In Praise of Younger Men

As practitioners of textnovelling, the Divas are riding a new technological trend, but we seem to be part of a storyline trend as well. Two of our entries in the Dorchester/Textnovel America's Next Best Celler contest– Liane Gentry Skye’s Muse Struck and my Confessions of the World’s Oldest Shotgun Bride – involve romances between older women and younger men. And as it happens, two of this season’s new sitcoms plow those same, sometimes fertile (pun intended) fields. Descriptions from the network websites:

Accidentally on Purpose (CBS) - Billie is a successful 30-something movie critic living in San Francisco who’s just broken up with her commitment-phobic boyfriend. She ends up rebounding with a much younger man, Zack, who at 22 is just starting out on his career as a chef. Billie and Zack’s fling takes a serious turn when Billie discovers she is pregnant. Not knowing what the future has in store for her, Billie decides to keep the baby and raise it by herself if necessary. However, Zack decides to move in and help Billie with the baby. None of this sits too well with her ex, who tries to win her back, only to discover that she’s now very involved with Zack. Jenna Elfmann plays Billie.

Cougar Town (ABC) - Jules is a single mom in her 40s with a teenage son and a 20-something assistant. After Jules sees her recently divorced neighbor escorting a young conquest to a waiting cab, she confronts him about the double-standard people have when it comes to divorced men and women dating younger. He responds that Jules is just jealous because she couldn’t get a young stud if she tried. So Jules goes out to a bar with her assistant and meets a hot young guy, who later shows up on her doorstep. When the hottie lets his intentions be known, Jules is happy to go along. She’s excited about how the night has turned out until her son comes home early and walks in on her and the hottie during…well, let’s just say the next morning he’s uncomfortable seeing his mother about to eat a banana for breakfast. Courtney Cox stars as Jules.

I was curious about Accidentally because the basic storyline is similar to Confessions. I only saw about the last ten minutes of the pilot, but I have to say, in my humble opinion, Steve beats Zack all to hell in the hero department. Zack has a lot of growing up to do before he’ll make Billie a good mate. And I haven’t seen Cougar Town yet. But whether these shows have been executed well or poorly, the mere fact that they made it onto the air, with proven talent in the starring roles, tells me that the network suits think the public is ready for OW/YM stories. I’ll drink to that!