Why hasn’t Michelle Williams done a guest spot with her bestie Busy Philipps on Cougar Town?

You think it would have happened by now.

So what’s taking so long?

“This is not a joke—we can give [Cougar Town cocreator] Bill Lawrence all the s–t we want for it,” Philipps said at last night’s Hooray for Hollygrove event presented by Juicy Couture at the Hollywood Museum. “At the beginning of the show, in the first season, I told him, ‘My friend Michelle Williams wants to guest star on the show.’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’ And they never did anything with it!

“And then she was nominated for her third Academy Award and they’re like, ‘Hey, maybe one of your friends would wanna…?’” she continued. “I said, ‘I told you season one that she would do it! You lost her now to the third Academy Award nomination.’”

That doesn’t mean it’s a lost cause. Philipps said it “would be amazing” to work on the show with Williams.

“It would be great,” she said. “I want her to play my bookish sister who hates me.”

Sounds good to us.

EOnline.com

Busy Philipps is a different kind of busy right now. The actress, who is coming off a hectic awards season that saw her support BFF Michelle Williams on nearly every red carpet in town, is currently on a rare break from her full acting schedule, so she’s transitioning back to being a full-time wife and mother. And she couldn’t be happier.

Wonderwall caught up with the “Cougar Town” star on March 13 in Santa Monica, Calif., where she was schmoozing with actress pals Kate Mara, Emma Roberts and Mena Suvari while toasting designer Tracy Reese’s debut with winemaker Clos du Bois, a new picnic basket line called Chic Piqnique. We asked Philipps about her newfound hiatus, her plans to have more kids, and the possibility that she may co-star with Williams again.

Wonderwall: You’re out for lunch on a weekday by the beach! What brings you out to Santa Monica?

Busy Philipps: I’ve been such a huge fan of Tracy [Reese] for years, and I have her clothes and I love her style, so when I heard she was having this event, it was like, “Wine and Tracy Reese? I’m on board!”

WW: Are you working right now?

BP: For the first time in a very long time, I’m off from work, which is intense. We finished shooting our season of “Cougar Town,” which airs Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m., and then I finished doing a movie in New York with Justin Long and Evan Rachel Wood and Keir O’Donnell called “A Case of You.” And now I’m looking for another movie or something to fill my days with. But you know, having a kid and a house that hasn’t been tended to in 10 months is gonna take a lot of time.

WW: Are those your priorities right now?

BP: Yes, organizing, spring cleaning and trips to Goodwill. All that stuff that I put off while I was shooting the show and making the movie. And picking up my kid at school and taking her to the park and art classes and all that fun stuff.

WW: Your daughter, Birdie, is getting so big!

BP: Yes, she’s 3-and-a-half.

WW: Any major milestones lately?

BP: When they hit 3, then the milestones kind of stop and each day they are progressively more just a kid — just more and more grown-up. Today she made us take the baby locks off the doors downstairs in the kitchen because she wanted to get her own bowl. She said, “Mama, I’m not a baby. I’m going to get my own bowl.” So we took them off and she got her own little cereal bowl.

WW: Do you pause and think, “My baby is growing up”?

BP: No, you know, I do have moments of nostalgia already for her babydom, but now I find that it is so incredible to watch a kid grow, because it does happen so quickly. Every cliche that parents repeat is true and I understand why they say it.

WW: Does she ask about siblings?

BP: She sort of mentions it, but when we explain to her that it means that she will have to share things, then she quickly recants and says she will be fine with just her cousins and her friends.

WW: And what does her mother say?

BP: I’m not craving another kid. I always thought I would have several children, but now that I have one, I’m like, “I’m good! I’m good for right now!” I’m still young, so I have time. I had her young, so there’s more time.

WW: Let’s talk about awards season. You and Michelle [Williams] were the darlings of the red carpet.

BP: That was so weird, right? (laughs)

WW: And you both always looked so fabulous. Do you have any plans to work together again? [They previously worked on "Dawson's Creek"]

BP: We talk about it all the time. My husband [Marc Silverstein] and his writing partner are sort of constantly thinking of ideas for us. We would love to do some sort of film together, and Harvey Weinstein says that he’s ready to do it! But I don’t know what it would be. We haven’t figured it out yet. We don’t talk about work all the time, but we know that it would be super fun to spend three months together working on something. So yeah, we hope so.

MSN.com

Cougar Town star Busy Phillips is partnering with for the next “Doing A Little Good” Boutique – a special two-day sale (starts March 1) hosted by the actress offering members and fans access to exclusive hand-selected merchandise. In turn, Rue La La is donating to Busy’s charity of choice, , in her name.

“Step Up is an organization that does two things simultaneously,” Busy opened up and shared with Celebrity Baby Scoop. “It puts professional women in a mentoring position with underserved teen girls, helping them to achieve their own goals. And it also puts like-minded professional women in contact with each other, helping to advance women all across the board.”

When asked about her fashion icons, Busy replied, “Carrie Bradshaw, for sure. Alexa Chung is so cute and vibrant and hip; I can’t dress like her much because that’s not really my style, but I love seeing what she wears,” Busy said. “I always think Nicole Richie looks amazing and tries out different looks. Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, and of course, my friend Michelle Williams.”

We recently saw Busy and her BFF Michelle Williams radiate the red carpet at the Academy Awards. Do they every swap clothes?

Share clothes?! I WISH I was her size!,” Busy said. “She’s teeny tiny all around. Plus I’m like 4 inches taller than her. But I try to more compliment her choices on the red carpet. I mean, if you’re someone’s date and you know you’ll be photographed together, you don’t want to clash! But obviously, she always chooses her dress first- I mean, SHE’S the one up for an award!”

And it sounds like Busy’s 3-year-old daughter Birdie is following in her stylish mama’s footsteps.

She is at an age where she likes to have a say in what she wears,” Busy shared. “But you know, I think because both my husband and I are somewhat stylish dressers, she generally makes good decisions. The hardest part with her is the dreaded jacket/sweater conversation! She HATES wearing them but also hates to be cold. It can be frustrating in the mornings.”

The proud mama went on to share that she loves “everything” about her sweet girl.

I actually LOVE just sitting with her and having frozen yogurt or something and talking,” Busy said. “She says such amazing things – I know I should be writing them down but I always forget to do that. I like taking her to LACMA and the Science Museum here. She’s a really special kid.”

When asked if she sees herself in her only child, the actress replied, “Yes and no. I see my husband in her a lot,” Busy said. “She makes really animated faces, though, which is sooo me! We have the same scowl. She’s also got a really weird sense of humor- which I think she gets from both of us!”

For more information, go to to support Busy’s “Doing A Little Good” Boutique (starts March 1). In connection with the Boutique, Rue La La will be making a donation in Busy’s name.

CelebrityBabyScoop.com

It isn’t always the big events that make us turn our head when we hear about politicians, celebrities and athletes.

Sometimes, we just want to know that when you boil it down, they’re all ordinary people like us.

What’s in their fridge? What are they reading? What do they do in their off time? ABC15.com is asks the same 10 questions of a newsmaker. But don’t jump to any conclusions; these aren’t the typical interview questions.

They are not meant to be probing or controversial. Instead, they’re fun questions that let you get to know the person in ways you probably don’t already.

This week, we’re getting to know actress Busy Philipps.

She is probably best known for her roles on the TV series “Freaks and Geeks” and “Dawson’s Creek.” She’s also appeared in several major motion pictures and currently stars on ABC’s “Cougar Town.”

Philipps isn’t exactly a new face in the Valley, she attended Chapparal High School and even worked at a popular Scottsdale restaurant!

Check out some of the other things you may not know about the star…

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Busy Philipps doesn’t just have a cult following; she has at least four of them. Though the effusive blonde actress insists that it’s luck and not discerning taste — “I audition for everything, all the shit,” she assures us — her résumé is stacked with TV shows that inspire fervid devotion among fans, from the beloved-in-retrospect Freaks and Geeks to the Zeitgeist-defining Dawson’s Creek. As Courteney Cox’s crafty-but-scatterbrained sidekick Laurie Keller on Cougar Town, Busy has taken things to a new level: Her character has inspired countless animated GIFs, YouTube clips, and an in-character Twitter account (@thelarmy) with more than 30,000 followers. Off set, Philipps is the mother of a 3-year-old and nothing like scatterbrained Laurie. We spoke with her ahead of tonight’s long awaited season-three premiere of Cougar Town about what’s in store for Laurie, showing off her moles, and getting dissed on Dawson’s Creek.

There was this moment of panic across the Internet when both Cougar Town and Community didn’t have return dates.
I know, how sad! All they needed was to yank Parks and Rec for there to be some sort of mass suicide pact online.

Did you have flashbacks to Freaks and Geeks?
That was a crash course in the helplessness of being on a network TV show, because back then, we were on everyone’s “must-watch” list — and I’m not kidding when I say I think I saw one ad for it. One. In the entire run of the show. It is really frustrating, and as an actor it’s something that you have to come to terms with. I’m an actor who works, and a lot of this is luck for me, that I get to be a part of really great shows that have these cult followings.

You do have quite a track record.
It’s surely by accident, because I audition for everything, all the shit. Well, I’m a little bit pickier now, but back in the day — certainly, with Freaks and Geeks, that was pure dumb luck that I got on that show and not one of the other 400 terrible teen shows that were around that same time. And then I went on to do sort of a terrible teen show! [Laughs.]

What can you tell us about what’s happening with Laurie in season three?
She’s really grown up in these three years. I’m really proud of her! Laurie starts a business in Gulf Haven, and it’s surprisingly successful. She starts to have a real relationship with a man via Twitter and Skype, who is played by the adorable Edwin Hodge. And he’s stationed in Afghanistan, in the army.

In the two episodes I previewed, you’re wearing the same shirt in both episodes. Is there some kind of hidden meaning to that?
Anybody who works with me knows this: I always repeat wardrobe in my characters. We’re trying to play real people. I think it was last season where people online were tweeting at me, “Why are you always wearing that yellow belt?” And I was like, “Durrr, because it’s Laurie’s favorite belt! Why do you think? She f-ing loves that belt. She got it at Claire’s Accessories, and she wants to wear it all the time!”

I’m going to ask you a question and you don’t have to answer it —
Is it about Michelle [Williams]?

No! But I do have one of those, so now that you mention it, I’ll get it out of the way. I saw some really adorable pictures of you two celebrating after the Golden Globes. So in my head, your supporting role during awards season is like maid of honor. Is that accurate?
[Laughs.] You’re totally right. I have the emergency kit in my purse that has double-sided tape and Tylenol, and a small energy bar. I’m the one that has an extra lip gloss just in case. I mean, look: I think the reason why people are interested in our friendship now is only because I’m a little more visible than I was five years ago, when I accompanied her to literally every awards show for Brokeback Mountain. It’s funny to us. We just love each other and we’re really good friends and we happen to have the same job, you know? Similar jobs. I mean, Michelle’s not on Cougar Town.

Sadly.
Sadly, I know. I remember I pitched her the first season, and I really didn’t get much traction from the group on it! Like, “All right, well, forget it. I’m not gonna call in that favor!”

You talked a little about the weirdness of going from Freaks and Geeks to Dawson’s Creek. Looking back, how do you compare those experiences?
Freaks and Geeks was a show where our individuality was really celebrated. Linda [Cardellini] and I were told by executive producers, “Please don’t lose weight, don’t change your bodies, don’t do anything weird to your faces.” I had been told early on by a [different] producer — this is no joke — that I should have all of my moles removed. And really, the thought is so fucking ludicrous. So I would have scars instead of black spots on my body? Now that I’m a wiser, older human, when I do photo shoots, I specifically say, “Please do not airbrush my moles out.” Because they will do it, to make you homogenized.

Sorry, got off track. I do that. So I went from a show where our individuality was really celebrated and our input was encouraged, and we were encouraged to improvise, and Judd [Apatow] or Paul [Feig] would often say, “You guys know what this is about. Why don’t you guys just do the scene and say the things you want to say?” And sometimes that would make it into the show and sometimes it wouldn’t. But it was just the feeling that our voices counted.

And then I went to Dawson’s Creek, which is a show that was, for better or for worse, all about the language. It was a word-perfect show, which I’d never had any experience with. And it was really shocking for me. I felt really hemmed in. At the time, it wasn’t my favorite working experience. And here I was with six people who had been catapulted to stardom because of their show, and I was coming from a show where all we wanted was ten more viewers. It was a really different experience. And that being said, I enjoy watching Freaks and Geeks more. As a person, that’s more my sensibility anyway than Dawson’s Creek; I wasn’t a watcher of Dawson’s Creek before I got the part. I also felt — which is something that I talk about in therapy all the time, because I always feel disrespected — but they left my character Audrey out of the series finale and my feelings were really hurt. On top of everything else, I felt like I had done 44 episodes of the show, and then they didn’t even want me in the series finale? I just felt like no one particularly cared about me. And in fact, I remember at one point somebody referencing us as “talking props.” As an actor, not the best feeling! It’s like, you’re just so easily replaceable, we can literally put anybody in your place and they can just do what you do, because you just have to stick to the script, hit your mark, and say your lines. But it was also a good learning experience! And you know, I met my BFF. You get things out of every job.

Vulture.com

“Cougar Town” finally returns to ABC tonight at 8:30. As I wrote about yesterday, the show has come a long way from its early days when its horrible title could be taken fairly literally. It’s now a goofy, sweet, quirky, fun and at times incredibly romantic comedy about friends and family.

Tonight’s premiere leans heavy on both the goof and the romance, which is either brilliant or horrible timing given that it’s Valentine’s Day. In terms of timing, though, the larger problem may be that the show has been off the air for almost nine months, which means all but the most passionate fans — or people who didn’t delete their DVR season pass(*) — may have forgotten it existed by now.

(*) As mentioned in last week’s story, those season passes are the reason the show won’t abandon the terrible title, because an old show with a new title would be treated as a new show by DVRs, and it wouldn’t record for anyone who didn’t know to update things.

ABC left the Courteney Cox comedy off its fall schedule, then bumped it from a planned mid-season debut a couple of months ago, which is tough sledding for a show that will be airing for the first time without the security of “Modern Family” as its lead-in. To keep the fans engaged during the long time off — and to keep the actors and writers from feeling too disconnected from their audience — the show’s creators Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel mounted a multi-level guerrilla marketing campaign, that included cameos by most of the cast in the background of other shows and a series of screenings of season 3 episodes in cities around the country. (I talked with both Lawrence and Biegel about the campaign at press tour.)

One of those screenings was in Chicago, where co-star Busy Philipps and writer Melody Derloshon represented the series. Last month, before ABC announced the show’s premiere date, I spoke with Philipps about the screening, making these episodes in a vacuum, and the show’s optimistic approach to her dim-witted character, Laurie.

What was Chicago like?

Busy Philipps: It was epic. It was really epic. I got wasted. I gave an interview wasted with lots of expletives. I called Bill Lawrence a bleeping rock star, which he is. The fans were amazing. We had a really good time there with Melody and we just had a blast and it was so fun to get to watch the show in a crowd of people who are so excited for it to come back and couldn’t wait to see them. It was great.

What has it been like making the show in a vacuum this year?

Busy Philipps: That’s what I’ve been describing it as. You’re funny. I mean it’s true. It is what it is, but it has been hard. It’s a little difficult. I was saying to my sister over Christmas I bought Kevin Biegel this vintage Danish wine glass that came on a lanyard that hangs around your neck and I was like, “Leigh Ann, you know the episode of ‘Cougar Town’ when we’re all wearing the necklaces?” And my sister said, “What are you talking about?” “Did you know from last season when we all had the necklaces with the wine?” “What?” No, she had obviously no point of reference for that. So it was a little bit of a bummer and I have no point of reference, but people haven’t seen it.

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After a very long hiatus, Cougar Town finally returns to the small screen tonight for what is sure to be another season of big laughs and memorable moments.

In preparation for the show’s season 3 premiere (8:30PM ET on ABC), Busy Philipps chatted with Celebuzz about what we can expect from her character, Laurie, this year.

We also talked about what it’s like to be on the awards scene with her real-life best friend and former Dawson’s Creek costar, Michelle Williams, who is nominated for an Oscar this year for My Week With Marilyn. Has Busy picked out her Oscar dress yet? What does her daughter, Birdie, think of her awards show fashions? And more importantly, what’s the deal with the cash bar at the Oscars?

Cougar Town didn’t get an official premiere date until last month. Were you all worried that it might not come back at all?
We weren’t worried, because we were always assured by ABC that they loved the show, that they’re supportive of the show and that they were just trying to figure out where it made sense [on their schedule]. Personally, I was a little bummed when it didn’t come back in the fall. Then, we were just waiting, and waiting and waiting and it just felt like our premiere date was never coming. But now I think this February 14th [premiere date] is the best time for the show to relaunch, or premiere. The first episode of the season is so sweet and romantic and it just seems kind of appropriate.

Has there been any talk of a fourth season yet?
I think [ABC] wants to see how the ratings do for us this year. That’s why [series creator] Bill Lawrence has been so proactive about all of these different viewing parties, and reaching out to our fanbase and doing sort of his own guerilla publicity for the show. We got an email from him when we got the airdate, just saying, “Guys, any and all press, I want you to do it! Let’s go for it. Let’s really make this happen.” We all took it to heart, and we want the show to last, too. Our fans are so invested in the show. We want it to stay on the air for them!

Bill recently released a highlight reel of season 3, during which we find out that Laurie and Ellie are both Jules’ (Courteney Cox) maid of honor. What happens there?
It’s interesting. It doesn’t seem like Jules really wants Laurie to be her maid of honor [Laughs]. But she also doesn’t want to hurt Laurie’s feelings, so she just sort of does it. It’s a good arc to the season. The whole wedding stuff is fun, and it doesn’t take over [the show]; it’s not the whole year. It’s not like you’re going to be watching a show about a wedding … It’s basically [at] the beginning and the end of the season, and then all the stuff in between is regular Cougar Town hijinks.

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