When: Wednesday, 8pm
Where: TV2
You would have to have been sitting on the other side of the decade not to know what the word was referring to. Just as the meanings of "gay" and "sweet" have evolved over time, "cougar" no longer refers to Felis concolor, a large tawny cat of North America and South America (endangered in some areas).
Check the online Urban Dictionary for a modern definition: "An older woman [usually over the age of 35] who frequents clubs in order to score with a much younger man. The cougar can be anyone from a surgically altered wind tunnel victim, to an absolute sad and bloated old hornmeister, to a real hottie or Milf [an acronym which we won't go into here]. Cougars are gaining in popularity - particularly the true hotties - as young men find not only a sexual high, but many times a chick with her shit together."
Cougars are far from a dying species. As Courteney Cox's new character Jules shows, they can be found in watering holes of every suburb, waiting for their moment to pounce.
Jules has just turned 40 and has been wrung out by an ugly divorce. Egged on by her very-married best friend Elie (Christa Miller, Scrubs) and her determined assistant Laurie (Busy Philipps, He's Just Not That Into You), she reluctantly dips her toe back into the dating pool.
It's rather disheartening - all the single men her age seem interested only in hot young things in miniskirts. But then she meets young Bobby (Brian van Holt, House of Wax), who opens her eyes to a whole new (scary) world as the new single mum on the market.
The show's catch phrase becomes, "I'd date guys my own age but they're out dating younger girls".
In her second post-Friends comedy series outing after the unloved Dirt, Cox not only stars in, but executive-produced, the show, which she says taps into a new older women's liberation movement.
"People are talking about [cougars] more now because women are feeling more confident. Men are finding them more attractive because of their experience, so maybe we're feeling better about ourselves - we're able to go after the young guys and not feel bad about it," she tells TV Guide USA.
Cox's former Friends co-star Lisa Kudrow joins the show later in the series as her rival cougar.
