Cougar Town has some very funny lines, many salacious and others that lose their meaning taken out of context. But don’t be fooled by the laughter.   This is a comedy with a very serious subtext.

    Courteney Cox plays Jules Cobb, a recently divorced, 40-ish woman left alone with prime responsibility for raising her son.  The show opens with Cobb taking stock of her attributes, and like the rest of the economy the stock has plummeted.  Her arms flap in a strong wind, her belly hangs just a bit over her pants and if she pulls the skin of her face back, she can almost see herself 20 years earlier.

    Cobb quit college to support her golfer husband while he was on tour, and now what does she have left?

    Did I mention that this was a comedy with many funny lines?  Jules doesn’t “want to become someone I made fun of,” but the pickings are slim.  Men her own age are married, gay or disgusting.  Older men want much younger women.  And who does that leave?

    Cox is ably supported by Busy Philipps as Eleanor, a co-worker who encourages her to go out and have fun with people regardless of their age, and Christa Miller as Ellie, a woman with a sarcastic mouth and a reasonably happy marriage.

    “I promised my husband we’d start having sex once a month without it having to be a quickie and the bastard actually called me on it,” she says.

    The show is so good that you quickly overcome your amazement at the fact that Cox may have trouble getting a date -- even at her age.

     Jules meets a younger guy and they become an item and she even discovers joy in doing something she told her former husband she didn’t like. (You’ll have to see the show for that one.)

    But it is a joy to be offered laughs and something to think about at the same time.  ★★★★☆ -- Curt Schleier

    Cougar Town airs Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. on ABC.

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