A Hip Sexy Aunt”
Peter: The script says running suit.
Valerie: Well, unless I’m running to an old age home this ain’t it! You know? Hey, how about Juicy Couture? It’s cute colors, it’s got the draw strings…That could be good, it could be good. It could work.
Peter: Do you have a juicy ass?
Again, Valerie tries to spin what he says by telling him that he is lucky he said that to her and not some young girl all while trying to retain her integrity in this hideous pastel track suit which becomes Aunt Sassy’s trademark outfit. Can you imagine her without it?
“You’re not ‘it’ anymore.”
Valerie begins to record her personal video diary explaining that tomorrow is the day they film the pilot and she’s really more nervous for the kids. She verges on tears while she is saying this, but we know that this is yet another moment of Valerie controlling what people see and more likely what people will think of her. She wants to be liked and wants people to empathize with her and tears do that. Her husband Mark comes in and ‘defecates” in the bathroom with the door open getting all that sound on film. She thinks she stops the recording, but doesn’t and this is where we finally get to see the real Valerie. She’s worried about her looks and loves her husband. He comes over to her and tells her she is going to be great tomorrow as always and then goes back to bed. She sits in silence for a moment before shutting the camera off; this is the realest Valerie gets in this episode.
The next morning is the first day of shooting the pilot. Valerie comes in and delivers her one line and nails it (she gets the laugh), but that is just not good enough for her. She is used to getting multiple takes (I assume) from when she was on ‘I’m It!’ and manipulates the audience into cheering for her to get another take. This, obviously, pisses a lot of people off and Jimmy (the director) pulls her aside to let her know this in private. The cameras find her and get another almost real moment when he tells her she’s not ‘it’ anymore. The moment that just gets me is when Valerie reenters the set and walks past Jane and Jane looks into the camera and smiles knowing she got some really good stuff for the show.
“We got picked up.”
Valerie is driving home with Mickey fixing her hair, Jane directing in the back seat, and a camera man riding shot gun while she is talking to Juna on the phone. Esperanza, her housekeeper, calls too (Valerie thinks it’s her agent letting her know if the show got picked up) and dismisses her when she tells her that the pipes burst. Valerie has more important things to do like focus on herself. She gets distracted by a spritz of hairspray in the eye and gets into a car accident. When she gets home she sees the destruction that the pipe caused; it ruined her wall of ‘It’ memories. Just as she’s going through her pictures she gets a call from her agent letting her know the show was picked up for the fall schedule. “We got picked up!” she says to no one. At that moment we see Valerie in a much different light, much like when she thought she had stopped the camera during her video diary, as vulnerable.
I’ll be rewatching the entire 13 episodes of The Comeback over the next few weeks and would love your thoughts on the show. Your favorite moments, quotes, whatever you want to share. You can either let me know on twitter or email me at [email protected].