In the show Cox plays Jules, a single mother in her 40’s, who finds herself back on the singles market faced with the honest truths about dating in a youth and beauty obsessed culture.
Jules’ younger years revolved around being a wife and mother, while her peers were busy navigating the trials and tribulations of dating.
Now single, Jules is ready to embark on the second phase of her life alongside fellow divorcees and singletons – all eager to re-live a time gone by. In her small Floridian town, the Cougars high school football team takes centre stage.
The team are also a constant source of distraction and attraction, for the hordes of divorcees prowling the area on the look out for hot young men. Jules doesn’t want to be one of them, but after an ugly divorce she desperately wants more action in her life. Encouraged to get out there and have some fun by her straight-talking best friend Ellie (Christa Miller, Scrubs), and feisty young assistant Laurie (Busy Philipps, He’s Just Not That Into You, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), Jules re-enters the dating scene.
Straight-talking Ellie is Jules’ unapologetic confidante who lives right next with her average, but loveable husband Andy (Ian Gomez). Also in Jules’ life is ex-husband Bobby (Brian Van Holt), a classic under-achiever who constantly tests her patience as they attempt to raise their teenage son Travis (Dan Byrd); and newly divorced neighbour Grayson (Josh Hopkins), who proves to be the catalyst to Jules’ new approach to dating, and enjoys the double standard belief that men get more adorable with age, while women get ‘ickier’.
On the surface, Jules has a full and accomplished life; she owns a real estate agency, has raised a smart and sweet son, and has loyal friends in Ellie and Laurie. But underneath it all, she’s lonely and acutely aware of her losing battle against the ageing process; with a little extra skin here and a jiggle under the arm there! In an effort to reclaim her youth and ‘war stories’, Jules launches into a predatory hunt around the 20-something-guy circuit and soon starts making up for lost time courtesy of a few steamy encounters.
A relative novice to dating in the noughties, Jules starts to relax and enjoy it, but finds it hard to fit in to her already complicated life. Travis becomes increasingly mortified by his mum’s behaviour, especially when a provocative picture of his mum becomes a prized possession amongst his high-school peers. Ellie on the other hand, sits in moral judgment but secretly admires Jules’ new found autonomy. Jules finds it hard to keep up with Laurie’s partying lifestyle, but is pleasantly surprised when she meets Bobby, a nice young guy who quickly discovers that his older girlfriend still has what it takes…
Cougar Town begins Tuesday 30th March at 9pm