Lisa Kudrow was already a sitcom legend with her iconic portrayal of everyone's daffy, bohemian BFF Phoebe Buffay on "Friends," so it's not like she really needed to add yet another unforgettable character into the comedy pantheon. But the TV star did just that with Valerie Cherish, the spotlight-craving fictional actress at the center of HBO's woefully overlooked but extremely excellent satire, "The Comeback."
Co-created by Kudrow and "Sex and the City" vet Michael Patrick King, "The Comeback" originally ran on HBO for a single season of 13 episodes in 2005 before getting cancelled; nine years later, the show was revived for a second season of eight eps. And now, nearly 12 years after we last caught up with Cherish and all of her cringeworthy Hollywood antics, "The Comeback" is, well, coming back for a long-overdue third season, which will premiere on HBO and HBO Max on Sunday, March 22.
