Remember growing up in Arkansas people? Or in a small, relatively unknown state? Remember growing up and watching movie after movie based out of L.A. or New York? Most of us probably know the layout of Central Park better than we do our own local parks! I always wanted to watch a movie and shout- "Hey I eat at that restaurant!" or "I live right above that store." But for the first time I've experienced the euphoria of seeing the town I live in on TV, thanks to a new show called "Cougar town" with Courteney Cox. As the title suggests, mamma Cox is on the prowl for younger men, has a body of a 16 year old and is totally sleezy. Not that this is the best image for our sweet beach town but its still pretty cool! OH- and I'm getting cable this Friday so I'll be connected to the world again soon! Here's a funny article from our local Sarasota Herald Tribune about our new reputation.
"Forget the reputation as a home for retirees and senior citizens; the Sarasota area is about to be known as “Cougar Town.”ABC'S "Cougar Town"
That’s the title of a new ABC comedy series that begins Wednesday night and could put the area on the map, literally.
The title sequence zooms in from the outline of Florida to show Sarasota with a “Welcome to Cougar Town” sign just about where Venice might be on the map.
In the mind of co-creator Kevin Biegel, a 1994 Riverview High School graduate, Cougar Town is “in some mythical area beneath Sarasota, maybe even beneath Venice, a heretofore undiscovered town. It’s maybe what Sarasota was in the mid-1970s and then kind of translated 20 miles south.”
The title is a reference to “cougars,” the 40-something women who date much younger men, similar to older men who date younger women.
Biegel says the title is possibly the “dumbest you could give” to the show. “We totally realized that the title is super insane, but the second you hear it, you’ll remember it. Then you’ll watch it and see it’s not what you think it is.”
Biegel had his hometown in mind while dreaming up the show with “Scrubs” creator Bill Lawrence. They are the executive producers of “Cougar Town,” which stars Courteney Cox as Jules, a divorced real estate agent who is ready after many years to jump back into the dating scene. But she finds herself attracted to and attractive to guys who were her age when she last hit the bars, long before her now-teenage son was born.
The show is less about the dating scene than Cox’s character coming to terms with how she has changed. The opening sequence shows her squeezing excess skin in a way most actresses would never expose themselves on screen.
“That’s 100 percent her,” Biegel said. “She was so excited to do that. I thought she was being sarcastic, but she was adamant that that be the first thing you see in the show.”
The 33-year-old Biegel, who previously was a writer for “Scrubs” and “South Park,” said he wanted something different for the setting of the new show.
“I’d never seen a show in this part of Florida. Everyone’s in New York or Los Angeles. I think there’s a lot of fun to be had in that area and with those characters.”
But is Sarasota a hotbed of cougars?
“With such a high divorce rate, I know lots of people who were married to doctors and lawyers and start dating younger,” said Biegel, who celebrated his first wedding anniversary two weeks ago.
Early reviews for the show have ranged from positive to mixed. Some call it bawdy or filthy, but it made the best shows list in The Washington Post, which described it as “ferociously smart,” and it is No. 8 on the top 10 list of USA Today, which called the show “surprisingly agreeable.”
