Men of a Certain Age Like a TV Indie Movie

TNT'snew series Men of a Certain Age is further proof that cable TV will be the go-to place for quality TV shows in the future. This nuanced dramedy follows on the heels of such stellar TV shows as AMC's Mad Men and FX's Damages, shows that pose more questions than answers and credit viewers with enough intelligence to ponder for themselves the fates of the characters who are depicted as multi-layered people, neither good nor evil, rather than cartoonish stereotypes.

As a huge fan of Everybody Loves Raymond, I was happily surprised to see Ray Romano shift into a more ambiguous character, a man uprooted from his family after separating from his wife. On Men of a Certain Age Romano plays Joe, a suddenly single everyman in his late 40s who ironically owns a party supply store (get it, unhappy man in a happy business), living solo in a hotel and wondering what the heck happened to what used to be his life.

Rounding out the cast of Men of a Certain Age are Scott Bakula, who plays Terry, a single washed-up actor who dates-or, more accurately, sleeps with-women half his age and Andre Braugher who plays Owen, a black car salesman working for his emasculating father, with an inner tension so palpable you can almost spread it on toast like butter.

The premise of the show is that these three middle-aged guys are somehow friends, even though they appear to have little in common except for a wistful "my salad days are over" perspective of life. They get together to shoot the breeze at Norm's Restaurant in L.A., sharing the flotsam and jetsam of their lives in a far less comedic, more angst ridden manner than did the Seinfeld gang at Monk's Café in Manhattan.

One scene of Men of a Certain Age that epitomizes the iconoclastic nature of the show is when the Owen character has a disagreement with his wife over the ethics of his buddy Joe's wife having an affair with her college teacher prior to splitting up with Joe. Owen's wife, Melissa (played by Lisa Gay Hamilton), calls Owen out for being rude to his pal's wife and branding her with the Scarlet A at a charity function in front of their friends. On most shows you would expect the wife to take the high road while the husband winks complicity at his adulterous pal.

If you're more into characters than plot, Men of a Certain Age could be your mug of beer. You won't see any car chases or people slipping on banana peels; instead you'll see three flawed humans chasing the shadows of their dreams while tripping over themselves.