In a move that doesn't often happen in TV land, the ABC comedy, Cougar Town,is officially moving to TBS.

The cable channel has announced that it ordered a fourth season of the Courteney Cox-led comedy, which will begin airing in 2013.  TBS has also been granted the rights to rerun the show's first three seasons.

"Cougar Town is a smart, whimsical sitcom that draws its humor from likable, relatable characters" said Michael Wright, president, head of programming for TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). "We are thrilled to have Cougar Town moving to the TBS neighborhood as the network continues to expand its slate of original comedy series."

Hopefully this is good news for the show's fans, who have been left in limbo many times over whether and when Cougar Town would return to the ABC line-up.

Cougar Town is Officially Moving to TBS

If you thought that the addition of baby Tampa would lead to the gang from Cougar Town becoming mature and responsible, you may need to put down the wine. Just sayin'. As a friend.

The Cul-de-sac Crew may have more adult things going on around them, like committed relationships, babies, and engagements, but the sneak peeks for their return from hiatus indicate them as still being the people we love. The focus has shifted back to the wedding a little bit, with Jules looking to find a good great perfect photographer to capture her special day. It seems that there may be a viable candidate under own roof in Travis, recently de-helmeted to the surprise of no one...as none of the gang noticed it in the first place.  Trav's relationship with his mother is one of my favorite dynamics in Cougar Town, partially because it can be played as both creepy and sweet without crossing the line either way.

An episode where he seeks her approval over something for the wedding? Look out.

Cougar Town has added a love interest for Bobby in Travis's professor and it's time the two hung around the rest of the guys to see how they interact. This being Cougar Town, it naturally leads to Bobby and Andy nearly making out in front of Ellie and Angie, therein transforming into an impromptu make out party. It's been nice seeing Bobby make a little forward progress in his life, however rocky his relationship with Angie started.  One of his main positive traits is that he's not afraid to be himself, so Bobby "Wrong Balls" Cobb, the man, the myth, the razzle frazzle is here to stay.

Elsewhere on Cougar Town, Jules reveals details about her first wedding, Ellie shows off her skills as the Jules Whisperer, and Laurie hopes to be pregnant on her wedding day.

Cougar Town airs tonight at 8:30 on ABC.

Cougar Town Sneak Peeks: You Had a Helmet?

After a season of personal and professional progress, the gang from Cougar Town may just have to look toward the past, whether they like it or not.

In sneak peeks from tomorrow's episode, delayed last week by a Dancing with the Stars encore, Grayson pries open a drawer that had been stuck for 15 years. In it, there's the typical blast-from-the-past nostalgia (koosh balls!), but there's something that will plague our dear, beloved Laurie: a Simon.

For those who may not know, Simon is a memory game that combines sound and color into patterns that you have to repeat. It's a great brain teaser, a way to make yourself frustrated, and a symbol of late 1980s pop culture, but in the hands of Ellie, it's a weapon to use against Laurie. After explaining to her the origin behind the "jelly bean" nickname (I won't spoil, but it's a good one), Ellie springs the trap, touching the first button on the Simon and dooming Laurie to  the task of remembering things. Cougar Town has used episode-long gags before, so don't be shocked if Laurie spends the entirety of "You Can Still Change Your Mind" planted in the kitchen, trying to defeat the game.

Elsewhere, Grayson is now baby proofing Casa Jules, thanks to the arrival of baby Tampa in the last new episode. Hopefully Big Carl and all his friends are put out of her reach; goodness knows, we don't need the same tragedy that befell Big Joe to strike Big Carl. I don't think anybody, myself included, couldn't handle another crushing blow like that.

Cougar Town airs Tuesday at 8:30 on ABC after a new episode of Last Man Standing. The season finale is currently scheduled to be a one hour event on May 15th at 8:00.

Did Grayson's baby proofing remind anyone of the time he and Jules took care of Stan? Do you think Laurie will defeat the game and shove it in Ellie's face? The origin of jelly bean: funny or really funny?

Cougar Town Sneak Peeks: Disco Smoke Detector

The gang from Cougar Town is a rather insular bunch, you could say. I mean, they hang out with Tom (or tolerate his presence, depending on the occasion), but after that, it takes a lot to be able to crack the Cul-de-sac Crew.

But what they hate more than new people trying to be their friend is new people trying to disrupt their weekend fun. On tonight's episode of Cougar Town, the gang has to take on a gang of teenage boys on bikes taking a shortcut to the mall, thereby raising a ruckus in their otherwise scenic neighborhood. Surprisingly enough, it's not Jules that leads the charge - it's Andy, who tries to rally the troops to save their way of life. Even though the gang can be pretty apathetic, surely they can outsmart a pack of hormonal teenagers, right?

Well, Laurie may not be able to, but still, Jules' stubbornness + Andy's enthusiasm + Ellie's cruelty + Tom's Tom-ness+ Jules making Grayson participate can make up for any deficiencies on Laurie's end. The final sneak peek reveals what happens to the bike gang and not to spoil anything, but it's a thing of beauty.

Also in the sneak peeks below, get a load at Andy's Braveheart moment, Tom's gay garden gnomes, and the debut of Office Pumpkinhead, would-be protector of the cul-de-sac. Something tells me he won't be around too long.

Elsewhere on Cougar Town, Bobby tries to get Travis to introduce him to a photography professor (Sarah Chalke) and Laurie gets into a romance on Twitter with a man she's never met, currently fighting in Iraq.

Cougar Town airs tonight at 8:30 on ABC. If you missed the season three highlight reel released before the season began, you can check it out here. The first three episodes of the season are currently available on Hulu and the ABC website, should you be behind.

Cougar Town Sneak Peeks: The Spooky Laughs of Officer Pumpkinhead

After nearly a year off the air, it's time for the Cul-de-sac Crew to make their return. Cougar Town last aired in May 2011 and since that time, was left off both the fall and midseason schedules. After a series of live screenings/meet and greets, loud fan complaints about the delay, and the cancellation of much-reviled Work It, the show will be back, only this time not following Modern Family.

It may have been a long journey to getting on the air for Cougar Town's third season, but in a little more than a week, the next 15 episodes in the lives of Jules, Ellie, Travis, Laurie, Grayson, Andy, and Dog Travis will be making their debut. Ahead of the season premiere, a (spoiler-y) highlight reel has been released of some of the season's upcoming gags and plot developments.

Cougar Town may have never been a show heavy on plot, but this ultimate hang-out sitcom has a sweet arc coming up in season 3. (If you're curious, fast forward to 9:43 in the video, but the entire 10 minute reel is hilarious and worth a watch.) Other highlights include the reappearance of Chick, Andy-as-Bravehart, an extended morning routine song, and every new way the Cul-de-sac Crew have found to drink wine, Tom's reputation be damned. There's another cameo from a Scrubs alum that may turn Bobby's luck around, along with talk of Grayson's underwear model career and Laurie really wanting her military boyfriend to be black.

It may look like the gang is growing up a little, with an engagement, finding a direction in life, and whatnot, but Cougar Town looks to still be the endearing mix of airtight bonds, goofy jokes, and early-onset alcoholism from six of the coolest neighbors you'd ever want to have. Conspicuously absent, though, is any mention of America's favorite game. Lou Diamond Phillips Official Bobby Cobb's Penny Can Cans for everybody!

Cougar Town premieres Tuesday, February 14th at 8:30 on ABC.

Cougar Town: Watch the Season 3 Highlight Reel

A lot of Cougar Town fans were upset when the show was left off ABC's midseason schedule.  During the TCAs last week, the network gave hints that the show would return, but wouldn't commit to a date.

Now that date has been officially announced: Cougar Town will have its third season premiere on Tuesday, February 14 at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.

How did a spot magically open up?  Well, two weeks ago a new midseason comedy premiered called Work It.  It premiered to disappointing ratings and critical scorn (seriously, scorn).  ABC decided to yank the show from its schedule after only two episodes.  This has now freed up a spot on the ABC Wednesday night comedy block for Cougar Town.  It looks like encores of Last Man Standing will air in the 8:30 p.m. spot until Cougar Town premieres in mid-February.

Here are the details of the season 3 premiere: "Jules is miffed when Grayson (who has an ulterior motive) calls her 'predictable'; Ellie frets that little Stan is turning into a “devil child,” or even worse, could grow up to be like Laurie; and Travis likes his new off campus housing, until Bobby tries to convince him to take dog Travis in."

ABC Announces Cougar Town Season 3 Premiere Date

Despite no longer being about older women who seduce younger men, one of ABC's hottest comedies is still named Cougar Town. The Courtney Cox-starring series is returning for a third season this fall, though, and creator Bill Lawrence (Scrubs) thinks it might be time for a change.

Sound familiar? That's because Lawrence thought about doing the same thing last year, but eventually didn't go through with it, despite the fact that then-network head Stephen McPherson was all for it. Lawrence's potential titles Sunshine State and Grown Ups were both nixed due to their similarity to other titles (one's another ABC sitcom, the other was a then-recent Adam Sandler film). Studies showed that Cougar Town's title was actually hurting viewership, but the second season decided to stick with Cougar Town.

Not so for the third season, tweeted actress Busy Philipps. "Ok. Guys. New title suggestions for Cougar Town? I think [Bill Lawrence] is really seriously gonna do it this time," she tweeted.

"Honestly, I think if you change it, it should be totally different," she added, tweeting Lawrence himself. "Not even reminiscent of Cougar Town. Go for it! Seriously."

Oh, and then Bill Lawrence had this wonderful little tweet: "Screw it. I'm changing it (if [co-creator] Kevin [Biegal]'s cool w it. Someone ask him for me). Seriously, we just decided. Will use fans to help w new title." (sic)

So, fans, if you'd like to help change Cougar Town's title to something more fitting, just direct your tweets to @VDOOZER (Lawrence's Twitter handle) and he might just take your suggestion into consideration.

Another Cougar Town Name Change -- This Time, You Could Choose the Title!

If there was ever a series tailor-made for the Hawaii vacation episode(s), it has to be Cougar Town, right? Taking a band of goofballs who sit around drinking and playing stupid games in Florida and putting them in another beautiful, warm location doesn’t really change much, thankfully. “Something Good Coming” not only keeps the series grounded in its usual zany, but heartfelt antics, it also nicely wraps up the season’s biggest stories with nice finesse.

I don’t want to say I was “concerned” about how the series would handle both Travis’ heartbreak and the Jules/Grayson baby stories, but I was certainly hoping that Town kept the emotional stakes resonant, but under control. Yeah, I guess that’s the right phrasing. Even though the last stretch of episodes has done a tremendous job of presenting a more subdued, mature Jules, there’s always the chance that she could become the crazy, overbearing nut-case that she was for all of the first season and a good part of this one. Although that version of Jules is almost always funny in the most uncomfortable of ways, I was hoping that Travis’ eventual return to Florida had more to do with his own maturity than his mother’s pestering. And because I didn’t care for much of the Jules-Grayson “drama” earlier in the season (most notably, their struggles with “I love you”).

Thankfully, “Something Good Coming” didn’t explore any of those problematic possibilities. As far as these two stories go, I couldn’t be happier with the way the series handled them here. Travis moving to Hawaii was kind of ridiculous, but the hour didn’t overdo it. He certainly ran away, but Hawaii actually helped him start to turn his life and his feelings around. He might have been living in a hostel with Ted from Scrubs and working with his hands, but those 4-5 days went a long way in showing Travis what he should and should not be doing with his life. For a series with such a goofy DNA, Cougar Town handled Travis’ emotions with respect and care over these half-dozen episodes, which might be partly because he’s the most sane and normal of the characters on the series.

Moreover, “Coming” is yet another great episode for Jules. Once she figures out that Trav is in Hawaii, she decides to go there to help him/bring him back, but there’s not that insane, rabid-sort of look in eye that we’ve seen during much less dire circumstances. On the island, Jules makes her logical pitch to her son, recognizes that it doesn’t work, but doesn’t continue to pushing. Obviously, there’s a good stretch of the episode where she’s distracted by her issues with Grayson and her self-induced denial of all things bad, and that’s not particularly helpful. But the big point is that Jules doesn’t suffocate Travis, that’s actually a really huge deal for a character like this. This being a comedy that requires all the characters to be the butts of jokes, Jules’ odd parenting will resurface next season. However, I’ve really enjoyed the progress she’s made over this season. Her developed was arced at well and in the moment where she totally could have been at her worst, she was actually at her best.

On the baby front, Grayson and Jules finally have the conversations they’ve been ignoring for many episodes. I think this plot was less successful than what was going on with Travis, if only because it seemed like the series wasn’t totally invested in it, at least compared to Trav’s arc. The various recent episodes with Grayson talking about his baby-wanting ways with people other than Jules didn’t really stick (especially the one with him rollerblading), but I did like how this episode explained Jules’ side. Travis’ breakdown gives her a good example to point to as to why they shouldn’t have a kid, but also allows the series to button it off for now so that it can (probably) be one of the driving narratives of season three. I’m not especially looking forward to that, but I have a lot of confidence that their baby issues will be portrayed better than their “I love you” issues.

Those were the big issues that needed “handled,” and “Something Good Coming” did a fantastic job carrying out that task. It also found some time for smaller stories about Bobby and the possibility of a Travis-Laurie romance, both of which were very good. Bobby’s gone through a lot this season and it was surprisingly moving to see him upset over the fact that he’s alone. I hope the series gives him a love interest next season. And this was the first time the series seriously put the Travis-Laurie coupling on the table and it was handled well. Laurie was really the one that convinced Travis to come home and she’s intelligent enough to know how Travis feels about her, but there was real, honest feelings from her as well. Putting the two of them together would be compelling, if only because it would bring Jules’ crazy side and have her reaction be completely justified.

Of course, this episode was damn funny as well. I was very happy to see Ted from Scrubs, his musicianship is just hilariously depressing, or depressingly hilarious, I’m not sure. Some of the standout comedic moments: Ellie’s Hawaiian suicide, the three men coming out wearing the same shirt, Rock Coconut and Bobby and Andy’s door-knocking language. What a wonderfully enjoyable conclusion to really fun season of television. It’s going to be a long wait until November.

Cougar Town 2.21/2.22 "Something Good Coming" Review

Cougar Town is most certainly a goofy, sometimes weird comedy. I usually enjoy those zany parts of the series, but I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes Town goes a little too far into the broad humor that reminds me of some of the lesser episodes of Scrubs. I mean those really bad episodes of Scrubs were often insufferable and Cougar Town never goes that far, but the last few weeks, I have gotten that vibe from certain stories here. I don’t really think it is part of some larger, troubling trend, but last weeks’ stupid Grayson story was followed up by a fairly goofy story about weird kids in the neighborhood who draw evil things with their sidewalk chalk.

Listen, I’m all for a series embracing its goofiness and its zaniness, but these two stories feel a bit much, at least to me personally. I saw a few people on Twitter talking about how hilarious the sidewalk children were, and you know what, good for them. Comedy is so subjective and everyone likes completely different things. I cannot bring myself to say that “Free Fallin’” sucks because I didn’t like most of the sidewalk children stuff. It was simply a story that didn’t really hit my comedic funny bone in the way that Cougar Town usually does. I will say that I liked how the episode used the sidewalk children as a way to give Tom more to do and more of reason to be part of the group. He’s a fun character, and I’m glad to see that the series is interesting in making him more than a straight-up creeper who just hangs around the windows. He most certainly is those things, but it was nice to see that there’s a real reason for it: his dead wife was the social one. So even though I didn’t like the story, that final moment really got me.

Nevertheless, the rest of “Free Fallin’” was very enjoyable. I was disappointed in how little screen-time Travis’ issues were given in last week’s episode, so it was nice to see them dominate this episode a lot more. The relationship between he and Jules is so super-creepy, but I adored how this episode played it up: Sleeping in the same beds, the one-night stand of it all, the “Mamcita,” Jules making out with Grayson right after he pretended to be Travis, etc. Jules and Travis’ relationship is most certainly the weirdest thing about Cougar Town, but I do like how they have embraced it. This episode did a great job of both showing how Travis manipulates that relationship and how Jules is slowly starting to realize that it is unhealthy.

For most of the series, Travis has been the “sane” one of the group, stuck with his head on straight while all these crazy people swarm around him. But now, he has sort of lost his mind and is especially damaged emotionally. “Free Fallin’” presents us with a Jules who is actually maturing and who is ready to throw her son out on his ass if he doesn’t decide to get his life together. The last few episodes have hinted at some development and maturity for Jules and I really liked how this episode followed through with it without really “changing” Jules or anything. It’s a struggle for her to have to be “tough mom” or whatever and unfortunately, that struggle involves her sleeping in the same bed as her son and then waking up alone before she really recognizes that there might be a problem.

Finally, Penny Can! I thought it was a little odd that the season dropped Bobby’s golf career and the t-shirt gimmick that came right afterward, but I guess selling Penny Can is going to be the way Bobby gets his life on track. Perhaps there’s a reason why both the golf career and the t-shirt stuff were dropped so quickly. Meaning, there’s an intentional desire to show us how quickly Bobby’s good fortunes fall apart. Here, he struggles with whether or not to sell Penny Can to a business who wants to give it lights and wheels and put Lou Diamond Phillips’ face on it (I love Lou!). It was nice to see Andy and Laurie do what was best for Bobby instead of coddling him, but I’m more interested in where Bobby goes from here than anything else.

Next week: An hour-long finale! I am excited.

Cougar Town 2.20 "Free Fallin'" Review

Tonight marks the penultimate episode of Cougar Town, as next week means a two part season finale.  Lou Diamond Phillips will be guest starring as...well, Lou Diamond Phillips.  Two other guest stars will also be appearing: Barry Bostwick as Roger and Robert Clendenin as Tom.

In tonight's all new episode of Cougar Town (which starts a minute late, by the way), Travis continues to suffer from his recent break up with Kirsten.  Because of his downward spiral, Jules decides to institute a policy of tough love to snap him out of it.

Andy, meanwhile, gives Bobby and Laurie advice about their new business.  Advise which includes an appearance by Lou Diamond Phillips.  Ellie and Grayson face some danger when they're threatened by three occult kids.

Below are sneak peeks and promo photos for the episode.  Don't miss an all new episode of Cougar Town tonight, beginning at 9:31 p.m. ET, on ABC.  The season finale will air on May 25 from 9:31 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

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(ABC/COLLEEN HAYES) COURTENEY COX, DAN BYRD

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Tonight on Cougar Town: Sneak Peeks of 2.20 "Free Fallin'"

It’s pretty clear that the end of this season is going to primarily focus on Travis’ destroyed state after his proposal. In theory, I am fine with that. But if the series wants to commit to telling an interesting, complicated story about Travis’ life and his place within this weird group, I feel like they have to really commit. “Damaged By Love” is a fine episode, one I quite liked in spots, but the stories not involving Travis ultimately bring it down to a normal episode of the series. There’s really nothing wrong with that, I just hoped the series would continue the momentum of last week’s fantastic episode — especially with Ken Jenkins’ return.

Despite my issues with some of the secondary and tertiary stories, “Damaged By Love” does do a nice job following up on Travis’ post-break up malaise/depression. Kirsten is flat-out gone from town (and the series), leaving Travis stuck on the couch in a deep, dark state. Jules doesn’t really have much of plan but to bring in her father and do some meddling, which of course doesn’t really work. Thankfully, Bobby comes in with a fantastic idea to raise Travis’ spirits: A trip to the local strip club! Ken Jenkins’ Grandpa Chick is such a tremendous fit for this world, as he nails the combination of heart and odd, witty humor. Bringing Chick and Bobby together is really comedic gold, as they both have this really warm, but goofy way about them. I can totally see why Chick approved for Jules’ marrying Bobby all those years ago: they’re basically the same person, give or take a few IQ points.

The trip to the strip club was predictably weird, and not just because Jules showed up at the last-minute. As Darryl from The Office once told us, you never want to go to a strip club during the day shift, and the Cobbs found this harsh truth out the hard way. I was surprised at how, well, not funny, the whole strip club trip ended up being. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but you assume Travis, Jules, Bobby and Chick going to a strip club in the day is going to be hilarious, but the episode didn’t seem too interested in exploring that premise to death. Jenkins got to deliver that fantastic “light three dollar drizzle” line, but mostly Travis just spilled his guts to the one employee and then left. I guess that might have something to do with Chick’s final speech to Bobby and Jules about not being able to fix this problem (which was also good), but I was a bit disappointed with the story altogether. It was solid, but it was neither funny enough or heartfelt enough to really hook me in. And it is especially disappointing in the light of last week’s very, very good episode, particularly as Travis’ is concerned. Obviously I’m happy that the series didn’t let Travis get over his heartbreak in just an episode, but there honestly wasn’t enough time spent on this week for my liking. I hope Jenkins’ sticks around and I’m glad Jules didn’t get too involved (growth!) but I didn’t love it.

Elsewhere in the episode, things were hit and miss. The story with Grayson and his roller-blading might have been my least favorite of the season. Josh Hopkins had a fantastic episode like week, but here, he is trapped in some J.D. from Scrubs-like stupidity. It felt so odd and random that Grayson was suddenly talking about breaking up with Jules because of her suffocating ways, not because it’s an untrue observation but because they’ve appeared to be pretty darn solid. The physical comedy bits were sort of amusing, but Grayson’s desire to be independent and strong as an individual man seemed completely out of nowhere. I really hope that the season’s last few episodes don’t explore this thread further. It’s really not needed.

Ellie, Laurie and Andy were given more entertaining things to do, thankfully. Andy not being able to speak Spanish was awesome, as were all of Ellie’s digs at Laurie. I thought the little beat with Ellie finally recognizing Laurie’s value as a real friend was cute. That’s just one of the things Cougar Town does tremendously well. Small, but effective storytelling that mixes both humor and heart. Nia Vardalos’ guest spot as the overly-touchy sister-in-law was fine and probably worth watching just for the final button, but there’s not really much else to say about it.

This felt like a bit of a transitional episode between the big events of last week and the hopefully great stuff to come in the final three episodes. “Damaged By Love” is certainly not the season’s worst episode, but hopefully the upcoming episodes spend a bit more time on Travis and less on some of the frivolous side plots, even if that means giving other lead characters less to do.

Cougar Town 2.19 "Damaged By Love" Review

Apologies for not getting to this sooner. I honestly forgot about it, which is sort of unfortunate because I really enjoyed “Lonesome Sundown.” This is probably my favorite or second favorite episode of the season. It’s up there with “You Don’t Know How It Feels” for sure.

A few episodes ago, Cougar Town introduced Chekov’s engagement ring if you will, with Travis deciding that the only way he could keep Kirsten around was to propose to her. And although Jules insisted that she wouldn’t interfere and would instead let her son make the choices he needed to make, I was skeptical of that assertion.

Thankfully, the Cougar Town team was very aware of those skepticisms when the produced this episode, which smartly crafts a plot that pushes Jules completely out of the picture so that Travis is allowed to do whatever he wants, no matter the consequences. You could certainly argue that shoving Jules onto Bobby’s boat for the weekend while Travis plots his perfect proposal mood is kind of a cheat. Removing Jules from the equation means that she doesn’t actually learn anything about being more hands-off as a mother. But the way this episode handled those decisions was so well-executed that it ultimately doesn’t really matter, at least for now. Travis got his wish, his mom didn’t interfere. Of course, things really didn’t go how he played though.

What I especially enjoyed about Travis’ proposal plans here is how straight-forward the episode played it.Cougar Town can get zany and Travis often makes a fool of himself (especially with the ladies), so I was a bit worried that not only was the proposal going to go wrong, it was going to go terribly wrong. I was extra-worried when I recognized that Jules’ weekend spent on Bobby’s boat was going to force Grayson to play a larger role in Travis’ plans. However, the conversations between Travis and Grayson and Grayson and Kirsten were some of the best of the season. They didn’t shy away from the emotions and awkwardness of the situation, but still managed to move the plot forward as well. I appreciated that Grayson didn’t do anything stupid with his information from Kirsten. He didn’t tell Jules and he didn’t try to completely deter Travis from making the decision on his own. He knew what Kirsten was going to say, but respected that Travis had to know for himself. Just a fantastic scene that was well-played by both Josh Hopkins and Dan Byrd.

The conclusion to the sorry was surprisingly gut-wrenching. We and Grayson knew what Kirsten was going to say, but watching the proposal from a distance with no audible words just as Jules had to was really tremendous. And again, the episode smartly strayed away from any Jules-related nonsense. She tried, but ultimately failed. Maybe that’s the story: Maybe she’ll realize that she can’t always run in at the last moment and save her son from disaster. If there’s ever an example that will help her learn that lesson, it has to be this one. In the end, the whole proposal plot was handled as well as I could have hoped.

Elsewhere, this episode had other fun things to offer to pair with the more serious proposal matters. The Council was one of the series’ better one-off gags, as each of the little punishments/judgments was hilariously fun. I understand the reasoning for not keeping it around (that having friends means you get to make fun of them without much punishment), but I really, really wish that it would make another appearance in the future. Each one of the punishments fit well into the personality of the characters receiving them, which was a nice touch.

The Jules-Bobby weekend home location swap of 2011 was less successful. Bobby’s side of the story had very little time within the episode (even if the sumo wrestling bit was awesome) and Jules on her own is always a bit of a crapshoot. It’s always nice to be reminded of the character’s faults and Courtney Cox did some nice comedic work in spots, but it mostly served as an excuse to separate Jules from Travis so he could worry about important stuff. And like I said, I’m completely fine with that.

Cougar Town 2.18 "Lonesome Sundown" Review

Producing 22 episodes of comedy isn’t easy. Every season, it is probable that two or three episodes won’t be completely awesome, even for the best series. These episodes don’t necessarily have to be terrible, but they’re just at a slightly lower quality than the rest. Last night’s episode of Cougar Town, “You’re Gonna Get It,” feels like one of those episodes. I didn’t hate it by any means, but it’s taken me this long in the day to actually start the review because all I want to say is “meh.” It is fine.

There were a lot of fun elements in place for this episode, but they ultimately didn’t really come together in a way that I particularly enjoyed. It’s just my personal taste, but I prefer Cougar Town to balance the zaniness with some heart. For whatever reason, this episode didn’t really strike that balance well. In certain parts, I found it to be a bit too broad and obvious and in others, it was maybe a bit too schmaltzy. Again, this doesn’t make the episode awful, just not one that I especially enjoyed.

Let’s discuss the good first. The running joke about Laurie, her Twitter account and her surprising intelligence was awesome. Busy Phillips is the perfect character to bring in Twitter, and following “Larmy” was certainly the most enjoyable part of the episode. The series does those sort of running gags very, very well and I hope that it comes back in future episodes. Similarly, having Laurie face off with Grayson and Ellie in bar trivia was really well-executed. Grayson and Ellie are the two characters who think the most of themselves, especially intelligence-wise, so it was pretty awesome to watch them spend the episode frustrated and confused at Laurie’s shocking ability to handle trivia. Of course, she was cheating in the end with Travis’ help, but I loved that Ellie and Grayson actually didn’t figure this out. We haven’t seen Laurie and Trav spend a whole lot of time together in the first two episodes back, but it was nice to be reminded of that relationship.

Elsewhere, I was less enthusiastic with this episode. I actually hoped that Bobby would turn his golf career around, so having him completely flame out on the very first hole was a bit disappointing. I know that Bobby and Andy are the broadest and zaniest characters and something horrible is bound to happen with them, but I don’t know, it just sort of bothered me that it went so bad so quickly. Andy’s swimmer’s ear was charming at first, but the physical comedy didn’t really do it for me and the overall disappointment that Bobby had to deal with bummed me out. Of course, the story finished strong with the “Wrong Balls” nickname and Bobby’s ability to make some money off of that moniker, but it seems like something of a waste that the season spent so much time on Bobby’s golf game to have it all blow up like that. I know that is life and assume that Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel know what they’re doing, it just seemed like an odd choice. But again, I really hope “Wrong Balls” sticks around and maybe Bobby becomes even more successful because of this than he would have as a pro golfer.*

*And of course, having Bobby make it big on the PGA Tour would have theoretically meant he’d be gone a lot.

Finally, I was especially lukewarm on Jules’ story. It’s always nice to have her embarrass herself in situations that don’t involve smothering Travis or Grayson, but it really develop past the first joke or two. The episode tried really hard to tie Jules’ issues into Bobby’s and tell this slightly complex with the whole Cobb family, but it just didn’t work for me. Her belief in “good vibes” or whatever was in-character, but mostly inert and flaccid.

Again, I didn’t hate this episode. It’s always wonderful to spend time with these characters and this world for 22 minutes each week. But I’d definitely consider this the weakest episode of Cougar Town in a really, really strong season.

Cougar Town 2.17 "You're Gonna Get It" Review

Most of the time, growing up sucks. And even though we tend to look at adulthood in a specific sort of way in this culture, people can still have a lot of growing up to do well into their 40s. This is especially true for television comedy characters, who are often broad, wacky versions of people who probably wouldn’t exist in the real world. The folks that occupy the world of Cougar Town most certainly fit this arrested development sort of vibe, and even though most the episodes deal with Jules and company acting like complete fools, there’s still an underlying sense of maturation, particularly with a few characters. The characters stuck in a perpetual state of immaturity (Bobby in particular) often discuss what it means to grow up or change their ways, whether they actually do that or not is not necessary. Meanwhile, the more “adult” characters like Jules spend a lot of time acting like insane people, as if they’re letting loose after the hard knock life that was late 20s and early 30s. Clearly, the Cobb marriage was a dysfunctional one.

In any event, this week’s second episode did a nice job of suggesting small steps of maturity in all of its stories, leading to an effort that might have been a bit less funny than Monday’s “Walls,” but is ultimately a better episode altogether. These aren’t people who are going to dramatically change, develop or grow up. The main appeal of the series is how insanely wacky they can act, and I cannot imagine that shifting in the future. But despite that inherent pressure to not change on the framework of the series, episodes like this one do a nice job of presenting at least the possibility of change. Sometimes, those changes come all on your own, through hard work, resolve, etc. Other times, you might need a bit of push to get there. And even other times, other people might be suggesting you change in a way you don’t really want to. “Baby’s a Rock N’Roller” presents all three of these stories in a fairly successful fashion.

Of these three stories, I found Bobby’s attempts to wake up on time for practice a prestigious golf course to be the most effective. This is mostly because anything with Bobby is often hilarious and his various plans to help himself wake up at 5 a.m. did not disappoint. The lengths this man was willing to go to just to wake up early is something to be commended, even if it is entirely goofy and ridiculous. That’s my favorite kind of Cougar Town, so it’s probably no surprise I liked this story best. Bobby is the series’ most cartoonish character, and while that can be problematic at times, it actually works wonders when trying to break a story that’s about his “development.” Because he’s so wild and zany, it’s really easy to dial it back and show signs of progression or maturity. And Bobby most certainly has his own sort of charm about him when he tries to accomplish something, as these sort of stories always evoke a sad puppy stumbling around in the yard looking for a bone or something. Having Travis help Bobby in the end only slightly undercuts Bobby’s development because it’s really the thought and attempt that matters at this point. Plus, the father and son scenes are always fun.

That similar sort of thinking applies to Laurie as well. She’s most certainly the second broadest character on the series and so her stories often follow the same kind of beats as Bobby’s do. Here, she starts to realize that the relationship she had with Smith turned her off from clubbing, which leads Andy to believe that she’s actually ready for a long-term serious-kind of thing.  There have been a few times this season where the series has suggested that Laurie has some emotions under that insanely dense facade and I think I liked this one the best. Of course, like the story with Bobby this one has its cake and eats it too by hinting at a long-term development that ultimately gives away to a great comic set-piece that totally undermines it. In the end, Laurie decides that she might not like clubbing, but she still loves one-night stands and the walk of shame. Hey, it’s a baby step.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t totally hooked on the A-story. It was nice of the series to comment on the fact that Ellie and Andy do indeed have a young child, but from there it didn’t really sell me as much as it could have. This is a lame criticism, but I found the BABY INSANITY sequences fairly tepid, boring and unfunny, which took me out of it. I hate using “unfunny!” as a major criticism, but that’s really the only thing I could think of while watching that sequence unfold. I really liked the conclusion of the story, especially how it flipped the usual Grayson-Jules dynamic in that he’s the one who wants the more traditional relationship “stuff” (in this case, a child), but I’m not totally sure the episode did enough work to get there. Again, it is not massive plot development so the lack of success does not ruin the episode for me. And really, I liked that the episode made the effort to do a story like that to begin with.

All and all, this was a really solid episode. It was a bit quieter and subdued than the series’ usual fare, especially compared to “Walls,” but that’s just fine. You need episodes like this every once in a while.

Cougar Town 2.16 "Baby's a Rock N'Roller" Review

Our long national nightmare is over folks, Cougar Town is back! ABC took the series off the air to try to jump-start Matthew Perry’s career (which I don’t think worked), but for all our waiting, the network has done the nice thing and given the series a twofer week, starting with last night’s “Walls” and continuing with another episode in the regular timeslot tomorrow. This is even more odd because “Walls” was apparently supposed to be the last episode before said extended break, but the STUPID PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES just had to have his State of the Union address. What a buzzkill that guy is. I bet he sucks at Penny Can.

Anyway, Cougar Town‘s return is very good news and even though “Walls” isn’t one of my favorite episodes of the series, it’s still a nice reintroduction to the characters and the inside jokes for those of us who forgot and those of us watching for the first time because it’s on after Dancing With The Stars. It’s really hard to say negative things about an episode thought brought us the return of Penny Can and Ellie’s invisible hat tip gag because those running bits are so awesome. And ultimately, this is still a good episode of Cougar Town in that basically every episode of season two has been good.

However, the primary storyline in this episode brings back one of my least favorite things about the series: creepy, overbearing Jules. I know that this is the character’s primary trait and the series has slowly tried to wain her off that kind of behavior as the season has progressed (like it does here), but man, it’s just…odd. This is a wacky series with a lot of broad jokes and zany humor, but for whatever reason, the way Jules acts around her son often stops being funny and becomes something else entirely — which is usually just creepy. I love that Courteney Cox goes all out in the role but she’s almost too good at being the overbearing, inappropriate mother. This episode is at least interesting because it presents the possibility that Jules’ behavior might finally go away, but I feel like we’ve already been done that road before. I’m much like Grayson in this instance, I never see her changing.

But when Travis realizes that if his girlfriend Kirsten takes this awesome new job offer she has, she’ll be gone from his life forever, it’s time to make a rash decision: propose! If you’ve ever seen this series before, you can imagine how Cox’s Jules reacted to this possibility. Logically, Jules is actually right. Travis is a 19-year old college freshman, he probably is too young to propose to an older woman who he hasn’t been dating for too long. It’s a risk and probably a stupid one. Any mother would most likely want to keep their son from doing something like this, but Jules isn’t any mother, she’s an insane person. But while I was very convinced the episode was going to have Jules make a horrible decision that scarred Travis for life, “Walls” takes an interesting swerve in the final act by having Ellie put her foot day and actually show Jules the impact of an overbearing mother by using her relationship with her mother as an example. Of course, Ellie never actually calls her mother like she says, but the moment and the point still matter. At a certain point, Jules’ claustrophobic ways become less charming and more creepy and I think Ellie’s found that point. It’s time for Jules to step back, and it was kind of nice to actually see her try to do that. It wasn’t easy and it will never be, but “Walls” presents a substantial change for both Jules and Travis and so it makes sense why this would have been the final episode before the break.

In other Cougar Town shenanigans, things are much less “heavy” and a hell of a lot more fun. Bobby needs some money for his golf return and so he and Laurie come up with a great business plan: selling Penny Can cans! Of course this is completely ridiculous and dumb since they’re just empty paint cans and no one else outside of the group actually knows what Penny Can is, but anytime the series puts Laurie and Bobby together, it’s comedy gold. They are the two wackiest and broadest characters and I guess there’s always a danger that pairing them up might make the series go too far into cartoon-y territory, but Busy Phillips and Brian Van Holt always make it work. The new Sharpie mustache rules for in-and-out shots was fantastic, as was the reading of all the other rules (no underhand shots, no nickles).

I’ve read a few pieces and talked to a couple of people about whether or not the series’ reliance on running gags and gimmicks is too much of a crutch, but I don’t really think it is. At this point, the audience is probably the audience and so why not reward their consistent viewing with some running bits? And even if the series does use those sorts of gimmicks on a regular basis, it’s not as if they’re particularly difficult to follow. I imagine that the people watching this episode after Dancing With The Stars were only moderately confused about Penny Can, and probably only at first. These aren’t hard things to pick up on.

Finally, the runner about Grayson’s cool, logical mind was also fairly well-executed. He is the clear rational center of the group, but sometimes knowing that and relying on it so much makes him an ass. It was fun to have Andy point that out, you know, while they avoided a giant man trying to kill them in the bar parking lot. It wasn’t a very developed thread, but it was good enough for a C-story.

Like I said, this isn’t the funniest or most heartfelt episode of Cougar Town from this season. However, it does provide a number of great laughs and suggests at some actual development for Jules and her relationship with Travis, which is a welcome change. And most importantly, the series is back until the end of the season! PENNY CAN!

Cougar Town 2.15 "Walls" Review

“Cry To Me” is unfortunately the last episode of Cougar Town for a couple of months. ABC was to line up Matthew Perry’s Mr. Sunshine and I think even Happy Endings in the post-Modern Family timeslot, so the cul-de-sac crew is going to be gone for a fairly substantial amount of time. No matter what, this makes me very, very sad. But after last night’s fantastic episode? I am even more sad. Sigh.

Anyway, “Cry To Me” is the series’ Valentine’s Day episode and amid all the hilarious gags and jokes, there are a number of good stories about what it means to be in a generally healthy long-term relationship but still have contentious moments over things like holidays. Of course Jules is going to make a big deal of Valentine’s Day and I’ll get to that, but this episode does a nice job of focusing on Ellie and Andy and also Travis and Kirsten These are two relationships that aren’t as dramatic as Grayson and Jules, but “Cry To Me” still finds a way to explore the little details that can make a specific day or moment go good or bad depending on the execution.

For Andy and Ellie, it’s all about the actual celebration of Valentine’s Day. Of course Ellie presents a front that she doesn’t care about the big, showy gifts of V-Day, but Andy can’t take it. He’s a showman for goodness’ sake! He struggles to come up with a good idea for her and ultimate just decides to make her jealous by going out on a nice dinner date with Bobby, penny can-playing included. This does not work, as Ellie hunts them down and chews Andy out for not recognizing that her diatribes to not celebrate the day doesn’t mean she doesn’t want still spend time with him. This is a familiar story beat, particularly for characters played by Christa Miller, but it doesn’t matter because she and Ian Gomez work so well together. The pay-off in which Andy tears down all the remaining Christmas decorations that were annoying Ellie and then burns them, is perfectly executed with the right amount of absurdity and heart.

Travis and Kirsten’s story gets the least amount of airtime, but it’s still fun. She asks for a sexy picture of him and so he spends the entire episode trying to figure out how to accomplish that goal. Laurie has some hilariously helpful hints and before long, Bobby’s taking the pictures and Jules even takes a few with Travis. It’s one of the most disturbing and absurd moments in the season’s run, particularly for Jules, but good lord is it funny. And even though the episode does not a job of keeping it a secret what picture Travis ends up choosing, the pay-off with a topless Dan Byrd jumping towards the camera with a rose in his mouth was totally worth the wait. Again, the story is totally goofy and weightless for the most part, but the joy in Kirsten’s eyes, even though that’s not really what she meant, makes it have a bit of emotional heft.

The A story with Jules and Grayson is, per usual, a bit demented. I and just about everyone else reviewing this series has talked about how Jules is probably one of the least likable comic leads in a long time and here she is again making a total mess of what could have been a normal holiday. Grayson just wants to treat her good in the most traditional of ways — starting with roses — but Jules isn’t having it, particularly after she learns that the day just happens to be the anniversary of Grayson’s father’s death.

It turns into this big ordeal about Grayson’s inability to open up and Jules creepily pushes him to do so in some fairly manipulative ways. But again, despite Jules’ inherent awfulness in forcing her boyfriend to cry and open up, the episode manages to save it at the end by having Grayson sort of meet Jules in the middle, first with the admission that he did open up — by saying that his dad “was pretty cool” — and then by letting her watch him cry while he watches Field of Dreams. Again, this is totally weird and creepy and unfortunate, but in the context of this relationship and this series, it works. This development shows that Grayson is slowly altering his ways to fit Jules’ craziness and even though she doesn’t really do the same, that’s okay. It’s a process.

Three stories, all a bit loopy and zany, but still with the right dash of heart. That’s the perfect kind of Cougar Town episode and I’m glad that this is where it finishes off for a while because an episode this good can sustain the two month break. I think. Maybe.

Cougar Town 2.14 "Cry To Me" Review

Last night’s Cougar Town was a weird one. In a lot of ways, the episode felt poorly constructed and more random than the series usually is, particularly in the set-up of its main dramatic tension framework. The jokes weren’t too great either.

However, “Lost Children” continued to explore the series’ most central conceit: How awful are these people, will they ever change and does it matter if they do? Thus far this season, Cougar Town has tried to work these questions into a number of episodes, but usually they’re draped in really funny gags. Here, those concerns are front and center with not as much humor or general Cougar Town charm, which makes for an odd feeling episode, but an interesting one nonetheless.

We all know that Jules is kind of an awful person and everyone else feels the same way, but they love her anyway. It seems as if a lot of this stems from Jules’ power of personality and the bond that she has with Ellie, which connects all these people together even when the others’ faces make them want to take up boxing (best line of the night!). But here, Ellie and Jules have it out with one another and without her best friend’s usual support, Jules’ biggest faults and broadest qualities make their way to the surface and she becomes one of the worst versions of herself. The rest of the group quickly abandons her while she stomps around the neighborhood looking for answers to how they perceive her so that they can play Ellie’s weird, but hilarious sardine-in-a-can-like game.

Meanwhile, splitting up Jules and Ellie for an episode means interesting pairings that we don’t get to see all the time, including Grayson and Andy and Laurie and Bobby. It seems like we spend time with these specific duos all the time, but when I thought about it longer and looked at plot summaries from past reviews, we really don’t. Both stories are small, but effective, particularly the bits with Grayson and Andy. Andy’s distrust of attractive jock-looking dudes like Grayson is probably something the two of them should have spoken about a long time ago, but because this group is full of sort of-awful goofballs, they tend not to take the time to stop and see whether or not they’re really bothering the other. Plus, Grayson using Travis’ sweatshirt to tie Andy to a tree was just fantastic.

But apart from those high moments, I’m not totally sold on why any of this happened to begin with. Ellie randomly decided to buy herself a pickup truck and start dressing like a trucker, which did provide a funny sight gag but didn’t really make a whole lot of sense or feature a good pay-off. I’m not complaining about having all the cast members slowly pile into the back of the truck as a way to hide from Jules, but it seemed like the fissure between Ellie and Jules came out of nowhere and ended in a similar fashion. The series needs to explore the complications in their relationship and I thought last week’s look at the history of their friendship was a pretty good way to handle it, but I’m not exactly sure why we needed the truck and the outfits to discuss why they’re both hateful and lovable at the same time.

I know these aren’t people who are going to change very easily and I think that’s the point of both this episode and the series overall, but there was just simply something missing with the execution of this episode that kept it from being one of the better efforts of the season. “Lost Children” certainly isn’t bad, but the impact isn’t what it could have been because of some weird choices.

Cougar Town 2.13 "Lost Children" Review

Thanks to President Obama's admittedly moving speech in Tuscon last week, Cougar Town was given the shaft of preemption. I'm not really sure if that alters the season as a whole, but I read a few places about a winter finale cliffhanger of sorts -- remember, the series is going away for a while so Matthew Perry can do his thing on Mr. Sunshine -- so it will be interesting to see if there is any shuffling in the next few weeks. Nevertheless, though I wouldn't say "A Thing About You" was an episode worth the extra week of waiting, it was still a fairly enjoyable effort.

"A Thing About You" seems more interested in exploring some of the sweeter moments between these usually hilarious characters. This episode is certainly funny in spots, but it, for whatever reason, lacks the usual constant stream of LOL moments. That's fine. One of the biggest criticisms that I hear about Cougar Town is that the characters aren't real people or they act too cartoonish and while I don't see that as an awful thing at all times, there is definitely truth to that. Therefore, it is nice to have an effort like this one that is more dedicated to refreshing some of the relationships and the partnerships of the characters, which will presumably make the hilarious moments later even more hilarious.

For obvious reasons, this season has spent a lot of time on Jules and Grayson and to a lesser extent, Travis' life away from the suffocating-but-supportive culdesac crew. Those stories have been pretty damn good and often very funny, but lost in that transition has been a constant stream of Jules and Laurie stories and Travis and Bobby stories. It's not as if the two duos haven't spent any time with one another or something, but those relationships have been focused on less. It happens.

This episode fully acknowledges these facts and goes out of its way to make us remember that there is a reason Jules and Laurie are pretty great friends and that despite his inherent stupidity, Bobby can still be a great father to Travis. Clearly Laurie and Bobby are involved in these stories so there are a good deal of funny moments -- most notably Laurie's upstairs ransacking of Jules' closet and their creepy bathroom conversation -- but "A Thing About You" isn't afraid to just let these tensions play out a bit over the episode's running time.

Particularly with Jules and Laurie there's sometimes a real question of why they're actually friends. It makes so much more sense that Jules and Ellie are friends with their similar ages and general dispositions, but in certain cases, Laurie feels like the tag-along from work who Jules and Ellie hang out with because she's easy to pick on. Now I still think that my theory holds up because you know women are just crazy like that, but this episode does a fine job in showing us that Laurie's consistently sunny disposition and ability to let go of grudges make her the perfect friend for Jules (and Ellie). The elder ladies are more wound up and consequently a bit more sensitive to personal jabs, but Laurie isn't. And she recognizes that in her two friends so she's clearly worked hard at trying to be even more forgiving and easy-going.

With Travis and Bobby, things are always lighthearted and funny, but this season has made a really strong effort at making sure Bobby isn't completely insane and clown-like every week. He's gotten his professional life together just a bit and so it's only fitting that he starts thinking about what he can do in his personal life to improve things. The relationship between he, Travis and Grayson is always going to be an uneasy one, but like Laurie, Bobby sees his value. He understands that he's not the most put-together guy and that means sometimes his son will go somewhere else for advice. He can't take that personally, but he still needs to fight for a spot every now and again. Good stuff.

Andy and Ellie are less busy this week, but their shenanigans at the wine bar with Michael McDonald's snooty owner were  a nice addition to the episode and presumably, the series moving forward.

All in all, this wasn't the funniest or the best episode of Cougar Town, but it was an important one in the long-term stability and believability of the characters and their relationship. It's a good detour to take.

Cougar Town 2.12 "A Thing About You" Review

I have to admit if there was one series that I absolutely missed over the holidays, it was Cougar Town. These people are just wonderful and I want to have as much of them in my life as possible. Therefore, even though “No Reason To Cry” is far from the best episode the series has had to offer this season, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud constantly because Andy, Ellie, Bobby, Laurie and company were back.

And really, it’s kind of fitting that “No Reason To Cry” is just a B to B-plus episode. It’s a nice, quick reintroduction to the series characters for the few randoms who might have been trying the series for the first time ever and features a few fun running gags and a mostly successful story at the center that makes the series appear to be about a little something more than drinking. None of these elements are overly great, but they’re charming and in the case of the story with Jules and Grayson, fairly emotionally satisfying. “No Reason To Cry” is just an enjoyable episode of television. Nothing major to complain about, but not a whole lot major to praise either.

First and foremost, I am happy that this episode decided to conclude the “L-O-V-E” problem between Grayson and Jules. It wasn’t something that earlier episodes ran into the ground, but it seemed as if that Grayson’s inability to say “I love you” to Jules was the one substantial plot point the series wanted to run with. For better or for worse, the plot didn’t really have much weight to it. On one hand, when the series gave a lot of screen time to the story in a few episodes, it didn’t drag anything down because it wasn’t really taken thatseriously or brought to light in a melodramatic way. In fact, Jules’ maturity — or at least slight step towards maturity — in handling the situation was admirable for her and thus it wasn’t too distracting. But in the same breath, it didn’t really fit alongside Andy and Ellie’s games and funerals for wine glasses.

“No Reason To Cry” is definitely the most successful discussion of Grayson and Jules’ issues and not just because they more or less come to an end here. The two of them are obviously different and this episode does a nice job of exploring that in a simultaneously funny and emotionally realistic way. Jules accidentally kills a few animals and gets worked up about it, something Grayson finds funny and so of course Jules blows this up to mean a whole lot more than it probably actually does, but that’s how she rolls. And that’s why I think the goofy animal deaths and shoe-horning of the L-word works here. Jules always blows things out of proportion and when she’s already in a particularly stressful situation with Grayson, she’s not going to take jokes lightly.

As i said, Jules’ ability to not push Grayson on the love thing hasn’t been flawlessly executed as an overall story, but it has gone a long way in making Jules more likable and well, like a human being. This is the series’ greatest challenge at this point in season two and in “No Reason” continues to improve Jules’ sensibilities. She still has a hyper-dependent relationship with Travis (per their little couple competition at the beginning of the episode), but she’s at least improving as a relationship partner and learning to respect Grayson. And on the flip side, Grayson’s goofy animal funeral/graveyard was a nice moment of him showing Jules that she is A.) ridiculous sometimes but B.) still lovable for her ridiculousness. It was a great way for Grayson to show his love without losing himself.

But of course, that’s enough on the “serious” Cougar Town moments. We watch this series because these people are just awesome to be around and “No Reason To Cry” offers a number of funny moments to revel in. Ellie and Andy’s little argument over trying to keep something for themselves amid the craziness that is Jules’ “Friend Prison” was great and so was Kirsten’s terrible decision to open Bobby up to the horrors of the real world.

Honestly though, my favorite parts of this episode were the small moments. I loved when Grayson said that Andy’s favorite movie is Die Hard and Ellie was “an awful person” or when Kirsten slowly started to realize that she was being sucked in to the Culdesac Crew and that Travis’ dream woman (Megan Fox) dresses and kind of looks like his mother. Obviously, Cougar Town has a number of big hilarious moments, but it’s the smaller beats like this that make me smile and that’s the kind of thing I look for when I sit down to watch a comedy. Sometimes a smile is better than a laugh, as dumb and Modern Family-ian as that sounds.

Finally: The Diet Dr. Pepper thing? Eh. I wasn’t really bothered by it until the end of the episode when the cure for Bobby’s issues was the noise of an opening can. I see that the series was trying to make it obvious that they were taking this money in for product placement, but I don’t know if it actually worked. There is a fine line between hyper-real parody of product placement and just straight up product placement and it seems as if the DDP bit here fell on the wrong side of this line.

Cougar Town 2.11 "No Reason To Cry" Review

Cougar Town fans have a new web-series to look forward to thanks to the marketing gurus at ABC.  The series will focus on Cougar Town favorite Andy Torres, played by Ian Gomez.  Here are all of the details:

"Cougar Town" fans can now enjoy even more of the hit comedy series online with an all-new companion webisode series featuring Andy Torres (Ian Gomez) and his wacky dreams in a short-form web series entitled "Andy's Dreams."

Sponsored by Diet Dr. Pepper, the webisode series is centered on Andy's dreams about himself and his friends. Every day he takes a ritual siesta, where he can let his mind wander into an escapist and over-the-top fantasy world, and each webisode explores a different dream. New webisodes will premiere on ABC.com each Wednesday evening for the next six weeks.

Andy Torres is married to an overbearing wife, Ellie (Christa Miller), with a perpetual man-crush on his best friend, Bobby Cobb (Brian Van Holt).

"Cougar Town" stars Courteney Cox as Jules, Christa Miller as Ellie, Busy Philipps as Laurie, Dan Byrd as Travis, Josh Hopkins as Grayson, Ian Gomez as Andy and Brian Van Holt as Bobby.

ABC Announces Cougar Town Webisodes

Cougar Town returns with all new episodes on January 5.  Below are two sneak peeks and promo photos for the upcoming episode.

JULES BEGINS TO DOUBT HER RELATIONSHIP WITH GRAYSON

When Grayson doesn’t share Jules’ sadness on a series of unfortunate but accidental events, she questions whether they’re meant to be together. Meanwhile, Travis’ new girlfriend throws Bobby off his golf game, and Ellie gets upset with Andy when he uses their joke on Laurie.

Written by Gregg Mettler
Directed by Gail Mancuso

Cast
Courteney Cox as Jules
Christa Miller as Ellie
Busy Philipps as Laurie
Dan Byrd as Travis
Josh Hopkins as Grayson
Ian Gomez as Andy
Brian Van Holt as Bobby

Guest Cast
Collette Wolfe as Kirsten

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(ABC/MICHAEL DESMOND) DAN BYRD, COLLETTE WOLFE, IAN GOMEZ, CHRISTA MILLER, BUSY PHILIPPS

clarissa @ tvovermind.com
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Cougar Town Sneak Peeks: January 2011 Return

I haven’t seen all of Cougar Town‘s first season, but one of the biggest concerns of this season has been finding the right balance between Jules, the forceful,, but ultimately helpful friend/person and Jules, the awful shrill who bullies everyone into doing whatever it is she wants. It’s been really hard for the series to find that balance and that’s probably always going to be true for Cougar Town because it’s a goofball comedy that doesn’t want to take any of its characters too seriously.

However, 2010′s final episode, “The Same Old You,” leaves us with a more likable and stabilized Jules in her efforts to help Bobby get back into professional golf. To be honest with you, I had forgotten that Bobby used to be a pro golfer since the series is more interested in having him say ridiculous things while doing even more ridiculous things, but this episode featured a nice story to remind me of both his former profession and why Jules ever liked him in the first place. It’s another instance of the season dipping back into the character’s past, but because this one is more about the distant past instead of the recent season one-y past, “Same Old You” works on a number of levels.

Here, Jules is certainly in control of the group’s actions with her desire to fix up Bobby’s boat as a way to make him feel confident in his ability to place in the local golf qualifier, but she doesn’t really do anything awful or forceful to get everyone to help. Instead, Grayson, Ellie and Andy are more than willing to paint, clean and improve Bobby’s boat without question because they recognize that as much as they love him in his current state, it’s probably best for everyone if Bobby finds some motivation and direction in his life. He can’t eat uncooked biscuits and let them rise in his stomach forever, right?

Even when Jules tries to dictate what kind of montage the group will have when cleaning Bobby’s boat, Ellie stops her. No happy ’80s montages, damnit, just angry, sweaty ones. It’s a hilarious moment, but also a quick indication that sometimes the characters around Jules aren’t willing to let her completely control the processes and events that they have to take part in. And when Jules’ idea actually goes horribly wrong and Bobby’s boat ends up sinking into the pier, there’s again no real indication that she’s going to do something even more horrible to fix that problem. Instead, she recognizes that she made a major mistake, but optimistically sees the value in that mistake. In other episodes, Jules would have not apologized for sinking Bobby’s boat or something awful like that, but here, she understands that she was wrong, even if she does think there is some sort of “message” underlying that mistake.

With any overly broad character like Bobby, it’s difficult to decide when to pull back and make them more like human beings, but Cougar Town seems at least somewhat consistent in their characterization. So even though this episode focuses on Bobby and Jules’ relationship and his lack of drive or determination, it doesn’t feel like an overly special event or anything like that. And the episode uses a nice framing device of Bobby actually on the golf course playing well so we actually get to see him be the productive, confident guy that Jules loved before. Of course, he’s still a goofball and still hitting a few ridiculously awful shots, so it’s not as if the Bobby we all love is going away anytime soon — he’s just getting something to do!

The B and C plots of “Same Old You” were also strong, as Grayson and Ellie continue to expand their friendship by digging up hilarious dirt on one another via the glorious helper that is Google. While I can’t imagine they’d find that much dirt on one another, Grayson and Ellie are a really great pairing and it’s been fun to watch their relationship grow over these first 10 episodes.

Finally, this episode finally made the sexual tension between Laurie and Travis a thing and executed it pretty well. It looks as though Travis is going to be crushing after Laurie now while still dating Kirsten, which could be too melodramatic, but surely won’t be played for too much seriousness. I think the first batch of episodes has done a nice job of putting Travis out there on his own, away from the rest of the group (at least with women), so it seems believable that he’d be able to handle a relationship with Laurie at this point. I don’t think the series is really interested in putting them together yet, but I could absolutely see them hooking up randomly in such a way that Jules finds out, which would just be amazing and hilarious.

Good way to close out 2010, Cougar Town.

Cougar Town 2.10 "The Same Old You" Review

The mid-season finale of Cougar Town will be airing on December 8.  Below are two sneak peeks and a synopsis from ABC.

JULES PLANS TO GET BOBBY'S BOAT BACK IN THE WATER, ON ABC'S "COUGAR TOWN"

"The Same Old You" - Jules wants to help Bobby gain his confidence back and thinks fixing up his boat and getting it back in the water will do the trick, on ABC's "Cougar Town," WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8 (9:31-10:01 p.m., ET). Meanwhile, Ellie looks to dig up some dirt on Grayson and discovers a hilarious fact about his past, Kirsten grows jealous of the obvious connection between Travis and Laurie, and Bobby tries to qualify for a golf tournament with Andy as his caddie.

"Cougar Town" stars Courteney Cox as Jules, Christa Miller as Ellie, Busy Philipps as Laurie, Dan Byrd as Travis, Josh Hopkins as Grayson, Ian Gomez as Andy and Brian Van Holt as Bobby.

Guest stars include LaMarcus Tinker as Kevin, Barry Bostwick as Roger Frank and Collette Wolfe as Kirsten.

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Sneak Peeks - Cougar Town 2.10 "The Same Old You"

Cougar Town is basically a live-action cartoon, perhaps more so than any other comedy on television. There’s probably a nice debate to be had between this series and 30 Rock for which one is more cartoonish. And for the most part, that’s not really a bad thing. I think most people can agree that this version of Cougar Town is better than the weird, kind-of creepy version that we saw at the beginning of season one, particularly because it stops people from now saying that Courtney Cox is going to “Do the real life Cougar Town” since she’s separated from her husband. Well, it deters them a little bit more. Maybe.

Anyway, as a live-action cartoon, Cougar Town is mostly interested in having its characters do lots of zany things, drink a lot of alcohol and not be generally concerned with real-deal emotions or plot development outside of the occasional beat here or there (see the glorious Halloween episode). I think I’m okay with that, even if my favorite episodes of the season are more character-heavy than the rest of the lot, because the goofiness is often so infectious it is hard to complain. That’s the way I feel about last night’s episode, “Little Girl Blues,” which is particularly broad and zany and features another “Jules is an awful person” story, but still features enough laughs and running gags to keep things above water for the 22-minute running time.

The positive side to this sort of formula is that an episode like “Little Girl” succeeds solely on running gags and throwaway moments that add up to a nice package. Bobby hanging from his hammock by a personally installed seat belt is ridiculous, as is Andy feeling Grayson’s butt after he gives a heartfelt admission about how it gets cold right before sex. Ditto for Ellie’s cookie sheet/flickering lights thunderstorm presentation and another awkward Laurie history lesson about doing things with her foster(?) brother. All those things are fairly stupid-funny and broad individually, but because each character gets a moment or three like that in this episode — and usually each week — it makes for a better overall flow.

However, where the series is running into some slight problems, which could become much more prominent in the future, is how Jules acts, particularly in reference to Travis. “Little Girl” is another instance where Jules is completely overprotective in some really awful ways that are supposed to be funny — and usually are — but are just as uncomfortable as they are funny. And I don’t think the series really wants to be uncomfortable.

I understand that part of the series’ formula is that Jules is kind of an awful person, but one who is usually aware of her awfulness, so it’s something that’s on the surface forgivable. Thus, in an episode like the one from  just a few weeks back where she makes getting her a birthday gift a major competition can work because she outwardly admits her behavior and more importantly, because this group of people is so tight-nit that they are willing to work with and around her terrible behavior. It’s a real obvious personality quirk (or defect, however you want to define it) and Ellie, Laurie, Grayson, Andy, Travis and Bobby have figured out how to deal with it (mostly).

But where the series is going to run into problems is in cases like the one here, where Jules’ terrible behavior affects someone outside of the group. In this case, she’s awful to Travis’ new girlfriend Kirsten (Collette Wolfe), and I mean awful. Sure, it’s funny and sure, the episode tries to pull it all together with a warm understanding between Jules and Kirsten at the end of the episode, but that’s more of a sitcom-y conclusion than real character development. We know Jules is going to continue to act this way and I’m not sure how long or how many new people the series can have her treat like crap before it becomes glaringly obvious that she is not likable whatsoever. The quirks and defects can become constant reminders of suck, and that’s when things stop being funny. And I don’t want Cougar Town to stop being funny.

For now, it’s okay, but it will be important to see what happens moving forward.

Cougar Town 2.08 "Little Girl Blues" Review

Last week’s episode felt like a turning point in the second season of Cougar Town. The first batch of episodes, while overwhelmingly fun, were sometimes clunky, scattered in interested in too many things at once to really get a good grip on what the season was going to be moving forward aside from people playing kooky games while drunk. And while I don’t think those things are leaving anytime soon because they’re inherently woven into the fabric of the series, last week suggested thatCougar Town could focus on the relationships of these crazy mofos a little more in a way that gives the series more substance.

Although “Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It)” isn’t as strong with that approach as last week’s Halloween effort, it continues on the same path. Moreover, I always find additional value in a sitcom that can put any of its characters together and the relationships still work, if only in slightly different ways, and this effort’s focus on the little-seen Jules-Andy pairing makes for a strong and often funny episode. Sometimes Cougar Town can be too “out there,” but the exploration of Jules and Andy’s relationship is played fairly straight-forward on an emotional level. Are Jules and Andy really friends? Are they just friends because Andy’s married to Ellie, Jules’ best friend? These are the questions this episode attempts to answer.

And ultimately, the answers are the expected ones: Yes, they are really friends,  mostly because Andy is married to Jules, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t friends, if that makes sense. Sure, Jules doesn’t know anything of substance about Andy, but they share a real connection that neither of them really wants to break.

However, that doesn’t mean the story is played completely straight, as Andy’s disappointment turns into a surprisingly effective riff on “The Usual Suspects” where Ellie lets Jules know that he tends to manipulate people by pretending to be hurt (both emotionally and hilariously, physically) and so they scheme a little bit to get him to tell the truth. In the end, Andy admits his lying ways, but gets what he wants anyway: a dirty dance with Jules.

Combine the “Suspects” references and the glorious truth guns that are deployed (I’m totally going to start using them), this episode fell into the Community zone where the references and goofiness are used to tell a compelling story about the characters and perhaps that’s why I enjoyed it so well. I don’t think Cougar Town can be Community and I don’t think it’s really interested in doing so, but the fact that it seems to have this kind of episode in its repertoire is a promising fact for the rest of the season.

“Fooled Again” also succeeds because it seems fairly focused on the Andy-Jules plot, even if there are certainly other things happening. It isn’t as directed as last week’s effort, but it also isn’t as cluttered as some of the season’s earlier episodes. The other two stories here, where Ellie, Laurie and Grayson compete to get Jules the best gift and Bobby fights the eternal struggle against a Neti Pot, aren’t especially amazing, but each has enough moments — Ellie getting Grayson the perfect gift as a flexing of her powers, Bobby dripping every time he leans over — that they work as supporting stories to the A plot.

Because the series air back-to-back, folks like to compare Modern Family and Cougar Town — I do it most weeks — and critics of Town seem to suggest it is less of a success because the characters are so wacky. While I think the Modern Familygang is initially easier to get along with and enjoy the company of, the people of Cougar Town certainly reveal themselves more as the series progresses.

On Modern Family, all the characters are basically the same people they were in the pilot. With Cougar Town, episodes like this one add complicated shadings to the people who while not groundbreaking, still feel substantive. Perhaps it’s because theMF folks came more fully formed and now CT is just catching up, but there’s definitely more progression, or at least the sense of progression with the latter than the former.

Cougar Town 2.07 "Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)" Review

Halloween episodes, like any episode built around a specific holiday can be a crutch. Halloween is particularly tricky for comedies because so much humor can derive from putting the characters in idiosyncratic costumes and basically say, “Hey, look, it’s funny!” While that stuff is often funny, it’s always nice to have more.

Interestingly, Cougar Town is more successful with the poignant, emotional moments than the broad comedy gags in its Halloween episode, "You Don't Know How It Feels." Of course, the broad comedy gags still work pretty damn well, though.

I haven’t seen every episode of the series, but this is absolutely my favorite one thus far. The costume gags are hilarious without being too important to the episode itself and there is the usual Cougar Town character-based humor. However makes this effort so successful is that it’s absolutely willing to tell a heartfelt and realistic story about Jules and father Chick (the always-awesome Ken Jenkins) without it seemingly too suffocating to the rest of the episode.

One thing that’s been interesting about the first batch of Cougar Town episodes is that it’s quietly lacked any direction. Most of the episodes have involved the crew just sitting around, drinking wine and playing games, which is great, but at some point, there needs to some sort of development. I think. Sorry, I let my love of Penny Can distract me from my critical faculties.

Anyway, most episodes this season have been direction-less in terms of the macro level, but at the same time, jam-packed with jokes. And although there have been a few attempts at some character development based on stories that came before the recalibration, none of those beats have been overwhelmingly weighty or effective. However, “How It Feels,” while still not directing the series towards a specific point, proves that the series is at least interested in bringing in some different kind of stories and characters that don’t exclusively involve drinking and game-playing.

The story here between Jules and Chick is explored wonderfully, without being melodramatic. Jules doesn’t like having her father around not because he’s a bad father — because he’s a riot to be around — but because he cannot really relate to her on an emotional level since Jules’ mother died. And even when she pushes him to open up, he can’t really do it, so she kicks him out.

Then we know that the goofy-ass idiot in the bear costume bothering Jules at the bar is her father, but somehow, the episode makes it charming anyway, particularly by using the bear head as a way to cover up the crying in the final scene between the two of them. Again, Jules’ mini-reunion with her father at the end of the episode doesn’t necessarily change Cougar Town‘s direction for this season, but it suggests possibilities, something previous episodes lacked. Perhaps Chick continues to recur, or perhaps the change in the relationship with her father allows Jules to treat Travis in a different way. There is now proof that the season is at least interested in doing something, even if we’re not sure what it is yet.

This episode also succeeds because it’s a little less cluttered than the last few efforts. The Jules-Chick thread is centralized to the whole episode, and so it creates a few natural, small extensions from it — like Chick and Grayson playing music together — but it’s dominant enough that the other characters get to sit around and be hilarious, particularly with their costumes. Sometimes, that kind of approach doesn’t always fit, but when the series needed to slow it down and find some footing, it’s a smart approach and one that makes me more optimistic for Cougar Town‘s season-long arcs.

Cougar Town 2.06 "You Don't Know How It Feels" Review