This article is the first in "Second Chances," a recurring feature looking at TV shows that deserve a second chance from viewers. Their ratings may be low, but the quality is high, so if you tuned out early on, here's our case for why you should give each show another try. First up: "Cougar Town."
Aside from its title, "Cougar Town" is a great show. Co-creator Bill Lawrence brings his trademark comedic voice, honed on "Scrubs" (2001-10) and "Spin City" (1996-2002) to a brilliant ensemble led by Courteney Cox, and the result is a fun, funny show that gets better each week.
When it began last year, the show stayed true to its high-concept premise: Jules Cobb (Cox) was a recently divorced 40-something trying to get back into the dating game, and her approach was to bed as many younger guys as possible. A few of them lasted two or three episodes, but for the most part, they were interchangeable vehicles for Jules' cougar persona.
As the season went on, though, the writers seemed to realize that the concept of Courteney Cox dating younger guys was not that funny and was not really going anywhere. Instead, they recognized the enormous talent of the supporting cast and the fact that the show was at its funniest when everyone interacted with each other.
The result was something that Lawrence has admitted in interviews he probably couldn't sell to a network now: a kind of updated "Cheers" (1982-93) revolving around a group of friends who hang out in a bar or in Jules' living room and drink wine — lots of wine.
That group of friends makes up the cul-de-sac crew: Jules' next-door neighbors Ellie (Christa Miller, Lawrence's real-life wife) and Andy Torres (Ian Gomez), assistant Laurie (Busy Philipps), ex-husband Bobby (Brian Van Holt), son Travis (Dan Byrd) and neighbor-turned-boyfriend Grayson (Josh Hopkins).
Each person in the cast plays off the others effortlessly, but every combination of actors or characters produces different results.
Travis, for instance, is a dorky mama's boy when he is home with Jules, but with Laurie the results are casual and potentially romantic — the writers haven't ventured there yet, seemingly due to the characters' age difference. Andy, meanwhile, is a loving but submissive husband to Ellie; with Bobby, though, he makes up a hilarious, "Penny Can"-loving bro-mantic pair, and the two are hilarious.
"Penny Can" is just one example of the goofy, meaningless fun that has come to define the show. The game, which Bobby created on his houseboat — a boat parked in an empty parking lot — is exactly what you would assume it would be: Players take turns throwing pennies into a can, exclaiming, "Penny Can!" after each successful shot. It's almost too simple, but seeing how much fun the characters have playing it, the game somehow works.
After all the talk of fun and games, however, it shouldn't be assumed that there is no serious subject matter on the show.
A recent storyline about Laurie's boyfriend breaking up with her right after she realized she loved him is exactly the kind of story that grounds the show; it also elicited a great dramatic performance from Philipps, who is one of the strongest comedic talents on the show. Lawrence doesn't have the medical cases he had in "Scrubs" to easily provide dramatic plots, but here, he and co-creator Kevin Biegel quite gracefully raise the level of gravitas.
It is also to the credit of "Cougar Town" that its creators have used the show's admittedly weak start to inform its current stories and jokes.
The title card in each episode this season has contained a gag about the bad title ("Still ‘Cougar Town'," "100% Cougar Free," "Titles are Hard,"), and older cougar Barb (Carolyn Hennesy) still pops up as a reminder of the early version of the show. Rather than ignore its roots, the show makes fun of them, showing viewers how far it has come.
So while "Courteney Cox as a cougar" might be a better pilot pitch, "Courteney Cox and her family and friends hang out and drink wine" is a much better show — and one that, dare I say it, is usually even better than "Modern Family," which airs right before it on ABC.
