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Iconic HBO Cringe Comedy Coming Back for Final Season—12 Years Later
Valerie Cherish is ready for her big comeback—again.
In 2005, one year after Friends ended its legendary 10-season run on NBC, Lisa Kudrow and Sex and the City creator Michael Patrick King premiered what would become one of HBO's most iconic cringe comedies: The Comeback. And now it's living up to its name with a surprise announcement that the show is coming back for a third and final season in series, a mockumentary-style satire of Hollywood and the challenges aging actresses face, stars Kudrow as Valerie Cherish, the one-time star of a mildly popular early '90s sitcom, who lands a new role as 'Aunt Sassy' on Room and Bored. At the same time, she agrees to star in a reality show about her return to the spotlight—to disastrous results.
Though the series was given a much-coveted Sunday night time slot, airing right after the then-hugely popular Entourage, it failed to attract many viewers and was tragically canceled after just one season. Fortunately, comedy fans eventually caught on to the series' utter brilliance, and it has continued to gain a loyal following in the decades since.
In 2014, The Comeback aired a second season, which took a meta approach to the first season's material and saw Cherish starring as a fictionalized version of herself in a new HBO series about the TV producer who made her life hell on Room and Bored.
Not much is known about the plot of the upcoming third season, which will air in 2026. But Amy Gravitt, HBO & Max Comedy Programming's EVP, promises that: 'No matter what the industry throws at her, Valerie Cherish is a survivor. On the 20th Anniversary of her debut, Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow have brilliantly scripted her return to HBO and we can't wait to see that.'
'Valerie Cherish has found her way back to the current television landscape,' said Kudrow and King in a statement. 'Neither of us are surprised she did.'
Iconic HBO Cringe Comedy Coming Back for Final Season—12 Years Later first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 27, 2025
