Every HBO Comedy Ranked From Worst To Best
12. The Comeback
Give or take a Morning Show, this Lisa Kudrow-led smash is the best post-Friends project any of the stars produced. The show, co-created with Sex And The City producer Michael Patrick King, is the most self aware and self lacerating piece of work to come from the phenomenon, and is as good a vehicle for the versatile and hilarious actress as you could imagine.
Kudrow plays Valerie Cherish, a former sitcom star who has subsequently failed to maintain career relevance. There are major differences between Cherish and the star - the character is a decade or more removed from her career-defining show rather than a couple of years - but Kudrow’s decision making is nonetheless bold.
The curse of Friends is a much-debated matter, as many of the stars have struggled to find much decent work since. Kudrow gets on the front foot and owns the matter, playing Cherish - here hired to chronicle her attempts at a comeback - as bitter and lacking self awareness.
The show disappeared in the ratings in 2005, but somehow came back again even better in 2014. Kudrow’s had one of the best post-Friends careers with parts in a lot of great TV and movies, but this is her crowning achievement.