Michael Ausiello is joined by Matt Mitovich (TVLine.com) to talk “House,” “Smash,” and the Grammys. Plus, an exclusive “House” clip, a visit from Michael Weatherly (“NCIS”), and a special “Smash” preview, performed by special guests Dan Byrd and Busy Philipps (“Cougar Town”).
Michael Ausiello (TVLine.com) visits the “Cougar Town” set to interview Courteney Cox and the cast, shoot a cameo appearance, and get the scoop on David Arquette’s guest spot. Plus, an exclusive clip from the season premiere airing Feb. 14 on ABC. And a special preview of “House” (Mondays on Fox).
Last week, Cougar Town returned with an engagement as Grayson (Josh Hopkins) popped the question to Jules (Courteney Cox). So why put the former will-they-or-won’t-they couple on the fast track to wedded bliss rather than play up the drama?
“I thought it was an interesting choice to have them together as quick as they did just because I’m so used to the Ross and Rachel push-pull, back-and-forth. It took years and years,” star and executive producer Cox tells TVGuide.com. “But I love what they’ve done because I think it’s really smart to deal with real adult issues.”
Now that they are officially engaged, when — and where — is the wedding? “This season kind of spins around their upcoming marriage and ends in Napa, because that’s where wine is made,” co-creator and executive producer Bill Lawrence says. “There’s a huge twist as to how their wedding actually goes down that we really like.”
Jules and Grayson’s impending nuptials will have the rest of the Cul-de-Sac crew feeling the love too. This season, viewers will see both Laurie (Busy Philipps) and Bobby (Brian Van Holt) enter new relationships. “Bobby meets and falls in love with the beautiful and wonderful Sarah Chalke, who plays my son’s professor,” Van Holt says. “Bobby wants a relationship. I think he’s starting to feel a little lonely and he wants to grow up. He sees Jules and Grayson’s relationship as an example, and I think he wants that.”
So what else is coming up this season? Watch the video below to get the dirt on Laurie’s new man, Travis’ odd accessory, Andy and Ellie’s devil baby and Cox’s directing debut.
Cougar Town airs Tuesdays at 8:30/7:30c on ABC.
It isn’t always the big events that make us turn our head when we hear about politicians, celebrities and athletes.
Sometimes, we just want to know that when you boil it down, they’re all ordinary people like us.
What’s in their fridge? What are they reading? What do they do in their off time? ABC15.com is asks the same 10 questions of a newsmaker. But don’t jump to any conclusions; these aren’t the typical interview questions.
They are not meant to be probing or controversial. Instead, they’re fun questions that let you get to know the person in ways you probably don’t already.
This week, we’re getting to know actress Busy Philipps.
She is probably best known for her roles on the TV series “Freaks and Geeks” and “Dawson’s Creek.” She’s also appeared in several major motion pictures and currently stars on ABC’s “Cougar Town.”
Philipps isn’t exactly a new face in the Valley, she attended Chapparal High School and even worked at a popular Scottsdale restaurant!
Check out some of the other things you may not know about the star…
Busy Philipps doesn’t just have a cult following; she has at least four of them. Though the effusive blonde actress insists that it’s luck and not discerning taste — “I audition for everything, all the shit,” she assures us — her résumé is stacked with TV shows that inspire fervid devotion among fans, from the beloved-in-retrospect Freaks and Geeks to the Zeitgeist-defining Dawson’s Creek. As Courteney Cox’s crafty-but-scatterbrained sidekick Laurie Keller on Cougar Town, Busy has taken things to a new level: Her character has inspired countless animated GIFs, YouTube clips, and an in-character Twitter account (@thelarmy) with more than 30,000 followers. Off set, Philipps is the mother of a 3-year-old and nothing like scatterbrained Laurie. We spoke with her ahead of tonight’s long awaited season-three premiere of Cougar Town about what’s in store for Laurie, showing off her moles, and getting dissed on Dawson’s Creek.
There was this moment of panic across the Internet when both Cougar Town and Community didn’t have return dates.
I know, how sad! All they needed was to yank Parks and Rec for there to be some sort of mass suicide pact online.
Did you have flashbacks to Freaks and Geeks?
That was a crash course in the helplessness of being on a network TV show, because back then, we were on everyone’s “must-watch” list — and I’m not kidding when I say I think I saw one ad for it. One. In the entire run of the show. It is really frustrating, and as an actor it’s something that you have to come to terms with. I’m an actor who works, and a lot of this is luck for me, that I get to be a part of really great shows that have these cult followings.
You do have quite a track record.
It’s surely by accident, because I audition for everything, all the shit. Well, I’m a little bit pickier now, but back in the day — certainly, with Freaks and Geeks, that was pure dumb luck that I got on that show and not one of the other 400 terrible teen shows that were around that same time. And then I went on to do sort of a terrible teen show! [Laughs.]
What can you tell us about what’s happening with Laurie in season three?
She’s really grown up in these three years. I’m really proud of her! Laurie starts a business in Gulf Haven, and it’s surprisingly successful. She starts to have a real relationship with a man via Twitter and Skype, who is played by the adorable Edwin Hodge. And he’s stationed in Afghanistan, in the army.
In the two episodes I previewed, you’re wearing the same shirt in both episodes. Is there some kind of hidden meaning to that?
Anybody who works with me knows this: I always repeat wardrobe in my characters. We’re trying to play real people. I think it was last season where people online were tweeting at me, “Why are you always wearing that yellow belt?” And I was like, “Durrr, because it’s Laurie’s favorite belt! Why do you think? She f-ing loves that belt. She got it at Claire’s Accessories, and she wants to wear it all the time!”
I’m going to ask you a question and you don’t have to answer it —
Is it about Michelle [Williams]?
No! But I do have one of those, so now that you mention it, I’ll get it out of the way. I saw some really adorable pictures of you two celebrating after the Golden Globes. So in my head, your supporting role during awards season is like maid of honor. Is that accurate?
[Laughs.] You’re totally right. I have the emergency kit in my purse that has double-sided tape and Tylenol, and a small energy bar. I’m the one that has an extra lip gloss just in case. I mean, look: I think the reason why people are interested in our friendship now is only because I’m a little more visible than I was five years ago, when I accompanied her to literally every awards show for Brokeback Mountain. It’s funny to us. We just love each other and we’re really good friends and we happen to have the same job, you know? Similar jobs. I mean, Michelle’s not on Cougar Town.
Sadly.
Sadly, I know. I remember I pitched her the first season, and I really didn’t get much traction from the group on it! Like, “All right, well, forget it. I’m not gonna call in that favor!”
You talked a little about the weirdness of going from Freaks and Geeks to Dawson’s Creek. Looking back, how do you compare those experiences?
Freaks and Geeks was a show where our individuality was really celebrated. Linda [Cardellini] and I were told by executive producers, “Please don’t lose weight, don’t change your bodies, don’t do anything weird to your faces.” I had been told early on by a [different] producer — this is no joke — that I should have all of my moles removed. And really, the thought is so fucking ludicrous. So I would have scars instead of black spots on my body? Now that I’m a wiser, older human, when I do photo shoots, I specifically say, “Please do not airbrush my moles out.” Because they will do it, to make you homogenized.
Sorry, got off track. I do that. So I went from a show where our individuality was really celebrated and our input was encouraged, and we were encouraged to improvise, and Judd [Apatow] or Paul [Feig] would often say, “You guys know what this is about. Why don’t you guys just do the scene and say the things you want to say?” And sometimes that would make it into the show and sometimes it wouldn’t. But it was just the feeling that our voices counted.
And then I went to Dawson’s Creek, which is a show that was, for better or for worse, all about the language. It was a word-perfect show, which I’d never had any experience with. And it was really shocking for me. I felt really hemmed in. At the time, it wasn’t my favorite working experience. And here I was with six people who had been catapulted to stardom because of their show, and I was coming from a show where all we wanted was ten more viewers. It was a really different experience. And that being said, I enjoy watching Freaks and Geeks more. As a person, that’s more my sensibility anyway than Dawson’s Creek; I wasn’t a watcher of Dawson’s Creek before I got the part. I also felt — which is something that I talk about in therapy all the time, because I always feel disrespected — but they left my character Audrey out of the series finale and my feelings were really hurt. On top of everything else, I felt like I had done 44 episodes of the show, and then they didn’t even want me in the series finale? I just felt like no one particularly cared about me. And in fact, I remember at one point somebody referencing us as “talking props.” As an actor, not the best feeling! It’s like, you’re just so easily replaceable, we can literally put anybody in your place and they can just do what you do, because you just have to stick to the script, hit your mark, and say your lines. But it was also a good learning experience! And you know, I met my BFF. You get things out of every job.
“Cougar Town” finally returns to ABC tonight at 8:30. As I wrote about yesterday, the show has come a long way from its early days when its horrible title could be taken fairly literally. It’s now a goofy, sweet, quirky, fun and at times incredibly romantic comedy about friends and family.
Tonight’s premiere leans heavy on both the goof and the romance, which is either brilliant or horrible timing given that it’s Valentine’s Day. In terms of timing, though, the larger problem may be that the show has been off the air for almost nine months, which means all but the most passionate fans — or people who didn’t delete their DVR season pass(*) — may have forgotten it existed by now.
(*) As mentioned in last week’s story, those season passes are the reason the show won’t abandon the terrible title, because an old show with a new title would be treated as a new show by DVRs, and it wouldn’t record for anyone who didn’t know to update things.
ABC left the Courteney Cox comedy off its fall schedule, then bumped it from a planned mid-season debut a couple of months ago, which is tough sledding for a show that will be airing for the first time without the security of “Modern Family” as its lead-in. To keep the fans engaged during the long time off — and to keep the actors and writers from feeling too disconnected from their audience — the show’s creators Bill Lawrence and Kevin Biegel mounted a multi-level guerrilla marketing campaign, that included cameos by most of the cast in the background of other shows and a series of screenings of season 3 episodes in cities around the country. (I talked with both Lawrence and Biegel about the campaign at press tour.)
One of those screenings was in Chicago, where co-star Busy Philipps and writer Melody Derloshon represented the series. Last month, before ABC announced the show’s premiere date, I spoke with Philipps about the screening, making these episodes in a vacuum, and the show’s optimistic approach to her dim-witted character, Laurie.
What was Chicago like?
Busy Philipps: It was epic. It was really epic. I got wasted. I gave an interview wasted with lots of expletives. I called Bill Lawrence a bleeping rock star, which he is. The fans were amazing. We had a really good time there with Melody and we just had a blast and it was so fun to get to watch the show in a crowd of people who are so excited for it to come back and couldn’t wait to see them. It was great.
What has it been like making the show in a vacuum this year?
Busy Philipps: That’s what I’ve been describing it as. You’re funny. I mean it’s true. It is what it is, but it has been hard. It’s a little difficult. I was saying to my sister over Christmas I bought Kevin Biegel this vintage Danish wine glass that came on a lanyard that hangs around your neck and I was like, “Leigh Ann, you know the episode of ‘Cougar Town’ when we’re all wearing the necklaces?” And my sister said, “What are you talking about?” “Did you know from last season when we all had the necklaces with the wine?” “What?” No, she had obviously no point of reference for that. So it was a little bit of a bummer and I have no point of reference, but people haven’t seen it.
After a very long hiatus, Cougar Town finally returns to the small screen tonight for what is sure to be another season of big laughs and memorable moments.
In preparation for the show’s season 3 premiere (8:30PM ET on ABC), Busy Philipps chatted with Celebuzz about what we can expect from her character, Laurie, this year.
We also talked about what it’s like to be on the awards scene with her real-life best friend and former Dawson’s Creek costar, Michelle Williams, who is nominated for an Oscar this year for My Week With Marilyn. Has Busy picked out her Oscar dress yet? What does her daughter, Birdie, think of her awards show fashions? And more importantly, what’s the deal with the cash bar at the Oscars?
Cougar Town didn’t get an official premiere date until last month. Were you all worried that it might not come back at all?
We weren’t worried, because we were always assured by ABC that they loved the show, that they’re supportive of the show and that they were just trying to figure out where it made sense [on their schedule]. Personally, I was a little bummed when it didn’t come back in the fall. Then, we were just waiting, and waiting and waiting and it just felt like our premiere date was never coming. But now I think this February 14th [premiere date] is the best time for the show to relaunch, or premiere. The first episode of the season is so sweet and romantic and it just seems kind of appropriate.
Has there been any talk of a fourth season yet?
I think [ABC] wants to see how the ratings do for us this year. That’s why [series creator] Bill Lawrence has been so proactive about all of these different viewing parties, and reaching out to our fanbase and doing sort of his own guerilla publicity for the show. We got an email from him when we got the airdate, just saying, “Guys, any and all press, I want you to do it! Let’s go for it. Let’s really make this happen.” We all took it to heart, and we want the show to last, too. Our fans are so invested in the show. We want it to stay on the air for them!
Bill recently released a highlight reel of season 3, during which we find out that Laurie and Ellie are both Jules’ (Courteney Cox) maid of honor. What happens there?
It’s interesting. It doesn’t seem like Jules really wants Laurie to be her maid of honor [Laughs]. But she also doesn’t want to hurt Laurie’s feelings, so she just sort of does it. It’s a good arc to the season. The whole wedding stuff is fun, and it doesn’t take over [the show]; it’s not the whole year. It’s not like you’re going to be watching a show about a wedding … It’s basically [at] the beginning and the end of the season, and then all the stuff in between is regular Cougar Town hijinks.
