Why Was "The Comeback" Canceled Twice? All About the Sitcom&x27;s Third — and Final — Return Keith LangstonSun, March 22, 2026 at 10:00 PM UTC 0 Lisa Kudrow in 'The Comeback'.Credit: Erin Simkin/HBO The Comeback aired its first season in 2005 and was subsequently canceled The HBO show starring Lisa Kudrow was brought back for a second time in 2014 The third and final season, which debuts on March 22, will explore AIwritten sitcoms Valerie Cherish is back (again)! In 2005, just one year after Friends concluded, Lisa Kudrow starred in the satirical mockumentary The Comeback on HBO.
Why Was "The Comeback" Canceled Twice? All About the Sitcom's Third — and Final — Return
Keith LangstonSun, March 22, 2026 at 10:00 PM UTC
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Lisa Kudrow in 'The Comeback'.Credit: Erin Simkin/HBO -
The Comeback aired its first season in 2005 and was subsequently canceled
The HBO show starring Lisa Kudrow was brought back for a second time in 2014
The third and final season, which debuts on March 22, will explore AI-written sitcoms
Valerie Cherish is back (again)!
In 2005, just one year after Friends concluded, Lisa Kudrow starred in the satirical mockumentary The Comeback on HBO. In the series, she plays Valerie Cherish, an aging and fading actress who is willing to do anything to reclaim her fame — including film her comeback for a reality show called The Comeback.
The series ultimately earned three Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Kudrow and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for co-creator and Sex and the City alum Michael Patrick King. Despite their nominations, the series was canceled.
Almost a decade later in 2014, The Comeback returned for a second season, earning Kudrow yet another Emmy nomination. Now, after another 11 years, The Comeback is making another comeback, with a third and final season premiering on HBO and HBO Max on March 22.
So, why was The Comeback canceled twice? Here's everything to know about the sitcom's history.
Why was The Comeback canceled in 2005?
Lisa Kudrow in 'The Comeback'.Credit: Hulu
The Comeback was first canceled after 13 episodes due to low ratings and mixed critical reviews, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time. It averaged 955,000 viewers per episode.
After looking "at our schedule," HBO said in a statement that "given our future commitments, we felt we would not be able to give the show the support it needed."
During a June 2025 interview with Variety, Kudrow and King said that audiences at the time just didn't resonate with Valerie's antics, which could come off as funny or desperate depending on the viewer.
"It preceded The Real Housewives," King said. "No one had seen any Real Housewife sacrifice her dignity for branding. We thought it was hilarious. Other people were quite puzzled."
Kudrow echoed that sentiment in an October 2025 interview with W, saying, "The show originally felt like one humiliation or punishment after another. Now, everyone's signing up for that."
Why did The Comeback return for season 2 in 2014?
Lisa Kudrow in 'The Comeback'.Credit: Hulu
After nearly 10 years, HBO made the decision to revive The Comeback as a "limited event series."
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In a November 2014 Rolling Stone interview, Kudrow said that she never thought The Comeback would get a second season.
"But the people at HBO were picking up on something, so they came to us said, 'We think people like Valerie Cherish and wouldn't mind seeing her again,' " she recalled.
The Comeback's second season saw Valerie get cast in a gritty HBO series while also trying to film a reality show pilot for Bravo's Andy Cohen.
Since season 2 was billed as a limited series, it was never officially canceled again.
Why is The Comeback returning for season 3 in 2026?
Lisa Kudrow in 'The Comeback'.Credit: Erin Simkin/HBO
Over the years, Kudrow and King have said multiple times that they've wanted to revive The Comeback — but they had to wait for when the timing felt right.
"We're always talking about it and looking for it," Kudrow told Variety in June 2025.
A year later, season 3 is debuting on HBO and HBO Max. Ultimately, the duo realized that the current era of Hollywood would be the perfect backdrop for Valerie to make her return. In the third season, Valerie gets cast in a new sitcom, which will be the first-ever to be written by AI.
"Once we came up with the idea of Valerie and AI, it felt like the same energy as Valerie and reality TV 20 years ago," King said at the season 3 premiere, per Variety. "And once that happened, Lisa was like, 'That's it.' "
However, Kudrow has said that this season of The Comeback will be its last.
"We need to say 'third and final,' " Kudrow told The Hollywood Reporter in March 2026. "I don't know if I'll want to do it again in 10 years, so let's be done, that way no one is asking what's next or whether we will even want to do more."
She added, "The most respectful thing we can do for the audience and for the character is make it a three-part story. It's a trilogy, and this is the end."
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Source: Entertainment
Published: March 23, 2026 at 12:45AM on Source: MORNING MAG
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