Men of A Certain Age is a new show created and produced by Ray Romano and Mike Royce (collaborators on Romano’s Everybody Loves Raymond) about three friends since college hitting midlife in different ways. Romano plays Joe, a neurotic gambler whose bad habits have caused his wife to leave him, working at his party supply store trying to adjust to the single life while holding onto the prospect of reuniting with his wife. Andre Braugher stars as Owen, a used car salesman at the family lot who is dealing with stiff competition from a younger co-worker, trying to win the respect and admiration of his Father, also his boss, and struggling with confidence issues. Last Scott Bakula plays Terry, a struggling actor who has lived a completely self absorbed life of dating younger women, shrugging off work, and avoiding grown up life. He’s a work in progress.

I wasn’t to sure about this casting job but all three actors do a phenomenal job of portraying their characters and their characters faults. While I am admittedly not so much a fan of Romano’s earlier work on Raymond he is surprisingly great in his role here providing an excellent balance of both comedy and drama to create a vulnerability in his character that pretty much anyone can associate with. The combination of all three characters offers up a fantastic mish mash of related qualities as well; the family man struggling to maintain and or find self while trying to appease his wife and relate with his kids, the struggle between maintaining a grip on your own self respect in a younger more selfish market with the added pressures of family related stress, and of course the dream of staying young forever with the constant realization that being free and single to do what you want leaves you less time to be with someone you really care about and find solid ground beneath your feet, especially once your pushing forty. What I really liked about the show is that its simply for guys. Its not about three guys in a race to score or be funny or cool, its just a show about men with crappy jobs and average mediocre lives, and in that I am absolutely drawn. A great portrayal of life taking a stab at expectations and with a three deep introduction that is solid all the way from the pilot to the third episode I have no doubt the entire series will be strong. I highly recommend it.