A quick, late-in-the-day review of last night's "Cougar Town" coming up just as soon as I go to an underpass to buy fish and sports coats... After a start of the season where the male characters were clearly generating more laughs than the female ones, "Cougar Town" had achieved some comedy gender equality in more recent episodes. Unfortunately, "All the Wrong Reasons" felt more like one of those earlier outings. Busy Philipps will never not be funny (particularly as Laurie took us closer than ever to meeting the horror show that is Dale), but the Jules and Ellie storyline was pretty flat and predictable.
(Though even there, in fairness, I had a good laugh at Jules stopping to pick up the garbage can that Ellie tipped over during their foot chase.)
The guy stuff, unsurprisingly, still worked, even if they re-used the photo montage gag(*) - and the larger joke about the price you pay for partying in your 40s like you're still in your 20s - from "Into the Great Wide Open" (which was itself kind of cribbed from "The Hangover"). The guys still have great chemistry, and it was funny to watch Bobby and Andy horrifying Grayson with their keg-pumping routine, Andy waking up in can jail and Grayson discovering "Seacrest Out" written on his torso.
(*) As happened last time, the tall black cop in the photo montage was played by Bill Lawrence's longtime producing partner Randall Winston, who has lent his name to a character or institution on every one of Lawrence's shows. In this case, we meet Jules and Ellie's elderly neighbors, the Winstons.
"Cougar Town" has been on such a good streak of late that I'm not too concerned by an episode that feels like a regression. Every show gets a mulligan now and again.
What did everybody else think?