The Comeback

My holiday weekend weekend allowed me to get 10 episodes in on this brilliant HBO comedy starring Emmy winner Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish, a former sitcom star who decides to jumpstart her career with a reality show which follows her getting cast on a new sitcom called "Room and Bored", but upon her arrival at her first day at work, discovers that her role has been changed from one of four sexy roommates sharing an apartment, to the funny aunt who lives upstairs, owns the building, and gets one scene a week. We watch as poor Valerie has to deal with any semblance of privacy being ripped from her because of the reality show and the reality of one of her co-stars (Malin Ackerman) becoming the breakout star of the show and one of the co-writers on the show (Lance Barber) nurturing an unexplained hatred from Valerie. I get the feeling there is a little of life imitating art here as the resemblance between what happens here and what happened to Kudrow's career after Friends ended, but Kudrow cleans it up nicely here and provides a depth to the character of Valerie that will surprise you. I won't be doing episode to episode commentary on this one, but updates will be provided as I progress.

Cancelled after 2 seasons by HBO. This I never understood. One of my most favorite of shows. Ever. I had a huge crush on Lance Barber. Valerie’s hairdresser was too adorable.

My fave clip from the show.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

I so wanted to post that Parks and Recreation blooper but then thought better of it.

Huh?

It's also about a "comeback".

Last night I watched the butchered premiere of the reality show which led to poor Valerie having to justify it in front of Jay Leno on The Tonight. My heart broke for Valerie, she did not deserve anything of this. And I still haven't been able to figure out why Paulie G (Lance Barber) hates Valerie so much.

Sexual tension. They both had it.

Really? I don't see that at all, but maybe it's just me.

I am now three episodes into season two and even though I didn't see it, sexual tension might have a lot to do with the relationship between Valerie (Lisa Kudrow) and Paulie G (Lance Barber). Valerie and Paulie are both no longer involved with Room and Bored and Paulie G has written the pilot for a sitcom called Seeing Red, which is a barely disguised version of his relationship with Valerie during Room and Bored and he actually has the cajones to ask Valerie to play the lead, who has been renamed Mallory and in the first episode, Valerie actually agrees to play a fantasy scene where she "services" Paulie's character, played by Seth Rogen. Rogen is brilliant as he comes to the realization that Seeing Red has been fueled by very personal feelings between Valerie and Paulie G. Not to mention that after the debacle of The Comeback, Valerie has actually agreed to a new reality show with the same crew following her around and apparently, her husband Mark (Damian Young) is not happy about it at all. Was also highly amused when Valerie and Mark think they have been invited to the Golden Globes and, upon their arrival, find out they will be watching the show from a hotel room with a bunch of actors and models who don't speak English. It's interesting the way Kudrow keeps piling so much crap on her character and I'd really like to see Kudrow give Valerie a break.

Watched the 4th episode of season two this morning and finding this show to get a lot darker and edgier than I expected. I also feel like there was stuff that I either missed or happened offscreen. Paulie G's sitcom is now being filmed at Valerie's house, which has not only caused a complete remodeling of Valerie's house, which has forced her and her husband Mark to move out of their house. And I'm still not buying that the reason for Paulie G's hostility toward Valerie is sexual tension. We then learn that all of Valerie's scenes at home have been cut allegedly due to budget concerns. Though I was amused by Mark being okay with everything as long as he got to meet Seth Rogen. Valerie and Mark's move to a motel that they own climaxed with a couple of tragic plot twists that found Mark walking out on Valerie. This show is so weird, just when the show has me permanently squirming in my chair, it is followed almost immediately by a moment of uncontrollable hilarity.

That’s okay. It’s just my female sense of how things stand. I might be reading into it because I find him attractive though he would be more so if he lost weight.

You k now he plays the dad on Young Sheldon now?

What is Young Sheldon? Never heard of it. Is he still overweight?

Young Sheldon is the CBS spin-off of The Big Bang Theory that takes Jim Parson's character from that show back to his childhood. The show is narrated by Parsons and I think this coming season is supposed to be its last.

I am now eight episodes into season two and finding a lot of my discomfort with the show is due to some things I'm just now realizing. Apparently, there are huge time jumps in the show that I have just become aware of. It seems that six years passed between the premiere of Room and Bored and Valerie beginning to work on Paulie G's show Seeing Red. The show is getting a little busy, a lot of characters to keep up with. It's also been revealed that Paulie G's writing partner on Room and Bored was driven to quit that show by Paulie G's hostility, which seems to have stemmed from his heroine addiction. He is now directing a children's show with a central character that is a giant yellow worm, hilariously played by Tim Bagley. Paulie G is taking all of his anger out on Valerie through this Seeing Red, taking every opportunity to make Valerie's character look like a psychotic bitch and I just don't understand why she is doing this. During ep 5, they filmed a fantasy episode where Valerie's character turns into a monster who tries to rip Paulie's arms off. The saving grace of Seeing Red is Seth Rogen who is playing Paulie's character and just seems oblivious to the tension between Paulie and Valerie. They also seem to be making Jane, the director of the reality series that is ruining Valerie's life, very unlikable as well. I was taken aback by the reveal that Mickey, Valerie's hairdresser, has cancer, which sadly, has brought a real pathetic element to his character. The saddest part of Valerie's life right now is that she has absolutely NO privacy...everything she has to deal with is always in front of a camera. As I suspected, these two TV series have wreaked havoc on Valerie's marriage. Damian Young is superb as her husband, BTW. But one thing this show is not is predictable. Just when you think Valerie's life couldn't get any worse, she is nominated for an Emmy for Seeing Red, and, of course, the day of the Emmys redefines Murphy's Law. But through the often dark tone of this show, I am riveted due to the breathtaking work of Lisa Kudrow in this extremely complex character, which should have won her an Emmy.

Good review.