Mark and I watched finished watching The Comeback last weekend. It was an HBO series starring Lisa Kudrow. Mark's friend got him hooked on it and we had to finish the series. It's a great show. There is a lot of the same awkward comedy that you might find in The Office. Having watched it all now I think the show is brilliant in capturing the D-List celebrity desire to get their face out there.
I was worried at first about being able to see Lisa Kudrow as anyone else, but Phoebe. It takes a couple episodes to break that idea.
Kudrow's character, Valerie Cherish has a break-out hit sitcom many years ago and now she has been cast as the condo-owning landlord, Aunt Sassy, to her niece and roommates. There is an obvious gap between the younger, prettier actors and Valerie in the faux-show Room & Bored. It isn't personal... not really. It is a generational thing. Which just adds to the awkwardness. Valerie tries to be hip and cool, but ends up looking sad and pathetic. As a result of being cast on the show (having beaten out Marilu Henner and Kim Fields) she now has to have her life filmed as part of a 'documentary style' reality show called The Comeback.
I definitely find myself rooting for Valerie to have a modicum of success for something in her own right. Some triumph that doesn't come from the either show that she is filming.
This show reminded of something I read. In the 9th (maybe 10th) grade we had to read Death Of A Salesman. We all know the story... Willy Loman's character always struck me as the sad... pitiable really... type of person who just doesn't seem to get it. Or if he does 'get it', he is deluding himself that he could have any amount of success that he once had. The same for Valerie Cherish. She is the Willy Loman.
Success is fleeting. What you have won't last for long, especially in business. Hollywood is big business! Few ever make it back into the spotlight after having been pushed out.
Reading Death Of A Salesman was painful for me. To try so hard to be known... to be successful... to make something of yourself... and fail. To not quite get that they are laughing at you, not with you. How easy is it to delude yourself that people like you when really... they are using you and laughing behind your back?
This is part of the same reason that it's painful to watch American Idol in the early part of the season. Some people are so bad. I won't go into it too much because I've bitched about it before. Yet, some people are soooo bad... how can they have made it on tv without someone telling them that people aren't laughing with them. The applause isn't sincere. Are they just a bunch of Willy Loman's and Valerie Cherish's running around?
Getting back to The Comeback... I wished it would've gone on longer. Mainly because how they left it really wasn't satisfying for me. I was still rooting for her. I want her to really make it big. Correction... I wanted her to find some sort of realization that she doesn't need the fame.
If you get a chance to rent the series... do! Especially if you love Lisa Kudrow.Labels: deep thoughts, funny, tv |
