The Comeback (TV series)

:For the 1993 NFL Wild Card games, see The Comeback (1993 NFL Wild Card)

Characters

Major characters

• Valerie Cherish (Lisa Kudrow), the central character of The Comeback, was the star of a sexually-charged 1989 sitcom, I'm It!, which ran for four seasons and on which she played a young superstar attorney working in a law office. More recently, however, Valerie has fallen out of the limelight, but receives a call from her former network asking her to do a reality show (called The Comeback) about an actress who attempts to launch her career resurgence by landing a starring role on the sitcom Room and Bored: a show featuring four sexy singles living in a condominium. Cherish is originally cast as a 40-ish architect who acts as an older, wiser, yet still sexy roommate, winning the role over former sitcom stars Marilu Henner and Kim Fields (who also had reality show cameras following them, should either have received the role). However, after an early rehearsal, Valerie learns the script has been changed to reduce her character's role to that of a 40-ish landlord named Aunt Sassy, a character much like the Mrs. Roper character from Three's Company. Aunt Sassy is a woman who dresses only in pastel jogging suits, lives upstairs, and usually only appears in one scene per episode. Making good out of what she has been given, Valerie performs much to the delight of the audience and the network, and the show is greenlighted for a fall season. In denial that her day in the sun has passed, however, Valerie is obsessed with the direction of Room and Bored. She attempts to use her clout and experience as a veteran sitcom star to persuade the young producers to take her suggestions for the show, despite numerous warnings to "back off." Ms. Cherish tends to be overbearing in announcing her past successes on I'm It! in an attempt to recreate them. Valerie believes it is her duty to explain to her young co-stars what starring on a sitcom entails. Initially, even with her reduced role, Valerie thinks she is (or should be) the real star of the show, and is very concerned about her image. It is only after a meeting with a cancer-stricken family friend that Valerie realizes she must relax her self-conscious image and make the best of every situation she is presented.
• Jane (Laura Silverman) is the director of Valerie Cherish's reality show, The Comeback. Jane seems very committed to seeing Valerie is comfortable on camera and is forced to endure the drama that Valerie creates. 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 Jane will usually avoid such communication and deny such requests by repeatedly telling Valerie she is forbidden to interact with her in any way.
• Mark Berman (Damian Young) is Valerie's loving (and extremely patient) husband. They had lived a quiet, lavish lifestyle until camera crews invaded their privacy. Mark is a dedicated businessman with very little understanding of showbusiness. He doesn't seem to be impressed by Valerie's celebrity, but is annoyed by the reality show cameras. Mark has admitted to using cocaine, and is addicted to pornography.
• Mickey Dean (Robert Michael Morris) has been Valerie Cherish's hairdresser and friend since the late 1980s. 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. Mickey is an effeminate man in his 60s who scoffs when anyone assumes he is homosexual.
• Paulie G (Lance Barber) is the pudgy co-creator and executive producer of Room and Bored. He is the person who pushed the change in Valerie's character, as 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. Paulie G is resentful of Valerie's efforts to control Room and Bored and attempts to avoid any communication with Valerie, despite her endeavors to butter him up.
• Tom Peterman (Robert Bagnell) is the tall, slender co-creator and executive producer of Room and Bored. While he tends to agree with Paulie G that Valerie is too overbearing, 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.
• Juna Millken (Malin Akerman) is a beautiful young blonde model and 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 became fast friends. Juna sees Val as her mentor, and Val calls Juna her "baby girl." Valerie is silently jealous of Juna's stardom. She is very similar to Cameron Diaz in her looks and her way of speaking.

Minor characters

• Shayne Thomas (Kimberly Kevon Williams) plays Dylan, Juna's sexy roommate on Room and Bored. Shayne is a Christian who objects to the sexual content of Valerie's reality show, but misses the obvious sexuality included within Room and Bored.
• Jesse Wood (Jason Olive) plays one of the two male roommates on Room and Bored. He had been turned down for several acting jobs before landing his current role on the show.
• Chris MacNess (Kellan Lutz) plays Mooner, the surfer-type roommate on Room and Bored, who is a love interest to Juna's character. As an actor, he is curious why Valerie is on the show due to her age difference with the younger generation of the cast.
• Jimmy (James Burrows) is the regular director of Room and Bored. His scenes with Valerie indicate the two have previously worked together. Jimmy likes Valerie and genuinely wants to help her succeed, but becomes increasingly annoyed with Valerie and her reality show, but his attempts to escape Jane and her cameras are usually futile. Jimmy must sternly remind Valerie quite often that she is not the star of Room and Bored and that her input to the producers is unwelcome. The actor who portrays Jimmy is no stranger to directing television, as he has won several Emmy awards for his work as producer and director of such series as Friends, Cheers, Frasier, and Will and Grace. Based on the type of character he plays, the lack of background information about the character, and the correlation between the names Jimmy and James, it is unclear if Burrows is actually playing himself.
• Francesca Berman (Vanessa Marano) is Valerie's stepdaughter. Francesca has generally tried to avoid Valerie, but becomes very eager to bond with her stepmother when in front of the reality show cameras. Francesca lives primarily with her birth mother, but on occasion stays with Mark and Valerie at their Beverly Hills home.
• Gigi (Bayne Gibby), a naive playwright from New York City, is hired as the newest writer for Room and Bored. Valerie becomes fast friends with Gigi, with the ulterior motive of getting Aunt Sassy a greater role on the show, and to attempt to supersede some of the writing decisions of Tom and Paulie G. Sensing Valerie's intentions, the show's creators have forbidden any further fraternization between Valerie and Gigi.
• Esperanza (Lillian Hurst) is Valerie and Mark's Hispanic housekeeper. She is very uncomfortable around the cameras, often simply staring in to them with a suspicious glare on her face.
• Billy Stanton (Dan Bucatinsky) is Valerie's publicist, hired to earn Valerie magazine covers (due mainly to her jealousy of Juna's photo appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone). Billy is a second-rate publicist who is just starting his own agency. He is very aggressive and tends to push and shove anybody who offends or disagrees with him. The first magazine cover he lands Valerie is for a yoga magazine, despite Val's ignorance of the yoga culture.