![\"Dan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/YPD57DQ2CVDMTLBD6ZGLIFGFUY.jpg\")
Lisa Kudrow’s longtime producing partner, Dan Bucatinsky, says \u201cThe Comeback\u201d needed to return to cover the \u201clooming threat\u201d of AI in Hollywood. Phillip Faraone\/Getty Images for HBO <\/p>\n12 years after the beloved comedy The Comeback last satirized the entertainment industry, the HBO show is poised to make a comeback of its own.<\/p>\n
Actor and producer Dan Bucatinsky told Obsessed: The Podcast host Kevin Fallon that he \u201cnever intended\u201d for his show\u2019s three seasons to span 21 years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though that wasn\u2019t the intention, the gift it\u2019s given us is the ability to check in on the same character as she has grown over decades\u2014with the same amount of drive and the same amount of spirit and ambition\u2014but with major changes in the way the entertainment industry is being run,\u201d Bucatinsky, 60, said.<\/p>\n
Lisa Kudrow’s longtime producing partner, Dan Bucatinsky, says \u201cThe Comeback\u201d needed to return to cover the \u201clooming threat\u201d of AI in Hollywood. Phillip Faraone\/Getty Images for HBO <\/p>\n
The Comeback premiered in 2005 to address the 00s \u201cthreat\u201d of reality TV from the perspective of wannabe superstar Valerie Cherish, played by Friends alum Lisa Kudrow, 62, directly after her historic sitcom wrapped. <\/p>\n
The show\u2019s original pitch, Bucatinsky said, was to \u201cshow people the unedited raw footage of this actress getting an opportunity at her comeback.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, 12 years after its second season aired, the mockumentary-style show has its sights set on modern Hollywood.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a strike. The looming evil of AI is now the biggest threat to writers,\u201d Bucatinsky said. He plays Kudrow\u2019s publicist on the show. \u201cTo get to see that threat 10 years later through the eyes of a character that we\u2019ve come to love is a real gift that I don\u2019t think any of us predicted until we got to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Dan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/7XO7I2HIXFCARNDDIFTS7C747E.jpg\")
Bucatinsky and Kudrow have collaborated on numerous projects, including \u201cThe Comeback,\u201d \u201cWeb Therapy,\u201d \u201cScandal,\u201d and \u201cGrace and Frankie.\u201d Alberto E. Rodriguez\/Getty Images <\/p>\n
The Comeback puts Cherish in increasingly cringeworthy situations as her boundless ambition butts heads with her people-pleasing demeanor. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re used to watching characters who are ruthless,\u201d Kudrow\u2019s long-time producing partner said. \u201cWe know people like that. We have a nation that\u2019s run by people who behave that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Cherish, Bucatinsky noted, is different. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe doesn\u2019t ever sacrifice the feelings of another person. She doesn\u2019t take anybody down in the pursuit of what she wants,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In the same interview, Bucatinsky shared how Jennifer Lopez once saved him from embarrassment in front of his mother, the phrases from the show he uses in his real life, and the actress he wants to see make a comeback.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Through Kudrow, who earned two Emmy nominations for the role, the show examines and critiques the entertainment industry as it unfolds. Its first two seasons saw Cherish, a once-notable sitcom actress, attempt to ride the waves of reality TV and then prestige television. Now, her quest for stardom forces her to lead an AI-written sitcom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to say it\u2019s an evil,\u201d Bucatinsky said of AI, which has become a hot-button issue<\/a> in Hollywood. \u201cIt\u2019s a reality that she has to face. It\u2019s a reality that probably all of us need to face. And this season, we certainly explore the ways in which that bumps up against the things she wants, as well as not wanting it to make waves.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow, the show has taken on an ability to comment on how the entertainment industry impacts one individual person,\u201d Bucatinsky added. <\/p>\n The Comeback will return to HBO in March. All previous episodes are available to stream on HBO Max.<\/p>\n Subscribe to our YouTube<\/a> channel to watch new episodes of \u2018Obsessed: The Podcast\u2019 every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And follow our feed<\/a> to listen to the show the next morning on your favorite podcast platform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"12 years after the beloved comedy The Comeback last satirized the entertainment industry, the HBO show is poised…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,15065,75,1911,9713,88289,192931,348],"class_list":{"0":"post-475091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-emmy-awards","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-friends","13":"tag-hollywood","14":"tag-lisa-kudrow","15":"tag-obsessed-the-podcast","16":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/F3ZAROE3DRCV3M4GHUQD7TGPYI.jpg\")
In “The Comeback” season three, Bucatinsky’s character weighs his own ego against his client’s. Courtesy HBO Max <\/p>\n