Cougar Town is set to premiere Wednesday, September 23rd at 9:30, and I’m not convinced the Courteney Cox vehicle is going to improve the FriendsJust Friends reviews alumni track record.  Cox stars as Jules Cobb in a show that comes across as a stand-up act translated grudgingly into a sitcom… but, the stand-up of someone who isn’t particularly funny.

Jules is a divorced mom of a teenage son, who is not only rather stereotypically “fun mom,” but is just the sort of person you’d expect to be named Jules.  The shtick of the show is that she’s trying to “get back out there,” and we eventually play that out with a young guy who she keeps telling to stop talking. Hooray. In order to throw some other characters, there is some friend dominance fireworks between her best friend and her new friend from work. It will eventually play out to a few laughs.

A few more characters jump into the mix as well, including: Jules’ ex-husband, who is a sort of spin on what happens when Jeff Spicoli grows up (which is surprisingly unfunny), and Jules’ neighbor, who is the male version of forty-ish and single, and gets a lot of action… much to Jules’ chagrin.

ABC/MICHAEL DESMOND

The show is basically a string of gags designed around the general idea of being older and single, with a few excuses for Jules to wax poetic on the subject thrown in for good measure. Embarrassing your kid at school (in at least three ways in the pilot), being generally uncouth (because what the hell, you’re 40), or throwing in semi-odd sexual situations for a bit of a laugh… whatever it takes.

Taking its cue from Friends and Seinfeld, the show isn’t about anything, and has no particular draw. The difference is that those shows were fun and funny, and the characters were clever.

ABC/JAMES WHITE

Cougar Town’s characters are mostly excuses, and while the show may carry a bit based purely on Cox’ character’s ability to hairshirt herself ad, more or less, infinitum, I find it hard to believe that’s enough to keep viewers tuning in.

The show seems to be pinning a lot of its hopes on the fact that it can say Courteney Cox is in it, and that’s probably going to work for the pilot’s ratings, but I’m not sure what there really is to come back for.

Cougar Town is like a solution looking for a problem, aiming at a demographic and genre left unclear, and overall smacks of vanity press brought to the small screen. As an example, one running bit throughout the pilot makes use of Cox’ heaving bosom… and, um… what?

I feel for co-stars Ian Gomez and Christa Miller, who play Jules’ neighbors/best-friend(s), because I like them both, and the pilot hints that their characters may prove to be the best reason to watch. They aren’t likely to be enough though, and in today’s television market, the overall relationship world isn’t likely to kick in fast enough to give the show wheels.

There’s a lot of good television out there, and there are a lot of strong efforts coming this fall, and Cougar Town doesn’t look able to compete. If you really need to watch Courteney Cox, pop in a Friends DVD, but for your new TV viewing, I recommend looking elsewhere.

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Tagged as: ABC, Christa Miller, Cougar Town, Courteney Cox, Television