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HC Review: The Comeback

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Temple chapter.

Valerie Cherish is back!

After a nine-year hiatus, HBO has revamped The Comeback, and fans could not be more thrilled.

Originally, the edgy comedy was about a has-been television actress (Lisa Kudrow) who was trying her hand at reality TV after years of being off the map. With a minor role in a new sitcom, Valerie Cherish was sure that her coinciding reality show would be a hit. While the show became an under the radar hit, HBO cancelled it after just one season in 2005. Many fans suggested that it was just too ahead of it’s time, since reality television was just taking off.

Fast-forward a few years. HBO decided to give the show another try with a second season, and last week’s premiere did not disappoint.

Although it felt like no time had passed, it had… in both real time and in the show. After the cancellation of her sitcom and reality show, Val decided to once again jump start her career. After claiming that she had been in contact with Bravo star Andy Cohen, (he replied to one of her tweets) she decided to put together a demonstration of her work to show him. The clips included scenes from what she called “independent films” made by college students, as well as an infomercial for a failed hair care product. The reel didn’t include a clip from 2008, showing Valerie blow her chance at being on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. College students were shooting the current footage of her.

Things took an unexpected turn in the hour long episode when Val’s publicist (who now represents a Top Chef star, by the way) stopped by to tell her that her that the creator of the failed sitcom from way back when was planning to make a show about how horrible it was to work with a has been actress on a sitcom. Paulie G and Val never got along, and he was now going to portray that with Mallory Church.

After trying and failing to get the show shut down, Val marched over to HBO studios where she ran into Paulie G and the rest of the people behind the new show. Somehow she ended up doing a cold read audition for the part of Mallory, and she got the role.

The premiere episode was filled with famous faces including Lisa Vanderpump, Andy Cohen, RuPaul, Chelsea Handler, and Malin Ackerman who reprised her role of Juna on the show.

The 13-episode season airs Sunday nights on HBO.

Shauna is a senior journalism major at Temple. She loves keeping up to date with pop culture, and hopes to get into the entertainment news field after graduation. Her other interests include coffee, shopping, binge watching Sex and the City, going to concerts, and everything Britney Spears.
Lindsey is a senior magazine journalism major at Temple University. After she graduates in May she hopes to return to NYC, which she fell in love with this summer during her ASME internship at Real Simple magazine.