Customer Reviews

Cougar Town: The Complete First Season

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

"Cougar Town - The Complete First Season" features a total of 24 episodes presented on three DVD's.

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.

JUDGMENT CALL:

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!

Unlike other who will review this DVD collection, I have never seen the show on television. So everything was new for me from the original pilot episode throygh the remaining 23 episodes of the first season. With the commercials excised, each episode lasts about 22 minutes and it's easy to watch three or four at a time. Actually, I found this helpful since this is more of a continuous story line where each episode generally picks up where the previous one ended.

For the newly initiated viewer the show looks like its going to be all sex and body jokes, and that's pretty much what it is for the first five or six episodes. If you've watched Desperate Housewives and found the sexual humor of 40 year old women lusting after young men or their neighbors husband, you'll feel right at home here. In fact, I was not that familiar with Courtney Cox (well, some folks aren't "Friends" alums) and many times she reminded me of Teri Hatcher's character, Susan, in DH.

After five episodes the sex jokes began to get stale and I wondered how a whole season would hold out. But then, about episode six, all the characters who had separate relationships with Jules (Cox's character) met one another and now they became only happy (well, mostly) dysfunctional family. There's even a brief "making of" featurette in the bonuses where the creators discuss this issue. From that point on (the "bonding") the show takes a 90-degree turn and holds your interest - as well as tickles your funny bone.

Women of Jules' age will relate with her frustrations while men will find humor in the guys in the cast, though probably won't relate to them. And this is one of those TV shows that has a killer soundtrack, inserting pop songs at just the right moment.

The bonuses include lots of deleted scenes (but in most cases you can easily see why they were deleted) and a blooper reel. There's a whole series of 2 minute "Ask Barb" videos where the "older than the other women" character, Barb, answers sex questions with risqué answers. And a similar set of videos starring the wacky Bobby Cobb (Cox's divorced husband in the show).

Fans of the show will want this to return to favorite episodes or moments. For others, especially those who want to see how a network show could push the sexually suggestive joke boundary, will find that, if they stick with it, the show will grow on you and keep you entertained.

Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"

I love this show! Hilarious good fun! I enjoyed it so much during the regular season that I bought the first season and had a Cougar Town party weekend. We drank wine and watched the show. All my friends who had missed it before were instant fans and are watching the new season. It's a definitely a must see!

We are totally hooked on this show. My husband and I both like it. We crack up when we are watching it and usually watch 4-5 episodes at a time. The jokes are funny and the story keeps you interested and wanting more. The actors work so well together. I wish we lived by these people, I would love to drink wine with them at 8 am! We are Scrubs lovers and this has the same humor. Give it a chance and you will love it too!

I always saw just the first few minutes of CourgarTown after watching Modern Family and I always laughed. I finally sat down and watch an entire episode and I'm totally hooked!. Don't get caught up in the name, thats not what the show is about. Its about a a great group of "friends" and their ridiculous dynamics. I love this show and recommend it to everyone. I promise you, you will laugh!

i love this show. the title is really misleading for the show as a whole, and I think people need to look beyond the original concept because it has grown into something so much greater. I love the characters, especially Christa Miller's Ellie.

Good humor, good characters, good stories. Just a good show in general!

wonderful and farcical humour that everyone loved from 'scrubs'...one of my favourite new shows. i think it is quite stupid that test viewers didn't want to watch it because the name 'cougar town' sounded like it would be about a bunch of middle-aged women. screw u, sexist test viewers. this show is awesome and better than u.

All, or most of the episodes are named after Tom Petty songs which is kind of bnice considering it is supposed to take place in Florida. After the relative disaster that was Dirt, Courteney Cox comes back with a winnner here. Ok, she kind of plys the Monica from Friends characer but that is ok. This is a verz funnz series that deserves to be seen.

I watched this from epidose 1 and loved it. The show seemed to start in one place and ended up going into a much better direction. The first 2 or 3 episodes are good but as the season continues the characters get funnier and funnier. They turn into people that you care about and want to see what the writers can come up with next. Travis (the son) is great and he and Courtney (Jules) are wonderful together. Actually they all are wonderful together and feed off one another very well. They really seem like that close extended friend family we all have or want.

This show has everything in it that a sitcom should. Laugh out loud moments, friendships and great chemistry among the entire cast.
I loved Courtney Cox in Friends and she is even better in Cougar Town as Jules Cobb. Busy Phillips is a riot as her wild child asistant Laurie.
Josh Hopkins lights up the screen in every scene he is in and Brian Van Holt is extremely charming and lovable. Ian Gomez is hilarious in his best role since Felicity. Christa Miller is also perfect in her role as Jule's bitchy but funny best friend ellie.
Don't miss this show!!! It also features GREAT Music.