I remember V ... and, like Vortex, my most vivid memory is of the woman unhinging her jaw to swallow a rat.

And is Courtney Cox old enough to qualify as a cougar? I mean, for someone who's above the age of consent?

I wouldn't think so, but I hate that expression like syphilis, so bear that in mind. It just brings up this tacky woman in too-tight pants and cigarrette voice waiting for the college bars to open.

I'm with erika on the hateration. And in my mind (much as I hate my mind for wasting space on any of it) a cougar is definitely in her 50s, or late 40s at youngest (but gorgeous and magnetic and irresistible, the way the teenage girl in The Chalk Garden scornfully described her newly-remarried mother, "She's golden and striped, like something in the jungle").

But the media keeps defining cougars downward; a couple of weeks ago Shakespeare's Sister linked to a vile NY Post gossip snippet cougarizing Kate Winslet. At which point the word has lost all meaning.

*I* am a cougar. At least, that's how I think of it. Much younger than me, and the most I'd say is that you like them fresh off the vine.

The thing that gets me about what little I saw of that Cougar show (shut up! It was like passing by a wreck... you have to look!) was that the guys all seemed to be the same boastful fratboy twits that shows like The Real World always feature getting into fistfights and worshipping the porcelain god. I can see that maybe working as candidates to date someone else college-aged, but shouldn't an independent woman in her 40s have encountered enough BS to find them completely unappealing? Where were the quieter 20-something humanities majors and IT techs that would grow into keepers in a few years?

Well, I think it has its place...Mom used to work with a number of them, including one that "dated" her son's friends...I guess what I hate is that we're supposed to pretend it's not a vulgar insult, but some kind of sexy fist-bump deal. Like, there's a game show called that, and I look at the title and think "Why not just call her The Cooze and be done with it?" Kate Winslet is only a bit older than I...is she hanging around Freshman Orientation or something? Because that would be cougar-ish. Bring back "Mrs. Robinson", please. ETA: Matt, I feel you.

And is Courtney Cox old enough to qualify as a cougar? I mean, for someone who's above the age of consent?

Oddly, her character on "Scrubs" made a joke about being a cougar. Hmmm ... and Bill Lawrence is behind both shows ...

I'd love it if La Cougar slept her way through the shiny young things but saved a nice quiet one to savour.

Doubt it happened. But at least she was choosing from guys her kid's age--she was proper and "old."

And is Courtney Cox old enough to qualify as a cougar? I mean, for someone who's above the age of consent?

Courtney Cox is well into her 40s.

45, per wikipedia