‘Friends’ was a game changer for the main cast. They found fame, money, and perhaps, were typecast. So, despite looking forward to new projects after a ten-season run, they were hard-pressed to find the right script. Lisa Kudrow, who played the eccentric and hilarious Phoebe Buffay, stepped onto another sitcom. But, it’s not so simple. It was a deeply satirical and hard-hitting comedy titled ‘The Comeback.’
In a nutshell, the show is about a has-been sitcom star with one huge show as the highlight of her career trying to make a comeback with yet another sitcom, all the while filming a reality show called “The Comeback” about her return to television. If you’re confused, don’t worry, we’ll explain this meta element. After all, the show is one of its kind and uses Kudrow’s talent in a way ‘Friends’ never did.
Lisa Kudrow’s ‘The Comeback’ Is Genius, Yet Brutal
Fresh off the ‘Friends’ boat, Jennifer Aniston set her sight on movies, Matt Le Blanc did a Joey spin-off, David Schwimmer, Courtney Cox, and Matthew Perry sporadically tried to shed their sitcom image, it was Lisa Kudrow who did the most gutsy thing. Maybe Phoebe Buffay would have been proud. Lisa didn’t hesitate to challenge the brutality of the TV landscape and the cringe elements of reality shows.
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She returned to screen as Valerie Cherish who is screen-testing for a new sitcom ‘Room And Bored,’ after gaining fame for her 90s show, ‘I’m It.’ In the present day, she is not “it,” as she is reminded quite frequently. This new project isn’t handed to her; she has to agree to do a reality show about the process of making her comeback. It’s a twin deal for the network. So, she has a camera crew following her every move.
What we as viewers see is the raw footage of this reality show with Valerie as the subject. How multi-layered meta is it? Of course, Lisa herself has a giant ‘Friends’ legacy and is now trying to cut it back into the business. A former sitcom star playing a former sitcom star in a new sitcom while filming a reality show about filming that sitcom? Yeah, it’s a head-scratcher.
Apart from Lisa as the point person, the story is conveyed via intelligent mirror shots, side mutterings, and one-sided phone conversations. We are privy to Valerie’s process of sustaining herself in showbiz, for everyone breaks the fourth wall here, but through this frame of reality show footage, we are thrust into the “reality” of Valerie’s journey.
Valerie Cherish’s Daring Reality Was Ahead Of Its Time
Lisa’s understanding of a sitcom star’s complex emotions reflects in the performer that Valerie is: always trying to smile through vulnerability, being constantly engaged with the cameras, having over-the-top Hollywood habits, but having a “need” to be “heard.”
When we say ‘The Comeback’ is unique, we mean it. Sure, it’s shot in that decade’s fad – single-camera technique, but it’s unlike comedies or mockumentaries like ‘Arrested Development’ or ‘The Office.’ Valerie is conscious of the camera and signals “time-out” when things get out of hand, and despite reassurances of unwanted footage being edited out in the end, she controls her current setting. She is never not acting. Remember, this was pre-Kardashians and pre-Housewives reality TV, so the commentary on the genre was groundbreaking but largely uncomfortable.
So, despite the novel concept of ‘The Comeback,’ its appeal remained limited when it premiered in 2005. Either it was celebrated or condemned. There was no in-between. Many called it “hard to watch.” Kudrow told The Guardian, “I think for men especially it was really uncomfortable. I was aware that it was mainly straight, white guys who couldn’t watch it.”
Of course, here is an actress, trying to snatch some more years on the screen, being constantly demeaned or blatantly discarded by everyone who surrounded her. Time favors the young and desirable, especially on set, and Valerie Cherish is in her 40s. Yet, she tries to be brave and beautiful for fame. Her struggles are icky at times, and evoke sympathy in others.
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On her new sitcom, Valerie Cherish goes from a sexy single lady to a bitter Aunt Sassy, ridiculed in every line. Off-screen, she tries to buy gifts for the cast and crew, and organize lunch and dinner, but no one quite registers her. The environment is repulsive too, quite misogynistic to be honest. But that was the reality apparently. Michael Patrick King, co-creator of ‘The Comeback‘ spoke about the sexist behavior on television show sets: “TV writers perceived any woman over 40 as not f**kable…It’s in the DNA of many, many writers’ rooms. The show is the closest thing to my experience in writing rooms, with male energy and the sophomoric madness that happens when people are trapped, trying to do a series.”
As we said, ‘The Comeback’ had a lackluster reception as it was ahead of its time. And, it was unceremoniously canceled. Only, it was rediscovered and became a cult hit and came back for another season after a decade. Good for Valerie Cherish, she deserved it, and Lisa Kudrow deserves even more. Rightly, the finale was titled “Valerie Gets What She Really Wants.” We hope Kudrow got what she really wanted too from her acting career.
