Free from the groan-inducing initial premise, Cougar Town has quickly became one of the most hilarious and original comedies currently on television, now simply following the lives of this small Florida cul de sac of wine-sipping friends. Of course the show's primary character is Courtney Cox's Jules Cobb, a real estate agent that has difficulty being mean and un-obsessive. Since raising him as a single mother, she harbors a particularly creepy fixation on her son Travis, played with appropriate awkwardness and smugness by Dan Byrd. And with Travis off to college in season two (though of course he still finds time to hang out with his mom's friends...) Jules has been free to focus her attention on her former-neighbor-current-husband Grayson (Josh Hopkins), an egotistical former player commonly referred to on the show as Tiny Eyes.
That nickname is a perfect example of the light-hearted, but slightly acerbic way the characters in this show interact with one another. Constantly drinking red wine (Jules often drinks out of Big Tippi/Lou/Carl/Joe, a gigantic novelty wine glass), the group often invent and play ridiculous games such as Penny Can, a game Jules' hillbilly-esque ex-husband Bobby (Brian Van Holt playing what other characters describe as a talking dog) coined while living on his parking-lot-docked boat along with his best friend and biggest fan Andy (a hilariously enthusiastic Ian Gomez) which involves, shockingly enough, throwing pennies into a can. The cast is rounded out by Jules' two best friends, Andy's delightfully mean-spirited wife Ellie (creator Bill Lawrence's actual wife, Christa Miller) and the youthfully trashy Laurie (an outrageously flashy Busy Phillips), who just happen to officially hate each other and deliver most of the show's nicknames and insults toward each other. There's also another neighbor, Tom, who desperately wants to be part of the group, but is just a little too odd and eager to be regularly included (or perhaps its his creepy love for Jules).
As you can see, this is the rare show where each character is equally worth mentioning, where they all pull together as an exceptionally entertaining and amusing ensemble. Since the characters are relied on for the show's comedy and personality instead of a wacky premise or situation, they are what make this such a great show. Compared to other successful friends-type sitcoms, Cougar Town comes off more unique, taking risks with new character types, writing styles, and running gags that hit their comedic marks more often than not. Basically if you join this group of, well less-than-brilliant friends, for their many wacky adventures, you'll soon find yourself laughing along with them and their hilarious inside jokes.
