Cougar Town - "You Can Still Change Your Mind"/"Ways to Be Wicked"/"Money Becomes King"

Season 3, Episode 7-9

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that this is the most serialized seasons of Cougar Town so far in the show’s run. Granted, for a show that’s so purposefully low-key and relaxed, that probably doesn’t mean a whole lot. However, he were are halfway through the season (remember, there’s only 15 episodes total, thanks to ABC short-ordering) and it’s clear that everything we see relates to Jules and Grayson’s wedding, which will serve as the season finale. Using a wedding as the way to cap off a season is far from the most original idea in t world, as just about every mainstream comedy manages to do it, provided they live long enough. However, Cougar Town is using the tight-knit nature of the Cul De Sac Crew to make the build-up to the wedding mean something to more than just Jules and Grayson.

Cougar Town - "Something Big"

Season 3, Episode 6 

At the point, we all know the notes that Cougar Town is going to hit. It's going to give us some nice, weird humor for the first twenty minutes, then some pathos in the back two, and we'll all leave the show smiling and happy. Adherence to a formula for too long a time can break a show, but this particular formula is one that Bill Lawrence has had success with for many years, if you count all the way back to 2001 with Scrubs, and it's one that's still working today. This is formula that has an incredibly long shelf-life, assuming you know how to utilize properly and aren't afraid to adjust the humor/pathos ratio from week-to-week. So until the day comes when that formula breaks down and the episodes start to feel route and calculated, it will be up to us to discuss how the show uses the formula each week in order to deliver some stellar episode like this one. 

Cougar Town - "One Story Town"

Season 3, Episode 5 

Last week I spilled a considerable amount of digital ink discussing what I considered to by Bill Lawerence's misguided attempts to lure in new fans to Cougar Town by employing a star of his previous shows Scrubs (in this case Sarah Chalke). I still hold to that theory, but I want to make sure, even though I said it in my previous review, that as a fan of both shows I enjoyed it from a creative perspective, even if I didn't see in real marketing value in it. (Then again, I'm also not won over by shows who use big name guest stars as stunt casting either, so maybe I'm just not the target audience for such a move, and I will thus never buy into the logic behind it.) It's important to understand that so that you believe me when I say that I enjoyed this episode, which had even more appearance by Scrubs alums, even more – though it wasn't solely based on their appearance.

Cougar Town - "Full Moon Fever"

Season 3, Episode 4 

What makes Cougar Town bankable in it's current state? For the show's first seven episodes or so, it was the original, hokey premise, but it was one that worked. Yet as the writers began to shift out of that original focus, and the audience numbers began to dwindle, it became apparent that that wasn't the case, neither was the supposed start power of Courtney Cox, nor the various special guest stars that the show could book, which at best moved the ratings needle for one episode and no more. It obvious at this point that Bill Lawrence has created a weird little world that's not meant for everyone, and that's fine, but it's strange that Lawrence and Co. keep trying to get viewers to try some unconventional humor by using conventional methods. 

Cougar Town - "A Mind with a Heart of its Own”/“Lover's Touch”

Season 3, Episodes 2-3 

With Cougar Town now firmly entrenched in it's third season (though whether that third will turn into a fourth remains unclear, given that the show's rating didn't seem to move at all, and ABC still treats it like dirt) the burden falls on to the second and third seasons to define just what this season is going to be about. Now for most comedies, and especially for one that's has a relaxed tone like Cougar Town, having your seasons be “about” or point to something isn't really that important of a requirement, and that's okay. But given how season one of the show was about Jules' rediscovering herself after divorce, and season two was about new relationships (for both Jules and Travis), it would seem to follow that season three would do the same.

Cougar Town - "Ain't Love Strange"

Season 3, Episode 1

In the months leading up to the premiere of the show's thirds season – even before a specific return date was set – Bill Lawrence and the cast and writers of Cougar Town implemented their own grassroots campaign to increase awareness for the show, doing everything from a death march of reviews, twittering their thumbs off, hosting a Paley center panel, releasing a 10 minutes spoiler reel to make sure people understood that the show's original premise is no longer in use, and even throwing up viewing parties all over the nation where fans could gather, watch the first few episodes of the show, and drink oh so much wine.

As such, this paragraph is not for you, the fan who clicked on through. You can skip down a little if you like. No, these opening paragraphs are written to appear on blog's main page, where someone randomly scrolling through other posts might see it and briefly flirt their eyes over these words. To those people, I would suggest the following. Read these inspired pleas from Ryan McGee and Maureen Ryan. Then visit this post from Alan Sepinwall, whose collected a number of clips from the past two seasons to show exactly how the show shed it's old premise and became so much better for it. Then if you are still not convinced, go visit the 10 minute reel I mentioned above. I readily admit that Cougar Town's sense of humor is purposefully specific and a little weird, and in no way to I expect it to appeal to everybody. But if you've never seen the show, or you wrote it off based on the first few episodes (I don't blame you), you owe it to yourself to give it a real, honest-to-goodness chance, lest you miss out on something that you might enjoy as much as I and many others do.

Because as all the fans who actually watched the premiere know, it was pretty fucking great, and an excellent example of why the show needs to stick around for year to come. 

Cougar Town: "Something Good Coming"

Season 2, Episodes 21 & 22

How to use a special locale effectively

Cougar Town: "Free Fallin'"

Season 2, Episode 20

A comedic look at moral ambiguity

Cougar Town: "Damaged by Love"

Season 2, Episode 19

One Final Stab at Proving the Show’s Quality

Cougar Town: "Lonesome Sundown"

Season 2, Episode 18

Yet another example of why more people need to give this show a chance

Cougar Town: "You're Gonna Get It"

Season 2, Episode 17

A nicely tied together episode, with some character-based disappointment

Cougar Town: "Baby's A Rock 'N' Roller"

Season 2, Episode 16

An attempt to create an umbrella theme goes a bit awry

Cougar Town: "Walls"

Season 2, Episode 15

A post-hiatus airing hinders a pre-hiatus episode

Cougar Town: "Cry To Me"

Due to ABC's scheduling, Cougar Town won't return until April 18th, and even then scheduling is going to be a little off for the first few outings. But for now, a review of last night's hiatus commencing episode, after the jump...

Cougar Town: "Lost Children"

As last night was kind of slow for television. Cougar Town got a chance to play catch up after being preempted by the Tuscon Memorial two weeks ago. A review of that episode coming up after the jump.... 

Cougar Town: "A Thing About You" - How funny do you like your comedies?

A review of last night's Cougar Town coming up after the jump...