An Evening With ‘Cougar Town’ at the Paley Festival

Last week I attended the Cougar Town panel at the Paley Festival, a two-week long celebration of television.

After a clip from The Lucy Show from the Paley Center’s archives and a quick introduction by Bill Lawrence, the lights dimmed for a preview of an upcoming episode of Cougar Town, much to the audience’s delight. Not wanting to spoil the episode, suffice it to say, it caused much laughter with references to blumpy blankets, cat fish, gay-traps, and provided a very funny take on whether men and woman can be friends.

Brian Van Holt and Courtney Cox / Wireimage

Attending the Cougar Town panel were cast members Courtney Cox, Brian Van Holt, Dan Byrd, Josh Hopkins, Ian Gomez, Christa Miller, as well a co-creator/writer Bill Lawrence, co-creator/writer Kevin Biegel, and moderator John Griffiths of US Weekly. Explaining the absence of Busy Philipps, Bill Lawrence humorously said, “It’s a spoiler – but Busy’s been let go!” But before there could be a roar of outrage from the audience, he hastily added that Busy was actually in Hawaii on vacation. Imagine the chaos that would have caused!

As the evening’s moderator John Griffith’s noted, Cougar Town is credited with reinvigorating the story of a single mom raising a teenager – in spite of the show’s outrageous and somewhat misleading name. In an attempt to clarify how the show fits into the television landscape, Kevin Biegel explained that Cougar Town is actually an “adult family show.” It is a successful blend of both family issues and provocative adult situation comedy.

Explaining the genesis of the show and how its lead Courtney Cox came to be involved, Bill Lawrence shared, “The one thing we were afraid about was the show would only work if you can buy into it being completely self-deprecating and have no vanity whatsoever — you will let people see you in your most embarrassing situations right from the start — and I think [Courtney] is the one actress at her level in Hollywood that was immediately like, ‘Yeah, who gives a sh*t.’” She was the perfect choice to cast for the lead of the series as they needed someone who had no vanity and yet had vulnerability. They really wanted Courtney because as Bill noted, “It starts from the top, [Courtney] has allowed the writers to make fun and jokes about anything.” Despite an initial hesitation to tell her the name of the show, it was Courtney’s fearless attitude about portraying a single mom in her 40’s, daring to embrace life to the fullest and on her own terms without regard to what anyone else would think, that was crucial in making the show the success that it is.

As to how they decided to select the venue of the show, because both Bill and Kevin are from Florida they felt it brought a distinct and refreshing venue to portray and explore. Trying to tie in her own southern roots, Courtney volunteered, “My family lives in Florida, but I’m from Alabama,” which prompted Brian Van Holt to happily toss out his own southern ancestry, “I’m from the south as well — Southern California!”

Christa Miller and Bill Lawrence / Wireimage

Turning back to the inspiration of the show, because the message of the show is to have fun and make no apologies, Bill admitted that he took the opening scene of the pilot episode right out of his own life after he caught his wife, Christa Miller (Ellie on the show), who had just had their 3rd child standing in front of the bathroom mirror, opening her robe and then exclaiming with a profane expletive. He also emphasized that they did not use a body double for that scene in the pilot. It was all 100% Courteney Cox. He noted that because Courteney is so brave and fearless – she is not just a star, but a true leader of the ensemble. When asked about what it was like to play a woman in her 40’s on television, Courteney optimistically said, “I don’t have that many more good years, but the ones I have I’m pretty psyched about!”

As far as other sources of inspiration, Bill Lawrence apparently has the memory of an elephant and can remember conversations nearly verbatim, which frequently turns up as the inspiration for or storyline fodder in future episodes. For example, Josh shared that one day he was playing his guitar outside of his trailer when Bill was driving by in his golf cart, which promptly came to a screeching halt, and Bill told him, “You know, that’s going to be in the next episode!” and next thing Josh knew, in the very next episode Grayson was playing a guitar. When asked if she contributes to the writing on the show, Christa quickly pointed out, “I don’t come up with ideas, I think that’s why our marriage works.” To which Bill smirked and happily said “I’m so glad you said our marriage works!”

Commenting on whether or not either Christa or Courtney are anything like their characters, Bill said that, while Courtney is nicer than her character, Christa is slightly meaner than her character. To which Christa immediately exclaimed, “I am!” and everyone laughed. This was obviously in a spirit of fun and got laughter all around, also prompting Ian to tell Bill that he is welcome to his couch for the night if he needs it! Commenting further about Christa’s friendship with Courtney, Bill said, “The coolest thing is the way that these two have developed a relationship in real life that we can all kind of feed off of and steal from.”

Turning back to the show which has a rather brash sense of humor, Bill acknowledged that it was a balance of naughtiness with family matters mixed in. He also noted that because it is on at the 9:30 p.m. timeslot they have a bit more freedom. Kevin also added that because of that they could write more freely with the dialogue and that they were “blessed to talk how people actually talk.” Kevin then sheepishly admitted that there has been a bit more Standards & Practices scrutiny because they follow Modern Family. But clarifying that Bill noted, “I love Modern Family Fantastic show. I’m a fan, I watch it — but they can have … two guys’ butts touching, but our show is so policed now because it’s Cougar Town.” From his viewpoint it was absurd that anything on Cougar Town was any more risqué than what was already being shown on Modern Family and he felt that the name Cougar Town tends to garner
more strict scrutiny than the show really warrants.

Kevin Biegel and Courtney Cox / Wireimage

Bill also emphasized that in creating Cougar Town he felt it was important for the audience to have an “emotional connection” with the characters. He shared how when he called his parents to see if they were going to watch the show, his dad’s response was, “If I’m gonna spend a half an hour watching TV, I want to care about someone.” Thus, in his mind, this is the most important element because if the audience cares about the characters, they will want to spend time with them. Bill also explained, “I see people really responding to characters that they care about. The biggest lie in television comedy is that Seinfeld was a show about nothing, because the reason some people wanted the finale to be different is because they loved all those people.” Therefore, the show must offer characters the viewers will tune in for and will want to spend time with. He also noted that he is always tickled when people say they are touched by the show because it is both sweet and tart.

Bill’s own background was working on Friends and Scrubs, two of the most cherished comedies in recent memory. He shared a funny story about how he first met Courtney Cox: “She walked up to me and she said, ‘You know I know this show is really working right now, and that’s just a great thing for everybody. But I’m one of the first people to tell everybody it’s about the writing first, and I just wanted to tell you it’s a joy to work on this show and thanks so much for your hard work — Chris.’” Chris?! Who was Chris? Courtney tried to defend herself by explaining, “I thought [Bill] was Marta [Kauffman]’s assistant!” Apparently they worked out this embarrassing gaff for after Friends, Courtney appeared on Bill’s new show Scrubs.

As to how he became involved with the show, Brian Van Holt said that he got the part because he had previously worked with Bill on Spin City. Brian had since been doing a lot of dramatic work and really wanted to take a break from it and decided to pursue comedy roles. So when he ran into Bill and Christa at a charity event, he made sure to let them know that he would love to work with him again, and lo and behold, Bill called him the very next day! He ruefully admitted that he had the worst on-camera audition for the part of Grayson, but then luckily he nailed the part of Bobby. He is clearly fond of his television family as he happily shared, “I think we’re a functioning, dysfunctional crew and band of people.” When asked why Bobby lives on a land-boat, Bill explained, “I thought we were making a joke when we decided to have Brian’s character live in a land boat – but my uncle Bob, who is a great fishing guy, sent me an e-mail saying here are 5 pictures of my friends living in their land boats.” And apparently this little bit of comedy actually touched a nerve of authenticity.

Dan Byrd / Wireimage

Dan, who plays Courtney and Brian’s son on the show, is the straight man to the crazy antics of the adults on the show and, as Travis, is oftentimes the most sane in an insane world. “Dan as an actor never seems like a victim. Sometimes he seems like the smartest character on the show,” Bill observed prompting Van Holt to proudly shout-out, “that’s my boy!” Dan was also noted to have a kind of “Tom Hanks” kind of vibe with a “Running With Scissors” kind of twist, but with an undercurrent of love and, throughout the zaniness of all these adults rediscovering their youth, it is actually Dan’s character that is the heart of the show.

Also referring to the familial atmosphere, Ian Gomez shared that, “It’s like we’re a bunch of kids.” He also commented that one of things he loves about he and Christa’s characters is, “I’m not just a hen pecked husband and she’s not just a raging bitch” and he feels drawn to the deeper aspects of the relationship between his and Christa’s characters. Ian said, “I like the fact that we have really a sexy relationship on the show –” prompting Christa to yell out, “ — and in real life!” Which prompted a funny mock expression by Ian and a bunch of laughs from the audience. Clearly Ian and Christa have a lot of fun playing their characters and they performed a funny skit on how they get ready for “make out” scenes by pretending to not be able to check with their respective spouses due to various technical difficulties with their email and cell phones. After that humorous re-enactment, Bill noted that Ellie and Andy actually do have the sweetest relationship on the show which is something they purposely cultivate and highlight.

Kevin Biegel, whose background included writing for South Park and Grounded For Life, admitted he has learned a lot from Bill while working with him on both Cougar Town and Scrubs. He described it like a father-son relations – or he hastily amended, an older-brother/younger-brother kind of relationship after he saw Bill’s look of mock-horror. Kevin also shared a funny story about how when he first interviewed with Bill he knew that Bill was a basketball freak, so he naturally told Bill that he could play basketball, but in truth Kevin is the most uncoordinated person – which fortunately, Bill did not find out until after he hired him.

As for the direction of the show, Courtney reiterated that she is game for anything. Bill, however, unequivocally stated that unlike many popular television shows, they will not be dragging out the “will they or wont they” storylines. So as to the future of Jules-Grayson relationship, Bill explained, “I think most shows set up expectations – will they or won’t they, and stuff like that and drag them on forever. I like blowing that stuff up immediately. . . . and so we’re not going to drag that stuff out. So the end of this year it gets naughty and fun for Courtney and Josh.”

Josh Hopkins / Wireimage

As for Josh, it was noted that after Travis’ fake coming-out to Grayson that it seemed like Grayson had become more a part of the family. Bill noted it was by sheer force of Jules’ will that Grayson has become a part of the family. He personally loved the scene which highlighted Grayson’s’ capitulation and acceptance when Jules threw her arms around Grayson in a bear-hug and refused to let go until he relaxed into it and agreed to come to dinner. Just watching Josh initially freeze up and then melt into her arms was relatable to Bill who confided that he hates to be touched and unfortunately Courtney is a toucher. So for him that scene was the epitome of one of Courtney’s key characteristics which he incorporated into Jules.

Finally, when it was his turn to share a bit about his role on the show Josh caught a glimpse of himself on the big screen behind him and exclaimed, “God, I’m good looking! Why didn’t you tell me?” Christa then sweetly said, “But Josh, you make us tell you every single day!” Despite this comedic exchange, Josh was quick to compliment his co-star by saying of Courtney, “It’s like working with a comedy ninja. She’s so good– and quick and funny!”

In summing up, Bill was also generous in noting that, “Great actors in television take possession of their characters quickly” and they “make C+ material A+ material.” And after watching how verbally quick each of them were on stage, it is clear this cast not only has fun working together, they bring their A-game to the show and it shows.

Cougar Town airs on Wednesday nights at 9:30 p.m. on ABC.