Rewatching season 2 of "The Comeback"

The Comeback, seasons 1 & 2, are both fantastic, funny and poignant in the perfect balance.

It's perfect.

I just re-watched the first episode and am not sure if I'm going to be able to continue--so real and close to the bone.

Even though the seasons were a decade apart, they mesh so well together. And the ending is perfect.

In season two, I grew to get a kick out of the nepo baby who’s part of the crew.

They had an idea for Season 3 that never came to fruition. Valerie Cherish was gonna make her Bway debut, and there was actually gonna be some kind of faux show with Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish in, (and I can't remember if there was an actual show or if they hadn't come up with that part of the concept yet). It would have been quite innovative in how they would have extended the 3rd wall.

I do hope that this show comes back someday. Lisa as never said NO. She has always been open. I have not heard her talk about The Comeback in a while though...

The 2nd season was even better than the first- which itself is a feat.

This is in my Top 5 shows ever- up there with The Sopranos, Mad Men, and Industry.

What I like is that there is so much subtext and so many layers to Valerie and the writing that you can rewatch this show endlessly and always find something new.

Just love it and i love Lisa. (And I fucking HATED Friends)

The Comeback is one of the best shows ever

Lance Barber played such a 180 degree character in Young Sheldon that it's hard to believe it's the same actor.

The ending of season 2 made me cry embarrassingly hard.

R9 Yes, it was brilliant!

For me at least, another show that gets better with every rewatch is Fleabag. (which also broke The Third Wall in it's final episode).

For anyone here who hasn't seen it, like The Comeback, the first few episodes can be a very difficult watch. I kind of hated it but was still curious where it was heading.

Like both seasons of The Comeback, I felt richly rewarded!

Brilliant show. Lisa Kudrow deserved the Emmy for this scene alone. It tears my heart out every time.

“Valerie, we’d like to invite you to the set.”

Ugh, that annoyed me too.

***SPOILER***

I love how in the final episode after she’s announced as the Emmy winner, you see Paulie G about to get up and accept on her behalf but he gets waved away. lol.

I agree, R10. I wasn’t really feeling it the first few episodes but then got so into it.

r12 that was a great scene, where Valerie's finally had it and just lets all of her pent up anger out.

Season 3 would be great but I would so miss Mickey fiddling with her hair whenever the camera were on.

Astounding that this show never really found an audience. One of the best series ever produced on TV.

Holy shit R10-

Fleabag was EVERYTHING and now in my Top 10---

Funny that someone should mention this above- The two finales I cried during -were Fleabag and The Comeback Season 2.

And if you notice, both of these shows has 2nd seasons than were even better than the first.

I fucking LOVED Fleabag!

I really think that going against the obvious and making Juna a genuinely sweet person who looks up to Valerie was a brilliant choice. They drove home that point in season 2 when Valerie met the actress who was playing Juna in "Seeing Red" and the actress couldn't even be bothered to look up from her phone to be polite to the older woman.

Agreed! I thought that Juna was very real and a perfect character in her own right. And yes, very few of the characters were cliches- and many (like devious yet sweet Jane- hit very close to home)

***SPOILER***

R18 I think it was because, in the final scene of both shows, we see the humanity in both characters that's been kept from us until this final moment.

The problem with Fleabag in the first few episodes, (and to a lesser extent, Valerie in The Comeback), she is SO unlikable. Why are we spending time with this person? But in very intricate layers, we come to realize she hates herself far more than we, the viewer, ever could. And as we start to understand why, and watch as she becomes aware and gradually attempts to cross-correct, well, by the end we're totally in love with her, (at least I was!).

In The Comeback, it all came down to the scene in the Uber when it's raining, (at least for me), and she's freaking out. "Her" cameras have been completely shut out, and knowing she is no longer "on", for pretty much the first time, we see who Valerie REALLY is! (yes, we've caught the occasional glimpse, but not like this!). We see the thoughtful, loving, wonderful person who just wants to be there for her the people she loves, and is panicked that she fucked it up. We see the Valerie that her husband, Mark, and Mickey have always seen, (R19) that Juna has always seen.

The best part, IMHO, is the very last interaction with her husband when they're leaving the hospital and getting in the elevator. Mark asks if she wants to go to an Emmy party, and she responds (paraphrasing), "Have you ever met me?".

That said it all!!

I got The Comeback vibes from Bojack Horseman (rather than from Fleabag, which didn't resonate with me).

Same showbiz setting (cheesy sitcom success), same pathos. Highly recommend.

OP again. Just finished it last night and this time appreciated the performance of Damian Young as Val's long-suffering husband. He could be written off as just another Westside L.A. rich guy (cigars, golf, the gym) but he brings a lot to it.

SPOILERS

... when they have the "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" ripping apart in the parking lot, he goes from fury to anguish to just a dead-voiced question: "Are you even IN THERE any more?"

And I loved that he showed up with Mickey at the hospital, when Mickey wasn't even his friend, but Val's. He didn't want Mickey to be alone.

"Marky Mark" was a good guy.

OP, R23, because we're supposed to assume there is so much happening "off camera" that we're not liberty to, my assumption was that Mark and Mickey were friends, in the extended-family way. It made total sense to me that Mark would have been there.

I'm oddly sexually attracted to Paulie G

[quote]I'm oddly sexually attracted to Paulie G

Were you also attracted to George Cooper, Sr?

I love that when we something happens that Valerie is not expecting or maybe pisses get off but she doesn’t want to show it, Kudrow just opens here eyes slightly wider. It speaks volumes.

The IMDb overview refers to Valerie as a former A list actress. But really, her career was rather middling. A four season sitcom in the late 80s would not have been considered a big success especially one that resorts to a monkey in the final season. Plus she was up against Kim Fields and Marilu Henner for the comeback show. Not exactly Mary Tyler Moore.

R28 Clearly, she was a B-list tv actress for about 20 seconds, which I believe was MPK and Kudrow's intention.

R27 meaning IMDB is wrong. You're just the messenger.

I feel like Seth Rogen's The Studio owes The Comeback a huge debt and I wish Rogen would acknowledge it - at least have Kudrow on at some point

R27- It is my FAVORITE thing about Lisa/Valerie- Those eyes.

Lisa understands acting with the eyes.

My two favorite moments are the Palm Springs episode where her friend calls her out for trying to control every moment on camera and always worrying about what people think--, and Val does that LOOK at the camera.

Also Palm Springs- When she is trying to talk those 2 gay men into signing the release and gives her friend's (above) speech to those men. Its just brilliant.

Also in season 1, where Mickey accuses Valerie of telling Juna that he is gay.

"Why would you tell Juna that you think I'm gay?"

She does the eyes (The eyes say-Mickey you are a gay as FUCK!)- and it is well, fucking -funny as hell--

[quote]Lisa understands acting with the eyes.

In the final episode, where Juna forces her to confront reality about Mickey's illness and Mark moving out ("Val ... you NEED Mark"), Lisa Kudrow doesn't say a word, but her eyes tell the whole story.

Only discovered this show during covid and adored every inch of it. I didnt want it to end. It was way ahead of its time. Please give us more. They said they couldnt do more since Mickey died...but please...

Not sure what show IMDb overview watched, but it wasn't The Comeback as the show clearly never implied that Valerie was ever A list.

The show placed Valerie in the lane with reallife counterparts like Lori Loughlin or Joanna Kerns.

Kudrow and the creator of the show based Valerie on Shelley Long. Once I knew that I couldn't not see Valerie as Shelley it totally made sense. Also made me understand how people who worked with Shelley could be so hostile toward her but still like her, as they knew she couldn't help herself and was basically a nice person who was completely obsessive.

I'd always assumed she was based somewhat on Shelley Long, which to be fair would almost make her A-list. Back then, TV and film were strictly segregated, so maybe "TV A-list" rather than "A-list A-list".

Nice that Shelley Long got a chance later in life with a recurring role on Modern Family.

Maybe my favorite show ever and I do think Lisa Kudrow is pretty genius.

I loved the little touches - like how we learn that Mickey keeps in touch with everybody via Christmas cards and when we first see Jane again in Season 2 and she’s depressed, hiding out at her house but when the guys come in with their equipment, she can’t help but adjust the boom and cameras out of instinct.

One of my favorite scenes has to be when Valerie is concerned she hasn't heard from Mickey, so runs over to his place to check on him, (with camera crew in tow, of course).

She surprises Mickey, and being kept off guard, he's not able to get rid of the naked Latino hooker who revels in exhibiting his goods to the cameras.

It premiered twenty years ago. Which, what the fuck, how is that even possible?

Season two is even better. Watched the episode R40 mentioned tonight. Beside that great scene, the fight between Valerie and Marc was a highlight. Lisa Kudrow is a great actress.

Mickey is the heart of the show, isn't he?