Lisa Kudrow’s The Comeback makes a comeback on HBO

Sometimes a name really comes in handy as a brand.

Arrested Development found its development arrested by FOX in 2006, only to resurface in the past year online by Netflix.

Another series from the mid-2000s is back. Lisa Kudrow’s The Comeback is making a comeback on HBO, as the pay-cable network announced the deal to broadcast six new episodes this fall.

The show itself originally lasted only one season, 13 episodes in the summer of 2005, tracing the fictional comeback attempt of Valerie Cherish (Kudrow), a former B-level TV star from the early 1990s fallen to D-list a decade later, via reality TV.

Time for another comeback! The new six-episode season will start production in Los Angeles later this month and air as a “limited series” this fall.

The Comeback holds a special place in the hearts of its many fans, including many of us here at HBO,” Michael Lombardo, HBO Programming President, said in making the announcement. “I can’t wait to find out what Valerie’s been up to since we last met.”

“I’m so excited to be working with Valerie Cherish again,” says Michael Patrick King. “It’s great to be able to continue her story and I’m thrilled to have The Comeback come back to HBO, where it all started.”

“It was almost too fun play Valerie Cherish the first time around,” observes Lisa Kudrow. “I look forward to revisiting this resilient and ironically self-unaware character.”

King and Kudrow created the series, and will write the new season with Amy B. Harris and John Riggi. In addition to Kudrow, the confirmed cast includes Lance Barber, Dan Bucatinsky, Robert Michael Morris, Laura Silverman and Damian Young.

Here is an hourlong conversation with Kudrow and King from a couple of years ago, all about The Comeback, for “Anatomy of a Script.” Roll it!

The original 13 episodes of The Comeback are available on HBO GO.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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