TNT recently sent me a screener of Men of a Certain Age, a new comedy/drama series written and produced by Ray Romano that follows the lives of three friends going through mid-life crises together.
Men is a dialogue-heavy “dramadey” that tackles a lot of depressing situations and punctuates them with one-liners. If the protagonist from Everybody Loves Raymond got a divorce and started swearing, you’d have Joe. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing – for many comedians, their TV roles are specifically meant to serve as a vehicle for their particular brand of humor; and Romano is known for taking a lot of inspiration for his comedy from his real life. He is always entertaining to listen to, so I enjoyed watching him in this part.
I felt so bad for poor Owen, who goes through so much stress constantly in his job and daily life – Men strikes a nerve with its illustration of how we pay a grave price for our high-stress lives. Each of these men struggle in their own ways with their ultimate purpose, and their main solace seems to be the bond they have with one another. Now that the pilot has established the characters, it will be interesting to seeing how they develop – I think Men of a Certain Age has a lot of potential, and I would watch it again.
Men of a Certain Age hits the airwaves this Monday, December 7th at 10/9 Central on TNT.
I’ve noted that Ray Romano co-created, co wrote and produced this new series. I am sick to death of watching Ray Romano monopolizing every single scene in the series Everybody Loves Raymond. The other cast members have a short line then Ray takes over. Blah, Blah, Blah… he goes on and on, meanwhile the other members of the cast are not much more than furnature on the set. So with Ray’s hands in so much of the Men Of A Certain Age pie, I’m sure this will eventually be another program STARRING RAY ROMANO… oh yeah, and a few other people.
I have been wondering about this show, I might have to check it out 🙂