In Defense of Cougar Town

Hello. My name is Elliott Morgan, and I love Community Cougar Town. I’ve blogged repeatedly about Community, a show that is known as much for its quality as its unpopularity. Actually, no, scratch that. It’s known primarily for its unpopularity, with legions of bandwagon fans that have no idea why they love the show so much. Don’t get me wrong; Community is my favorite television show right now. However, it is unfortunate that Cougar Town is not supported in the same viral way. Community is seen as the cool school outcast, the guy who gets along with everybody but isn’t popular, the guy who will die tragically and will be remembered in a touching, overcrowded memorial ceremony. Cougar Town is seen as the the backup kicker on the football team.

You could say that Cougar Town is known for being “the one with Courtney Cox,” which betrays its ensemble nature. You could say that it’s known for being “about cougars,” which is so entirely inaccurate that the very suggestion will give me an aneurism.

In my opinion, Cougar Town should be known as the show in danger of being canceled but without the legions of diehard fans. In the age of the Internet, Cougar Town appeals to those who do not recognize the unmatched power of the Interwebz. While Community has a strong Tumblr presence, Cougar Town suffers from a lack of fan voracity. There is a generational gap baked right into the show’s demographic, an unfortunate side effect of a poorly chosen title. There’s an episode of Community in which Abed is going on a Cougar Town rant, and Joel McHale’s character, Jeff Winger, responds, “Look, if you want me to take it seriously, stop saying its name.”

What Cougar Town lacks in online presence, it makes up for in balls-to-the-wall guerrilla marketing. This past Thursday, I attended a Cougar Town viewing party. The event was completely free, financed entirely by Bill Lawrence, the show’s creator. The event took place on the set, with an open bar, free food, a Q and A, two season 3 episodes, and the cast and writers just hung out and chatted with people. The ironic thing here is that Community has never done anything like this, and it continues to receive fan accolades. It also has much, much worse ratings. Bill Lawrence might be a genius.

The moral of the story here is that people need to stand up for Cougar Town. Yes, the show needs a different title. Yes, people need to “just watch it.” But the people who do watch it need to scream about it a little more. Good television is hard to come by these days. If a show is great, it’s hard for it to stay that way. For example, Modern Family has declined so heavily in quality it makes me wonder if the show has replaced its staff of writers with According to Jim writers.

Shows like Cougar Town and Community are why sitcoms are so awesome. The sitcom isn’t going anywhere, but it’s changing. And while shows like Work It and Whitney threaten to kill the sitcom altogether, executive producers like Dan Harmon and Bill Lawrence are recognizing the importance of fan interaction. It’s an exciting time for show business.

Or maybe I’m giving it all too much credit, and we should just avoid shows that start with “W” and love shows that start with “C.” No, that’s not it, either. Hopefully the show gets a new title, because it needs one. And hopefully Cougar Town fans will spread the word and ABC brings this show back quickly. I don’t believe Cougar Town is the greatest show ever, but it is the closest to a mix of Friends and Seinfeld that we’ll probably ever have. Adults hanging out, enjoying life, still trying to work things out, all while doing absolutely nothing.