(S01E11) I have to open this review by saying I've never been a big fan of Lisa Kudrow's work. Phoebe, for the most part, was my least favorite character on Friends, and Kudrow always struck me as the kind of actor who plays one role really well, then just plays variations on that role for the rest of his or her career. When you like that signature character, you're fine with it. But when you don't, it just becomes grating.

Any role I've seen Kudrow in just reminds me of Phoebe, and the role she played last night, as mean skin doc Amy Evans, just felt like Phoebe when she was in one of her bad moods. So the overhyped Friends-reunion part of the episode didn't do much for me, for a lot of reasons. But the rest of the episode was just more evidence that this is quickly becoming one of the best ensembles on TV.

Back to the mean skin doc bit for a second. There really wasn't any conclusion to the story, was there? Jules was unhappy that she was dating Bobby and looking down on him; Bobby didn't care because he's used to people looking down on him, we found out that Jules has a chip on her shoulder because she never finished college, and everyone drank chardonnay out of vases and mustard jars. That was it. No one dumped anyone nor was there any further resolution.

So, does that mean we're going to see more of Dr. Evans, and Kudrow, in the future? I hope not; that character was about as irritating as any I've seen on this show, and not just because Kudrow was playing her.

As usual, I'm going to concentrate on the Courteney Cox-less portions of this episode because they were the ones I found more interesting. Who knew Andy had such a way with women? That's how the bald and hairy Andy got the pretty and adventurous Ellie, predicting a gender men once thought was unpredictable. The funniest part of Andy's schooling of Travis was the when he knew he had a hotter wife than the guy in the coffee shop. And the guy in the coffee shop also knew. Trav seemed sincerely awed by the end of the episode.

And, for the first time, I really enjoyed a Laurie-centric story. She really didn't think she was good enough for Smith, and I love the fact that Grayson set her straight. "He liked you because he saw your butt, boobs, and face, in that order." It was just nice to see Laurie be a real character for a change and not just a slightly smarter version of the kids on Jersey Shore.

A couple of other notes:

-- Great summary by Grayson of Republicans and Democrats.
-- I do like how when Bill Lawrence uses one of his players in a multi-episode stint, not every story revolves around them. At this point Scott Foley's character of Jeff is along for the ride with Jules, so it was fun to see Jules drag him to Bobby's boat, and play three-letter Scrabble with him, without seeing any heavy plot developments around their coupling.
-- I swear that Barb was supposed to be in this series more than she is. TV.com's description of the episode has a whole plot where Travis works for Barb, but that never developed. Wonder if Lawrence, Biegel and crew just figured she was better in one-joke-per-episode doses.
-- Not sure why last-name first names and first-name last names make Laurie all hot. But it's a fun character quirk. I also liked how coordinated she and Ellie are with their six-foot buffer when Jules isn't around.

[Watch clips and episodes of Cougar Town at SlashControl.]