Television has changed a great deal since The Comeback was last on the air a decade ago, but it’s a fair guess that showbiz narcissism hasn’t. Perhaps that’s why Lisa Kudrow’s mockumentary series, about a former sitcom star who was quickly forgotten once her show went off the air and who’s been trying to launch a career resurgence ever since, still feels relevant.
A trailer for the second season shows that creators Kudrow and Michael Patrick King are pushing the series into a black hole of self-referentiality. Kudrow’s return to HBO will be mirrored in her character Valerie Cherish being hired on a fictional HBO drama called Seeing Red, and the Friends actress seems to using the series’ sophomore year as a comeback vehicle of her own. (Her recent arc on Scandal as a conscientious presidential candidate was regrettably short.)
As in the show’s first season, camera crews follow Valerie around to document the routine humiliation and monstrous displays of ego that are a fundamental part of the TV industry. Laura Silverman and Malin Akerman will reprise their roles as a reality TV producer and Valerie’s younger, prettier rival, respectively.
The Comeback returns November 9.
