Dan Bucatinsky on if ‘The Comeback' Season 3 could happen
We cherish this idea.
Twenty years after HBO gave viewers the beloved sitcom 'The Comeback,' starring Lisa Kudrow, fans may be in store for a Season 3. Kudrow, 61, played sitcom vet Valerie Cherish — a woman desperate to revive her career.
The original show aired in 2005 before returning for Season 2 in 2014. Now, Dan Bucatinsky, who played Billy Stanton, Valerie's publicist who couldn't control his anger, is getting candid on the possibility.
Advertisement
8 Lisa Kudrow on 'The Comeback.'
'I would love it,' the actor, 59, exclusively told The Post at the 2025 Astra Awards. 'I would love it. It gets talked about all the time. So just know — I hope so.'
Although there has been no official word from the network if a reboot is in the cards, Bucatinsky, Kudrow and the rest of the cast would be game.
Advertisement
8 Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish in 'The Comeback.'
8 Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish.
'We talk about it all the time,' the 'Scandal' alum confessed. 'If there are talks happening, I can't answer, but we talk about it all the time and we all would love it.'
The sitcom also featured Damian Young, Lance Barber, and Robert Bagnell. Robert Michael Morris, who played Kudrow's hairdresser Mickey Deane, passed away in 2017 at age 77.
Advertisement
'We worked together a lot over the years,' Bucatinsky reflected. 'But certainly shooting 'The Comeback' was one of them. I think one of the scenes I loved the most with her, was going into her trailer in Season 2 when Billy has just had it and is quitting and throws his phone across the room.'
8 Dan Bucatinsky and Lisa Kudrow attend the premiere of HBO's series 'The Comeback.'
Getty Images
'That was a really iconic moment for a publicist who could never really keep his rage to himself,' he went on. 'We had a really good time doing that.'
Kudrow was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2006 for Season 1, and again in 2015 for Season 2.
Advertisement
Michael Patrick King created the satirical comedy that poked fun at reality television and the entertainment industry. He and Kudrow have spoken out about the possibility of another comeback for Valerie Cherish.
8 Dan Bucatinsky and Lisa Kudrow at the 71st Annual Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Penske Media via Getty Images
'There's always a meeting, every now and then, where we put ideas on the table,' the director, 70, told Variety in honor of the 20th anniversary of the program earlier this month. 'It has to be a really intricate combination of things to get us both to the place where we think, 'Oh, God.' We laugh at anything; Valerie could be funny anywhere. But the thing we're always looking for is, what would make an event worthy of Valerie coming back? So we're constantly meeting — 'Hey, what about this?''
In 2025, Kudrow feels the show would resonate even stronger with those trying to make it on reality television.
'It's much more identifiable,' the 'Friends' star admitted. 'I've seen 'Housewives.' We have another point of reference for a woman and what she's willing to do. Every one of those Housewives, they know what they're doing; they're playing a role in order to get their brand out there, and it's a means to an end.'
8 Dan Bucatinsky in 'Hacks.'
Max
In addition to 'The Comeback,' Bucatinsky has his sights set on another role.
'I want to play a villain,' he told the Post. 'I want to play a criminal, a villain or a cop. Maybe not a cop that is a criminal or a villain, but why not?'
Advertisement
A dream co-star for Bucatinksy would be a few familiar faces that he's worked with in the past — and a few new ones.
8 Dan Bucatinsky and Hannah Einbinder in the hit series 'Hacks.'
Max
'I loved working with Corey Hawkins on '24:Legacy,'' he shared. 'I'd love to work with him again. But Lisa Kudrow has been a friend and partner of mine for 20 years. So, I always love working with her again. I've really been lucky to work with a lot of great, strong women and I hope that continues because I'm a fan of so many. Kristen Bell. I would love to work with Kristen.'
Bucatinsky recently worked on Season 4 of the hit HBO series 'Hacks.' The show stars Jean Smart as stand up legend Deborah Vance and Hannah Einbinder, a comedy writer.
Advertisement
'It was the relationship that I was able to form with Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder,' the producer gushed about his favorite part of joining the cast. 'That friendship is one that I will cherish. Getting to know them off camera, then getting to play with them on camera is a dream. So much of my job on that show was playing the guy whose job it was to wrangle these two forces. I am a father of two, so I was playing dad a little bit on the show as well. But the gift really was being part of that community that felt really strong both behind the scenes and in front of the camera.'
8 Miranda Otto, Dan Bucatinsky in '24: Legacy.'
©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection
The trio's time on set included many chats in the greenroom.
'We would hang out in this little greenroom area at our chairs,' Bucatinsky reminisced. 'We would talk. We would keep each other warm. We would go get tea. We would go get snacks. We would ask each other for advice about everything. Recommendations of movies and documentaries and doctors. And talk about our kids and our pets. And it was really an opportunity in between scenes to really get to know one another.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
New Yorker dresses as ‘washed up scum' Andrew Cuomo in Mermaid Parade
A man dressed as a bizzare depiction of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo showed up to march in the Coney Island Mermaid Parade Saturday — with a special plea for his fellow New Yorkers. 'I'm trying to get reelected on Tuesday and I thought I'd bring my message to the voters,' the man who only called himself 'washed up scum,' sarcastically told The Post. 3 The man dressed as Andrew Cuomo in the Mermaid Parade insisted people call him 'washed up scum.' Samantha Olander The costume was complete with messy green strings to represent algae the former Governor would have encountered as he washed up on the shore, a torn-up dress shirt — and Cuomo's oversized head. On his backside, the man had a sign that read 'don't rank me,' a reference to the Big Apple's ranked choice voting, where electors place up to five mayoral candidates in order of preference. 3 Voters in NYC can rank up to five candidates in order of preference for the mayoral election. Samantha Olander 'I made the state fill up with as much scum as I could when I was governor and I'd like to do that to the city,' the mystery man said, adding it was his first mermaid parade. Cuomo is the frontrunner heading into Tuesday's Democratic mayoral primary, though surging socialist Zohran Mamdani has been making up ground — cutting the ex-lawmaker's lead in half from just a month ago. The Ex-Governor is ahead 55% to 45% against Mamdani in the latest poll released Wednesday. The heated NYC Democratic mayoral primary has lit a fire under Big Apple voters — twice the number of New Yorkers are turning out for early voting compared to four years ago, data from the city Board of Elections shows. 3 Cuomo resigned as New York Governor in disgrace in 2021. Stephen Yang
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
‘Spider-Man' and ‘One Life to Live' star Jack Betts dead at 96
Jack Betts has passed away at 96 years old. The actor starred on the soap opera 'One Life to Live' from 1979 to 1985, appearing in 20 episodes as Llanview Hospital's Dr. Ivan Kipling. Betts' nephew, Dean Sullivan, told The Hollywood Reporter that the star died in his sleep at his house in Los Osos, California, on Thursday. 7 Jack Betts at The Cocktail Hour play opening, LA, California, April 19, 1990. MediaPunch via Getty Images 7 Doris Roberts and Jack Betts arrive at the party celebrating the 200th Episode of 'Everybody Loves Raymond' on October 14, 2004 at Spago in Beverly Hills, California. Getty Images Betts lived with 'Everybody Loves Raymond' actress Doris Roberts before her death at age 90 in 2016. The two would attend events together over the years and Roberts even directed a play written by Betts, about a soap opera, titled 'Screen Test: Take One.' The close pals first met in 1954 at The Actors Studio in New York City in 1954. Decades later, in 1988, Betts accepted Roberts' offer to move from the Big Apple into the downstairs apartment at her Hollywood Hills home. 7 Actor Jack Betts. Columbia Pictures 'We were best friends to the very end, we had wonderful times together,' he gushed following her death. Betts was also known for starring as Henry Balkan – the Oscorp board chair who fired Norman Osborn (Willem Defoe) – in Sam Raimi's 2002 'Spider-Man.' Norman then became the villainous Green Goblin and vaporized Henry and the board. While on 'The Dev Show' in 2020, Betts spoke about filming the Oscorp boardroom shot and how he asked Raimi, 65, if he could add some of his own spin onto the scene. 7 Jack Betts is seen on May 6, 2016. GC Images 'I really looked [Defoe] right in the eye, and I had kind of a smile in my eye — you know, like, 'You're fired, you motherf–ker,'' the actor explained. 'After, I finished it, [Raimi] said, 'That's it. Terrific. Print that one.'' 'My point being is that I wanted to add something just a little different to it instead of doing it the same way over and over and over and over. [Raimi] he was willing to do that. He really was. Wonderful man to work with.' The Hollywood vet was raised in Jersey City, New Jersey, before moving to Miami with his family at age 10. The actor received his degree in theater from the University of Miami, and shortly after graduation, relocated to New York to begin acting. 7 Jose Ferrer, Jack Betts in 'Another World.' Courtesy Everett Collection Betts landed his first role as a supporting actor in the 1953 Broadway adaptation of William Shakespeare's 'Richard III.' For two seasons, from 1960 to 1962, Betts played detective Chris Devlin in the CBS mystery series 'Checkmate' opposite Anthony George, Sebastian Cabot and Doug McClure. The show, created by Eric Ambler, followed private detectives solving cases in San Francisco with the help of a British criminologist. Betts appeared four times on CBS' Perry Mason from 1961-66 before he met Giraldi about starring in Sugar Colt. He told the director that he could ride a horse and had just won a shooting contest — of course, he had never been on a horse or handled a gun — but he spent the next three weeks learning those skills at John Wayne's ranch before reporting for duty at Cinecittà in Rome. Shortly after, he entered the soap opera world, landing a role on 'General Hospital' from 1963 to 1965. 7 Jack Betts, Barbara Lord, Peter Falk in 'The Bloody Brood.' Courtesy Everett Collection From there, Betts made his mark on the franchises, and along with 'One Life to Live,' he had parts on 'The Edge of Night,' 'The Doctors,' 'Another World,' 'All My Children,' 'Search for Tomorrow,' 'Guiding Light,' 'Loving,' 'The Young and the Restless,' and 'Generations.' Some of Betts most memorable television roles included 'Seinfeld,' 'Frasier,' 'Everybody Loves Raymond,' 'Monk,' and 'Friends.' His last credited series was on the Freeform drama 'Good Trouble' in 2019. 7 Barbara Bain, Jack Betts in 'Silver Skies.' Courtesy Everett Collection When Betts stepped onto the spaghetti Western scene in 1966 as the title character Hunt Powers in Franco Giraldi's 'Sugar Colt,' he was able to turn that film into 15 others until 1973. But Betts didn't get the same credit as a certain fellow western star did. 'In the hotel next to mine was Clint Eastwood,' he recounted in a 2021 interview. 'He'd go up to his mountain and do his Western and I'd go up to my mountain and do my Western. But while his films had distribution all over the world, my films were distributed [everywhere] except Canada and America.' Betts is survived by his sister, Joan – who is set to turn 100 this year – nephew Dean, and nieces, Lynee and Gail.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
The Gilded Age Cast IRL: See How the Season 3 Stars Look Out of Costume
Like the time period from which it gets its name, The Gilded Age is all about excess. From the characters' lavish homes to their stunning gowns and jewelry, it's like every day is the Met Gala — and the servants aren't the only ones serving. Here at TVLine, we live for a good fashion moment as much as Mrs. Fish lives for drama at the opera, but it's easy to get lost in the 1880s fantasy. Sometimes we forget that there are present-day women buried under all those corsets, bustles and bonnets. More from TVLine Casting News: Andor Subs In for Kimmel, Connie Britton Joins Steve Carell Comedy and More Casting News: Severance Duo on Millionaire, Steve Carell Comedy Casts Bridesmaids Vet and More The White Lotus: Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood Reveal a Rick and Chelsea Sex Scene Was Cut From the Finale ('It Was So Powerful') But not today! In preparation for The Gilded Age's Season 3 premiere (Sunday, 9/8c), we're taking a moment to remind you what the HBO drama's cast looks like when they're not dressed in period-accurate costumes. And you might be surprised by some of the things you see. For example, did you know that Louisa Jacobson is actually a brunette underneath her blonde Marian Brook wig? Or that Ben Ahlers rocks a no-nonsense mustache when he's not playing baby faced jack-of-all-trades John Trotter? Prepare to learn all that and more as you peruse side-by-side comparisons of this season's Gilded Age series regulars (along with a few noteworthy Season 3 guest stars) out of costume, primarily using red carpet photos from the show's June 12 premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Scroll down to see the Gilded Age stars as they truly are, then drop a comment with your thoughts. Did anyone catch you by surprise? Best of TVLine 20+ Age-Defying Parent-Child Castings From Blue Bloods, ER, Ginny & Georgia, Golden Girls, Supernatural and More Young Sheldon Easter Eggs: Every Nod to The Big Bang Theory (and Every Future Reveal) Across 7 Seasons Weirdest TV Crossovers: Always Sunny Meets Abbott, Family Guy vs. Simpsons, Nine-Nine Recruits New Girl and More
