Cougar Town Season 1 DVD
Recently divorced, Jules Cobb starts her life over as a middle aged woman returning to the dating scene as well as coping with her new single mother life but the cougar themed dating begins to take a back seat to the family based sitcom.
Film making 25/25
Video 25/25
Audio 20/25
Bonus Features 8/25
Total 70/100
Courtney Cox stars as Jules Cobb, a successful realtor who just cannot cope with her life as the wife of a down and out golfer who just cannot take anything serious. Bobby Cobb spent his golf career always one step away from being a somebody on the golf scene but just never really tried to become anybody at anything.
Jules and Bobby were married young and Jules spent her late teens and twenties as a newlywed and young mother but finally divorced when she had enough of Bobby. Bobby can't seem to get his act together and even after divorce still doesn't take life seriously all that much which is a big reason Jules went her separate way, sort of.
The season starts with Jules being the head of the household while Bobby receives the alimony checks and does absolutely nothing for a living. Their teenage son, Travis Cobb played by Dan Byrd, is able to cope with this as he has lived with his father's lack of job skills all his life.
The show walks through Jules' friends, a return to the dating scene and her supposed single life but her ex acts much like they were still married, just not sleeping together. Courtney Cox deals with the dating scene by jumping in and out of bed quickly for the first few men, almost boys, but starts to take her dates more serious as the season moves along.
This is the first series I have reviewed, much less even watched, that is a half hour show when commercials are included so it is a bit different than other series I am used to. The shows running time is about 20 to 21 minutes which really doesn't give much time to open a topic, explore it and have a close to each shows theme that makes sense.
The cast and crew do a good job of quickly and humorously exploring the days topics and at times with serious concern brings the topic to a successful close. The show tackles the wide range of cougar dating which its named after, life after divorce and raising a teenager.
While they do cover these topics some of the more serious topics are taken from a lighter side while others are just downright funny or ridiculous. The show does take a lot of liberties with reality and tackles subjects like dating younger men and the whole cougar dating from a more serious aspect at the beginning.
Other subjects like divorce and especially the relationship between Jules and Bobby are really unbelievable as Bobby takes nothing in life serious, even their divorce. Bobby is much like that surfer dude who lives to have fun all day and party all night.
The series does a good enough job of looking at the relationships, especially with the son and his life of a now broken up family. The comedy part is also well done but not quite over the top or funny enough to be a great show, but it seems at least a second season is worth the effort.
Video for the 24 episodes is pretty good and quite clear without any problems or technical defects, the show has done well with the taping and mostly mixed scenery. The show being a series about relationships and family is filmed in a wide variety of locations including several outdoor scenes around Florida like Bobby's boat.
The boat is not on the water so you get an outdoor scene in some back lot near the ocean which looks good and much of the outdoor scenery is sunny Florida, really nice. Indoor scenes look great with crisp clear video which is also much like the audio, crisp and clear for the good stuff.
Audio is good and without any technical problems for the surround sound from the 5.1 Dolby Digital even though the audio is mostly front and center channel. The conversation and voice is clear from the center speaker and music plus effects are from front and center which is most of the audio.
The rear or side channels are not used much but a few times things came through so the 5.1 surround is used a little bit, just not that much. Mostly the front and center is used for audio and the important parts are clearly there but this is not an outstanding show for surround sound.
Outstanding is not exactly the way to describe anything about Cougar Town but the series has gotten off to a good start, I really like how they quite the cougar dating with the main character quickly. The first couple of episodes were more about the dating younger men but then the show concentrated on the family and relationships Jules is in which is what really works for the series.
Extra features of the season 1 DVD edition has bloopers, commentary, and a few small features but the most extra content is the deleted scenes. The bloopers are less than 2 minutes and commentary and most features are under five so there is not much here for extras.
Bonus content is lacking but what is here is a worthwhile look one time but not much more so the bonus content does not really add up to much. Cougar Town is a good enough show and one that Courtney Cox is well suited to play the central role in with a good supporting cast that takes their work seriously.
While I started out not liking Cougar Town it did grow on me and turned out to be a good comedy more about dealing with divorce than the show's title. Mostly Cougar Town is about dealing with the curves life throws at us whether we're single, married or parents and is well worth a rental to see if you're interested in more.