Inside this exclusive Small Screen Scoop Ian Gomez interview: Penny Can is back with possible new rules, a zombie episode of Cougar Town, and we even squeezed out a couple season 3 Cougar Town spoilers!

Images courtesy of Eric McCandless – © 2011 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

As you may know one of my favorite shows on the air right now (and I’m so happy I can say it is currently on the air and not on an indefinite hiatus!!!) is Cougar Town. So when I was offered the chance to talk to Ian Gomez aka Andy Torres of the Cul de Sac Crew, I was very excited. There may have been jumping up and down. I may have also chanted “Javier! Javier!” But we will get to Felicity later.

We talked for awhile the other day. His four-legged child (a dog, not a kid with four legs) was barking at people walking by and my four year old child was bribed with popcorn, candy and a movie to keep quiet. In my room… I didn’t drop him off at the movie theater or anything. I won’t do that until he’s five. I’m not a monster. Anyway – Ian and I had plenty of time to chat up about what’s been going on with Cougar Town. And my first question had to do with a very special game…. All together now: PENNY CAN!!!

Melissa Miller: Is Penny Can coming back?
Ian Gomez: Penny Can is coming back. And Penny Can kind of has an arc, where, um, there are so many rules for Penny Can. You know, things happen like it hits the rim, you get flicked on the ear, it goes in and out and you get a mustache. It becomes you can hardly play the game, so they do some soul searching to get back to the pureness….

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So thank goodness. Penny Can will be back. As I told Gomez, I enjoyed Dominance Ball, but Penny Game is my game, and I missed it. He said he enjoyed Dominance Ball too, until he went to the gym and people threw medicine balls at him and yelled that he’d been dominated. Not quite the same as the cute little nerf ball from the show.

MM: You’ve got to wonder – do the writers realize this is going to happen to you?
IG: You know, I always, always, whenever we have to do anything weird on the show will picture the writers sitting there, eating Cheetos, going, “Yeah, um, zip line! Yeah, let’s have them do a zip line.” And then they just write down: Zip. Line. They write down seven letters and suddenly we have to actually do it.

The moral of this story was: don’t piss off the writers. Especially Bill Lawrence. Everyone hated poor Dan Byrd’s hair last season. So this season – Travis is stuck in a dorky helmet for weeks. And speaking of Dan Byrd, Gomez says those scenes are some of his favorite to play. While he made sure it was clear he liked working with everyone (well played!) he says that the sort of Uncle relationship their characters have are his favorite. I love them too. We talked about the weird back and forth on how every adult attempts to parent Travis in some way, but really, isn’t Travis the only adult there?

When I asked about some guest stars, I got a little bit of information on what may be to come on Cougar Town. Read on for some Cougar Town spoilers (season 3!)

MM: Will your wife [Nia Vardalos] be back guest starring this season?
IG: Not this season because our order got cut by seven episodes, so they had to put a lot of stuff on hold. I know they wanted, yeah, to bring her back. I know I’m going to run for mayor and we were going to find out if he won and find out what would happen because Ellie would be the world’s angriest First Lady of Gulfhaven. So that was going to be fun. So, yeah, that is going to be on the shelf for next season. So yeah… they have a lot of stuff in mind. So hopefully they will get to it!

Hear that everyone?!?! There will be amazing stuff in Season 4. So WATCH COUGAR TOWN. Gomez is hopeful that if they get a Season 4 order, they will get Season 5 to hit that magical number 100, and hit syndication. Still not convinced? Well, I had some ideas…

MM: Are there any actors that you would like to portray members of your family?
IG: Oh, there are a slew of Latino actors that I would love to have on. Or even Italians that look like Latinos. Um, Rita Moreno I’ve been a huge fan of for, you know, all my life and she would be fantastic on the show. And Hector Elizando would be great.

He named a few others, one was Jon Polito who, based on his pics, needs to be on the show. They look so much alike! Then the conversation took a turn….

IG: Charlton Heston!
MM: Well, that would be interesting.
IG: Yes. Dead Charlton Heston.
MM: Yes, it can be a The Walking Dead crossover.
IG: [laughs] You know, if there were really zombies, there would be a lot of zombie actors getting work nowadays Just, like, there would be a different craft service table.
MM: A very disturbing craft service table.
IG: Yeah. But wouldn’t it be great to work with Marlon Brando’s zombie?
MM: Oh my gosh, yes. And he would sound the same as he did towards the end.
IG: [laughs] Yes!
MM: Now I’m picturing that episode.
IG: The Cougar Town Zombie episode.
MM: That everyone has been clamoring for.
IG: It pretty much writes itself.

So get on that, Bill Lawrence. And if you can get Zombie Marlon Brando’s agent on the phone to play Andy’s grandfather… all the better.

Recommended: Best COUGAR TOWN Quotes – Season 3 – ‘Lover’s Touch’

Gomez and I also talked about the new Stan – he works for Matchbox cars! – and the fun of making the Ellie killing Andy pictures. Those were based on something a couple of the writers actually do. They even have a calendar! I think I know what we are doing for a calendar next year!

And for you Felicity fans – Gomez still gets a lot of people coming up to him and ask him about Javier, especially while in New York City. Inevitably they will share where they lie on the Noel/Ben debate, because a true Felicity fan can’t seem to mention the show without bringing it up. And because I so associate Javier with those yellow glasses, I had to ask if he still had them. The first pair were stolen, he does still have the second pair. Ready and waiting for the Smithsonian, of course.

I have to say, I loved talking to Gomez, and I’m very thankful he was willing to do the interview and talk for awhile.

So now it is up to you, my lovely readers. You MUST watch Cougar Town and then come back here and read my reviews and quote spotlights. (It airs Tuesday nights. 8:30pm. ABC. Do it. Please. I neeeeed my Cul de Sac crew and all of you!)

Written by Melissa Miller. Find her on Twitter @serrae

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