David Bowie Was a Fan of ‘The Comeback,’ Michael Patrick King Reveals
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NEED TO KNOW
- The Comeback co-creator Michael Patrick King acknowledges that the show’s first season had mixed reviews — but shares that it had at least one A-list superfan
- In an interview with Variety, King says pop icon David Bowie requested that he be sent advance episodes of the show so he could watch them on the road
- Though it was cancelled after one season, the show developed a cult following and in 2014, returned for a revival season
While the first season of HBO’s The Comeback was cancelled after just one season, it wasn’t for lack of fans — including one pop icon who requested advance copies that he could watch while on the road.
The show’s co-creator, Michael Patrick King, divulged the fun detail in a joint interview with actress Lisa Kudrow (who starred in the show) to Variety, which was published 20 years after the show’s June 5, 2005, debut.
Both Kudrow and King were nominated for Emmys for their work on the show following its first season, but it debuted to a mixed reception. Some reviews described it as awkward or hard to watch, while some loved the “cringe” nature of the show and its protagonist, Valerie Cherish, an actress desperate to reenter Hollywood after leaving the industry years prior.
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“As it was being reacted to weirdly, David Bowie called and asked for the episodes, because he had to go on the road and he didn’t want to miss the rest of Valerie,” King told Variety. “Could he have the advance copies of the episodes that hadn’t aired? We went around saying, ‘Well, David Bowie likes it.’ ”
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Elsewhere in the interview, King explained how the show was “in limbo” before it was ultimately cancelled.
“It didn’t not get renewed in the moment the first season existed. Lisa and I both got nominated for Emmys for it,” King said. “It was just in limbo. Despite all the begging I did, the morning after the Emmys, when we both did not win, they call us and say, ‘We can’t do any more of this, right?’ “
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Though it was cancelled after one season, the show developed a cult following and in 2014, returned for a revival season. As King told Variety, “It went away for a very long time, and then, all of a sudden, HBO calls us — [executives] Mike Lombardo and Casey [Bloys] and said, ‘We made a mistake. Would you do another season?’ Ten years later.”
Kudrow has said she and King “don’t know if HBO wants it” for a third season: “But we haven’t asked. We’re both sort of like, ‘I’m not gonna ask, are you?’ ‘No, I don’t want to hear ‘no.’ “
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