'Cougar Town' Gets Season 3 Premiere Date

If it seems like way too much time has passed since Courteney Cox last quaffed a vase-sized goblet of red wine on prime-time TV, there is a respite in sight. ABC has announced that the critically acclaimed comedy Cougar Town will be returning for it's third season on Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 8:30 p.m. (So, if you're one of the show's rabid fans, guess that takes care of your Valentine's plans.)

Cougar Town was originally slated to return to the airwaves in late fall, but ABC instead opted for the freshman comedy Man Up! That was canceled in December due to low ratings, leading to a bevy of "Man down!" jokes, as well as speculation that Cougar Town would take over its Tuesday time slot.

Sadly, it was not to be. ABC left Cougar Town off its mid-season schedule and plugged its post-Last Man Standing hole with the men-in-drag stinker Work It. That got the axe on Jan. 13 after a whopping two episodes (shocker!), and -- voila! -- Cougar Town got the nod.

While the return is certainly reason for fans to crack open the Cabernet, there are a couple of negatives. The episode order has been trimmed from 22 to 15 due to its late return, so there will be less Cougar to love this season. And the show's move from Wednesday to Tuesday means it'll no longer enjoy the strong lead-in of Emmy- and Golden Globe-winner Modern Family.

But that doesn't mean the ratings-challenged Cougar Town is a goner after season 3. The prolonged hiatus has generated way more buzz for the show than it would have enjoyed if it had been on the schedule. And as a bonus, during Cougar Town's benching, creator Bill Lawrence launched his own guerilla campaign to promote it: hosting early screenings of season 3 eps, livened up by free open-bar cocktail parties.

"This is what I know to be a fact," Lawrence told Entertainment Weekly after one such screening. "If I can turn out the same audience that enjoys the show for the first two years, this show will be on for six or seven years.  But it's also an experiment. At the end of each party, you'll hear a speech, we'll say thank you and give them shirts, and ask them to both watch the show when it's on, and to tell 10 or 20 people to give it a shot. If we can move the dial, even two-tenths of a point, it will be something that changes the way people market their shows."

So cross your fingers and get watching, Cougar fans!

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/cougar-town-gets-season-3-premiere-date/1-a-419868

Natalie Portman Natalie Zea Natasha Bedingfield Natassia Malthe Nelly Furtado Nichole Robinson