Series / Cougar Town

Cougar Town is a TBS sitcom, created by Bill Lawrence and starring Friends' Courteney Cox. Previously, it ran for three seasons on ABC.

The show initially centered around Jules Cobb (Cox), a newly divorced 40-year-old mother who tries to get back into the dating game after being out of it for 18 years. However, after roughly five or six episodes, this premise was dropped.

Since then, the show has mostly focused on the various shenanigans Jules and her odd group of friends and family get into, such as her snarky best friend Ellie (Christa Miller), her ditzy younger colleague Laurie (Busy Philipps), her eccentric ex-husband Bobby (Brian Van Holt), her teenage son and Only Sane Man Travis (Dan Byrd), her UST-ridden single neighbor Grayson (Josh Hopkins) and Ellie's husband and Bobby's bromantic best friend Andy (Ian Gomez). Their adventures range from morning drinking, to the glorious game of Penny Can, to a massive drop-everything $2,000 balloon chase that spans multiple episodes.

Can be considered a bit of a Spiritual Successor to Scrubs, in overall tone, humor, and penchant for amazing musical selections. This isn't surprising—Bill Lawrence served as creator and executive producer of both, and both feature his wife (Miller).

Each episode has two or three plots and sub-plots, some only given 2 minutes or so. While it is surrounded with tropes, the "deadbeat dad" tends to be rather wise (and is at times credited by the other characters as a better parent than the over-involved mom) and the loser son also is not that much of a loser.

TBS picked up the show in 2013 for a fourth season shortly after ABC cancelled it and renewed it for two more seasons. They apologize for the title.^note Compilation of Title gags are in the Quotes Page

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Cougar Town features examples of:

• Aborted Arc: Spoofed with the "Andy as mayor" arc. In season it's mentioned in one or two episodes, but it's completely overlooked for several season 4 episodes, until he finds out he ran, won and has been mayor for a month being none the wiser.
• Abusive Parents:
  • Laurie's mother is the emotionally abusive kind. She made Laurie feel like her father leaving them was Laurie's fault and only shows up in her daughter's life when she wants a favor.
  • In "Wake Up Time", Jules mentions her mother making her feel very insecure about her body as a kid.
• Afraid of Doctors: Chick, because at his age they're sure to find something wrong with him. This turns out to be prophetic, because when he does go he's diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Turns out he went to see the same doctor the month before, but had forgotten...
• All Just a Dream: Ellie dreamt that she and Jules killed Andy and buried him in the backyard. As Ellie and Jules are about to kiss...
  Andy opens the door covered with dirt and holding an axe
  Andy: You think you can get away with it, did you?!
  [Ellie wakes up]
  Ellie: [Pushes a sleeping Andy] You ruin everything!
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: When Grayson loses his temper and punches a hole in the wall, Jules discovers that his anger really turns her on. She knows it's not healthy, but she can barely keep her hands off him for the rest of the episode.
  Jules: I understand why some women stay with murderers... [stroking his face] I would...
• Almost Kiss: Laurie and Travis keep trying to have a First Kiss in the two-part Season Four finale "Don't Fade On Me" and "Have Love Will Travel", but things keep getting in the way.
• Always a Bigger Fish: Jules' mean skin doctor (played by Lisa Kudrow) is this to Ellie. She avoids eye contact and speaks in a low voice when in front of her
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Jules and Bobby take turns at this.
  '[[Jules drives Travis to school and everyone is looking at them...
  Jules: I'm guessing the kid I flashed goes to your school
  Jules: [Beat] Is he single?

• Amicable Exes: Jules and Bobby.
• Anti-Climax: Typically, shows will end with some sort of confrontation or right in the midst of that season's climax. Very few follow this series style of resolving every single major conflict and leaving no unanswered questions for next season...
  • Series Fauxnale: A possible example–what with the series' relative obscurity, it was somewhat up in the air as to whether or not it would be renewed.
• Answer Cut: The ladies ask Jules how did she find space to have a new master bathroom. Cue Travis' entering his smaller room shouting "Balls!"
  • The ladies wondering why Andy knows Zac Efron's birthday
  Ellie: [asleep with Andy awake next to her] Mrs. Zac Efron...
• Artifact Title: Even the show knows this and mocks it several tiles:
  • The title gag on a Christmas Episode? "All I want for Christmas is a new title".
  • Their episode after New Years with the resolutions "Embrace our stupid title & lose six pounds".
  • And shortly followed after that in "Lost Children", in which Barb stops Jules and comments that she use to be one of them (a cougar). Jules replies that that's not her any more and dryly snarks that maybe she should just change her name. Same episode then has the title gag be "Do we have to do this joke forever?"
  • In Season 2's finale, the title lasted twice as long, shooting through Florida, over California, and to Hawaii, where the line was "We'll never stop making fun of the name-"
  • Season 3 begins with: "It's still called" above Cougar Town followed with "Yeah, we're not happy about it either." below.
  • In the season 3 episode "Ways To Be Wicked" when Travis and his housemate Sig wonder why there is a statue of a cougar at their college ("nothing around here has anything to do with cougars!")
  • The first episode has the local highschool mascot as a cougar and the football team bursts through a paper banner which reads: Welcome to Cougartown. Other than the initial intention for Jules to be a cougar prowling for younger men, this seems to be the only connection left (not that it ever comes up again).
  • The title finally gets changed to Sunshine State... on the last episode of the show.
• Ashes to Crashes: When Bobby scatters his father's ashes on a roller-coaster, he unfortunately sits on the front of the car, resulting in the gang being covered in Grandpappy Cobb's remains.
• Attack of the Town Festival: In "The Trip To Pirate's Cove", Bobby claims to have been attacked by jellyfish just as the town's Buccaneer Week is set to start.
• Attending Your Own Funeral:
  • Laurie fakes her death and attends a candlelight tribute her erstwhile sorority stages. Except she accidentally yells at one of them out loud and has to run away.
  • In "Last Dance With Mary Jane" this is Jules' birthday wish, to be at her own funeral and hear what her friends really think of her. Grayson engineers a plot to have Jules think everyone's leaving and have them say how they feel about her, thus getting her wish without the funeral part.
• Authority in Name Only: Andy when he becomes mayor. Aside from attending a meeting every six months, he does nothing except cut the ribbon at openings (his first is for a bicycle rack). Taken to such an extreme that he doesn't even realize he won the mayoral race for about a month until a random side character mentions it to him. His campaigning for mayor could also count as an Aborted Arc, it's a big deal to him for all of one episode (mainly because Jules needed him to win so he could authorize a permit for her) then it isn't mentioned again until he finds out he already won.
• Beach Episode: The first Season Finale ends with the characters having a "no-couples-allowed" beach party.
• Beautiful All Along: Subverted with Riggs in the fourth season.
• Becoming the Mask: In "Waiting For Tonight", Ellie gets tired of hearing Laurie's Leet Speak as she dictates her tweets, so she posts them for her. Soon Ellie is stuck speaking Laurie's slang, even thinking as her. Grayson saw this during his acting days and calls it "going the full Daniel Day-Lewis."
• Beta Couple: Ellie and Andy tend to serve this function. Especially apparent in Episode 17, "Counting On You".
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: Apparently the only thing Andy and Stan have in common.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: A literal one when Jules takes a dive on her pool and sees an alligator out of nowhere
• Big "NO!"
  Bobby: Just c'mon up here so I can push you off the roof!
  Jules: No! Wait, that actually is not big enough. NOOOO!
• Bland-Name Product: Coffee Bucks has locations coast to coast.
• Blanket Tug O' War: Between Jules and a drunken Laurie in "Don't Do Me Like That." No prizes for guessing who wins.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Laurie, Jules, and Ellie.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: In episode 6 of the third season where Bobby teaches Ellie how to surf, at the end Grayson sings the "They like to surf song". One of the verses is "That shot looks fake, but it's still great cause they like to surf."
• Brick Joke: A staple of the show's humor. Some span a single episode, some come back a few later. One spanned several seasons: During season 1 there is an episode where the cul-de-sac is practically overrun by loose dogs with no explanation. Three seasons later Laurie and Jules reminisce about the time they lived out their favorite song lyrics including "letting all those dogs out"

• Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie: On "Learning to Fly", Bobby still has Grandpappy Cobb's ashes with him because he could not follow through with his final wish - for the ashes to be scattered on a roller-coaster - due to Bobby's fear of riding roller coasters.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Barb, for one more appearance in mid-season 3 at least, where it's revealed she ended up marrying the current Mayor.
  • Matt, the guy Jules met in the pilot episode, comes back in Season 2.
  • Jules' orange negligee she wears when she first had sex with Josh, is seen again when she and Grayson were a couple already.
  • Bobby appears in the final episode via digital tablet.
• But Not Too Foreign: Andy's hispanic (Cubano), but appears to be a typical middle American white guy. He's mildly embarrassed that he doesn't even speak spanish (a point of contention with his brother, who refuses to speak anything else around him out of protest).
• Butt-Monkey: Poor, poor Josh.
  • Everyone hates Tampa. No, not Grayson's daughter, the place.
• The Cameo: In the second season finale, one of the people in the background on the bar terrace is played by Danny Pudi. That is, until you notice him acting strange and realize (if you also watch Community) that it's not Danny Pudi but Abed in a brilliant, subtle piece of cross-referencing (specifically, it refers to a possibly made-up story Abed tells in "Critical Film Studies"). Also a case of Breaking the Fourth Wall.
  • Bill Lawrence appears as a cop during Jules' drinking montage in the second episode
  • Both Lisa Kudrow and Jennifer Aniston, Cox's former female co-stars in Friends, appear in an episode each. Another Friends co-star, Matthew Perry, appeared in a season 5 episode.
  • Moving on to someone who never appeared^note but was mentioned on Friends, in the final season's "Yer So Bad" Andy and Ellie try to guess who Tom's celebrity patient is; it's Cindy Crawford, who appears As Herself in the final scene.
• Cameo Cluster: The episode "A One Story Town" has Ted note the similarities between people from the show and his former show, Scrubs (several other Scrubs regulars appear on Cougar Town), while Scrubs actors (including Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, and Ken Jenkins) appear throughout the episode, freaking Ted out.
• Car Meets House: In "Learning to Fly", a car crashes through Jules' office doors.
• Carrying a Cake: Discussed; Jules mentions that carrying around a cake is actually quite difficult and so changes the meaning of "cakewalk" into something really difficult instead of something really easy.
• Catchphrase: Andy's "COME ON!"
  • PENNY-CAAAAAAN!
  • Laurie uses "What what!" in the first couple seasons, but it slowly phases out as her Character Development moves beyond just a party girl.
    • Arguably Laurie's "LAUGH!" (because she's self-conscious about her real laugh)
  • In-Universe, Andy when he was a stand-up comic in college: "Bitches be loco!"
  • "Change approved!"
• Character Overlap: In the Hawaiian episode Travis makes friends with Ted from Scrubs.
  • In the same episode Abed from Community cameos (see above).
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome:
  • Barb is last seen in season 3, and in season 6 characters wonder what happened to her.
  • Tampa, Greyson's daughter, disappears for several seasons and when she's mentioned again most of the cast has forgotten she exists.
  • Riggs and Bobby don't break up onscreen, she just stops showing up and is never mentioned again.
• Clingy Costume: Andy gets stuck in a Buzz Lightyear costume he rented for his son's birthday party, just as he's about to have a business lunch.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Jules' shrink Glenn (played by Jennifer Aniston), whose dog had a baptism. And she cried all night when the dog had his first sleepover.
• Color Motifs: Jules with Orange:
  • She has an orange towel and orange nail polish in the first scene in the pilot, also her orange blazer in the pilot
  • Her orange dress in the fourth season premiere
  • Her orange negligee when having sex with Josh
  • She's also wearing orange in the last scene in the series finale
• Comically Missing the Point: No one gets it when Ellie, to compliment someone, gives them the tip of an imaginary hat. Jules also usually doesn't get it when someone plays a little game. Also, she really can't play the portmanteau movie game (teens trapped on an island find pirate treasure: Blue LaGoonies).
• Companion Cube: Jules and her succession of Gigantic Gulp wineglasses. She names them, loves them, and holds funerals for them when they are broken.
• Continuity Nod: Penny Can, the balloon chase, the Cul-de-Sac Crew... this show is fueled by this trope. The second season finale in fact continuity-checks two separate shows from two different networks: see The Cameo above, and Hooch is still crazy.
• Continuity Snarl:
  • In the Valentine episode in season 1, Jules says she got boobs at age 11, in an episode near the end of Season 2, Chick mentions Jules as a teenager cried a lot from having a flat chest
  • Andy says he can't even roll his "R"s, but an earlier episode showed he taught Jules how to
  • Jules is shown to be dumb, but a season 1 episode showed her casually learning how to speak Chinese. Then again, she quit drinking wine for a while
• Couch Gag: Playing with the Artifact Title starting in season two.
• Creepy Child: The chalk children.
• Crossover Punchline: The second episode featuring the character Ted (from Scrubs) had him noting, in the sting, how many people around town look exactly like people he used to know (including a few other guest stars that were around that episode). When the actor who played Dr. Kelso shows up (playing Jules' dad), Ted freaks out and runs into a glass door trying to escape. Then Zach Braff shows up to deliver a pizza, and the Todd even shows up and offers him a high five.
• Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: Ellie intimidates someone by threatening to "cut off your balls and shove them up your ass."
• Cycle of Revenge: Played with. Jules has a Circle of Love and Circle of Anger:
  • Circle of Love: Jules says Travis is a good son, Travis complements Ellie. Ellie give encouragement to Andy's work. Andy says to everyone Bobby is his best friend. Bobby gives coffee to Laurie. Laurie says nice things to Tom's garden. Tom gives Jules dessert
  • Circle of Anger: Jules berates Laurie for not working. Laurie refuses to help Travis with his problem. Travis makes fun of Bobby's coffee. Bobby repeats Travis' insult to Andy. Andy shouts at Ellie. Ellie destroys Tom's Christmas decor in his garden. Tom vacuums up the dessert he made for Jules
• Dagwood Sandwich
• Deadpan Snarker: Almost everyone gets a chance to snark at some point, but Grayson, Ellie, and Travis are the most consistantly snarky.
• A Degree in Useless: In "Time to Move On", Jules worries that Travis' art degree won't get him a good job and will end up staying with her forever.
• Demoted to Extra: Barb was originally Jules' Designated Antagonist, but as the show changed focus her appearances becamed reduced. By season 2 she only had one scene per epsiode and was completely absent from season 3 except for one brief cameo.
• Didn't Think This Through: Bobby "locking" his mouth so he can't speak but then he can't "swallow the key"
• Dirty Old Woman: Barb's purpose in life is to pop in on Jules at inopportune times and make double entendres one after the other.
  Barb: I'm sorry to interrupt but I'm starving. If you're not gonna eat that may I have it?
  Jules: My omelette?
  Barb: (Looks at Jules' boyfriend)
  Jules: Good God Barb!
• Distaff Counterpart: In "Saving Grace", Bobby becomes friends with tomboy Riggs, who likes all the same things he does. Travis points out that she is his doppleganger.
• Distracted by the Sexy: In the pilot, Jules flashes a boy riding his bicycle causing him to crash into a parked car.
• The Ditz: Laurie and Bobby.
• Does Not Like Shoes: Jules, Laurie and Ellie were usually barefoot.
• Don't Sneak Up on Me Like That!: Happens on "Flirting with Time" when Wade surprises Laurie by popping out of a recycling bin and Laurie punches him before realizing it was him.
• Drives Like Crazy: Jules, as she puts it, "knee-drives". This doesn't end well as she crashes in a neighbor's pool
• Drop-In Character: Tom. While technically everyone who doesn't live with Jules is one, seeing how her kitchen is where they usually hang out, all of them live close together and occasionally go to each other's houses. Tom is the only one of them who lives nearby, whom almost everyone dislikes at first, and whose house nobody hangs out at.
• Dumb Blonde: Laurie and Bobby, again.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Jules' red Lexus is not seen in the pilot episode
  • You could almost call the first two seasons early installment weirdness, as the entire premise of the show (older women who are hooking up with younger men) was dropped by the third season, when the show turned into more a standard sitcom about a group of middle aged friends.
• Egg Sitting: To prepare for being a father, Travis practices with Tom's pet pig. He ends up losing it, but fortunately Jules knows hog calling.
• Embarrassing Middle Name: Jules Kiki Cobb
• Empty Nest: Jules has a hard time letting go of Travis when he goes to college.
• End-of-Series Awareness: "It'll All Work Out In The End" is about Jules celebrating Thanksgiving in the spring for fear that they wouldn't all be together in the fall.
  Jules: What if we're not around next fall? What if a new group comes in and replaces us? Everybody's going to be like, "What happened to the Cul-de-sac Crew? I missed them. And who are these new people? They're not as good."
  • In the penultimate episode of the last season (which is in itself an homage to the whole show)
  Jules: After six yeas and hundreds of stories you're bound to repeat one of them. And it's nice. As long as you love the people you're sharing the stories with
  Laurie: I'm getting all choked up, and I feel like it's a week to early for that
  Jules: Sweetie, this is never gonna end.
• Enfant Terrible: Stan.
  Ellie: He is a devil baby! I don't know what happened!
• Enormous Engagement Ring: Barb's ring
  Barb: (To Jules) What a beautiful engagement ring. It's like my ring had a baby
• Erotic Eating: Apparently, strawberries with whipped cream induce lesbianism.
  • Travis cannot stand to see Jules eating bananas.
• Escalating War: Ellie and Grayson had one on finding out each other's embarrassing stuff from the past.
• Ethical Slut: Most of the characters, even if they're mean, are good people. And they all love sex.
• Expy: Ellie for Jordan, both created (at least partially) by Bill Lawrence and played by his wife, Christa Miller.
• Faking the Dead: Laurie fakes her death so her sorority sisters (at the college where she doesn't go to) wouldn't miss her never going to Travis' school again.
• Faux Yay:
  • In "Two Gunslingers", Travis pretends to be into guys to mess with Grayson's head as revenge for ruining his chances of getting a girl into bed. And when Travis complains about it to Andy, Andy reveals that Travis did the same thing to him previously.
  • Laurie pretends to be Ellie's lesbian lover to get her son into a prestigious pre-school looking for "alternative" families.
• Finishing Each Other's Sentences: Travis's girlfriend Kristen does that with him, which makes Jules jealous, as she doesn't like the idea of a woman knowing her son better than her.
• Five-Finger Discount: Jules tries (and fails) to shoplift in "The Criminal Mind". She gets tips from Laurie, who is able to sneak out a hair drier. Twice.
• Flanderization: It didn't take long for Jules to become Monica from Friends. Jules started off as a smart working mother who was somewhat insecure about getting back into the dating scene. By the end of the first season she became a neurotic control freak who treats Grayson with the same condescending "I'm right about everything and your arguments are invalid" type of attitude that Monica displayed towards Chandler. A personality trait that she didn't exhibit with her previous boyfriends. The show started out as with all her friends hanging out having coffee but soon Jules is hosting their thanksgiving celebrations very much like Monica.
• Flexibility Equals Sex Ability: Jules tries to prove her sexual prowess to her younger boyfriend by doing a sex move which involves her placing her leg on his shoulder. She ends up hurting herself in the process.
• Foreshadowing: Early on in Season 1, one of the tags showing Laurie on a sleepover with Jules and asking what if she and Travis had a baby. Five seasons later, she would be pregnant with Travis' baby.
• Freudian Trio:
  • Of the ladies: Laurie is the Id, Jules is the Ego, Ellie is the Superego.
  • Of the guys: Bobby is the Id, Andy is Id/Ego depending on the story, Travis and Grayson usually are the Ego/Superego.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Tom. Holly would be this if Laurie and Travis didn't like her.
• Friends with Benefits: Jules and Grayson try to be this but realize they have genuine feelings for each other.
• Funny Background Event: The seagulls on "Saving Grace". They even appear indoors on some scenes.
  • Abed's cameo has him looking around and eventually running off, which is noticed by the characters.
  • When Jules was talking about a life lesson and says "Where's Travis? He should be hearing this", Travis' feet is shown going down the stairs and reversing to hide from Jules
  • In "Stop Dragging My Heart Around", at one point Travis is talking to Jules and Bobby, and when the camera pans to them, you can see that the TV in the background that's on is currently showing an episode of Scrubs.
• Genius Ditz: Grayson and Ellie are left wondering why Laurie beats them handily at bar trivia. Apparently it's because she watches so much Jeopardy. And she cheats.
• Gigantic Gulp: Big Joe/Carl/Kimo/Lou/Tippi/Chuck. Inverted with Little Richard.
• Gilligan Cut: In "American Dream Plan B", Laurie brags that women in her family don't lose their figure while pregnant and that she will look the same at eight months. As she opens a fridge door, the scene transitions to eight months later, where she closes the door and is revealed to be extremely pregnant.
• Girl on Girl Is Hot: In "Into The Great Wide Open", it's mentioned that Ellie once killed another woman. Andy's response to this is, "Awesome!".
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: Jules and Bobby becoming a team on Travis drinking. Jules is the bad cop to make sure Travis doesn't drink and drive. Bobby is the good cop to help Travis get home safe.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!!: Bobby's "What the fudge?" add a "nuts" at the end just for extra fun.
• Grand Finale: "Last Dance With Mary Jane".
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: Played with. Jules hurt Laurie by making her maid of honor even if she wasn't meant to be. When Jules wakes from a nap, the crew reenact their actions the day before until Jules says the right thing to Laurie
• Halfway Plot Switch: Played straight to the point that the title no longer makes any sense. So much so that they're considering changing it.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Jules, Ellie, and Laurie, so much. Ellie and Jules also border on Lady Drunk from time to time.

• High-School Dance: When a hurricane floods the local school gym in "Wild One, Forever", Jules volunteers Grayson's pub to hold their prom in.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: When Laurie and Grayson reveal they had sex before Grayson and Jules started dating, Jules turns to Ellie for advice on how to feel about the situation. Ellie convinces Jules she should be mad at someone, under the impression that Jules will pick either Laurie or Grayson. Instead, Jules arrives at the conclusion that Ellie is the one she should be mad at for not telling her about Grayson and Laurie.
• Home Porn Movie: Jules and Bobby have one. Andy and Ellie try to make one, but the result is apparently too horrific to watch.
• Homoerotic Subtext:
  • All over the place. It's good that Andy and Ellie love each other so much, because they're this close to running away with Bobby and Jules, respectively.
  • A single time when Greyson is teaching Travis seduction techniques and demonstrates on Bobby.
  Bobby: I'm not comfortable with what I'm feeling right now.
• Home Nudist:
  • In "Two Gunslingers", Ellie and Jules get endlessly annoyed during their stay at the cabana when they find out Laurie likes to walk around topless, even when in front of other guys.
  Ellie: Not all fun things revolve around being topless!
  • In "You and I Will Meet Again", Jules and Grayson decide to spent the day naked around the house as a way to rekindle their sex life. Scenery Censor, Shoulders-Up Nudity and Toplessness from the Back shots are usef throughout the episode.
• How's Your British Accent?: Bobby's accent and voice is not his actor's by a long shot.

• Hypocritical Humor:
  Jules: You have no idea how stubborn my dad is.
  Grayson: You're just as stubborn as he is.
  Jules: I'm not stubborn! I'm just always right.
• I Call Him "Mister Happy":
  • Bobby named his penis "Little Travis".
  Bobby: I call all my favorite things Travis.
  Travis: That's... oddly flattering.
  • Jules' boobs
  Jules: Say hello to Tanya, and her slightly smaller twin, Dina
  • Apparently, Barb caller her private parts "big business".
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each episode is named after a Tom Petty song.
• The "I Love You" Stigma: Josh tells Jules that he loves her, but she didn't want a serious relationship and breaks up with him.
  • When Jules says "I love you" to Grayson and he doesn't (instead replying with "thank you"), things turn rather sour.
• Incest Subtext: It's brought up one time with Jules towards Travis. Both are squicked by this, although Jules ever so slightly less than Travis.
  • That Jules not only loves her son, but is "in love" with him is something of a running gag. Pushed right up to the edge of truly squicky territory and certainly far enough to constantly embarrass him (like when she snuck into his apartment at 3am and spooned with him until his roommates found them… again).
  • At one point, her boyfriend role-plays as Travis to help her get ready for a difficult conversation with him. They work through the issue, say the love each other, and then start making out.
  • In season two, Kirsten notices that Travis' celebrity crush, Megan Fox, has long black hair and likes wearing tight jeans. Just like Jules.
  • After Travis dropped out of college, Jules invited Travis to just hang out without discussing their problems. It plays out like a one night stand, complete with Jules waking up without Travis, and finding a note left for her
  • In season six, Jules' dad sleepwalks naked to their bed and mounts Greyson. Ellie comments that she thought if Jules ever had a threesome with a fmily member it would be Travis, Jules agrees looking disturbingly non disturbed by the idea.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Actually quoted word-for-word.
• Informed Attribute: Andy was born in Cuba but doesn't speak a single word of spanish. His ethnicity is something of a Running Gag in-universe, the rest of the gang tends to find it hilarious whenever he mentions he is Latino.
  • During the trip to L.A. he tries to tap into the "Latino Connection" but is rebuffed when he mispronounces "Javier" by using a hard J-sound
• Inner Monologue: Used in "The Criminal Mind" after the gang watches The Breakfast Club. There are even a couple of Inner Monologue Conversations.
• Insult Backfire: Jules to her mean skin doctor, Dr. Evans (played by Lisa Kudrow):
  Jules: She is the worst. She's like the Queen Bitch of the Universe.
  Dr. Evans: I like it. Makes me sound like Queen of the Gays.
• It Makes Sense in Context:
  • Tom mistakenly thought Ellie's baby died and no one corrected him because he made them lasagna
  Grayson: I ate Dead Baby Lasagna?
  Jules: Yes. And tonight we're having Dead Baby Tacos
• J'accuse!: Jules is supposed to stop drinking for a month, but naturally she cheats. Ellie yells at Jules, complete with accusatory finger.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ellie. Although her heart of gold is more obvious than Jordan's.
• The Lad-ette: Lisa Riggs, Bobby's friend on "Saving Grace", whom Travis points out is basically a female Bobby.
• Lampshade Hanging:
  • In Season 3, they were looking a photos wondering how they skipped Thanksgiving and Christmas:
  Laurie: "Our schedules got all messed up, we were all away, and none of us knew when we were coming back..."
  Jules: What if we're not around next year? People will be all like "What happened to the cul-de-sac crew? I miss them. Who are these new guys? They're not as good."
  • Season 4 had the name of Bobby's land-boat changed to "Sea Story". Very appropriate given the typical episode formula.
  Laurie: [suggesting the new name] Don't you get it? Everything that happens on this boat is a Sea Story! Even us trying to come up with a new name!
• Latino Is Brown: Andy Torres, who is Cuban but doesn't look or sound like a stereotypical Latino. This is lampshaded in at least one episode.
  Laurie: Oh, that's right, you're Cuban. Sometimes I forget you're Latino.
  Andy: Yeah, me too.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The opening scene to "It'll All Work Out" has them having a chat talking about why they missed thanksgiving and saying "our schedules got all mixed up, we all went away and no one knew when we were coming back" then saying about not knowing if they'll be around in the fall. Made extra funny as the announcement that the show is moving to TBS (having 2 new seasons each lasting 15 episodes) happened just a few days before.
  • The season 4 premiere has Jules noticing how great it is to share her stories with the world again... having gone out a few minutes ago for an errand.
• Left the Background Music On: "Stop trying to make this into an 80s movie montage!"
• Like Father, Like Son: Travis cheats on his girlfriend Kylie just like how Bobby cheated on Jules. However, Kylie reveals that she also kissed someone else, making them even. Travis tells Jules that he and Kylie are just high school kids, so them straying isn't too big a deal.
• Line-of-Sight Alias: In "Between Two Worlds", Bobby impersonates someone named Ron to take his coffee order, then sees a poster for Mexican-grown coffee and gives himself the last name Mexico.
  • Andy makes up a story about a nonexistent policewoman grandmother by looking at a theater marquee.
• LOL, 69: The gang's penny can game drops on the wine glass of a couple about to propose
  Can I have that penny back? It's 1969
• Long List: Laurie's extensive coffee order. Her delivery also makes it Rapid-Fire Comedy.
  Laurie: Oh, hey, Rach. Now, bear with me, I have to order for everyone: Okay, I'll have one Soy Largie, one Teeny Tiny, one Teeny Teeny Tiny Unleaded, one Plain Jane, extra Yum— what the hell, make it a double Yum— Uhhh, a Baby Joey, a Midnight with a Full Moon (hold the pumpkin), a medium coffee, I need a Heavy D, in a travel mug, please, two Crazy Ivans, a Sauron's Eye— also, I need a Damn! and an iced Damn!, a Sneaky Pete, a Double Drip with a snip of whip, and a Frap-Cap, heavy on the (imitating the blender) crcccrcccrcrch! crcrcrrrchcrcrch! Oh, and let's see, what's fresh? Okay, well I'll take three Raisin Happy Muffins, a French Moustache, and— ugh, a Fart Muffin, that is not for me. Oh, and I forgot to order my own coffee! Can I get a Taye Diggs, which is black and extra strong and smooth, but also very sweet?
  Rachel: (stares at Laurie, dumbfounded)
• Lousy Lovers Are Losers:
  • In "Don't Do Me Like That", after Jules and Josh sleep together for the first time, he's unusually quiet making her worry if she was bad in bed, something he tries to deny but is too much of a Bad Liar to succeed. But this gets Subverted at the end of the episode, where after Jules resolves her issues, she sleeps with Josh again and ends up being much better in bed.
  • Played for Laughs in "Little Girl Blues" when the young Travis asks for sex advice from the other guys, they all act with bravado at first, but they all admit they don't have any advice other than sex for a man is "living in constant fear of disappointing a woman".
• The Maiden Name Debate: Grayson asks Jules why she hasn't taken his name, especially since she is still using her ex-husband's name.
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places:
  • In "Don't Do Me Like That", Josh says he fantasizes about having sex with Jules on a beach. Jules says this would be a bad idea because of all the sand and bugs. The same episode has Bobby reminisces two separate occasions in which he had sex with on a beach and a putt-putt course, neither of which was with Jules.
  • In "Here Comes My Girl", Ellie mentions one time she and Andy had sex on a bouncing castle at a kid's birthday party.
• Mama Bear: Jules describe herself as one of these.
• Manchild: Bobby, whose life goal is to party so hard he craps himself on every continent.
• Manipulative Bastard: Ellie, the Gift Whisperer. Ellie also accuses Andy of this.
• May–December Romance: The premise, which was dropped after five episodes. Most agree it was a change for the better.
• Meet Cute: The flashback episode featured many meet-cutes: Andy and Bobby, Laurie and Travis. Jules and Grayson had one but they didn't know each other at that time
• Meet the In-Laws: "Little Girl Blues" has Travis introducing his girlfriend Kristen to the family, and being endlessly embarrassed by the corny things Jules and her friends do to make Kristen feel comfortable.
• Menstrual Menace: Laurie's birth control slows down her cycle so much that her period comes only once a year. She calls it her "yeariod"
• Modesty Bedsheet: Always used whenever we see couples post-sex. Justified with Jules, who's particularly insecure about her body.
• Modesty Towel:
  • The Pilot episode has Jules walking out of the shower in a towel. She walks up to the mirror, and is disappointed at finding her body is getting older, and drops the towel to fully inspect herself.
  • A later episode has Laurie walking in on Jules coming out of the shower with a towel half wrapped around her. Feeling insecure Jules actually opens the towel to ask Laurie if she still looks good and is relieved when Laurie says she looks great.

• Motor Mouth: Jules, who tends to talk a mile a minute until stopped.
• Mourning an Object: Jules attached to her giant wineglasses to the point she names them and gives them funerals when they break.
• The Moving Experience: In the Grand Finale, "Last Dance With Mary Jane", Jules learns that everyone in the cul-de-sac crew is moving away on her birthday, but it was really Grayson's plan to give her a memorable birthday and no one was leaving.
• Mrs. Robinson: Jules, initially. Barb still is one, and has treated Travis' high school graduation as a meat market.

• My Beloved Smother: Jules, especially when Travis was younger.
• Mythology Gag: An entire episode has references to Scrubs. This is even lampshaded by the subtitle.
  No, it's not just Scrubs in Florida with a lot of wine.
  • In the episode "Saving Grace," Jules mentions Ted Danson as an example of something cool, (incorrectly) commenting that he appears on a dance show called "Can't Stop Dancin'/Danson." Bill Lawrence, between Scrubs and Cougar Town developed a pilot for a show called Nobody's Watching, where the idea was brought up to give Ted Danson a show with that same title. The fact that Ellie asserts that the show doesn't exist might be a little Take That Me about Nobody's Watching not getting picked up.
• Naked People Are Funny:
  • In "A Woman In Love (It's Not Me)," Travis accidentally walks in on a naked Josh in the bathroom. To make matters worse, Travis is only in his underwear at the time.
  Travis: Hey, Josh, let's make a real effort to wear shirts around each other, okay?
  • In "Ain't Love Strange", Jules tries to wake up Tom at night and throws away his covers, only to shriek in horror as she sees he Sleeps in the Nude. She later tells it to Laurie to get it out of her head.
  Jules: Tom sleeps nude.
  Laurie: Ugh, why would you tell me that?
  Jules: Well, I want it to be in someone else's head.
  • In "You and I Will Meet Again", Jules and Grayson decide to become Home Nudists for a day and the antics they get into are Played for Laughs, including the gag objects that are used to cover their naughty bits, which is Lampshaded by Jules.
  Jules: Have you noticed almost everything in this house is boob high?
• Noodle Incident:
  • "Never press the 'NO' button."
  • Also, the disaster that was the introduction of Travis's college girlfriend.
• Only a Model: Tom makes a scale model of the cul-de-sac, complete with dolls of the other characters.
• Only Sane Man: Travis, although he does indulge his parents' antics from time to time. When he goes off to college, Ellie takes his spot.
  Ellie: See, Travis, this is why I'm glad you're home. Because without you, I too am an island. Surrounded by an ocean of dummies. On all sides. Which is what an island is. You dummies.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Barb is able to sense that Jules and Grayson have had sex.
• On the Next: Spoofed on The Stinger for the first TBS episode, which promises guest star Michelle Williams as Laurie's sister, Jules as a vampire, a kiss between Grayson and Andy, and the death of a major character (Tom) in the oncoming season... or not, you'll just have to stay tuned to find out.
• Orbital Kiss: Between Bobby and Angie, Travis' Photography professor.
• Our Slogan Is Terrible: "To get ahead, get a home"
• Pass the Popcorn: Jules watching Grayson watching "Field of Dreams".
• The Pollyanna: Andy. Laurie and Ellie team up to try and take down his boundless optimism.
• Popcultural Osmosis Failure: A running gag with Jules, who hasn't seen that many movies.
  Ellie's Mom (To Ellie): With all that eyeliner, God forbid (Jules) cry. She'd look like Alice Cooper
  Ellie's Mom leaves, Ellie looks at Jules who's hiding, now crying with her eyeliner all messed up
  Jules (crying): Who's Alice Cooper? Was she pretty?
• Pretentious Pronunciation: Sara sells Grayson some wine named Hurpes, helpfully pointing out that the name is supposed to be pronounced err-pay. No one pronounces it that way.
  Jules: [sniffs Ellie's glass] What is that?
  Ellie: Syphillis.
  Grayson: Herpes.
  Ellie: Herpes!
• Product Placement: Almost insultingly obvious at certain points:
  • The entire cast spends the first five minutes of an episode gushing about Slankets… which they are all wearing.
  • Grayson and Bobby have a discussion about how it's OK for guys to like Grey's Anatomy, another show on ABC.
  • "No Reason to Cry" — which contained a three minute discussion on the Diet Dr Pepper logo being on a golf outfit — featured Diet Dr Pepper ads in the show as well as the promos earlier in the night ("Tonight's all new Cougar Town is surprisingly refreshing ... just like Diet Dr Pepper!"). Unlike many other instances this is justified as Bobby is a pro golfer. It is also lampshaded early on in the discussion as Travis makes an aside, saying "Is anyone filming this?". DDP cans are seen in later episodes.
  • Subway starts being featured a lot, too. Travis actually said he could "eat for several months with the $12 in his pocket" (paraphrased) - couldn't have been more obvious.
  • Bobby and Travis spend an entire episode on vacation. In Target. Where Travis gushes about all the crap you can buy at Target.
  • As part of Andy's welcoming Bobby from his golf tournament in season 6, they go buying Go Pro cameras at Best Buy.
• Pursue the Dream Job. Laurie from Jules' assistant to opening a cupcake shop
• Put on a Bus: Barb. Her Once an Episode appearances end late in season 2 when she mentions she's fallen in love with a man who wants her to act more demure.
  • Josh, Jules' boyfriend in Season 1. She breaks up with him six episodes in.
  • Bobby gets a job as a pro in Georgia in the second episode of season 6. His absence in the previous episode is explained as him playing a tournament there.
• Race Fetish: Laurie wants her online boyfriend who is a soldier in Afghanistan to be black, as that is "super hot". Ellie then comments on this trope.
• Ready for Lovemaking: In "Don't Do Me Like That", Jules prepares a bubble bath and waits for her boyfriend to come in while posing seductively and kicking her legs up... only for it to turn out that she left the door locked so he can't get in. And to make things worse, when she gets out to open it, she slips and bangs her foot.
  Josh: Are you okay?
  Jules: I banged my foot pretty badly when I fell, but... you can't see the blood through all these bubbles.
• Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Riggs. When Travis and Grayson give her a makeover and put her in a dress to show Bobby she's the perfect girl for him, Bobby just laughs. To him the sight of Riggs in a dress is "like a dog wearing sunglasses", and Riggs agrees.
• Really Gets Around:
  • Barb. Probably at this point the only reason the show still has the title "Cougar Town", and shows up Once an Episode to flaunt her latest conquest in a punny manner.
  • Laurie. Possibly the only person who sleeps around more is Barb. Both of them revel in it.
  Laurie: "This is worse than when I was waiting for my (STD) results and they had to bring in a specialist"
  • Grayson, before getting together with Jules, had a parade of bimbos (as Jules put it) in and out of his house. Ellie, before she married Andy. Bobby kept sleeping around with waitresses. That's... everyone but Andy and Travis.
• Rich Bitch: Ellie.
  Ellie: See, the reason I buy expensive things is to belittle people who can't afford them.
• Right-Hand Attack Dog: A funny variant where Bobby thinks people broke into his boat and warns he has a vicious attack dog. He then plays a recording of Jingle Bells made entirely out of barking dogs

• Running Gag: "Isn't her name 'Tampa'?"
  • Jules changing the meaning of phrases (for example, "Junk in the trunk" now means emotional baggage) and Ellie approving the change ("Change approved!"), with either Travis or Grayson protesting the change.
  • Once a season, Jules' favorite drinking glass breaks. The group give it a funeral (with Grayson again pointing out how ridiculous it is) and then present Jules with a replacement. On the sixth season Jules breaks the glass herself because she's overwhelmed that everyone she cares about is (she thinks) moving away.
  • All of them hating Tampa, Florida
  • Grayson's tiny eyes. They even call him Dime Eyes, Tiny Eyes, and other variants
  • Jules crying and her eyeliner being all messed up, they call it "Cooper-ing". See Popcultural Osmosis Failure above
  • In Jules' birthday episode in the first season, none of the characters agreeing she can pass for 38
  • Fake suicides and murder-suicides. Basically, when someone is talking and talking about something the others don't care about. They would act out shooting themselves with a gun out of sheer boredom
• Scare 'Em Straight: In "Time to Move On", Jules tries this to get Travis to get a job by using Bobby as an example. Travis sees right through it.
• Scenery Censor: In "You and I Will Meet Again", when Jules and Grayson decide to have a Naked Fun Day and spent that day naked around the house, a series of coveniently placed objects is used to hide their nudity. Lampshaded when Jules notes how almost everything in their house is "boob high".
• School Idol: Jules was so popular in high school they had a musical about her
• Serious Business: Jules with her Disney Characters:
  Jules: There's no Mopey Dwarf
  Ellie: Yes there is
  Jules: Dopey, Sleepy, Sneezy, Bashful, Grumpy, Happy, Doc. Blam!
  Jules: [Beat] Sorry I take my Disney Characters seriously
• Sexiness Score:
  • In the Pilot episode, Jules and Ellie rate how good in bed they think they are while talking on the phone, with the insecure Jules hesitantly rating herself "a seven" while Ellie confidently says she's "a nine".
  • In "Don't Do Me Like That", after Jules and Josh sleep together for the first time, he's unusually quiet making her worry if she was bad. She asks him to rate her on On a Scale from One to Ten, and he's unable to lie since he's a Bad Liar whose voice gets high-pitched whenever he lies.
  Jules: On a scale from one to ten, was that a nine?
  Josh: [high-pitched] Definitely.
  Jules: ...Was it a six?
  Josh: [still high-pitched] Way higher.
  Jules: [dejectedly] Son of a bitch...
• Sex with the Ex:
  • Jules and Bobby have sex in "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" after Jules's break up with Jeff.
  • Laurie and Smith in "Keeping Me Alive" after having broken up in the previous episode. They stop because they don't want to open old wounds.
• Shared Universe: With Scrubs, as recurring character Ted Buckland made a couple appearances on Cougar Town.

• Shipper on Deck: In "Saving Grace", Travis and Grayson try to hook-up Bobby and Riggs.
  • During the episode where Ellie tutors Bobby on date-etiquette, both Jules and eventually Andy ship them together
• Shirtless Scene: Every one of the main male characters has had one. Jules and Laurie too (with bras on). Travis' is overshadowed by his mom's young boyfriend (much to Travis' annoyance and embarrassment)
• Shout-Out: In the thanksgiving episode, Andy eats a hamburger before Thanksgiving dinner and says that it's like stretching — this was taken almost verbatim from an episode of Friends. In any other case, it would look like a complete rip off, but since Courtney Cox's the lead, we're all good.
  • In the thirteenth epsiode of season one, Jules and Bobby can be seen watching an episode of Scrubs.
    • In a seventh episode of the second season, Travis and Bobby share a montage to Enrique Iglesias's "Hero." The song was used for a different purpose on Scrubs.
  • Andy is compared to Keyser Soze for his skill at manipulating women, with the episode's plot leading quite naturally to his shedding a limp at the end.
  • In the same episode, Ellie refers to Andy as a "sensie," a term introduced on Scrubs to describe an overly-emotionally sensitive man.
  • Ted shows up in the Season 2 Finale, and reveals that Hooch is still crazy.
    • Wait, if they're in the Scrubs universe, does that mean that Jules' father is Bob Kelso's identical twin? And what about Ellie? Or Dr. Maddox played by Courteney Cox in the first few episodes of season 8? And Doctor John Dorian looks surprisingly like Zach Braff?
    • Ted is worried about that, too.
    • Really, it only way it makes sense at this point is to just theorise that Cougar Town exists all within Ted's mind, having finally jumped off of the roof after Gooch left him for Hooch.
  • And in an episode's tag, everyone gets into a fake gun fight, with Travis groaning "I love Spaced!" as he "dies."
  • The title gag for the Season 3 episode Down South is "I didn't know it was back on either." -Abed. The following episode Square One has the title "Welcome to Cougarton Abbey".
  • Season 6 episode 5, Even the Losers, ends with Andy and Ellie holding hands as they stand watching their vandalism fireworks go off. Andy looks at Ellie and says, "thank you for helping me through a very strange time in my life."
  • In the season 2 episode "Makin' Some Noise", when Grayson turns Travis' bedroom into a jam room, one of the instruments is a cowbell.
• Shower of Awkward: In "Little Girl Blues", Laurie walks in on Travis' girlfriend Kristen while she's in the shower to talk about Jules jealousy issues. Kristen is obviously mortified but listens on, while quietly asking if she can have her clothes back.
• Shower Shy: Played With in "Two Gunslingers", with Laurie accuses Ellie of being a prude for keeping her top on while they're in the cabana's public hot tub, and says she's making Jules (who is topless but is covering her chest with her hands) feel self-concious. But Jules points out what's making her uncomfortable is the guys in the hot tub who are staring at them. Of course, Laurie doesn't mind and goes topless anyway.
  Jules: Laurie, honey, it's not Ellie that's making me feel self-conscious. You see the nice gentleman over here? Jim. Well, Jim hasn't had his hands above the water since he got in, and now someone's toes are interlocking with my toes. I think I'm gonna head back to my room.
• The Show Goes Hollywood: "Have Love Will Travel", the Season 4 finale, where the gang tries to make Jules' father's fantasy of meeting Tippi Hedren come true.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: Grayson and his first-season girlfriend Sara (played by Sheryl Crow).
• Sleepwalking: In "Restless", Jules has trouble sleeping, so she takes a sleeping pill. The next morning she wakes up fine, but everyone else is tired. Turns out the pill caused Jules to sleepwalk, keeping everyone awake with her antics.

• Stacy's Mom: Jules. The junior high kids are very appreciative of her.
• Staging an Intervention: One episode opened with the Cul-De-Sac Crew staging an intervention for Jules and her habit of lounging around wearing a Snuggie. She just holds out her sleeve and tells them "Feel that!" They feel the sleeve and are visibly impressed. Cut to them all sitting around wearing Snuggies.
• Taking the Bullet:
  • In "Wild One, Forever", Andy stops a kid from getting pantsed by pushing him out of the way, getting his pants pulled down in his place.
  • In another episode, Andy jumps in front of Bobby so his white shirt wouldn't get dirty. At the time, Bobby and Jules were having a contest to see who can keep their shirt clean.
• That's What She Said:
  • "Feel A Whole Lot Better" has the ladies "stealing" this joke from the guys to show them how annoying it is to be on the receiving end of it.
  Andy: It's never hard for me.
  Jules: That's what he said!
  • And later when Andy hires a nanny for Stan.
  Ellie: That's the nicest thing you've ever done for me.
  Andy: Oh stop. It's just a tiny thing.
  Ellie: That's what he said!
• Third Line, Some Waiting: Cougar Town tends to have 2-3 plotlines in a given episode. At one point in the 4th season, Bobby's boat is renamed "The Sea Story" in reference to this.
  Laurie: Don't you get it? Everything that happens on this boat is a "Sea Story"! Even us sitting here trying to come up with a new name for the boat!
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: "Cry To Me" stinger but not for the normal reason.
• Tomboy: In her first appearance, Riggs sports the classic tomboy look, complete with Tomboyish Baseball Cap.
• Threesomes Are Hot: Barb, again:
  Barb: I just finished the tastiest Cuban sandwich
  Jules: Let me guess. I'm assuming you're not talking about a sandwich but two young boys that did unspeakable things to you
  Barb: Hector and Julio. They're cousins!
• Titled After the Song: The show names most of their episodes after songs by Tom Petty. The only exceptions are "Pilot" and "Everything Man".
• Toilet Paper Prank: In one episode, Jules yells at some skateboarders, and the next day she finds her car TP'ed to look like a shark. To get even, she goes to what she thinks is the skater's house and TP's it. The house was actually one of the homes Jules was selling. It was all a ruse to get a romantic proposal from Grayson.
• Tongue Twister: "Do not stop Cobb-stopping me"

• Too Dumb to Live:
  • Out of the group, only Ellie and Travis know that Mexico isn't an island.
  Travis: ...but we drove there.
  • Bobby almost drowned. In his boat. On dry land.
  • Laurie once thought it was a good idea to pick a fight with a veteran of the Afghanistan War for the pettiest of reasons. See Underestimating Badassery below.
• Too Much Information: Jules tends to keep on talking until she gets there, especially with Travis.
• True Companions: They even have a name for themselves: The Cul-de-sac crew. Proved in the second season, when Laurie pretends to have accidentally killed her ex-boyfriend, saying "He's not moving!" is immediately followed by Andy saying his car has a large trunk to dispose of the body.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Ellie and Andy. Discussed in one episode. It's a point of pride for him and he likes to lord it over more attractive guys with wives who aren't as hot as his.
  Andy: "That guy over there is taller than me, better looking, and has more hair. But his wife is less attractive than mine. If we were to make eye-contact, he'd know I won.
• Underestimating Badassery: In "You Wreck Me", Laurie decides to pick a fight with a woman named Chrissy who once hooked up her boyfriend Dale while he and Laurie were broken up. Chrissy is an Afghanistan war veteran, something Laurie is fully aware of, and she gives Laurie a bloody nose.
• The Unintelligible: No one can understand Bobby when he goes full-bore redneck. It turns out, neither can he. He's a mumbly (Bobby: "A bumble bee?").
  Bobby: Hey, sister. Whip me up a 'aramel macchitata, two 'spresso pumps - and a crap-loada extra foam.
  Rachel: I'm sorry. What?
  Bobby: 'Aramel macch, two 'spresso pumps, crap-Ioada foam.
  Rachel: I can't understand you.
  Bobby: Crap lada fam, girl! Crap lada fam!
• The Unfair Sex: In true Bill Lawrence fashion, this happens early and often. The worst case is with Ellie, who does some really appalling stuff but gets away with it, or is 'justified.' The most recent being the third season finale, in which she clearly has an emotional affair with another man IN FRONT OF ANDY, which is painted as acceptable.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: Demonstrated by Laurie who changed outfits a dozen times during Thanksgiving.
• Unusual Euphemism: Jules likens kissing with a garden snake taking a bite out of an apple

• Verbal Tic: Travis, with his weird high-pitched "Ah!" whenever he throws something. (It's HIGH-LARIOUS.) He's probably had it all along, but it has only recently been introduced since it was mentioned by Bobby just beforehand.
• The Vonda Shepard Treatment:
  • There's a guy in the Hawaii Vacation Episode whose greatest skill is that he can take any song and sing it slow and sad.
  • It's Ted Buckland from Scrubs, after Gooch left him for Hooch.

• Wealthy Yacht Owner: Spoofed with Bobby. He owns a modest houseboat... and little else. He can't even afford to keep it in the marina, so he just leaves it in a parking lot and lives inside. Eventually the others collect enough money to get the boat to dock, but the moment it hits the water it sinks.
• We Named the Monkey "Jack": Played With. Bobby names his dog Travis, when his son protests he reveals that Travis is the name for all of his favorite thing, his son being just one of them. Other than "Boy Travis" and "Dog Travis" there's also "Boat Travis" and "Little Travis" (the last one refers to his private parts).
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Jules' new master bathroom, it was only shown on the episode with it
• Whole-Plot Reference: To The Breakfast Club in "The Criminal Mind".
• The Wildcats: The college in Gulfhaven uses the Cougar nickname, as a self-admitted weak justification for Cougar Town keeping its original title.
• Will They or Won't They?: Jules and Grayson, who have since resolved the tension.
• You Keep Using That Word: Grayson expresses exasperation at how the rest of the crew keeps flipping the meaning of words; "kicks ass" now means something terrible, and "cakewalk" is something really hard to do.

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