Courteney Cox is back on TV in a brand-new comedy — and ET talks to the former “Friends” star about playing a cougar in the new ABC series, “Cougar Town”!
“A cougar is a lady in her 40s who is going out with younger men,” Courteney tells ET. “It is not the negative [a woman who has had too much] plastic surgery in her 50s. It is really a woman with confidence that does that.”
In “Cougar Town,” Courteney plays a 40-something woman trying to get on with her life following an ugly divorce. In the first episode, her character Jules hooks up with a guy not much older than her 17-year-old son.
She is also a producer on the series, so she gets to be in on the casting sessions when they are looking for the young guys to play her prey.
“I am so glad I am producing so I can be a part of the casting sessions because there might be a character that is on for three episodes and you want to make sure that it is someone you want to kiss,” she says. “You don’t want to be stuck with someone you don’t. It is sweet and cute and nice. It is good to have control over it.”
One of the first scenes in the premiere episode is Jules examining her body in the mirror and not being happy with what she sees.
“That scene is really what I look like when I am pushing on my stomach, pulling on my arm and shaking my leg,” Courteney says. “That is what I look like when I am not lit right. It is all about lighting. I gave you a glimpse of me with average lighting. I worked really hard to look that bad.”
“Cougar Town” premieres Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 9:30 p.m. on ABC.