Men of a Certain Age- Romano Gives Series Promise

Here's the thing...Why did I go into this series premier with such high hopes? It's a drama on TNT. Oh that's right, because it had Andre Baugher and Scott Bakula in it. I never was a big fan of Everybody Loves Raymond so the fact that Ray Romano was also a lead didn't get me too excited. After the episode ended, my first thought was that Romano was easily the best part about the show.

Men of a Certain Age is a drama about three guys that have been friends since college and are now getting through life in their later years. Romano plays Joe. He's in the recently divorced or in the middle of a divorce, owns a party store, and is addicted to gambling. Braugher plays Owen. He's married with kids, has some health issues and works for his father at a car dealership. Bakula plays Terry. The playboy type, somewhat of an aspiring actor that temps in the meantime.

Throughout the first episode we see the three guys go hiking and eat together, but we also see them dealing with the stresses of their daily lives on their own. While every moment Romano was on the screen it was enjoyable, every Andre Braugher scene was disappointing. I never really watched Homicide, but always heard great things, but I loved him in Passing Glory and his recent short stint on House. I know it was only one episode, but he only had one moment where I enjoyed his character. It was the hip check to the young salesman, knocking him into the water cooler. Hopefully that will be where the character heads in the future.

Although it was interesting and a bit funny at times, the drama was lacking and it was pretty slow moving. If it weren't the series premier I can imagine I would've been a bit more bored. Instead I was continually curious as to where it was going to go. I guess there are some positives to a pilot episode. Anyway I'm going to continue to check it out since we are getting into the holiday television break, but I was not seriously impressed.