Editorial
Front Page - Friday, March 5, 2010
The Critic's Corner
David Laprad
The older people become, the more sensitive they are about their age. You won’t catch a twenty something being shy about his birthday, for example. Like the genetic coding that makes hair appear in weird places later in life, the age defense gene lies dormant until a person’s 30th birthday, at which point it makes an individual start saying things like, “This is my third annual 29th birthday,” and, “Each year seems to pass quicker than the last.” Likewise, as a society, we’re careful about how we refer to elderly people, lest we hurt their feelings.
I have no reservations, however, about revealing the number of years I have under my belt: I am “a man of a certain age.” That means if I actually calculated how old I am by counting the number of inches under my belt, I’d sadly lose only a couple of years.
So, when I saw an ad on TNT last fall for a new show called “Men of a Certain Age,” I perked up. Before the series premiere, however, my wife and I gave our cable company the heave-ho, and when we signed up with our new service provider, TNT was nowhere to be found.
Eventually, I discovered I could watch full episodes of “Men” on TNT’s Web site. Still curious about the show, I loaded a random episode and then spent the next 45 minutes in a state of episodic television bliss. I was hooked.
Created by Ray Romano of “Everybody Loves Raymond” fame, the program follows three friends: Joe Tranelli, the owner of a party store (Romano); Terry Elliott, an actor who works as an accountant to pay his bills (Scott Bakula); and Owen Thoreau Jr., who sells cars at his father’s dealership (Andre Braugher).
All three men are in their mid- to late 40s, and together, they represent the three main stations in life: Joe is separated and living in a hotel; Terry is single, and making the most of it; and Owen is married, more or less happily. In addition, Joe and Owen have kids, which emphasizes Terry’s freewheeling nature even more than the 21-year-old girl he’s dating.
Watching the show for the first time, it was immediately apparent the men are close. The bond they share came across as genuine, not manufactured out of a common interest in cars or hunting; they like each other and enjoy spending time together in spite of their differences. Their history, and the love they’ve developed for each other over time, holds them together, not some superficial male bonding activity.
The dialogue in “Men” is well written. While eating at their favorite diner, the guys cut each other down, call each other names, talk about things that come up naturally, crack jokes, complain, offer each other support and then cut each other down again. Usually, two of them will mercilessly team up on the third, even when the topic of conversation is serious.
Romano, who wrote nine of the 11 episodes that make up the first season, not only has an ear for natural sounding dialogue, he knows how to create believable characters. While all three men are likeable, each one also has a major character flaw that could eventually be his undoing: Joe is a compulsive gambler; Terry has commitment issues; and Owen is an underachiever.
Romano and his co-writers use these shortcomings to give the show its dramatic edge. In the episode titled “How to Be An All-Star,” Owen’s father steps down as the manager of his car dealership and puts a young upstart, Malcolm, in charge. During a team meeting, Malcolm says, “Every player is valuable, from the quarterback to the water boy” as he looks at a passive Owen. During the same episode, Terry’s girlfriend grows restless with his noncommittal ways and Joe bets $25,000 on a basketball game. Thankfully, Romano doesn’t give any of these characters an easy way out of the hole they’ve dug for themselves.
“Men” strikes the perfect balance between drama and humor, though. “Go with the Flow,” in which Joe goes on his first date in 20 years, had me laughing harder than I’ve laughed since the sitcom “Frasier” was in its heyday.
Perhaps the best thing about “Men” is that it approaches middle age realistically. Yes, the show is humorous and touching, but in the end, Joe, Terry and Owen treat middle age like the crazy time of life that it is. There are no absurd plot developments or forced sentimentality; they live each day, clinging to their dreams, even as they wonder how they were able to come so far with nothing to show for it.
“Men of a Certain Age” airs Monday nights on TNT. It’s a miracle of a show and well worth your time.
Email David Laprad at dlaprad @hamiltoncountyherald.com.
|
|