Well, if HBO Max can come back, so can Lisa Kudrow, right? No, not as massage therapist Phoebe Buffay from Friends, but as sitcom actress Valerie Cherish from HBO’s THE COMEBACK. She created, produced, wrote, and starred in the mockumentary series, which initially lasted for one season in 2005 but was revived for a critically acclaimed second season in 2014. The 21 episodes are about to expand to more as a third season has been greenlit and should arrive sometime in 2026.
Kudrow was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for both seasons of the show. In collaboration with her on the project was SEX AND THE CITY’s Michael Patrick King, who will continue in that position. Series regulars said to return include Dan Bucatinsky as Billy Stanton, Valerie’s publicist, Laura Silverman as Jane Benson, the producer of Valerie Cherish’s reality show, and Damian Young as Mark Berman, Valerie’s loving husband.
During the 13 episodes of Season One, we were introduced to Valerie Cherish (Kudrow), a veteran B-list sitcom actress who found fame on a sitcom for four seasons. Thereafter, she failed to find substantial acting work and fell out of the spotlight for more than a decade. In 2005, she was cast in a new sitcom and, as a returning favorite to the screen, struck a deal to create a reality show called “The Comeback.” We see her continuously struggle with the matter of being an aging, non-influential performer in an increasingly youthful Hollywood, and the documentation of that journey via the show within a show.
During the 8 episodes of the second season, Valerie initially attempts to produce her own reality television show, having found that reality television has become significantly more popular since she made “The Comeback” nine years earlier. Rehashing old issues from her life in sitcom television in this new reality program gives her success, but threatens to destroy her personal life.
What commentary does Valerie Cherish have to express about the industry 12 years later? Amy Gravitt, Executive Vice President, HBO & Max Comedy Programming, states, “No matter what the industry throws at her, Valerie Cherish is a survivor. On the 20th Anniversary of her debut, Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow have brilliantly scripted her return to HBO, and we can’t wait to see that.”
THE COMEBACK comes back in 2026.
