I want to like “Cougar Town.” I really do. I basically have a man crush on creator Bill Lawrence and can’t fathom the thought of him making a one-note, boring comedy. I hope he can prove me wrong. After two episodes, I’m not 100 percent sure I can stick with it.

First, I want to focus on the things I like about the show. I liked Dan Byrd, who plays the son of star Courteney Cox, a lot more in the second episode than I did in the first. I think he can provide a decent comedy foil for Cox, especially with Brian Van Holt, who plays his father. I really, really like the pairing of Ian Gomez and Christa Miller as the married couple living next door. Gomez is a classic “that guy,” who plays the whipped husband secure with his lot in life. Miller does another great job playing the mother jaded with the job of raising her children, just like she did in the latter days of Scrubs.

When they focus on these dynamics, the show works. The power struggle between Cox, Miller and Gomez when Cox’s character Jules decided to party it up provided a bunch of funny moments. The father-son tandem riding around in a golf cart also work, particularly with the scene at the public fountain. That was a classic Lawrence sight gag involving a callback.

I also enjoyed Lawrence and producing partner Randall Winston appearing in the second episode as cops in a photo montage showing Jules’ wild night. Now I just wonder when we will find a character names Randall Winston in the show.

But they have ruined these moments with the insipid attempts of Jules to regain her youth. I know that’s a significant part of the plot, but it happens in such predictable and uninspiring ways that it threatens to make the show entirely miss-able.

I know she needs a younger foil to counteract Miller’s character, but Busy Philipps‘ portrayal of Jules’ co-worker and party friend Laurie is horrible. So is every other female “party character” such as the older redhead realtor who has no problem living the wild life.

The reason Lawrence’s previous shows (Spin City and Scrubs) have succeeded is because characters that might sound like they fit a stereotype always had a depth that provided more realism to the story. Laurie does not do that one bit. Neither does the redhead nor Jules’ 40-something male neighbor Grayson.

Besides, we can see the whole Grayson-Jules hookup coming, which will give her a chance to re-examine whether she should be hooking up with a guy her age and make him regress to his 20-something hookups even more to overcompensate. And that predictability has me worried that the show will turn into something anyone could have written, not the wry, offbeat comedies that have made Bill Lawrence successful.

You might have noticed I haven’t commented much on Cox. There is no need to. She’s Courtney Cox – she plays an over-worried, over-reactionary, loud character just like she has every time she has in the past. I had just hoped the rest of the package would make up for her weaknesses. Instead, they might be working around her, which is a recipe for disaster.

I hope Lawrence either proves me wrong or has saved all his good stuff for the return of Scrubs in January.