A reader on Twitter last week tweeted me with a suggestion: would it be a good idea for Cougar Town (which has been struggling in the ratings, though picked up for a second season) to change its stupid name in order to attract more viewers? My gut reaction is that Cougar Town needs to change more than its name—though, to its credit, it has at least stepped away from the high-concept dating-at-40 premise that gave it the title.
But would it work? It has before, if rarely. Exhibit A: Ellen (see video above), which began life as These Friends of Mine. Let’s take a second look at it, shall we?
I wasn’t a fan of either version of Ellen, but I thought that this might be one of those shows that would surprisingly impress me on a second viewing. Nope! Looking again at the clip above, I’m mostly just impressed with what a boring, boring sitcom this was—the inspid title sequence, with its your-local-weather theme song, almost aggressively announces that you are about to watch a half-hour of forgettable entertainment. And indeed the show was, with the exception of the stretch of a handful of shows around Ellen DeGeneres’ coming out that made the show interesting, and sometimes even funny.It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t good. It was just, in the way of those sitcoms that linger on for seasons inexplicably, nothing.
But I will give it credit: the name change worked, and more than that, the name change was right. This was, hands down, a show that was about its star, Ellen. Everything else—the premise, the plots, the supporting characters—was unmemorable background noise that gave its comic star a chance to do her conversational-comedy thing. When the show changed its title—as well as refocusing itself from its Friends-like origins—it put the emphasis on the one reason to watch. Ellen was never that good a sitcom, but it was a good (i.e., effective) title.
So: is there hope for Cougar Town? And what others shows would you give a title-ectomy to?
