The third season of ABC’s adorable Cougar Town may still be a long time away, but the DVD of the show’s second season will be out today — a lovely way to get yourself out of your television wine withdrawal (if there is one). Marking the DVD’s release: the show’s stars Courteney Cox and Busy Philipps talked about how different season 2 was from season 1 (in Cox’s words, it’s the “new and improved Cougar Town”) and whether 40-somethings can really be that crazy.

Courteney Cox on how Cougar Town has changed from the first season:
“Cougar Town started out as a show about a 40-year-old woman dating younger guys. However, we soon realized that getting these young, male guest stars to appear in the show for just one week meant that the audience didn’t really invest in the characters. That’s why we decided to move away from a show about a ‘cougar’ and move into a show about this group of dysfunctional friends. It was always an ensemble show, but we decided to push it more when we realized that was the core of the show … It was a good decision because the regular characters on the show are far too interesting to take a back seat.”

Busy Philipps on how the show evolved into what it is now:
“When they were casting the show, they were looking for a group of people that would be able to work really well together. When we got to the third or fourth episode of season 1, I remember Bill Lawrence saying to us, ‘This is the show. It’s about friends. It’s not about her looking for younger guys. It’s about you and your relationships together.’ It wasn’t like the producers decided to change the tone of the show; it’s just made the show stronger.”

Cox on being nominated for a Golden Globe:
“I was so psyched when that nomination came through. It was such a good feeling. You know what? I’m really proud of this show and I’m really proud of what we’re doing. I am happier than ever working on Cougar Town.”

Philipps on whether Cougar Town’s childish character reflect reality:
“I think that depends on the people you hang out with. There are groups of people that sit around, drink wine and behave like proper adults. But there are also people who like to let loose and have some fun. My husband has this group of football friends that get together every Sunday. They are all aged 38 to 45 and they drink, play games and watch football. They have fun together and it feels very reminiscent of the stuff we do on this show.”

Cox on why Jules is a real estate agent:
“I am really into real estate, which is why Jules has the perfect job for me to portray on the show. I’m not sure how that came about, though. [Cougar Town creator] Bill Lawrence spent tons of time with me before he went away and wrote the pilot episode – and he really captured my sense of humor, although I don’t know if he was trying to capture my passion for homes by making Jules work in real estate. To be honest, I just think there are a lot of real estate brokers in Florida. Whatever works…”

Philipps on that old question — should Cougar Town change its name?
“The show’s name got a lot of attention when we were filming season 1, and it got a lot of people interested in the show. Television is a really tough business; the goal is to keep your show on the air and to get people to watch it. Having the discussion about the title gave more interest in the show and it got people talking. In season 1, we had a lot of bloggers saying, “If you’re turned off by the title, you should check it out. It’s not about cougars.” And then in season 2 they said, “Will they change the title? Won’t they change the title?” I think it continually garnered interest – but changing the title is a very tricky proposition.”

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Courteney Cox is fully behind David Arquette’s latest career move – competing on “Dancing with the Stars.”

“She’s been really supportive and she’s been really sweet,” David told Access Hollywood of his ex, the star of ABC comedy, “Cougar Town.”

David said he expects Courteney will hit the ballroom sidelines to cheer on the actor as he competes against 11 other celebrities, including Nancy Grace, Kristin Cavallari and NBA star Ron Artest.

“She’ll be there, I’m sure,” he said. “She’s been very kind about it and very supportive.”

The “Scream” franchise star’s 7-year-old daughter, Coco, is also behind dad, to a point.

“She is, she may be a little nervous that I’m going to embarrass her,” he laughed. “I’m sure I will with some of the – I’ve already put outfits on for rehearsal.”

And David admitted he is even willing to cross a personal line to look picture perfect in the ballroom.

“I’m not a big fan of orange as a skin tone, but hopefully, I’ll be able to sit out in the sun a little,” David said when asked if he’ll spray tan. “I do know that that’s part of this game, but you want to look the part and be a part of it so I’m willing to do whatever it takes to do my best.”

Ricki Lake has already suggested that David is a frontrunner, and David is hoping some coincidental numbers will bring him luck.

“I just heard it was Season 13, and my daughter was born on the 13th. A little cosmic beautifulness,” he said. “I’m really excited to be a part of this cast, and to having a partner whose gonna teach me all these amazing moves.”

The “Dancing” pro partners will be announced on Wednesday morning on “Good Morning America.” The new season will premiere on Monday, September 19, in a two-hour show, from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT.

The following night ABC will air “Dancing with the Stars: Meet the Cast,” which airs at 8 PM, followed at 9 PM by the first “DWTS” results show.

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Hollywood star Courteney Cox has revealed she would work as an interior decorator had she not managed to launch a successful career in acting.

“I’d decorate houses, I think,” she said when being asked what kind of jobs she considered as a reasonable alternative to her current profession.

The “Cougar Town” star explained: “Decorating homes is my most favourite activity – acting only comes second.”

Speaking to Austrian magazine Live, she also disclosed feeling more like a bear than a cougar. “A bear that can get angry and wild at times,” she stressed.

Cox – who starred in hit sitcom “Friends” and blockbuster horror film series “Scream” – told Live she did not hold a grudge against ex-husband David Arquette for revealing details of their private live on TV and in radio talk shows.

“No, I’m not angry with him. He’s just like that. David is an entertainer and an extremely open and honest person – sometimes a bit too honest,” she said.

The 47-year-old American said she has not started dating ever since the split from the actor who starred in crime film “3000 Miles to Graceland” and cult action horror movie “Eight Legged Freaks.”

“No, I’m not dating anybody at the moment. I’m quite shy and not ready yet, I think. It would feel odd. Apart from that, I don’t like going out that much. I prefer hanging around at home – not the ideal circumstances to meet someone, I know,” Cox told Live.

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David Arquette apparently has a crush on singer Jessie J, who it has emerged, has a crush on his estranged wife Courteney Cox.

The actor told Howard Stern that he’s got the hots for the singer, but the Brit singer said at last week’s Vanity Fair-sponsored opening party for the Guess Fifth Ave. flagship store, that she much preferred Courteney Cox – and had even told her so.

Turns out Cox and Jessie had met at the Jimmy Kimmel show that night, soon after Arquette made his comments.

“I said to her, ‘If it means anything, I’d much rather date you than him,’” the New York Daily News quoted her as saying.

Cox, for her part, told the singer that she’d downloaded her album and was a fan.

The cast and creator of Cougar Town took the stage at the TV Academy in Los Angeles earlier tonight to talk about their now fan favorite comedy series. Admittedly, the show about a woman in her early forties with a teenage son starting over after a divorce began very much as a Courteney Cox-led ensemble vehicle, but as the episodes went on, it very much became a straight ensemble. Sure Cox is still front and center, most notably because everyone is always hanging out at her house, but it is the energy the cast has together that drives the show and causes such a raucous response.

And such a response was certainly in attendance last night! Fans lined up outside the theater to get autographs and photos with their favorite castmembers, often yelling “Penny Can!” at them as they were pulled away to take photos on the red carpet. Fans also expressed their deep feelings about the couples on the show, and showrunner Bill Lawrence even went so far as to use those in the audience as an impromptu focus group, asking if they thought it was “icky” if Laurie (Busy Philipps) and Travis (Dan Byrd) ended up dating next season. For the record, though the actors are pretty close in age, their characters are a decade apart. Still the overwhelming response was that it was fine, which was something series star Cox was thrilled to hear.

But before Lawrence can think too far ahead to season three, we must first get through the current (second season) on-air! The remaining episodes have all been shot already, with the season finale taking the characters to Hawaii, so what can we expect from our favorite wine-swilling cul-de-sac crew?

SPOILER ALERT!

Well, first and foremost the kids issue is going to come up for Grayson (Josh Hopkins) and Jules (Cox). Babysitting Stan did not satisfy his paternal cravings, even if it may have put a pin in the discussion for a little while. But Jules is so focused on her son, who is about to make a big decision of his own, that she may not have much energy to argue with Grayson about becoming a mother again right now. Travis is about to propose to his girlfriend, something his mother isn’t happy about but will end up coming around on in part. Unfortunately her unsure energy may bleed over into her son’s relationship because his question does not receive the answer one might hope.

As if that isn’t heartbreaking enough, the usually level-headed, “fifty year old in a nineteen year old’s body” (as Lawrence put it) snaps and begins to spiral, running away to Hawaii to work in a surf shop. In many ways, the kid who always emulated his mother’s strong work ethic begins to follow in his father’s shoes a little bit more, much to his dismay, because Bobby (Brian Van Holt) just wants his kid to finish school and succeed.

Hence the need for the rest of the gang to take a vacation. While there, of course some are more invested in getting Travis to come home, while others just want to drink and have a good time.

Also going down in Hawaii? Some bromance bonding for Andy (Ian Gomez), Sam Lloyd reprising his role as Ted Buckman, an original Grayson Ellis tune strummed on the ukulele, and a rival for Big Carl!

You can hear the cast tease more about Cougar Town’s final season two episodes in the video to the left!

But before we have the season finale, there will be quite a few adventures in between, including guest appearances by Nia Vardalos, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Barry Boswick, the latter of whom plays a new love interest for Barb (Carolyn Hennesy) who wants her to be more demure.

Cougar Town airs on ABC, Wednesday nights at 9:30pm.

Laughter is the best medicine. That’s what Courteney Cox and her Cougar Town costars realized after the star separated from husband David Arquette last year, especially when lots of false dating rumors began swirling around – specifically linking Cox, 46, to costars Brian Van Holt and Josh Hopkins.

“I don’t think that [Josh and Brian] were quite used to it,” Cox told PEOPLE at “An Evening with Cougar Town,” a tribute to the show held by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences on Wednesday in L.A. “For sure, they weren’t used to it! And I’m kind of so used to hearing about my dating, I don’t care.”

Hopkins, who plays Cox’s love interest on the show, admitted he was blindsided by the sudden flurry of speculation, especially after he vacationed with Cox in St. Barts recently, but didn’t take it too seriously.

“It’s really been very easy to laugh off,” said Hopkins, 40. “She’s been in the limelight for so long she doesn’t think twice about it. She does not live her life in fear of what people might say.”

Van Holt, who plays Cox’s ex-husband, also quickly learned to take the rumors in stride. “Oh, you just laugh it off, I guess,” he said. “Don’t take it seriously and don’t listen.”

Teasing Each Other

Teasing from his castmates helped relieve any pressure, said Van Holt. “They’re always heckling. And I wonder: who’s next on the cast list?”

“I’m waiting for my turn!” joked costar Ian Gomez (who is married to actress Nia Vardalos in real life). “Apparently everyone else gets to date her!” But Gomez admitted he understands why the rumors started. “Hey, if I saw the two of them in St. Barts together I would assume the same thing,” he said. “But knowing them, I know that it’s ridiculous.”

Costar Busy Phillipps said she poked fun at the pair when the rumors surfaced. “I texted Josh when they were in St. Barts and I was like, ‘Will you stop dating Courteney, because it’s getting really awkward for the rest of us?’ ”

But that didn’t stop Cougar Town producer Bill Lawrence from cutting to the chase Wednesday night. He (jokingly) put Cox and Hopkins on the spot in front of the live audience, asking them point-blank if they were dating. “I want to!” said Cox. “But whatever. I tried. But he hasn’t made any moves on me.”

On a serious note, Cox said that dating isn’t even on her agenda at the moment. “Not for me right now,” she says. “Not right this minute.”

But the star does say that the support of her coworkers has been invaluable since her split with Arquette. “I do lean on all of the people on the show,” she said. “Also I like to distract myself. During hard times it’s just also better sometimes just to work, and it’s great to do a comedy. Somehow it’s like they kind of go together. I got to step out of it and try to be funny.”

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Courteney Cox regrets her surprise appearance on shock jock Howard Stern’s radio show last week (ends15Apr11) – because the chat got way too personal and she was too candid.

The former Friends star stunned Stern and her husband David Arquette, who was co-hosting the satellite show, when she walked into the studio last Thursday (14Apr11) and sat down to chat.

But the appearance turned into a therapy session as Stern and Arquette grilled her over the state of her marriage – Cox and Arquette separated last summer (10).

Stern quizzed her about her sex life, extra-marital affairs and went “deep” into her relationship with her husband, who was happy to encourage the prying DJ.

Cox eventually walked out, but not before she’d said enough to make the pages of the tabloids and all the gossip Internet sites.

She says, “They got heavy, deep and real. I was not expecting the questions, like, ‘Are you going to get back together?’ I was like, ‘Wow, dude, this is…’ It was really personal stuff… and David was like, ‘Yeah, tell me!’

“You say things on Howard, or Howard says things and you agree and then it’s all over the press… I said something about David and it was like, ‘Courteney says David is sex obsessed.’ I just told one story, I was just joking.”

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Following the recent emergence of vacation photos of Cougar Town actor Josh Hopkins with costar Courteney Cox and her 6-year-old daughter Coco, Hopkins is now setting the record straight about the exact nature of their relationship.

“There [were] a lot of people with us, but we’re the only ones you see [in the photos],” Hopkins, 40, tells Access Hollywood about the getaway that set off a media frenzy. “They just frame us two, so it’s a story. It’s not true.”

Still, Hopkins admits he could do worse than to be romantically attached to Cox, 46.

“It’s not like a terrible story to have out there,” he says. “It’s not like I’m upset about it. I mean, she’s really hot. But it’s just not true.”

As a matter of fact, Hopkins was at first hesitant even to take the trip.

“I wanted to go to the beach,” he says. “[Courteney] said, ‘You should come with me to St. Barts.’ I was like, ‘Maybe, you know, I don’t know.’ And then [Cougar Town]‘s creator Bill Lawrence was like, ‘If I’d go anywhere, I’d go to St. Barts.’ ”

It then didn’t take long before Hopkins realized the travel perks that go along with being Cox’s pal.

“I said, ‘This sounds great, let’s do it,’ ” he recalls, thinking at the time, “I’ll get her access. I probably couldn’t get into a restaurant in St. Barts, but with her, I was everywhere.”

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Courteney Cox has disclosed that she worried about the state of her career after wrapping work on Friends in 2004.

In an interview with Moviefone, the 46-year-old actress noted that her fears were quickly assuaged after being offered several intriguing projects.

“You always get scared,” Cox said. “You know, like, after Friends, what was I going to do?”

The star added: “I did a series after that a few years later. I feel lucky. I always seem to do things that are not complete bombs – [the FX series] Dirt was on for a couple seasons, then I went with [producer] Bill Lawrence for Cougar Town, so I knew that at least had a good shot… But yeah, you’re always scared that that’ll be it.”

Cox recently suggested that a feature film reunion with her Friends castmates will never take place.

She is currently starring with estranged husband David Arquette and Neve Campbell in director Wes Craven’s Scream 4, which is now playing in US and UK cinemas.

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