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Night Shyamalan,3,Madonna,1,Magazines,3,Magic,2,Malaysian,2,Malls,4,Mare Winningham,2,Marianne Faithfull,1,Marilyn Hoggatt,1,Marines,1,Mark Wahlberg,8,Martin Scorsese,1,Maru,5,Master of Professional Writing,11,Matt Bateman,1,Matt Damon,1,Matthew Vaughn,1,Maya Rudolph,1,MC Frontalot,4,MC Lars,3,McDonald's,1,McFly,1,Meat Loaf,1,Megan Fox,1,Meryl Streep,2,Mice,1,Michael Ballhaus,1,Michael Buble,1,Michael Bublé,1,Michael Cera,4,Michael DeAntonio,1,Michael Lowenthal,3,Michael Moore,4,Michael Phelps,13,Michelle Obama,5,Mike Leigh,1,Mike Shinoda,1,Mike Valentino,20,Mila Kunis,1,Military,1,Miss Coco Peru,1,Molly Shannon,1,Monkeys,8,Monologue Madness,10,Mormons,6,Most Popular Posts,2,Most Viewed Posts,7,Mother,2,Movie,6,Movie Recommendations,7,Movie Stuff,1,Movies,455,MTV,1,Music,310,Music Recommendations,4,Music Video,19,Music Videos,207,Musical Stuff,1,Musicals,35,My Morning Jacket,1,My Sister,11,Mysterious Skin,21,Nancy Anderson,1,Nancy Elliott,1,Natalie Merchant,1,Natalie Portman,1,NBC,3,Ned Sublette,1,Neil LaBute,8,Neil Patrick Harris,2,Nerdcore,6,Never Look Back (Except Now),7,New Conservatory Theater Center,8,New Kids on the Block,4,New York,2,NFL,1,Nick Gabriel,1,Nick Lowe,6,Nick Swardson,1,Nickelodeon,1,Nicole Atkins,1,Nicole Holofcener,1,Nina Simone,2,Noah Baumbach,1,Noel Alumit,4,Norah Jones,1,North Carolina,1,Odd News,109,Odd Videos,42,Odds and Ends,235,Oklahoma,1,Old Spice,2,Oliver Assayas,1,Oliver Evans,1,Oliver Fish,1,oprah,1,Oscars,3,Otters,1,Owiso Odera,1,Ozzy Osbourne,1,Palo Alto High,2,Pandas,4,Pantages Theatre,1,Paris Hilton,3,Park Eun-kyo,1,Patton Oswalt,2,Paul Greengrass,1,Paul Kikuchi,1,Paul Rudd,1,Peen,7,Pelicans,1,PEN Center USA,2,Penguins,5,Peter Darney,1,Peter Wylie,1,Philip Kan Gotanda,2,Philippines,1,Phillip Noyce,1,Pimone Triplett,2,Pixar,1,Playboy Mansion,2,Playwriting,21,Playwriting Stuff,1,Podcasts,5,Polar Bears,2,Polls,4,Ponder,1,Ponderings,6,Pop Punk,1,Pork Chop,75,Pork Chop's Weight-Loss Challenge,3,Prague,1,Pranks,2,Prints Made Easy,1,Pro Bowl,1,Psy,1,Punk'd,1,Queen,1,Quentin Easter,2,Rabbits,2,Rachel Dratch,1,Randy Newman,3,Raunchy Comedy Movie,3,Reality Shows,7,Regina King,3,Religion,12,Religion Stuff,6,Rent,6,Restricted,1,Return of the Jedi,2,Revolutionary Road,1,Richard Yates,1,Rick Astley,4,Rickrolling,6,Ricky Gervais,1,Robbie Williams,3,Roger Ross Williams,1,Romania,3,Ronald Reagan,1,Royce Reed,1,Rude Guerrilla Theater Company,3,Ryan Fleck,1,Ryan Gosling,4,Ryun Yu,1,Sacha Baron Cohen,7,Sad Commercials,4,Sam Gold,1,Sam Mendes,1,Sandra Tsing Loh,2,Santigold,1,Sapphire,1,Sarah Palin,49,Sarah Silverman,1,Sasha Grey,1,Saturday Night Live,21,Science Fiction,18,Scott Evans,1,Scott Heim,32,Screenwriting,3,Sea Lion,1,Sean Faris,1,Sean Penn,2,Seattle,7,Sesame Street,6,Sharon Jones,1,Sheep,1,Shel Silverstein,1,Shelley Berman,2,Shepard Fairey,1,Shimajiro,3,Shirtless,1,Short Films,2,Sidewalk Studio Theatre,2,Simon and Garfunkel,1,Simon Cowell,1,Singaporean,1,SIS Productions,6,Sketch Comedy,7,Skin Report,1,So Gay,209,Soap Operas,1,Soldiers,1,South Asian,3,South Coast Repertory,3,South Park,3,Sports,25,Squirrels,4,Stand-Up,1,Stanley Williams,2,Star Wars,8,Stephen Colbert,2,Stephen McCauley,1,Stephen Sondheim,1,Steve Burns,4,Steve Carell,1,Steve Martin,1,Steven Soderbergh,1,Steven Spielberg,1,Story,31,Strippers,1,Super Bowl,1,Susan Boyle,4,Suzanne Whang,2,Sweden,5,Tahar Rahim,1,Taiwanese,4,Takashi Murakami,1,Talk Shows,15,Tamlyn Tomita,1,Technology,30,Television,268,Television Stuff,3,Terrance Howard,1,Thai,30,Thai Stuff,4,The Americana,4,The Bilerico Project,50,The Celebrity Apprentice,1,The Coen Brothers,1,The Constellations,1,The Daily Show,4,The Drill Hall,1,The Gaslight Anthem,1,The Goonies,6,The Last Airbender,1,The Life and Times of Pork Chop,19,The Lodger,1,The Lost Coast,1,The Monkees,1,The Muppets,12,The Olympics,11,The Onion,8,The Only Way Is Essex,1,The Proclaimers,1,The Rolling Stones,2,The Simpsons,5,The Tonight Show,3,The Velvet Underground,1,Theater,237,Theater Review,2,Theater Stuff,2,Theatre Recommendation Stuff,23,Thierry Guetta,1,Things I Did,3,Things I Read,8,Think Tank,3,Thomas Bidegain,1,Tigers,2,Tina Fey,7,Tips for Actors,1,Tips for Writers,8,Tips for Writers and Other Artists,3,Tom Gabel,1,Tom Hanks,1,Tom Wilson,1,Tom Wolfe,1,Tori Amos,1,Tortoises,1,Toys,14,Travel,2,Trending,5,True Blood,1,Turkeys,1,Turtles,1,Twin Cities,8,Tyler Perry,3,UCLA,2,United Kingdom,1,Unsung Movies,16,USC,12,Valerie Bertinelli,1,Vampire Weekend,2,Vanessa Anne Hudgens,13,Vermont,2,Video,76,Video Games,10,Videos,981,Vietnamese,1,Views,5,Vincent DeSalvo,1,Wanda Sykes,8,Weezer,4,Weighing Pork Chop,14,Wenda Fong,1,Wendie Malick,1,Wendy Wasserstein,1,Wendy's,1,West Elm,1,Wham,1,What the What,1,Will Ferrell,3,William Shakespeare,2,Willie Nelson,1,Woody Allen,11,Wow,28,Writing,9,Writing Stuff,45,WTF,23,Zac Efron,56,Zac Efron's Ass,4,Zebra,1,Zuiikin English,3,
Did any of you catch the HBO comedy, The Comeback, when it ran for one season a few years ago? I'm halfway though the 13-episode series (now on DVD), and I have to say that it's pretty brilliant. Lisa Kudrow's character, Valerie Cherish, is a washed-up TV actress trying desperately to make a comeback in a career that really wasn't all that great to begin with—she starred in a lame sitcom called I'm It that somehow lasted 97 episodes (but just 3 shy of making syndication) and featured a monkey as one of the characters in a failed attempt to boost ratings.
Valerie, who would be completely pathetic if she weren't so goddamn hilarious (unintentionally most of the time?), thinks she's making a big return to TV when she gets cast in a new sitcom called Room and Bored, a show about thirtysomething roommates. However, the network decides to go a different route, turning it into a series about young sexy singles, and Valerie gets relegated to playing a bit part as the much-older Aunt Sassy who shows up to rattle off lame catchphrases like, "I don't need to SEE that!" (You had to be there.)
While making her "comeback," the network is also filming Valerie's every move for a reality show called, well, The Comeback. Yes, it's a show within a show within a show, and what we're seeing is supposedly raw, unedited footage from the reality series. (Lisa Kudrow created the series with Sex and the City's Michael Patrick King.)
The Comeback is funny, layered, and at once deeply poignant and unsettling. You'll sit there muttering, "This is so sad." But it doesn't tug at your heartstrings and make you cry—it sort of punches you in the gut, like a little kid who doesn't know what else to do because he's so helpless. The show manages to say lots about Hollywood and fame, sure, but it cuts deeper when you consider its bigger themes about midlife, aging, womanhood, career, and our ongoing struggle for control over self-definition.
The shows "discomfort factor" reminds me of the British Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm, but I have to admit, while I recognize why those shows are so well-loved, I could never really get into them, despite multiple attempts. I guess I feel like hugging Lisa Kudrow (who was nominated for an Emmy here) in a way that I don't feel with Ricky Gervais or Larry David. And I like that wanting-to-hug feeling:
I was poking around IMDb, and I saw that on the DVD there's an interview with "Valerie" in which she's asked about her career after The Comeback. She says, "I recently turned down the lead in a TV movie about a woman who's raped by her entire town, including her father and brother and.... It's called A Matter of Life, and it would've been a nice dramatic turn, but it dealt with issues of abortion, and I don't wanna go anywhere NEAR that! Plus, it's shot up in Nova Scotia.... You know.... Get raped all day and then...nowhere nice to have dinner."
