It is that time again folks! The end of the year is upon us and that means it is time to look back on the highs, lows and WTFs in television from the past 12 months. There is a lot to reflect on in regard to television 2011. Charlie Sheen went crazy. Well, crazier. Comedy … Continue reading TV Surveillance’s Best of 2011: Best Performances, Comedy
Tag: Laurie Keller
Season Finale — Cougar Town, “Something Good Coming”
If there was ever a series tailor-made for the Hawaii vacation episode(s), it has to be Cougar Town, right? Taking a band of goofballs who sit around drinking and playing stupid games in Florida and putting them in another beautiful, warm location doesn't really change much, thankfully. "Something Good Coming" not only keeps the series … Continue reading Season Finale — Cougar Town, “Something Good Coming”
Cougar Town, “Free Fallin'”
Cougar Town is most certainly a goofy, sometimes weird comedy. I usually enjoy those zany parts of the series, but I'll be the first to admit that sometimes Town goes a little too far into the broad humor that reminds me of some of the lesser episodes of Scrubs. I mean those really bad episodes of … Continue reading Cougar Town, “Free Fallin'”
Cougar Town, “Damaged By Love”
It's pretty clear that the end of this season is going to primarily focus on Travis' destroyed state after his proposal. In theory, I am fine with that. But if the series wants to commit to telling an interesting, complicated story about Travis' life and his place within this weird group, I feel like they … Continue reading Cougar Town, “Damaged By Love”
Cougar Town, “Lonesome Sundown”
Apologies for not getting to this sooner. I honestly forgot about it, which is sort of unfortunate because I really enjoyed "Lonesome Sundown." This is probably my favorite or second favorite episode of the season. It's up there with "You Don't Know How It Feels" for sure. A few episodes ago, Cougar Town introduced Chekov's engagement … Continue reading Cougar Town, “Lonesome Sundown”
Cougar Town, “You’re Gonna Get It”
Producing 22 episodes of comedy isn't easy. Every season, it is probable that two or three episodes won't be completely awesome, even for the best series. These episodes don't necessarily have to be terrible, but they're just at a slightly lower quality than the rest. Last night's episode of Cougar Town, "You're Gonna Get It," … Continue reading Cougar Town, “You’re Gonna Get It”
Cougar Town, “Baby’s a Rock N’Roller”
Most of the time, growing up sucks. And even though we tend to look at adulthood in a specific sort of way in this culture, people can still have a lot of growing up to do well into their 40s. This is especially true for television comedy characters, who are often broad, wacky versions of … Continue reading Cougar Town, “Baby’s a Rock N’Roller”
Cougar Town, “Walls”
Our long national nightmare is over folks, Cougar Town is back! ABC took the series off the air to try to jump-start Matthew Perry's career (which I don't think worked), but for all our waiting, the network has done the nice thing and given the series a twofer week, starting with last night's "Walls" and … Continue reading Cougar Town, “Walls”
Cougar Town, “Cry To Me”
"Cry To Me" is unfortunately the last episode of Cougar Town for a couple of months. ABC was to line up Matthew Perry's Mr. Sunshine and I think even Happy Endings in the post-Modern Family timeslot, so the cul-de-sac crew is going to be gone for a fairly substantial amount of time. No matter what, … Continue reading Cougar Town, “Cry To Me”
Cougar Town, “Lost Children”
Last night's Cougar Town was a weird one. In a lot of ways, the episode felt poorly constructed and more random than the series usually is, particularly in the set-up of its main dramatic tension framework. The jokes weren't too great either. However, "Lost Children" continued to explore the series' most central conceit: How awful … Continue reading Cougar Town, “Lost Children”
Cougar Town, “The Same Old You”
I haven't seen all of Cougar Town's first season, but one of the biggest concerns of this season has been finding the right balance between Jules, the forceful,, but ultimately helpful friend/person and Jules, the awful shrill who bullies everyone into doing whatever it is she wants. It's been really hard for the series to … Continue reading Cougar Town, “The Same Old You”
Cougar Town, “Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It)”
Last week's episode felt like a turning point in the second season of Cougar Town. The first batch of episodes, while overwhelmingly fun, were sometimes clunky, scattered in interested in too many things at once to really get a good grip on what the season was going to be moving forward aside from people playing … Continue reading Cougar Town, “Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It)”
Cougar Town, “Keeping Me Alive”
Because Cougar Town recalibrated in the middle of its first season, it's in a weird position here early in season two. The writers seem interested in going back to certain stories from the early- to mid-part of the series as some weird way of going forward the character development, but by doing so, they're overtly acknowledging … Continue reading Cougar Town, “Keeping Me Alive”
Modern Family, “Strangers on a Treadmill” and Cougar Town, “The Damage You’ve Done”
Having a deep ensemble of comedic performers is almost always a positive thing for any sitcom (or drama, for that matter). Obviously, putting together a cast full of humor-producers is better than relying on a few lead horses because it allows the series to rotate the focus on specific characters, concoct new pairings and develop … Continue reading Modern Family, “Strangers on a Treadmill” and Cougar Town, “The Damage You’ve Done”
Modern Family, “The Kiss” and Cougar Town, “Let Yourself Go”
Ed note: I've been away at the 2010 Flow Conference, so posts have been delayed. I'll be catching up with a few of last week's series in the first few days of this week. Just like my write ups on FOX's Tuesday comedy block, I seem to enjoy writing about ABC's Modern Family and Cougar … Continue reading Modern Family, “The Kiss” and Cougar Town, “Let Yourself Go”