Season Premiere of the Cougar

TV Land Prime aired the season premiere of The Cougar, hosted by Vivica A. Fox. 40 year old Stacey Anderson is looking for the love of her life among twenty hot twenty something year old guys, the resounding theme being, men do it why can't women?

Notable Cougar Cubs or Prey

The Cougar began with each "cub" given the opportunity to say something significant to Stacey and whomever had the best opening line would win the chance to be the first one to spend some alone time with her. Although Stacey Anderson had 20 contestants to choose from, I only noticed a handful that did or said anything original in their introductions.

Travis just turned 21 and shared one of his first legal drinks of champagne with Stacey. Significant because he actually looks like he isn't legal.

Ryan 29 a Marine that did some kind of military march to approach her and then saluted. Ryan will go down in history for (among other things) telling Stacey that she looked way too old to be a cougar. Only when everyone gasped and snickered, did Ryan change his phrase to what he meant, which was that she looked "way too young to be a cougar".

Brad 24 aka "Bear" began booty shaking and dancing like he was at a nightclub, reminding me that these guys are only in their twenties.

Joe 23 wore a safari hat and approached her as if he were searching for something in the jungle before asking "are you the cougar I'm looking for?" Corny, but different.

J.D. 24 recited a poem to Stacey that she thought was Shakespeare but apparently he had written it himself for her.

Colt 25 sang some song about a cougar and played his guitar, noteworthy because he was wearing an ascot and I haven't seen many twenty five year old guys wearing ascots.

Winner of One on One Time with The Cougar

Stacey Anderson selected her first winner, Travis. His prize of the coveted alone time consisted of him telling her he likes "surfing and skateboarding...doing anything with a board." As noted in the beginning, Travis recently turned 21 and could easily pass for 16, clear braces and all. At the end of their meeting, he actually said that he felt as though he and Stacey had a lot in common.

Mingling and Hanging Out with The Cougar

Most of the season premier of The Cougar was spent on clips of her discussions with each of the guys. As with most reality dating competitions there is a conflict or fight involving someone who seems incredibly unstable from the beginning, in this case it's Marine Guy Ryan. Not only does he seem to pick a fight with Colt, the guy wearing an ascot, but he also tells Stacey he heard she dated a guy in the military (she says she didn't) and that he once dated a 42 year old woman who was also a grandmother.

The Kiss Off

Elimination on The Cougar consisted of Stacey asking each guy to step forward, if they received a kiss on the lips they stayed, a kiss on her cheek they had to leave. It was a bit disturbing watching her kiss 15 guys, and this was the point in which one would notice that not all of the contestants were really that hot. I found myself thinking more than once, "Nope, wouldn't kiss him. Nope, too weird. Nope, too young..."

The Five that Got the Cheek

Rich Who's Rich? When did he get on the show?

Grant 25 year old twin of Adam who said he was leaving because his twin brother was there. Yeah that's not weird. Stacey said she was eliminating him anyway.

Brad apparently the booty dancing didn't impress The Cougar.

Bodie another one I don't remember anything about except that he was a long haired blonde that looked as though he just wanted a ride on the limo bus that picked up the other contestants.

Kevin probably lost her with his Australian kiss pick up line, "It's like a French kiss but down under." Which only came across as creepy, for me at least. Or it could've been the big label under his name that read "unemployed".

The final two choices were between weird and weirder, Bad Pick Up Line Kevin and Marine Guy Ryan. Of course, in reality television, unstable usually wins, and Stacey decided to keep slightly off Ryan, who made his way to the group of keepers yelling, "It's on like Donkey Kong".

Good Luck Cougar

In the end, The Cougar appeared to be no different than The Bachelor or The Bachelorette or any other reality dating television show except that the clips of the contestants resembled a frat house. One guy even said his strategy was to wear bright colors to stand out in the jungle, another said he likes older women because they don't play games (no games except reality television games, at least).

I don't think the show is going to be a pioneer of any kind and shatter any stereotypes of women dating men twenty years younger than they are. I think if anything it makes you realize that the real problem is when a person exclusively seeks out mates that are twenty years younger, whether it's a man or a woman doing the seeking. If it's an accident it's another story. Unfortunately, I don't see The Cougar finding the love of her life in this crew but I'm pretty sure there are tons of other cubs in the jungle that wouldn't mind the chance.