The Comeback

You've arrived at your destination.

Yes, we have.

Still don't know why she took me on the freeway.

Hello. Valerie Cherish.

- ID, please. - Sure.

- To see Brandon Wallick. - To see Brandon Wallick.

Yeah.

Thanks, yeah. Okay, Patience.

- In five, four... - Oh. Ready.

Going in to see Brandon Wallick, the new head of the studio,

about a possible new multi-cam.

More than possible, Val. It's a definite offer.

Did you get me on camera, Patience?

Yeah.

Okay, Billy, nothing's definite yet, okay?

'Cause still not comfortable with the whole AI writing thing.

Not entirely sure it's even legal.

Okay, please do not bring up the legality of AI.

So not sexy.

Don't be a lawyer, Val.

- Be a star. - Okay, yeah.

And you're gonna have to address it, okay?

'Cause

much as I'd like to star in a sitcom again,

I have to be okay with my union.

Hello, hello, hello.

Oh, no one's here.

No, no. No, no. I'm here.

- Ah. - I'm here. Hello.

Brandon.

Hello. Valerie Cherish.

We all know who you are, Valerie, thank you so much.

We are all just so thrilled to have you in here at last.

Aw. Well, this is my manager.

Producing partner. Billy Stanton.

Thom Browne, right?

No. Billy Stanton.

- No. Val. - Yeah?

Thom Browne is the designer I'm wearing.

Oh, that cute skirt. Yeah.

Well, first of all, apologies for the Zoom.

We're just scattered all over the world,

and we just, we think this would be an easier way

for the whole team to focus in this way, right?

Oh, sure, yeah. So, there's a whole team?

Oh, yeah, yeah, they're all here.

Guys, just pin yourselves. Pin, pin, pin,

- pin yourselves for Valerie. - Oh! Okay.

Don't say I didn't warn you, Valerie.

Hello, everyone. Absolutely everyone.

Question: Is there anyone not on this Zoom?

That's great.

- Hi. - That's great.

Okay, guys, just unpin yourselves,

and come back as you're needed, alright?

Valerie, hi. Ridley Macintosh, head of marketing and sales.

Ridley is my right-hand woman... person.

When Brandon left YouTube to become the president of NuNet,

his very first call was to marketing, and he was passionate.

"How can we make free programming? People have bought enough apps."

Couldn't agree more...

Ridley, yeah.

You know, I was on that wonderful show, Mrs. Hatt.

You know, Mrs. Hatt, a few seasons ago.

You know, part-time gardener, solved crimes?

Her husband was an ex-police chief?

Yeah, anyway, it was on Epix, right?

- Okay. - Of course, people had enough apps.

- Yes. - You know?

So, yeah, Riddler, I hear ya.

Okay, what's exciting is we have come up with a way

to mitigate the cost of content

with breaks in the programming to advertise product.

Commercials.

Exactly, Valerie. Everything old is new again.

And here at NuNet, we're just...

We're totally embracing that.

Hey! I am Arbor Elliot, head of programming and content.

And I love sitcoms.

Well, then I love you, Arbor.

Valerie! Egypt O'Connor, NuNet research and development.

- Hello, Egypt. - Our latest research

has shown us that viewers want a break

from the complicated, confusing storylines of all these dark streaming shows.

Yeah, it's like, "Wait a minute. The doctor's a spy and a zombie?"

- Like, what?! - What?!

That is so Arbor.

And when people wanna laugh,

a moody, single-camera comedy isn't much of a fun break.

We wanna make affordable, comfortable, wonderful television

with a trusted comedy star named Valerie Cherish.

Who, me?

You have a unique recognizability across

- three different television platforms. - You do.

Sitcom, having starred in I'm It! And Room and Bored.

Reality TV, two seasons of The Comeback.

And premium prestige cable,

your Emmy-winning Best Supporting Actress turn

as Mallory in Seeing Red.

Wow. And Mrs. Hatt.

The Traitors?

Come on!

Yeah, well, great to be picked for a Traitor,

and terrible to be sent home second episode.

So, yeah, really disappointing.

But the meme? Uh!

Trust me, he's a Faithful.

I know that for a fact.

How?

Well, I just, I feel like he's a Faithful.

- As am I, you know. - Oh.

Don't you wish you knew who the Traitors were?

I do.

It's so stressful.

"Stressful."

It was stressful.

From '90s TV, right up to the hot meme of today,

- Valerie Cherish. - And we decided

we want to make a show around her.

And that's what we've done.

Around? So, not the wife of the lead?

It is all about this funny, complicated, single woman of a certain age.

"Funny," check.

"Complicated," check.

"Single," don't tell my husband.

Wow, okay.

And "woman of a certain age."

So what's the age you're certain of?

- Sixty. - Well, that's a TV 60,

which is really 50.

Fifty?

Well, if...

That's my Cher.

Oh, anyway, yeah, this all just is thrilling.

Okay, my manager and I...

- Producing partner. - Yeah, and I ha...

Just have one concern.

Sure, anything, anything.

Yeah.

Okay

just one concern, and that is...

Well, let's kee...

It would be great if we could talk about the AI of it all now.

Everybody say thank you to, to Valerie.

Thank you, and we'll regroup on this later.

Thank you.

What, it's over? What happened?

Why did you bring up AI?

Because you didn't!

Yeah! So not sexy.

- Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. - Oh. Hello.

Just to finish what...

You okay?

Yeah. I thought you were in New York.

- Yeah. - No, no. No, no.

I was just down the hall in my office.

It's okay.

- Sit, sit, sit, sit. - Oh. Yeah.

Right. About why I just ended the Zoom.

Yeah, I shouldn't have mentioned the AI. Not sexy. Yeah.

I'm worried about the no writers.

Of course we have writers. We have to have writers.

You have writers? There are writers!

- Oh. - Okay, there are writers!

- Yeah, there are writers. - Alright.

We have a husband-and-wife team, Josh and Mary Abrams.

- Ah. - They're gonna be our head writers.

- Ah. - Alongside Allassist,

our AI program.

And, yeah, Josh and Mary have got a deal with NuNet,

so, you'll love 'em.

Oh. And they have a deal! So, they're good.

- They're great. - That's great. Okay, yeah.

And one's a woman, which is really great 'cause the show's about a woman.

- Yeah, they did Fetch. - Right. Ah.

Four women in a dog park.

- So, they know women. - Yeah.

And dogs. And...

And the Writers Guild is fine with this?

We are within the Writers Guild agreement, yeah.

So, are we in the Valerie Cherish business?

Well, let me think about it.

How quick can I say yes? Yes!

- Well, great. Great. - Right.

But we have to go over the deal points.

Valerie and I will need to be executive producers.

- Yeah, we'll... - Oh. So, that's a yes?

Well, that's a yes.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, before I go,

we've been kinda off the record about the whole AI thing,

you know, just keep people, you know, well, on a need-to-know basis.

So, I'm curious

how did you hear about it, Valerie?

Oh. Oh.

Well, I heard...

How did I? I don't... Yeah, I don't know.

I just heard. I don't know how.

That's alright, it's okay. It's good. Just...

Okay, here's the thing. In our business...

AI, well, it has bad branding, right?