Cougar Town: The Complete Second Season

TV's funniest mom (and the cul-de-sac crew) return for more laughs in their not-so-quiet Florida neighborhood. Courteney Cox leads an all- star cast in the hilarious second season of ABC's hot hit comedy, Cougar Town. It's a new year of uproarious changes as Travis prepares to leave for college, Jules and Grayson's relationship reaches another level and Bobby tries to stand on his own. Meanwhile, Andy and Ellie find clever new ways to keep their marriage lively, and Laurie ramps up her search for love in her own unique way.

After a successful first season, Cougar Town could've rested on its laurels. Instead, a few changes are in store for the cul-de-sac crew, starting with Travis's departure for college, a development that leaves Jules (Courteney Cox) with a bad case of Empty Nest Syndrome--even though he only moves 20 minutes away (Dan Byrd remains a regular cast member). Formerly single, she's also now seeing Grayson (Josh Hopkins), which helps to explain the ever-changing title card: a series of riffs on the term cougar.

That said, things remain much the same for Andy (Ian Gomez) and Ellie (Christa Miller), though Bobby (Brian Van Holt) makes more of an effort to get his life in order, culminating in a patent for Penny Can (a scheme that involves Barry Bostwick and Lou Diamond Phillips). With Travis in college, the show also adds LaMarcus Tinker as his mumbly roommate and Collette Wolfe as his new girlfriend, who bring a little youthful vigor to the formula (of the adult cast, only the effervescent Busy Philipps clocks in under 40).

If Cougar Town isn't as loopy as creator Bill Lawrence's Scrubs, there are still plenty of offbeat bits, like the way characters slip into Japanese or the references to Freaks and The Usual Suspects (a few Scrubs vets also put in appearances). Not everything works--the crew can be pretty mean to awkward neighbor Tom (Robert Clendenin)--but at least there's some real creativity at play. And just as Lisa Kudrow showed up the year before, Jennifer Aniston guests this time around, while extras include a featurette, deleted scenes, and "Andy's Dreams," a web series in which Mr. Torres imagines he's a teacher, a private eye, and a "Cuban Fred Astaire." --Kathleen C. Fennessy