Men of a Certain Age

by: pageian

TNT has a new series out called "Men of a Certain Age" featuring Ray Ramano.  It's not a comedy, rather it's a drama, or even more precisely a dramadey.  It's not specifically setup for humor but it does have it's humorous moments, the main draw of the show however is the relationship between three middle aged men, their careers and families.  Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher are the other two main characters in the show.

TNT seems to have a hit on their hands, along the lines of other off-network shows such as "Mad Men", though it's hard to imagine this show matching the heights "Mad Men" has found.  The show is set in LA with Ramano as the lead character, owner of a party store, divorced and with a gambling problem.  Bakula plays an actor who rarely has acting jobs and apparently has a peter-pan complex, refusing to grow up and take on the responsibilities of a normal adult.  Braugher is perhaps the most complex character of the three.  He plays a car salesman working at his fathers dealership, married to a loving and strong willed wife played by Lisa Gay Hamilton.  Their house is undergoing renovations and causing all kinds of problems for the family.  He struggles at the car dealership due to the fact that his father is particularly tough on him and he often has trouble with the realities of a job that doesn't fulfill him. 

Similar to "Mad Men" much of the appeal of MoaCA is made up of it's ambiance.  There's rarely any action or suspense on the show but it still manages to be extremely interesting and watchable.  Often times there will be scenes where characters don't talk but are shown doing normal, everyday things like waking up or driving to work.  Most plots revolve around the three main characters dealing with everyday things that we all go through in our lives.  Instead of inventing fantastical plots or unbelievable storylines every week MoaCA instead focuses on real things and delves into them on a level that is intended to develop the characters and explain to the audience what their motivations are for doing what they do.  It's an interesting concept, one that's certainly been done before but perhaps not as well.

Credit needs to be given to the writers of the show as well as the concept of it.  Often times what the characters say is not as important as how they say it or why.  You get the feeling watching the show that it was really well thought out, as if the concept and design of the show came first, the thoughts and meaning that it wanted to convey, and then the actual dialogue was added later in order to achieve those goals. 

Credit also needs to be given to the actors and actresses.  I've been critical of Scott Bakula in the past for his acting but in this show he does well, giving convincing performances.  Also, who knew Ray Ramano was such a good actor?  During his time on "Everybody Loves Raymond" he certainly grew as an actor and became more comfortable with what he was doing though you never got the impression that he felt he was an actor, never got the impression that he felt he belonged on the set with the likes of Brad Garrett, Patricia Heaton, Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts.  All that seems to be gone here though, Ramano gives perhaps the best performance on the show, he's believable and his acting really does a good job of portraying exactly what his character is going through.  He seems like a genuine human being.  Braugher also does an excellent job.  As mentioned earlier, his character has potentially the most complicated situations and Braugher, similar to Ramano, portrays perfectly his characters emotions and motivations.  You really get the feeling that he's just a human being, it's easy to forget that these guys are actors playing parts.  You don't need to suspend reality in order to believe what the characters are going through, it's all done so naturally that you might think that they're actually real people who your following through a camera.

"Men of a Certain Age" appears to be poised for a run of many seasons if the actors and creators are willing to follow through.  Ramano has said that it was his choice that the first season would have 10 episodes so it's apparent that things are relatively under his control so unless TNT decides to pull the plug for some reason then it would seem that the show will continue for as long as Ramano and his fellow actors and producers are interested.  Let's hope they stay interested and continue their creative and enjoyable show.