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. The second season of “Cougar Town” is hilarious, over-the-top and highly enjoyable. Definitely recommended!
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TITLE: Cougar Town – The Complete Second Season
YEAR OF TV SERIES: 2010-2011
DURATION:22 Episodes (467 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 30, 2011
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
TV’s funniest mom (And the cul-de-sac crew) return for more laughs in their not-so-quiet Florida neighborhood. Courteney Cox leads an all-star cast in the hilarious second season of ABC’s hot hit comedy, Cougar Town.
It’s a new year of uproarious changes as Travis prepares to leave for college, Jules and Grayson’s relationship reaches another level and Bobby tries to stand on his own. Meanwhile, Andy and Ellie find clever new ways to keep their marriage lively and Laurie ramps up her search for love – in her own unique way.
Relive all 22 episodes and every laugh-out-loud moment of ABC’s Cougar Town: The Complete Second Season, with never-before-seen bonus features, in the sensational 3-disc box set.
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.
For the second season of “Cougar Town”, big changes are in store for Jules and friends. Travis is leaving home to go to college (albeit 20 minutes away), Jules and Grayson’s relationship is becoming stronger, the friends try to come up with new games to enlighten the cul-de-sac crew and also new characters plus a tie-in with NBC’s comedy show “Community”.
Here is a summary of each episode featured on “Cougar Town – The Complete Second Season” (a total of 22 episodes presented on three DVD’s):
DVD 1:
- EPISODE 25 – All Mixed Up – Jules sees a shrink named Glenn (played by Jennifer Aniston), who tells her to give Grayson his own free time without her.
- EPISODE 26 – Let Yourself Go – Jules is having a hard time dealing with Travis moving away and going to college.
- EPISODE 27 – Makin’ Some Noise – With Travis going to college, Grayson worries that she will focus all attention on him.
- EPISODE 28 – The Damage You’ve Done – Grayson and Laurie tells Jules the truth, that the two slept together.
- EPISODE 29 – Keeping Me Alive – Bobby stops receiving alimony form Jules but will Jules celebrate the occasion?
- EPISODE 30 – You Don’t Know How It Feels – Jules comes to town for a visit during Halloween.
- EPISODE 31 – Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It) -Â Laurie teams up with Grayson to sabotage Ellie for Jule’s birthday gift contest.
- EPISODE 32 – Little Girls Blues – Travis brings home his new girlfriend Kirsten (played by Collette Wolfe), but will Jules like her?
DVD 2:
- EPISODE 33 – When the Time Comes – It’s Thanksgiving and Jules and Grayson’s relationship is becoming stronger.
- EPISODE 34 – The Same Old You – Bobby is offered to play on the PGA, will he do it?
- EPISODE 35 – No Reason to Cry – Jules questions her relationship with Grayson.
- EPISODE 36 – A Thing About You – What happens when Laurie becomes Jules new houseguest.
- EPISODE 37 – Lost Children – Jules creates a new game of hide-and-seek.
- EPISODE 38 – Cry To Me – It’s Valentine’s Day and Jules wants Grayson to communicate his feelings towards her.
- EPISODE 39 – Walls – Jules continues to disrupt Travis’ young adult life and Ellie tells her that she needs to back off.
- EPISODE 40 – Baby’s a Rock ‘N’ Roller – Jules wants to prove to Ellie that having a baby in her twenties is difficult.
DVD 3:
- EPISODE 41 – You’re Gonna Get It – Jules wants to do something for charity.
- EPISODE 42 – Lonesome Sundown – Grayson tries to be interested in Travis’ life and the Jules and friends form a council.
- EPISODE 43 – Damaged By Love – Travis gets his heart broken!
- EPISODE 44 – Free Fallin’ – Travis drops out of college…how will Jules react?
- EPISODE 45 – Something Good Coming – Part 1 -Â Jules and friends go to Hawaii in order to bring Travis back home.
- EPISODE 46 – Something Good Coming – Part 2 – Part 2 of Jules and friends trying to bring Travis back home and enjoying a vacation in Hawaii.
VIDEO:
“Cougar Town – The Complete Second 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.  It’s actually a vibrant series, especially for this second season.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Cougar Town – The Complete Second 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 crystal clear and understandable.
Subtitles are presented in English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Cougar Town – The Complete Second Season” comes with the following special features:
- (Still Called) Cougar Town: Season 2 – (8:32) Interview with the series creator and producers about the title cards and their dislike of the title of the series. Also, behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast.
- Andy’s Dreams – A total of five scenes featuring the cast of “Cougar Town” in fun movie parodies as part of Andy’s dreams (Movie Mash Up, Gulfhaven Vice, The Hair Up There and Sports). Also, featuring an introduction from Ian Gomez (who plays Andy) and also behind-the-scenes of the making of the dream sequences.
- Deleted Scenes – A total of six deleted scenes.
- Bloopers – (2:01) Featuring outtakes from “Cougar Town”.
EXTRAS:
“Cougar Town – The Complete Second Season” comes with a slip cover case.
With the first season of “Cougar Town”, it took a while for me to warm up to it, but once the series became a more ensemble series versus a series focused on 40-year-old woman dating young men, “Cougar Town” became one of my favorite comedy series.
For this second season, the series focused on Jules and her relationship with her son, her boyfriend and her friends. But also the friendship between the cul-de-sac crew between the ladies and also the men.
With Jules and Travis, it’s about Travis going out in the real world, leaving her mother behind and getting used to the college life but at the same time, getting involved in a major relationship which seems a bit one-sided.
As for Jules and Grayson, she wants more from him (emotionally) and for Grayson, it’s more of taking things day-by-day but also showing an interest of wanting to have his own child, which at 40-years-old, it’s something that Jules definitely does not want.
And then there is the friendship dynamic which was a big part of this season and the writers actually integrating the characters much more this season over the last. The Torres family which comprises of Ellie and Andy was absolutely hilarious. Ellie with her blunt wisecracks, Andy being the upbeat friend to everyone and then of course, Jules ex-husband Bobby who actually is starting to grow up more as a business owner and taking on more responsibilities but yet not being portrayed too much like a redneck.
And although not part of the cul-de-sac crew but more of Jules frienemy Barbara, also makes her appearance in several episodes.
This second season also showcases a few newer characters such as Tom (played by Bob Clendenin) as the creep neighbor who wants to be part of the cul-de-sac crew and Travis’ football roommate Kevin (played by Lamarcus Tinker).
But these episodes were hilarious and fun to watch and also loved how the writers (who have grown to hate the name of the show) would mess around with the title cards when the opening theme would start playing. If anything, “Cougar Town” has grown to become an upbeat comedy series that I just love! And very different from any other 30-minute comedy series on television.
It’s also important to mention of the guest starring roles by Jennifer Aniston but also to see the network crossover between ABC’s “Cougar Town” and NBC’s “Community”. Typically, you see crossovers with shows from the same network but not opposing networks. So, that was a blast to see! (Note: If you want to see the “Cougar Town” crossover on “Community”, then definitely also check out “Community – The Complete Second Season”.)
And the writers also have done a great job with character development but also made the series quite easy for anyone who has never watched the show before, to jump in and enjoy. It’s a pretty easy series to follow, although the latter episodes of this second season does deal with a continuing storyline that centers around Travis.
Overall, “Cougar Town” is a wonderful series which the writers have done one heck of a job from improving from the last.
If you are looking for a comedy series that is fun, hilarious and over-the-top, definitely check out “Cougar Town – The Complete Second Season” and don’t be surprised by the end of the series if you find your self yelling “Penny can!”.
Highly recommended!
