List of The Comeback characters
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This is a list of characters from The Comeback.
Valerie Cherish
- Lisa Kudrow plays Valerie Cherish, the central figure of The Comeback.[1] She is the star of a 1989–1993 sitcom, I'm It!, in which she played a young superstar attorney called Becky. In the decade since, Valerie hasn't found acting work, and has fallen out of the limelight. She receives a call from her former network asking her to do a reality show called The Comeback, about an actress attempting to relaunch her flagging career by landing a starring role on the sitcom Room and Bored, a show featuring four sexy singles living in a condominium. Shortly after production of Room and Bored begins, Valerie's role on the show is reduced to an aging supporting character named Aunt Sassy. Valerie thinks she is (or should be) the real star of the show, and is very concerned about her image. She is extremely shallow and ego-driven, and takes great care to ensure that The Comeback doesn't portray her in an unflattering light, although she ultimately fails at this. Valerie usually doesn't bother to learn the names of crew members, nor does she take much interest in matters that do not directly involve her. She is woefully out of touch with current trends, as evidenced by her choices in fashion, decor, and music, as well as a general misunderstanding of reality television. Although she had become a housewife while unemployed, she engages in very little domestic activity. The family employs a housekeeper, and Valerie usually foregoes cooking, instead ordering take-out dinners from area restaurants. Valerie indicates that she had appeared in bit parts on shows such as Magnum, P.I., Knight Rider, and Remington Steele prior to her starring role on I'm It! After Room and Bored and The Comeback were canceled, Valerie was part of the original cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. She quit the show during early production after a disagreement with producers about her portrayal, worried that she would receive the same poor treatment as The Comeback. Otherwise, she appeared in several student films, procedural television crime dramas, and infomercials. After learning that HBO was planning a series called Seeing Red that would portray a fictionalized version of herself negatively, she tries to stop production, but instead is cast to play that character, Mallory Church. At some point in her past, Valerie had an abortion.
Mark Berman
- Damian Young as Mark Berman, Valerie's loving (and extremely patient) husband. They had lived a quiet lifestyle until camera crews invaded their privacy. Mark is a dedicated businessman with very little understanding of show business. He doesn't seem to be impressed by Valerie's celebrity and is annoyed by the reality show cameras but admits to using cocaine and watching pornography on camera. Valerie refers to Mark most often as "Marky Mark" and also by the nickname "Love Ball". At some point during their marriage, Mark had an affair with another woman. The two are separated during the latter half of season 2, as Mark surmises that Valerie is putting her career before their marriage.
Mickey Deane
- Robert Michael Morris as Mickey Deane, Valerie Cherish's hairdresser since the late 1980s and her closest friend. Between I'm It! and Room and Bored, he only worked for the actress part-time. Mickey agreed to work for Valerie full-time as she was cast on Room and Bored in order to receive health benefits from the studio. In his free time, he watches a lot of reality shows, and he is delighted to be appearing on one. Mickey is an older, effeminate man who believes that his obvious homosexuality is a well-kept secret. He came out of the closet in the season 1 finale. He remains Valerie's hairdresser through (and beyond) the events of season 2. Valerie realizes how much Mickey means to her when she is terrified by his cancer diagnosis. Valerie refers to Mickey and Mark as "the two most important men in my life".
Jane Benson
- Laura Silverman as Jane Benson, the producer of Valerie Cherish's reality show, The Comeback. Like many "reality" shows, Jane's production is a misnomer as she has no qualms with premeditated scripting, acting, urgings from behind-the-scenes crew to create specified situations of adversity and drama, or even product placement. Jane seems committed to seeing Valerie is comfortable on camera, yet is not above asking her questions that obviously are designed to provoke strong reactions. Jane is seldom seen on-camera, but her voice is often heard. Jane attempts to limit her communication with Valerie, so as not to sacrifice the "reality" content of the show, but the star constantly seems to be talking to Jane. Valerie will ask her director for advice and "re-shoots" of a particular event, and, while Jane herself has asked for multiple takes of a reaction, Jane will usually deny such requests of Valerie by repeatedly telling her she is forbidden to interact with her in any way. The relationship between the two comes to a head in the season 1 finale. Jane later wins an Academy Award for a short documentary film she produced with her lesbian partner, and has resigned herself to life away from the entertainment industry in the California countryside after the relationship ended. Following much persuasion, however, she reluctantly returns to Los Angeles to chronicle Valerie's life behind the scenes of Seeing Red.
Juna Millken
- Malin Åkerman as Juna Millken (main cast season 1, recurring season 2), a beautiful, young, blond musician, who (in her first-ever acting role) plays Cassie, the lead character and niece of Aunt Sassy on Room and Bored. Juna and Valerie become fast friends on and off the set. Juna sees Val as her mentor, and Val calls Juna "baby girl," though Valerie is silently jealous of Juna's multifaceted stardom. Between seasons 1 and 2, Juna has become a worldwide superstar, constantly hounded by paparazzi, though she still genuinely cares for Valerie. Although no longer close friends, the two do remain acquainted and keep in contact after Room and Bored's cancellation. Juna indicates that she does not approve of the fictionalized portrayal of herself in Seeing Red and is offended by Valerie's "endorsement" of Paulie G'.s side of the story by starring in it.
Paulie G.
- Lance Barber as Paulie G., Valerie's main antagonist. He is one of the two cocreators, head writers, and executive producers of Room and Bored. His writing style and personality indicate he is a fan of sophomoric humor. He pushed the change in Valerie's sitcom character because he is very unsympathetic to Valerie herself. Paulie G. disagreed with Valerie's casting from the beginning and constantly seeks to reduce her role on the show. He is resentful of Valerie's attempts to control the creative direction of Room and Bored, despite her efforts to butter him up. He often antagonizes Valerie (usually in a passive-aggressive manner) but otherwise avoids contact with her. Although he is churlish, the editors of The Comeback have polished the finished reality show to portray Paulie G. in a positive light, while Valerie is shown to be the antagonist between the two. When Valerie reconnects with him in 2014, Paulie G. reveals that he was on heroin for the duration of Room and Bored and that he has become clean in the time since. He is writing, producing, and directing an HBO series called Seeing Red based on his account of his time as a sitcom writer and his struggles dealing with Valerie. He clearly does not agree with Valerie's casting in Seeing Red, and he indicates that his struggles interacting with Valerie led to his drug problem. He becomes overwhelmed while producing the series, and the network removes him from the director's chair in mid-production. While Seeing Red is critically praised for its acting performances, Paulie G.'s writing is widely considered the weak link.
Tom Peterman
- Robert Bagnell as Tom Peterman (main cast season 1, guest season 2), the other of the two co-creators, head writers, and executive producers of Room and Bored. While he tends to agree with Paulie G. that Valerie is an overbearing presence, he attempts to accommodate her requests and show ideas. Unlike Paulie G., Tom tries to communicate calmly with Valerie and treat her with appropriate respect, although his motives are sometimes passive-aggressive. Valerie tends to speak to Tom first when approaching the producers. Tom and Paulie G. met while studying at Harvard and worked as a team until 2008, even winning an Emmy for the Simpsons script prior to Room and Bored. After the sitcom's failure, Tom and Paulie G. had a falling-out and haven't spoken since. When Valerie reconnects with him in 2014, Tom has spent five years as the unheralded executive producer of Nicky Nicky Nack Nack, a popular children's show on Nickelodeon. He is resentful of Paulie G.'s career resurgence and claims that his own career was destroyed by Paulie G.'s drug use.