What’s Worth Watching: So Long, Cougar Town

Cougar Town, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” (Tuesday, March 31, 10:30/9:30c, TBS)

The odds were never in favor for Cougar Town to end on its own terms. For one thing, there was that dreadful and misleading title. (And true to form, there’s a gag in the opening credits mocking the title one last time.) Always on the brink of extinction at ABC, its snarky charms dwarfed by the mega-success of its Wednesday night neighbor Modern Family, the show was dumped after three seasons. But as a key element of TBS’s reinvention as a comedy brand, Cougar Town got a second chance to thrive, and single-handedly bolster the nation’s wine consumption, earning three more years of demented ensemble fun.

Still, all soused things must come to an end eventually, and so with goblets filled to the brim, we toast the irreverent residents of TV’s wackiest cul-de-sac as they cavort their way into the Florida sunset. The series finale takes place on Jules’s (Courteney Cox) birthday—another occasion, she figures, for her to sabotage her own happiness. But as all of her nearest and dearest reveal plans to move on, Jules takes stock of what matters most: “drinking wine, hanging out, doing nothing.” In the world of Cougar Town, that would qualify as a happy ending.