By Dean Robbins
Sex: everything you never wanted to know
Cougar Town’ wallows in perversion
Courteney Cox was one of the funniest actors on “Friends,” one of the funniest sitcoms ever. So how can she be the least funny actress of the new TV season? In “Cougar Town” (Wednesday, 8:30 p.m., ABC) she stars as Jules, a recently divorced 40-year-old who wants to have sex with much younger men, including high school boys her son’s age. Maybe someone could find the laughs in that premise, but not the sleazy producers of “Cougar Town.” They seem to think any punchline is automatically funny if it contains the word “boobs.”
Jules opens her bathrobe to flash a schoolboy passing by on a bicycle. Then she strikes a pornographic pose on a sign for her Realtor business, causing a rash of masturbation among middle school males. When Jules’ son catches her in the act with a young stud, you realize that “Cougar Town” would portray sex with a goat if the producers thought they could sell a few ads around it.
I can’t think of a punchline to end this blurb, so if you’ll please forgive me: Boobs!
‘Mercy’
Wednesday, 7 p.m. (NBC)
Taylor Schilling is striking as Veronica, a nurse who returns to her old hospital job after a horrific tour in Iraq. She powerfully communicates a working-class woman’s frustrations and vulnerability, not to mention the volcanic anger bubbling at the core.
Schilling is a star in the making, but “Mercy” is not a worthy vehicle. The script flings out sickening medical emergencies, dumb comedy and extreme melodrama. That includes lots and lots of sex. Every few seconds, some medical professional grabs a gorgeous nurse passing by for a wild make-out session.
Clearly, I’ve been going to the wrong hospital.CV
‘Modern Families’
Wednesday, 8 p.m. (ABC)
This sitcom follows three unhappy families. We meet a bickering gay couple, a bickering old dude and his Colombian spitfire wife and a bickering husband and wife with quarrelsome kids. I could have told ABC that the incessant nastiness would make for an unpleasant series, and I would have charged much less than their high-priced Hollywood consultant.
Among the clichés, we get the clueless dad (Ty Burrell) who thinks he can “rap” with his kids because he knows their language — for example, that “lol” means “laugh out loud.” His reference to “laugh” was the only time that word crossed my mind during the entire half-hour. CV
