On Dirt, Courteney Cox's turn as a ruthless tabloid editrix was always a bit empty in its delivery -- no matter how much high-profile girl-on-girl lip-lock she did in the line of duty. So although FX execs saw fit to bury the drama after two seasons (just another casualty of that TV writers' strike that most people would be hard-pressed to recall), it seems Cox is drawing on the strength of her character Lucy Spiller's trademark sleaze for her next role.

Taking a cue from television's classiest cougars like Eva Longoria, Madchen Amick, and Julie Bowen, Cox is traveling to Cougar Town, a single-camera comedy helmed by Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence -- who she met only recently. Lawrence aims to dismantle the misconceptions cast on our beloved cradle-robbers: "Forty-year-old women on TV are so beautiful and perfect and wrinkle-free. People don't do the reality of it, and there is a real comedy area about a woman who is talking about Botox, about having sex with the lights on and how her body is changing." So with this role falling somewhere in between generic New York Friend and filthy tabloid boss, Cox appears poised for success.