I think Cougar Town, hands down, has the worst title of the new shows this fall.  While the title is tongue-in-cheek and also refers to the high school mascot, the demeaning term for a woman attracted to/dating/sleeping with a younger man needs to go away yesterday.  That said, since Bill Lawrence, executive producer of Scrubs, is the creator and Courteney Cox is the star, the pilot should be much better than its title and could in fact show what a ridiculous term cougar is.  Unfortunately, it isn’t and it doesn’t.

Cox is too good at playing a spastic neurotic for Cougar Town to be completely horrible, but the show is all over the place, I can’t relate to any of the characters, and I don’t think I laughed out loud once.  These are not good signs.  The premise is that forty-something Jules, (Cox) a smart and successful real estate agent with a loving and patient son, good friends, and a beautiful home, is desperately missing something in her life and is both ready and terrified to find that something.  If that something ended up being her lost youth, a chance passed by, a new direction in life, or new career, that would be awesome.  Of course, since we are talking about a divorced middle-aged woman on American television, what she’s missing is a man, so she heads off to a high school football game to ogle another spectator’s son and then to a bar to hook up with a guy.  That the guy in question is younger shouldn’t be an issue, but, well, “Cougar Town.”  

The one plus is that, overall, the cast is solid.  Courteney Cox sparkles on screen and is as adept at physical comedy as she is at playing funny-crazy-angry.  Dan Byrd is excellent as Jules’s son, Travis, and they play off each other perfectly.  Christa Miller is very good in her role of Scrubs’ Jordan, here named Elle after apparently being transplanted via the witness protection program.  I’m a fan of Ian Gomez, Brian Van Holt, and Josh Hopkins, but they are all under-used  in roles that seem more like caricatures (sex-deprived husband, dolt ex-husband, neighbor who sleeps with different women each night) than characters.  Busy Philipps is the weakest link, but I don’t know if that is more because of the writing or her portrayal of Jules’s less than bright assistant, Laurie.

The humor, such as it is, is mostly broad.  There is a lot (too much) of physical comedy, including a kid who crashes his bike after Jules flashed him to show her neighbor Grayson she could attract younger men.  Bobby brings Travis home early one night and they catch Jules performing oral sex on her date, and Laurie places new realtor signs around town that have a picture of drunken Jules flashing some cleavage.  Sensing the theme yet?  Oh, and if shows could stop using stupid, cutesy names for the female anatomy, that would be wonderful.  It is called a vagina.  Thank you.

Also frustrating is the show’s lack of a coherent tone.  At one point, Jules and Laurie chase the kid who has been stealing Jules’s signs into his bedroom and lecture him about sexism and how difficult it is to be constantly judged.  Jules also explains to Grayson how unfair it is he can sleep with as many younger women as he wants with no one blinking an eye, while she can't date younger men without comment. These are valid points unfortunately made with a sledgehammer and undermined by all the judgments (many sexist themselves) thrown around for (alleged) laughs during the rest of the episode.  

There is a lot of buzz around this show, and I wish I could understand why.  Maybe I’m missing something here, but I simply didn’t find Cougar Town to be funny or interesting.   In the end, despite the potentially ironic title, it is just another show about a woman who is-gasp-single and thus must somehow be desperate.  Cue the laughter.  Or not.