Cougar Town Review: 2.15 "Wall"

ABC

Today is not a good day to cancel Cougar Town.

In February, ABC pulled the already renewed Cougar Town off of Wednesday nights to try and launch Matthew Perry's Mr. Sunshine.

What a horrible, horrible decision that turned out to be.

Not only did Sunshine drop 45 percent from the season average for Cougar Town, but the show just was not very good, especially when compared to Cougar Town.

And boy, it is a good show.

Bill Lawrence is a TV genius. I am pretty sure he will be the one responsible for Everybody Loves Hypnotoad someday. In other words, the man takes premises that should not be funny at all and turns them into great TV. He did with the political angle in Spin City, the medical show in [Scrubs], and now the over forty friend group with Cougar Town.

You notice how in that last paragraph I mentioned nothing about Courtney Cox banging young dudes? Yeah, that is because the show is NOT about that, it is about a group of 40-something friends and their addiction to wine. So if you are still thinking that the show is not for you because of the title, I urge you to think again.

Honestly, up until Halloween, I thought that way too. Cougar Town was the show that I would leave on after Modern Family, but never really watch. On the Halloween episode, the great Ken Jenkins (Bob Kelso in [Scrubs]) guest starred, and I was hooked.

I must be out of the review writing groove, because I haven't said anything about tonight's glorious return to Cougar Town. I can surmise it in two words . . . .

PENNY CAAAAAAN!

Don't know what the heck I'm talking about, watch the show and find out, it is on again Wednesday at 8:30 CST.

P.S. I almost used the name of the show as much as Abed, and I didn't poop my pants at all. And if you still don't know what the heck I'm talking about, then you are dead to me.

Happy Endings Review: 1.01 "Pilot" & 1.02 "The Quicksand Girlfriend"

NBC

Today is not a good day to cancel Happy Endings.

This is a special review, not only is it of two episodes, but the first two episodes of a new series! I know, exciting stuff.

Let me get this out of the way off the bat, the show is actually very well done and extremely funny. Unfortunately, it also comes at a time when the market is saturated with a ridiculous amount of 'romantic, group of friends' sitcoms. How I Met Your Mother, Mad Love, Traffic Light, Better with You, Cougar Town, and Perfect Couples have all aired this year and all have very similar premises.

So while there is the overwhelming sense of deja vu here, the series still manages to feel fresh, which is no small accomplishment.

The basic premise of the series is Dave (Zachary Knighton) is left at the altar by Alex (Elisha Cuthbert). Blah, blah, blah, blah. Look, every review you see out there for this show is going to go into these people are and the crux of what we learn in the pilot. The truth is, the series only gets good when it gets past that point and lets the brilliant writing take hold.

Don't get me wrong, the series is not perfect, but it is already a better show than Perfect Couples was before it was cancelled, and has plenty of room to grow.

But is the show already Destined to be Cancelled, like it's NBC counterpart?

Well the truth is a little sad, but it very well could be. Launching a show in mid-April is never a good sign and next week it will be moving to 9:00 CDT, which is a very untraditional slot for a sitcom. It will be interesting to see how the ratings do, but initially it seems to be the perfect coupling (excuse the pun) with Cougar Town for a potential Tuesday comedy block next season.

It is at this point that I usually wrap these things up with bringing in a joke from earlier to tie things up nicely in a little package.

I guess for this one, I will just have to skip the Happy Ending.

Although seriously, give it a try next Wednesday night (I just couldn't end on such a terrible joke, despite evidence to the contrary, I am better than, but only by a little).

-Blake

Read Blake's other Wednesday Night ABC Comedy reviews for The Middle and Modern Family.