Courteney Cox starred in one of television's most popular sitcoms and another that became a cult favorite. But she will be the first to tell you that, these days, people haven't exactly been clamoring to get her to do their TV shows. About five years ago, she was tapped to star in and executive produce a Fox comedy called "Charity Case" that fizzled. It was the first time she'd done a TV pilot that didn't go to series, and, she says, it made her cautious — maybe too cautious — about pursuing another. 

So when she got her hands on a script for a new TV show about a woman in her 50s trying to rediscover herself, the "Friends" star, 57, picked up the phone to pitch the perfect actor for the role: Courteney Cox. The show's co-creator, Jeff Astrof, who had worked on NBC's beloved sitcom but hadn't much kept in touch with Cox, remembers the actress declaring, "It's the only thing I've ever done that has been written for me" — even though it wasn't actually written for her.

On the page, "Shining Vale's" central figure, Pat Phelps, is a former wild child and an author who gained notoriety with a bestselling romance novel. Seventeen years later, she's feeling unfulfilled: in a creative rut and struggling to complete her second novel; her marriage on the rocks since cheating on her husband with a handyman; connecting with her two teenage kids seemingly futile. In an attempt to fix things, her family moves from Brooklyn to an old house in the suburbs of Connecticut. (Greg Kinnear plays Pat's husband, Terry, and Mira Sorvino plays a ghost only Pat can see.)

The Starz series, which premiered Sunday, is both a horror and a comedy in which Pat isn't quite sure whether she's depressed, possessed or both. The emotional tenor felt familiar to Cox — and pushed her as an actor in ways she hadn't explored before.

"To play someone who's going through all this emotional stuff gave me so many opportunities," Cox says. "Going through a midlife crisis — I understand that. Being at that stage in life where, we don't want to say the word 'menopause,' but that's what she's dealing with. And what else ... marriage and how it's work, man. A lot of work. And what it's like to be a mom to a teenager — that it's not easy. Some of the best acting moments of my whole career came from this show."

Facing the sweeping ocean view from her Malibu home, Cox is sitting at the dining table of her pergola-covered terrace with Lily, one of her two Cavalier King Charles spaniels, perched on her lap. As she reflects on her return to television, she's relaxed but contemplative — a change from just minutes earlier, when the more informal Cox was on display. Wearing a faded black T-shirt and black jeans, with her hair pulled into a loose ponytail, she buzzed around her kitchen to throw together a quick snack: a turkey roll-up with a delicate layer of Fritos (her favorite) curled up inside.

"Want me to make you one?" she asks. If you're one of her 12 million Instagram followers, you'll recognize the Cox you've come to know on social media.

Like other high-profile stars in the time of COVID-19, Cox has leaned into giving fans carefully tailored yet easygoing glimpses of her life and home — whether she's dancing, exercising or making her sister's recipe for artichoke dip. Even the sometimes star-studded Sunday gatherings she regularly hosts have become a staple of her online posts, with famous faces like Brandi Carlile, Ed Sheeran and Elton John assembled around the piano, with Cox tickling the keys. (A book of John's sheet music currently rests on the piano's music stand.)

"I wasn't really cooking before we had lockdown. I used to cook a long time ago, but I hadn't in so long," she says. "I started playing the piano more, I played more tennis. I've just had more time to do hobbies, so I might as well post about it.

"I wasn't on social media for years," Cox continues. "And at first it's like, how aloof do you want to be, and how private? But then, if you're gonna be on social media, you can't be that private. I decided I'm not going to worry if I am not perfect. I can show this goofy side of myself. It kind of makes me feel creative. I get to come up with ideas. I direct these little things."

Instagram is more than a creative outlet for Cox — a DM with Carlile led to Cox directing her first music video, for the singer-songwriter's single "Right on Time." Her friends say it has allowed fans to get a glimpse of the Courteney they know. And, yes, she is sometimes like the character she is best known for.

"Courteney will be the first person to tell you she's a Type A personality," says her "Scream" co-star Neve Campbell. "She's constantly sort of in business brain, in the sense of thinking about how to create things for herself and be proactive in her work and in her career."

It's why Jennifer Aniston, Cox's longtime friend and former co-star, wasn't surprised that Cox, in her most Monica-like turn to date, launched her own line of home care products: "When is she her happiest? I would say cleaning, but she would kill me for that," Aniston says. "But I've never seen someone with a bottle of Windex and a cloth more hours out of the day. You can literally be in the middle of a conversation, and her eyes just sort of like drift away from yours. She's just like, 'I noticed a smudge.'"

On a more serious note, Aniston says that Cox has gotten bolder as she's gotten older.

"Courteney is always curious and always wanting to get out of her box," says Aniston, who was one of the handful of people Cox asked to read the "Shining Vale" script. "All of us who were on 'Friends' were sort of in a continuous break me out of this Rachel bubble or Monica bubble. But I think it's been long enough that that's happened, so I love that she's trying to scratch different niches. She wants to go deeper ... there's so much more in Courteney that hasn't been accessed."