Video: Busy Philipps on Jennifer Aniston’s Cougar Town Cameo
Friends fan Busy Philipps tells us that most of Jennifer Aniston’s Cougar Town scenes are with Courteney Cox.
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
Busy Philipps has described her Cougar Town co-star Courteney Cox as “incredibly open”.
Speaking to the Daily Record, Philipps explained that Cox has taught her a lot during the time they have worked together.
“Comedically, you can’t buy the kind of experience she got when she was on Friends,” she said. “But seeing how she brings that into her producing of the show too, how she’s very hands-on and how that works for her, has been really rewarding and informing.”
Philipps continued: “She’s not just a producer on our show in title only. She give script notes, she’s in the editing room all the time, she’s always watching cuts of the show.”
However, Philipps explained that she feels comfortable working with Cox even though the star also produces the programme.
“When we’re working together as actors, we’re just working together as actors,” she said. “She’s more of a creative producer, more that than a cracking the whip type. She’s an incredibly open person. I think because she was such a big part of such a big show for years, she decided she couldn’t hide anything, because it would come out anyway.”
From Digital Spy
Busy was interviewed by CineTVBuzz at the Monte Carlo Television Festival – you can watch the interviews below.
Busy Philipps and Josh Hopkins have admitted that they don’t know whether the name of their show Cougar Town should be changed.
Executive producer Bill Lawrence has previously revealed that he is thinking of altering the title to reflect how the series has evolved.
“I don’t know if I think it’s a good idea or a bad idea,” Philipps told DS. “I think it’s an interesting idea. And I get it, because the title Cougar Town is not indicative of what the show is at the moment.”
However, Hopkins suggested that fans are used to the current name, saying: “It’s been branded. It’s Cougar Town. They put a lot of time and effort into calling it Cougar Town. But in another regard, it’s misleading. I believe that it’s limited – some people don’t want to watch a show called Cougar Town. They just assume it’s one thing that it’s not.”
The duo agreed that some viewers will refuse to watch the programme because of its current name.
“I don’t know about in the UK but in America a lot of people don’t like the term cougar,” Hopkins said. “They don’t find it funny, or it’s played out, it’s old. And I think they’ve done studies that showed some people will not watch the show because it’s called Cougar Town. And because it’s not really about that, I wouldn’t mind seeing them change the name.”
From Digital Spy