Talk about good timing. The very same day EW.com readers honored Cougar Town’s secret weapon Busy Philipps with an EWwy Award for best supporting actress in a comedy series, I ran into the actress at the 2010 Entertainment Weekly and Women in Film pre-Emmy party! I’ve got two words for you: Acceptance. Speech.
From EW.com
Last night, Busy Philipps was in attendance at the 2010 Entertainment Weekly and Women In Film Pre-Emmy Party in Los Angeles. I have just added 8 HQ and MQ photos of her from the event!
Friends fan Busy Philipps tells us that most of Jennifer Aniston’s Cougar Town scenes are with Courteney Cox.
The DVD set for the complete first season of “Cougar Town” is going to be released on August 17, 2010 and you can watch some preview clips right below!
Make sure you grab your copy of the DVD set when it comes out. 
Back in the spring, I interviewed “Cougar Town” co-creator Bill Lawrence about the creative turnaround that show made over the course of the season. In that interview, Bill said that they had done research showing that the title was a severe turn-off – that some viewers (mostly women) had no interest in watching anything called “Cougar Town,” even though the show had long since stopped being about Courteney Cox trolling for young men. He said he hoped to petition the studio and ABC into agreeing to a title change before season two.
Last Friday, though, Lawrence told Michael Ausiello that the name change wasn’t happening, so when I saw Bill at ABC’s party last night, I had to get him to elaborate on the subject…
So what’s this I hear about you keeping the terrible title of your show?
Oh, dude. The only title I could think of that was any better was “Stay tuned for more ‘Modern Family,’” which would’ve crushed. “After this commercial break. We would’ve had to nail it to change it. And we didn’t come up with anything. We couldn’t use anything with the word “friends,” because it would seem like we were pandering. They made some good points, which is that branding of a show matters. Eventually you can overcome a shitty title. It may be the worst-titled show of all time, but it’s a fun burden to overcome. DVRs, you’d have to reprogram with a new title. That’s like 30, 40 people we’d lose right there with their season passes. I’d have to call them all personally.
The truth is, we never nailed anything we really dug that would make that wholesale change worthwhile. So now we’re wearing it like a badge of courage.
You couldn’t have even just gone with “The Courteney Cox Show”? It’s more than that now, but it wouldn’t be a turn-off.
It’s not good enough. It would have had to blow those guys away – because they researched all our suggestions – to make it worth changing. Here’s the double-edged sword, which I find interesting. Classic network television story, when they wanted to put a laugh track on “M*A*S*H.” Larry Gelbart did a test where he tested it with laughs and he tested it without, and he went to those guys and said, “Look, people responded the same way whether there were fake laughs in it or not.” And the network said, “Well, great. Then we’ll keep the laughs.”
In the same vein, the network and studio are actively considering it. The story is out there that I fucked up the title, and we were actively searching for a change. I just care if it remains exclusionary. Who gives a shit? We’ll call it “C-Town,” but that actually sounds worse.
Yeah, that’s almost dirtier.
Someone was suggesting “The Family Jules,” and I’m like, “Why not just call the show ‘Balls’? ‘Nutsack’? There’s no win.” But if I could go back in time, it would be “The Courteney Cox Show.”
From Hit Fix
Last night, Busy Philipps was photographed at the ABC Summer TCA Party in Los Angeles and I have just added 34 pictures from the event!
Born Elizabeth Jean Philipps, Busy was given her unusual nick-name from her parents as an infant because she never stopped moving around, it stuck, and after meeting her at the Monte Carlo Television Festival it’s very clear why! Another thing that took me by surprise as I pulled up a chair beside the bubbly, blonde actress was her slim, athletic frame, but I guess appearing alongside the pint-sized Courteney Cox in the hit comedy Cougar Town would give anyone the impression that they’re bigger than they are. Sporting a bright sherbet-orange strapless dress, the mother-of-one, who once worked the toy-fair circuit as a real-life Barbie is a picture of health and happiness.
“I’m into it”, she beams, when I asked about her relationship with fashion.
“My credit card statement would rather if I wasn’t but I do love shopping, however having my baby has put the kibosh on it a little bit.”
Two years ago, Busy, who is married to screen-writer Marc Silverstein gave birth to their first child, a little girl, called Birdie. When it came to loosing the baby-weight, she is refreshingly open, by Hollywood standards, when she admits that she found it a difficult task.
“I think it all depends on how much weight you gain when you’re pregnant. If you happen to be an actress who gains twenty pounds then I imagine you could be out in a slinky black dress in a month, but if you happen to be an actress like myself who gained eighty pounds it takes a little bit longer,” she says with her attention-grabbing laugh.
“I went through a real period after my baby was born when I was over-weight that I thought I would just wear jeans and a t-shirt for the rest of my life – no more fashion for me. But I remember when I still had about twenty pounds to go but I had lost a huge amount of weight and I went to a party and one of my friends from L.A said ‘She’s back!’”
Despite her humorous approach to the topic of weight, on a more serious note, the actress revealed that she was actually discounted for a role, prior to Cougar Town, because she hadn’t shed the pounds.
“I actually didn’t get another job because I hadn’t lost all the baby weight, which I guess is just part of the deal. They want you to look a certain way and if you don’t that’s it. I mean that was hard for me, but ultimately it worked out, and I don’t think I was ready to go back to work then anyway.”
Now having the last laugh, Busy is riding high as Courteney Cox’s gal pal and assistant Laurie Keller in Cougar Town. Cox plays divorced mother and real estate agent Jules Cobb, who is trying to get back into the dating world. Philipps is the younger, party hearty friend helping her get her groove back. Ultimately the two get into all sorts of mischief along the way. This scenario is a major turn for Philipps, who is enjoying co-starring on a brand new series after years of playing solid supporting roles.
“Courteney Cox sets the bar really high for the rest of us,” says Busy sincerely.
“She’s just so lovely, funny, sweet and incredibly generous. I remember when I got the show another actress friend of mine was being snotty about it and said ‘well how are you ever going to be allowed be funny on that show because Courteney is the lead.’ And that’s just not the case, she wants everyone to shine in their own way.”
And shine they have, the show has recently been picked up for a second season and there’s now talk of changing its name as the producer don’t feel it reflects the direction the show’s taken and Busy agrees.
“I feel like people already have it in their minds as Cougar Town. So I think changing the title is tricky. But I also get it because I don’t think the show is indicative of the title. I believe something else would suit it better, but I don’t know how that would work. Thankfully, I don’t work for the network.”
So with everything, it seems, shining as brightly for Busy as the Monte Carlo sunshine, could life get any better?
“I feel incredible blessed to be having the career that I have now and have my daughter in my life too”, she smiles
“If you have to be a working mom, being an actress on a TV show is not a bad gig.”
From RTÉ
