I know that Twin Peaks: The Return has its ardent fans, and I watched a really irresponsible amount of Fuller House. But for the most part, has any revival of a show years after it first went off the air been worthwhile? Will & Grace: Redux had its charms, but past that I’m having a hard time thinking of a series that was dragged from its final resting place and actually lived up to that feat of necromancy. 

Which is why I winced when it was announced that Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King had decided to revive their cultishly beloved but criminally under-seen series The Comeback for a third and final season. The first run of episodes, from 2005 (oof), is a masterpiece. But the second, from 2014, is far unsteadier; it has moments that are uproarious, others that are quite touching, but the engine of the series doesn’t purr quite the same way. Another decade’s worth of wear probably wouldn’t do The Comeback any favors. Plus, Michael Patrick King spent the interim working on And Just Like That, another sort of revival that was too often shockingly awful (though, on occasion, surprisingly good). I wasn’t sure I trusted King to find that old mix of bite and compassion, which guides season one of The Comeback so brilliantly. 

I’ve now seen the entirety of season three, premiering on HBO on March 22, and I would say I was maybe . . . half right to worry.