When Cougar Town was but a gleam in the eyes of Bill Lawrence, Kevin Biegel, and Courtney Cox, they thought “a show about a 40something woman starting to date again - like a cougar or something. That’s what all the kids are talking about these days!” Unfortunately, they accidentally made the show a really good ensemble comedy where Courtney Cox’s character is dating someone also in his forties and the stupid title is no longer applicable. Sincerely, it’s a good show with a bad title. And Bill Lawrence knows it - he considered changing the title, but:

“I’m not changing the title,” Lawrence tells me. “We never thought of a good new one, which kind of sucks. And when you look at the modern landscape of television, changing the title means changing your DVR and all this other stuff.”

So what’s a guy to do? Well, undercut the title and make fun of it in every single opening sequence. In its first season, as it zooms in on suburban Florida (this is the second-best show taking place in Florida, btw), it said “Welcome to” above Cougar Town. In its second season (so far) it has changed to:

• “(Still) Cougar Town”
• “Badly Titled Cougar Town”
• “Not What the Show Is: Cougar Town”
• “100% Cougar Free Cougar Town”.

These definitely create the impression that Bill Lawrence is simpatico with his audience, which he has always seemed to be. And the music, along with the show’s score, is composed by WAZ, who you may remember from another Bill Lawrence joint.

Welcome back to Drew Carey Week! In today’s edition, we’re moving on to the second credits sequence for the show, set to Five O’Clock World, sung by The Vogues. And honestly, this is what I’m talking about when I talk about great theme songs. (Do I talk about that? If I did, this would be it.)

The song discusses the theme of the show: working until five o’clock every day when your real life starts. But a choreographed dance sequence? Who could ask for more?

What’s also really great about this is that it’s also a dream sequence (in my interpretation). It’s a kind of 2 pm fantasy from an office day - what if my job were more exciting?

Also, weirdly, you’ll notice that in the carpool scene, Drew Carey is flanked by Ian Gomez and (I’m pretty sure - she was definitely on the show, and I believe it is her in the car) Christa Miller. Those two would end up playing a married couple on Cougar Town! How about that, you know?

This dance sequence also does a good job of establishing character relationships, but not as good a job as a later musical number from the show: