Men of a Certain Age, which first aired on December 7th, continues its 10:00 PM eastern Monday night time slot on TNT. It marks the return of the Emmy® winning writing talents of Ray Romano and Mike Royce to series television; this time with a drama. Their ability as story tellers and to write realistic dialog has only improved with time. The show has the potential to bring another successful award winning series to TNT.
Men of a Certain Age stars Emmy® winner Ray Romano, Emmy® winner Andre Braugher and Golden Globe® Winner Scott Bakula with a supporting cast that is comprised of highly skilled and talented actors.
The story is about the lives of three men approaching a certain age who have been friends since college.
Owen (Andre Braugher) is the everyman of the three friends. He appears to be a happy and successful married father of three. The truth is that he is an unhappy car salesman working for a demanding father. As much as he would like to quit, he stays to please his wife Melissa (Lisa Gay Hamilton) and provide for his children. The stress doesn’t help him control his diabetes with a healthy life style.
Joe (Ray Romano) is someone we all know. Joe appears to be a successful small businessman. His truth is that he is fighting his inner demons. Not the least of which is a gambling addiction that probably cost him his marriage and may cost him his business. Although he tries to be a good father to his son and daughter, he seems unable to reach them. He still tries to lie to his former wife Sonia (Penelope Ann Miller) about his gambling addiction, thinking he may still win her back. Sonia is wise enough to know better and has moved on.
Terry (Scott Bakula) , the actor and the happy bachelor, whose life is filled with beautiful women, is free to pursue whatever interests him. He appears to be the envy of the other two but he secretly yearns for a deeper relationship. His career as an actor seems to be stalled and he finds himself working at dead end jobs with people of questionable morals.
It is painful to watch these men in their individual struggles to get through each day. Their lives are not exactly what they had planned. In describing the show, TNT says that John Lennon once wrote, “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans”. The following quote from Henry David Thoreau comes to mind, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song left in them”.
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The writers have given us some small respites to the pathos. Terry takes revenge upon a careless driver who almost runs down a woman. Owen musters his courage to stand up to his father and actually win an argument. Joe gives his son Albert (Braeden Lemasters) some useful advice that enables him to make the golf team. These are small individual victories and leave us wanting more.
Where the characters truly shine is when they are together; the morning hike or the lunch table where they exchange opinions and stories.
Perhaps the writers will give us a story line where the three friends engage on a quest together. Perhaps Owen and Terry can save Joe from disaster. The tenor of the show doesn’t have to change. It would be nice to have a message of hope. A message that says fullfillment can come from other places in our lives. A message that says we are not defined by the jobs we have taken in order to survive. We can rise above the choices we have made.
If the writers can deliver that, they will have a show that will match or even exceed their past success.
The ratings for Men of a Certain Age dropped in its third week from the week before a little. It will be interesting to see how it did the following Monday night.
| Date | Viewers (millions) | HH / Share | A18-49 / Share |
| December 7th | 5.397 | 3.6/6 | 1.6/4 |
| December 14th | 4.425 | 3.6/5 | 1.3/4 |
| December 21st | 3.696 | 2.3/4 | 1.1/3 |
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The episode for Men of a Certain age was a bit of a disappointment from last Monday night. (12/28/09)
I have to admit that if the writers were trying to show us how boring a Charity dinner and auction could be; they succeeded.
The considerable charms of Scott Bakula weren’t working. Even the Scenes with Joe (Ray Romano) and his bookie, Manfro (Jon Manfrelotti) trashing the hotel pool felt uninteresting. I was hoping the manager would call the cops on them. I wanted to call the cops on them.
It wasn’t until the last five or six minutes that things picked up and we finally got the payoff to the slow build up. Terry finally has a revelation and decides not pursue a one night stand.
Owen has a talk with Joe about what he learned from Sonia (Penelope Ann Miller) and her boyfriend at dinner. Joe’s reaction is unexpectedly mature. Perhaps I was reading too much into it but Owen may have a problem with alcohol. Since he is diabetic that could be a problem.
It felt like the ending was written by an entirely different writer and it didn’t feel as good as the previous week.
I anticipate that the show will get better next week. Owen’s remodeling problems will cause his family to move in with Owen’s father (Richard Gant). That should allow for a lot of potential conflict on Men of a Certain Age.
sources: IMDB, TNT’s Men of a Certain Age site, TV By The Numbers, Travis Yanan on PI Feedback.
