PASADENA, CA–Men of a Certain Age is one of those TV shows critics seem to love but gets a lot less coverage than, say, The Big Bang Theory. It is almost designed to be ignored, about three men (played by Ray Romanno, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher) who are aging outside the 18-49 demo. TV usually ignores people 50-plus, so going for middle age, in terms of characters and viewers, seems counter intuitive in today’s TV market.
Those Boomers, however, are still driving the bus, so what the hell.
Romano, who created the series, says Men was shopped to CBS, which was more interested if it was a typical half hour comedy. It was also developed at HBO, but leadership there changed and the show got back burnered; Romano was invited to take it elsewhere and found a happy home at Turner network TNT (and at Super Channel in Canada, an undersubscribed premium specialty service that unfortunately pushes this series a bit further off the radar north of the border).
Romano plays a scratch golfer and says he’s a 14 handicap in real life, so that’s how you can tell he’s a great actor. He says Men of a Certain Age is not just a guy’s show; he gets feedback from women who watch to see how men behave in much the same way men used to watch Sex and the City.
One woman who watches in Romano’s wife, who’s not always a fan, he says. “Every time she sees me do a kissing scene, she says, ‘This is bullshit. We have enough money.'”
Romano ended the session by thanking critics, who he says also rallied behind Everybody Loves Raymond in its first year. “Thanks for helping by the nice things you are writing,” he says.
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Great acting on this show!