Thankfully, I’m not the only one who thinks Cougar Town is one of the worst names for a television show, ever. I’m also not the only one who refused to get on board when it hit the TV waves, because it sounded like a show about an exorbitant amount of sexed up 40-somethings trolling the town in inappropriately small — and probably glitter-covered — halter tops in hopes of scoring hot young men. The show, however is nothing like that and fans and creators alike have been calling for a name change since the show proved its worth.
This journey towards a potential name-change has been going on for a year, but to no avail. The show of course, mocks its own silly title, but never actually took the risk of legitimately renaming itself. Creator Bill Lawrence (he was also behind Scrubs and Spin City), however, seems to have had enough. He recently tweeted his plan to switch the name for the next season if co-creator, Kevin Biegel, is “cool w it.” The creators seem to have the support of actors Busy Phillips and Christa Miller (as evidenced on Twitter), and of course a few fans.
It is, however, a very risky move. How would viewers recognize it? ABC would have to do some serious leg work promoting the show’s new title to make sure viewers weren’t confused or unaware of the change. Granted, fans of the show tend to be very dedicated, so it probably wouldn’t turn out badly. Plus, if it works, there’s the added benefit of gaining viewers who were alienated by the original title. I can tell you what, my parents are a hell of a lot more likely to schedule in something like “C-Town” or “Friends With Beverages” (which are some fan-suggested titles) than they are for something called Cougar Town. Apparently, some fans were upset by all this name change talk, but Lawrence has got the research to back that exact theory up. Ratings are down (2.0 share on average) and research shows that people aren’t tuning in in large part thanks to…(drumroll) THE NAME. Lawrence also remarked on Twitter that cancellation is likely if ratings don’t improve, so if you ask me, a name change at this point is probably a risk worth taking. When your ratings are that low, you’ve really got nothing to lose.
