Almost every year I take it upon myself to save an awesome show that everyone should be watching but instead faces threats of cancellation because not enough people realize how much better their lives would be if only they tuned into that series. So I am proud to announce that the “2010 Series That I Am Going To Talk About Until You Finally Give In And Watch It” is…
COUGAR TOWN!
COUGAR TOWN joins the ranks of past recipients of this award such as ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, 30 ROCK, and HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. While I can’t put COUGAR TOWN on the same level as ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, I can say that it is one of the best comedies on television and it has some of the most lovable characters on television.
Let’s get something out of the way right now: COUGAR TOWN is not about cougars. It’s a comedy that suffers from a terrible and misleading title, and if the series dies, the fault will be on that damn title. You’re not supposed to judge books by their covers, so don’t judge TV shows by their titles either. Creator Bill Lawrence (SCRUBS) has even admitted himself that the title is awful.
What the show is about is a makeshift family of friends in Florida who drink a lot of wine. Like, tons of wine. Courteney Cox stars as Jules, a recently divorced 40-something who puts herself back into the dating pool after years of being away from it. But the show doesn’t focus exclusively on Jules’ love life. If anything, more attention is paid to Jules’ relationships with her wine-loving group of friends. The group features Jules’ best friend Ellie (Christa Miller-Lawrence), Ellie’s husband Andy (Ian Gomez), Jules’ assistant Laurie (Busy Phillips), the neighbor/local bar owner/love interest Grayson (Josh Hopkins), Jules’ 18-year-old son Travis (Dan Byrd), and even her ex-husband Bobby (Brian Van Holt).
Jules is a meddler, Ellie is controlling, Andy is loyal, Laurie is a loud mouth, Grayson is hot, Travis is growing up, and Bobby is dumb. Put them all together, and you have a group of friends that you desperately want to be a part of. I want to hang out in Jules’ kitchen and drink a completely full glass of red wine at 10 a.m. while Grayson sings us the latest lame song he just wrote. Or I want to drink beers on Bobby’s boat that he keeps in a parking lot because he can’t afford to put it in the water. Or I want to get drinks with Laurie at Grayson’s bar while she shares more about her love life than I really want to know. Note that all of these scenarios involve drinking. Those characters might drink even more than the HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER gang.
There’s no better time to start watching COUGAR TOWN than next week’s premiere guest starring Jennifer Aniston. But if you really want to see what COUGAR TOWN is all about, watch an episode that doesn’t feature a splashy guest star. TV critics are already raving over the new season’s second episode. I guarantee you that this show will make you laugh. I already made my roommate into a fan this summer, and she was a serious doubter in the beginning.
Only you can help me save COUGAR TOWN. Ignore the title. Watch the show. Drink some wine.
Watch COUGAR TOWN Wednesdays at 9:30/8:30c starting on Sept. 22 on ABC.
I’m convinced. I’ll record it. I’ll even watch it without watching the other seasons first. And yeah, what’s up with all the drinking in HIMYM? I’ve been rewatching Season 4 and I noticed that there really is a lot of it.
[...] surprised that COUGAR TOWN is one of my favorite television shows. I’ve even written about it before in this blog. So all I’ll say now is WATCH IT! Seriously, everyone. If you like laughter, [...]