SPOILER ALERT: This story includes details about Episode 4 of “The Comeback” Season 3, now available on HBO Max.
Billy Stanton, Valerie Cherish’s longtime publicist-turned-manager-turned-producing partner on “The Comeback,” is more than ready for his closeup.
In Episode 4, Billy, played by Dan Bucatinsky, is being photographed for a fictional Variety 50 Over 50 issue. When Valerie [Lisa Kudrow] interrupts the shoot, Billy begs her to step away. “I am suicidal for some solo press,” Billy says.
“I had that line etched on glasses that I gave as wrap gifts to everybody, and they were signed, ‘Billy Stanton,’” says Bucantinsky, who also serves as a co-creator and executive producer of the three-season HBO series. “It’s unbelievable how that line tells you everything you need to know, and it just encapsulates so much of Hollywood. It says it all.”
When “The Comeback” premiered in 2005, Billy was a publicist at legendary PR firm PMK. By the time Season 3 rolled around, 21 years later, he’s been asked to be a producer on “How’s That?!,” Valerie’s new sitcom that’s being secretly written by AI.
“I’m an EP. I can get a parking spot and wear fucking cool clothes,” Bucatinsky says of Billy, who spends most of his time in Season 3 wearing Thom Browne skirts. “I can finally get my perks and all the fringes that come with being an EP. We’re meeting Billy at a time where he’s going to take advantage of anything that comes his way, whether it be a gift bag or to be one of the 50 Over 50 in Variety.”
But is Billy finally happy? “I would have to say no,” Bucantinsky says. “I don’t think there’s love in his life. I think that the dedication and preoccupation with attention that Billy has now developed over the last 20 years is a false journey towards what he believes will bring him happiness, like any drug addict, a fast hit of some publicity. But then what do you do when you wake up in the morning with nobody in your bed? I don’t think Billy is feeling happy — not yet. I think when you see the end of this season, I think Billy will find a sense of purpose.”
While “The Comeback” is clearly a comedy, its emotional and dramatic arcs give audiences a real glimpse into the realities of how Hollywood is struggling right now. With budgets being slashed across the studio system and the omnipresent fear that AI is taking away jobs, it can feel at times that Hollywood is on the brink of an implosion.
In one scene in Episode 4, Valerie asks “How’s That?!” writer Mary Abrams (Abbi Jacobson) to polish up a script because she’s not happy with the AI-generated version. Mary lashes out at Valerie, using the harshest of language to let her know that she doesn’t care about the show and that her only goal is to make enough money to move her and her kids as far away from Los Angeles as possible.
“I don’t care that Rome is burning,” Mary snaps.
Even so, Bucatinsky insists that “The Comeback” isn’t taking any side in the AI debates.
“We are representing Valerie’s point of view, which is, ‘I just want to work no matter what it takes,’ and the point of view of the writer who’s like, ‘I’m not going to play this game this way,’” he explains. “You’re showing humans, you’re showing human experiences and not coming down on whatever the issues are. In other words, you’re not preaching.”
“The Comeback” has certainly felt real-life studio number-crunching. While Season 1 had about 10 writers in the writers’ room, the eight-episode Season 3 only has three. “It was out of necessity and budget,” Bucatinsky says. “If we were doing 10, 12 or 13 episodes, we would have needed more writers, but the budget for our eight episodes was not huge. We’re not ‘Euphoria.’ We don’t get the audience that ‘Euphoria’ gets. So we had to do everything on a budget, including the writing of those episodes that Lisa and Michael [Michael Patrick King] cranked out every single draft of. It was an economics thing.”
With that knowledge in mind, the already very meta show gets even more meta as audiences watch Valerie so dedicated to making “How’s That?!” work.
“I’ve always thought of Valerie as a heroic figure,” Bucatinsky says. “She can flip the switch. She can flip the narrative in a positive way, no matter what’s thrown her way. Yeah, there’s less work now, and yeah, it’s written by AI, but look at the 200, 300 people we get to employ. She’s able to find a path towards adapting, pivoting and being happy regardless of what comes her way.”
variety.com
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