An enjoyable, fun, adult-humored sitcom from the writer of “Scrubs” and “Spin City”.  “Cougar Town” is a fresh comedy featuring a colorful cast of characters and the more you watch it, the more the series starts to grow on you. Definitely an entertaining series worth watching!
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TITLE: Cougar Town – The Complete First Season
YEAR OF TV SERIES: 2009-2010
DURATION: 24 Episodes (520 minutes)
DVD INFORMATION: Widescreen (1:78:1) – Enhanced for 16×9 Televisions, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Subtitles: English SDH, French and Spanish
RATED: TV 14 DLSV
COMPANY: ABC Studios
Released Dated: August 17, 2010
Created by Kevin Biegel, Bill Lawrence
Directed by Michael McDonald, John Putch, Gail Mancuso, Chris Koch, Bill Lawrence, Michael Spiller
Written by Kevin Biegel, Bill Lawrence, Jessica Goldstein, Chrissy Pietrosh, Linda Videtti Figueiredo, Mary Fitzgerald, Ryan Koh, Sam Laybourne, Sanjay Shah, Mara Brock Akil, Kate Purdy, Peter Saji
Executive Producer: Courtney Cox, Bill Lawrence
Co-Executive Producer: Kevin Biegel, Linda Videtti Figueiredo
Produced by Thea Mann, Randall Winston
Co-Produced by Danny Rose, Mark J. Greenberg, Sanjay Shah
Supervising Producer: Jessica Goldstein, Chrissy Pietrosh
Associate Producer: Abraham Park
Consulting Producer: Mara Brock Akil
Music by Waz, Will Golden, Al Sgro
Cinematography by Andrew Rawson
Edited by John Michel, Roger Bondelli
Casting by Debby Romano, Brett Brenner, Blyth Nailing
Production Design by Cabot McMullen
Art Direction by Gary Warshaw
Set Decoration: Archie D’Amico
Costume Design by Kimberly A. Tillman
Starring:
Courtney Cox as Jules Cobb
Christa Miller as Ellie Torres
Busy Philipps as Laurie Keller
Dan Byrd as Travis Cobb
Josh Hopkins as Grayson Ellis
Ian Gomez as Andy Torres
Brian Van Holt as Bobby Cobb
Carolyn Hennesy as Barbara “Barb” Coman
Spencer Locke as Kyle
Ryan Devlin as Smith
Nick Zano as Josh
Scott Foley as Jeff
Sheryl Crow as Sara
Bob Clendenin as Tom
Golden Globe® nominee* Courteney Cox (Friends) stars in the hilarious hit comedy Cougar Town: The Complete First Season. After spending the last seventeen years as a wife and mother, recently divorced Jules (Cox) has reluctantly waded back into the dating pool and quickly finds herself in over her head. Now forty-something and single, Jules tackles real-life issues – dating, parenting and friendship. It doesn’t help Jules that her two best friends can hardly stand each other, her ex-husband is hanging around more now than he did during their marriage…and there’s that handsome divorced neighbor that Jules can’t quite get out of her head. Packed with laugh-out-loud moments and featuring a cast of television’s brightest comedic stars, Cougar Town struts its stuff in this DVD collection, along with exclusive bonus features and one or two special surprises. Cougar Town – it’s more than a place, it’s a state of mind.
In 2009, Bill Lawrence (co-creator of “Scrubs” and “Spin City”) and Kevin Biegel thought about a TV series that revolved around single people in their 40’s getting back on the dating scene and for Lawrence, said he was also inspired by his wife, actress Christa Miller (who also stars on the show “Cougar town”, “Scrubs” and “The Drew Carry Show”) and her life when she walked out of the shower, went in front of the mirror and flashed it. By that action alone plus their ideas of featuring a 40-year-old trying to get back into the dating scene, the idea of “Cougar Town” was born.
“Cougar Town” is a sexual comedy sitcom which revolves around Jules Cobb (played by Courteney Cox, “Friends”, “Dirt”, “Scrubs”), a 40-year-old divorcee who is a single mother raising her teenage son Travis (played by Dan Byrd, “Aliens in America”, “Heroes”) and also is successfully business owner who owns her own estate business. Having been divorced for eight months, Jules now wants to have fun and enjoy life like a single woman would. No strings tied, no relationships, just to have fun and most of all, having some sexual freedom in her life.
But of course, she’s learning quickly that entering in the dating game (and not wanting a relationship) at age 40 is not too easy, especially if your eyes are in younger men.
Fortunately for Jules, she has a support system which includes her next door neighbor and best friend Ellie Torres (played by Christa Miller). Ellie inspires Jules because she is married and has managed to make her marriage work. Ellis is also a voice of reason and a friend she grew up with and since both Jules and Ellie tend to do everything together. Ellie is married to Andy (played by Ian Gomez, “Rita Rocks”), who is a man that loves to eat, tries to be a good husband but also has lazy tendencies as well. Together both Ellie and Andy are new parents and raising a baby and do all they can to keep their marriage happy and functioning.
When Jules is not hanging out with Ellie, she hangs out with her young, promiscuous (and not-so-smart) assistant named Laurie (played by Busy Phillips, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”, “Made of Honor”). Laurie is all about hooking up with men, having fun and despite not being a great assistant, Jules enjoys her company because she is part of the young single scene and hopes her assistant can take her to areas where she can meet younger men.
And because Jules has friendships with both Ellie and Laurie and both woman are quite the opposite from each other, these ladies don’t really get along but for Jules sake, they manage to hang out together for their good friend.
Meanwhile, Jules is still close with her ex-husband Bobby (played by Brian Van Holt, “John from Cincinnati”, “Threshold”) who loves to party, drink beer, play golf, and is a custodian at his son’s school and lives on a boat parked in a driveway. Despite Bobby knowing why the reason he got divorced with his wife is because of his issues with infidelity, he does care for his ex-wife and wants to have some sort of relationship with Travis.
Another man in Jules life is a man named Grayson Ellis (played by Josh Hopkins, “Private Practice”), a 40-something bar owner, who lives across the street. Grayson irks Jules because young women constantly come out of his home (and Jules is jealous that its easier for older men to get back into the dating game compared to herself, an older woman). But both because of their initial rivalry, Jules wants to be friends with Grayson and encourage him to join the neighborhood activities within the neighbors living in the cul-de-sac.
Throughout the season, we get to see each of these people who are close to Jules, end up being close friends and are there for each other in times of need.
Here is a summary of each episode featured on “Cougar Town – The Complete First Season” (a total of 24 episodes presented on three DVD’s):
DVD 1:
- EPISODE 1 – PILOT – Jules at 40 now tries to take on the dating scene.
- EPISODE 2- Into the Great Wide Open – Jules tries to party like she’s in her twenties thanks to her friendship with Laurie and against her best friend Ellie’s advice.
- EPISODE 3 – Don’t Do Me Like That – Jules and her new young boyfriend wait until their 10th date to have sex. But when they do have sex… what will happen after?
- EPISODE 4 – I Won’t Back Down – Jules tries to uncover Grayson’s weakness.
- EPISODE 5 – You Wreck Me – Jules finds it strange that her ex-husband Bobby and Grayson become friends.
- EPISODE 6 – A Woman in Love (It’s not Me) – Jules wants to breakup with Josh (because she’s not ready for a serious relationship) but is not sure how she can do it.
- EPISODE 7 – Don’t Come Around Here No More – Jules goes out on a date with an older man.
- EPISODE 8 – Two Gunslingers – Jules doesn’t know how to get her two friends (Ellie and Laurie) to get along.
DVD 2:
- EPISODE 9 – Here Comes My Girl – It’s Thanksgiving and Travis wants to introduce everyone to his new girlfriend Kylie.
- EPISODE 10 – Mystery Men – Jules meets Jeff, a home buyer interested in buying one of Jules expensive homes.
- EPISODE 11 – Rhino Skin – Jules is upset that her mean dermatologist is dating her ex-husband Bobby.
- EPISODE 12 – Scare Easy – Jules and Jeff are doing great with each other but when the relationship starts to heat up, Jules is afraid that she may be getting into a relationship.
- EPISODE 13 – Stop Dragging My Heart Around – After her breakup, Jules goes to Bobby for support and the two end up having sex.
- EPISODE 14 – All the Wrong Reasons – Ellie loves being around her hot tennis instructor but what happens when Jules starts to get tennis lessons as well.
- EPISODE 15 – When a Kid Goes Bad – Travis wants to go to a party but Bobby and her are not sure if they want him to.
- EPISODE 16 – What are you Doing in My Life? – Laurie needs a co-signer for her first condo…but who wants to help her?
DVD 3:
- EPISODE 17 – Counting On You – Travis and Bobby spend some father and son time “noodling”.
- EPISODE 18 – Turn This Car Around – A wine rep named Sara (played by Sheryl Crow) starts to win Grayson’s affections and Jules tries to not drink for a month.
- EPISODE 19 – Everything Man – Grayson introduces Sara to Jules and friends.
- EPISODE 20 – Wake Up Time – Jules is saddened by Travis’s breakup with Kylie, now Jules wants to fix things between the two.
- EPISODE 21 – Letting You Go – Travis has been accepted to two colleges but will he choose the one 20-minutes away or the one in California?
- EPISODE 22 – Feel a Whole Lot Better – Jules and Grayson become “FWB” (Friends with Benefits).
- EPISODE 23 – Breakdown – It’s Travis’ big graduation day and he hopes his mother and friends don’t embarrass him.
- EPISODE 24 – Finding Out – Jules and Grayson are officially dating but they realize that everyone knows except Bobby. How will they break it to him?
VIDEO:
“Cougar Town – The Complete First Season” is presented in Widescreen (1:78:1) – Enhance for 16×9 Televisions. For a DVD series, picture quality is good and with a lot of the series shot outdoors and inside with a lot of lighting, the series looks pretty good on DVD. There are compression artifacts as expected from a DVD release but it’s not that bad. So far, “Cougar Town – The Complete Series” is a good looking TV series on DVD and fans of the show should be happy with its picture quality on DVD.
It’s important to note that Amazon has a listing for a “Cougar Town” Blu-ray release and if that is the case, I can imagine that this series would look fantastic on Blu, especially since the series has a lot of outdoor scenes. Definitely a series that has the potential to show off quite a bit of detail and vibrant colors on HD.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Cougar Town – The Complete First Season” is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The series is primarily dialogue driven with occasional music and is primarily front and center channel driven. I didn’t notice the surround channels being utilized all that much, but for the most part, dialogue is clear and understandable.
Subtitles are presented in English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Cougar Town – The Complete First Season” comes with the following special features:
- Bloopers – (1:40) Bloopers from the first season of “Cougar Town”.
- Deleted Scenes – A total of 15 deleted scenes from the first season.
- Taming Cougar Town – (4:47) Discover How Cougar Town Has Evolved From Its Initial Comedy Pilot Into Today’s More Subtly Sexy ABC Hit. Interviews with the creators on how the series began and behind-the-scenes footage for the series.
- Jimmy Kimmel Live: Saber-Tooth Tiger Town – (1:59) Jimmy Kimmel talks about his spin-off on ABC’s “Cougar Town” titled “Saber-Tooth Tiger Town” featuring Cloris Leachman and Shirley Jones playing senior women going after younger men.
- “My Sexuality” Music Video – (1:03) Featuring clips from the series to the music of “My Sexuality”.
- Ask Barb – The Ultimate Cougar Barbara “Barb” Coman (played by Carolyn Hennesy) answers questions in regards to being a cougar. Featuring nine two-minute segments.
- ‘Stroking it with Bobby Cobb’ series – Featuring four one-minute segments with Bobby Cobb (played by Brian Van Holt) as he is playing golf and the various things that come out of his mouth.
EXTRAS:
“Cougar Town – The Complete First Season” comes with a slip cover case.
When I first started watching “Cougar Town”, I admit that I thought the first initial episodes turned me off. To watch these cougars fawning over high school boys and watching Jules, a 40-year-old woman going to nightclubs where younger people frolic and then hanging out with students and playing beer pong was something I just had no interest in. But I stuck with the series and sure enough, things got better.
As the first few episodes did focus on the “cougar” aspect of older women going after young men, the series began to be more about relationships and friendships. The series literally became much more fun to watch and easily a series that will appeal to both men and women. I enjoyed how the series started to include more storylines that revolve around the people closer to her. For example, her son Travis is constantly being embarrassed by Jules and his father Bobby and friends.  But he’s a graduating teen who wants to lose his virginity and it’s interesting to see how he goes about that and also tries to take advice from his father, his neighbor Andy and Laurie.
Meanwhile, the Torres family are hilarious to watch. Ellie and Andy have a fun relationship, especially how they plan their daily lives with each other. May it be taking care of a child to planning their sexual nights. But of course, as Ellie is a big support for Jules, Andy on the other hand is like the comedic character as he tries to be the confident man who knows about women in front of Travis and also becomes the follower when it comes to him hanging out with Bobby and Grayson.
Meanwhile Grayson is the guy who loves to be with younger women but suddenly finds himself interested in Jules and Bobby, the ex-husband who is loud and obnoxious but also starting to noticed the woman he lost because of his infidelity problem.
And then you have Laurie, your stereotypical blonde floozy who is just a promiscuous woman who just doesn’t care. She just loves to have fun and there’s no stopping her.
Also, this is role that suits Courteney Cox quite well. As she was an actress that absolutely shined on “Friends”, it’s great to see her in a sitcom that is just fun to watch and also to see her character evolve. It’s quite hilarious and you just have to love the hand “guns” and her “bing” chest bumps. And as I enjoyed watching Courteney Cox, it was also great to see Christa Miller (who I absolutely enjoyed on “The Drew Carey Show” and “Scrubs”) in the supportive role as Jules best friend. Both Cox and Miller have great chemistry (as best friends) and to see both sitcom veterans together on one show is pretty awesome!
Another element that I enjoyed with “Cougar Town” is the guest appearances. It was cool to see Sheryl Crow play the wine client Sara who starts dating Grayson and also to see “Friends” star Lisa Kudrow playing the mean doctor and dating Jules ex-husband Bobby. And now, hopefully we will see an appearance by another “Friends” alum on the show… Jennifer Aniston anyone? Or even one of the male “Friends” characters.
Overall, “Cougar Town” is a series with a colorful cast and I found myself enjoying the episodes more when they focused on everyone as a collective rather than always focusing on Jules. And the fact that you have series creator and writer Bill Lawrence involved in the series, you do get that “Scrubs” adult humor type of feel when watching “Cougar Town”. Also, I liked how the series is contained within 30-minute episodes, it’s easier to follow and much more easier to take in.
The DVD release for “Cougar Town – The Complete First Season” is definitely enjoyable DVD release and you get all 24-episodes and a good number of special features. So, fans of the series should not be disappointed.
I admit that “Cougar Town” was much better than I expected and it’s a comedy series that definitely caught my attention and will more than likely star watching it when the second season comes back on air. For now, if you are curious about this series or are looking for a fun and hilarious adult-humored series on DVD, definitely give “Cougar Town – The Complete First Season” a try!
