In TV’s olden days, situation comedies kept cranking out episodes — 39 a year, year after year.
And a modern-day contrast? Consider Lisa Kudrow’s “The Comeback” (shown here), which has just returned to HBO.
It had 13 episodes in 2005 … rested nine years, before doing eight episodes in 2014 … then rested a dozen years, before this eight-episode final season.
It needed a compelling reason to return, co-creator Michael Patrick King said at a press conference. That came with the rise of artificial intelligence.
“Not (just) AI, but … people desperate to get a job and keep a job,” he said. “As you age, you have to think: ‘How am I coming across?'”
For Valerie (played by Kudrow), that’s a tough question, In the first season, she was a struggling actress, filming a reality show while co-starring in a situation comedy. In the second season, she tried another comeback.
After that? “There were some opportunities for her,” Kudrow said, “and a lot of things that didn’t work out …. She’s been adrift for a few years.”
So Valerie was happy to land a new sitcom. In the opener — which aired Sunday (March 22) and reruns often — she learned the show is written by AI.
Chances are, neither co-creator felt compelled to do another season. King, 72, has had plenty or money roll in as producer of “Sex and the City” and co-creator of “2 Broke Girls”; Kudrow, 62, struck it rich on “Friends” and then went on to produce “Comeback,” “Web Therapy” and the roots-reality show, “Who Do You Think You Are?”
But comedy is a compulsion, she said, rippling through her life. “My father is really funny and my brother and sister — my whole family is really funny and I’m the youngest, so I was just trying to keep up.”
There were serious influences nearby. Her father was a prominent specialist in treating headache pain; his grandmother was killed in the Holocaust.
But mostly, Kudrow’s childhood had humor. “No matter what was going on someone would make a joke …. Make a joke at a funeral — it was needed.”
One of the people who noticed was her brother’s friend, comedian Jon Lovitz. He urged Kudrow to join comedy-improv troupes.
Then came TV guest roles. This brainy Vassar grad had “Mad About You” bits as a ditsy waitress; then she played that character’s twin in “Friends.”
The result was huge — sometimes excessive. “There was a huge backlash, when everyone hated us,” Kudrow said. “We were overexposed.”
That settled into steady popularity. “Friends” was in the top-5 in Nielsen ratings for its final nine (of 10) seasons, once finishing No. 1. Kudrow drew six Emmy nominations, winning once.
For that matter, she’s also been nominated for each of her first two “Comeback” seasons. The show was canceled after its first season, then revived in what was intended to be a stand-alone second year.
Then came the notion of pitting Valerie against AI. The meeting with HBO chairman Casey Bloys went smoothly, King recalled. “He said, ‘Yes. Now.’ I mean, it was very much: ‘As fast as you can go.'”
So they did … if you consider “fast” to be 29 episodes in 21 years.
“The Comeback,” third season
— Sundays, HBO. Second episode is 10:35 p.m. March 29.
— The opener reruns often: 5:27 and 11:20 p.m., Monday (March 23); 3:43 and 8 p.m., Tuesday; 6:50 p.m., Wednesday; 8:34 p.m., Thursday; 9:58 p.m., Friday.
— Also on HBO Max, along with the first two seasons.