Courteney Cox Gives Dignity to Cougar-ism

The fall season openers continue, and last night I chose to watch Courteney Cox's new show "Cougar Town" on ABC (9:30 p.m.).

Cox plays Jules, a recently divorced Florida real-estate broker with a teenage son. Having been to Florida, I can definitely say the cougar culture there is alive and well. I honestly thought at one point, oh, they're in Florida: good choice.

While I was skeptical in the first five minutes, thinking that Cox had simply gone back to Monica acting, after getting into the episode, I found her funny, charming and not unlike a lot of women in their 40's facing singledom (although the beginning scene where she picks and pulls at her nearly flawless body was a little exasperating). Having married young, Jules is somewhat clueless on how to get herself out there, but receives pointers from her younger friend Laurie (Busy Philips), while maintaining an older friend who lives vicariously (the very funny Christa Miller).

SPOILER ALERT: Cox gets lucky, though with somewhat of an embarrassing outcome. I particularly enjoyed the scenes with Cox and her son Travis, played by Dan Byrd. Survey says: excellent pilot with room for lots of laughs. I say tune in.