A Certain Age
Posted on | December 9, 2009 | No Comments
I’m of a certain age. I guess that’s a figure of speech that means I’m not young any more. Not geriatric, not yet eligible for the early bird special at Denny’s. Probably middle aged, although I do not embrace that label.
The new TNT series, Men of A Certain Age, should more properly be called Actors Lying About a Certain Age, since according to the promo material they are all in their late 40s, like me, but the actors themselves are mostly in their mid-50s. Surprisingly, Scott Bakula is the oldest of the bunch, though he looks the youngest, and Andre Braugher is a year younger than I am, the only one who is as young as his character. Still, that quibble aside, this is a series that has a lot of fertile territory to explore. The three men have interesting problems. Ray Romano’s character is divorced, doesn’t relate well to his kids (though he tries), and has a gambling problem. Andre Braugher is overweight, burdened with family financial obligations, and still living in his father’s shadow, trying to impress him so that he will inherit the car dealership that bears the family name. Scott Bakula is an actor, though it’s not yet clear whether he ever really accomplished much, who resents having to go to cattle call auditions for Lifetime channel movies and who still trades on his good looks and charming demeanor. The first episode was pretty good — it had a couple of genuinely funny moments (Braugher’s faceplant during the drive to the hospital). Romano is a decent observer of men’s reality and so long as he can resist the goofier aspects he has the chance here to do something that men (of a certain age, especially) will identify with. Here’s hoping.
I got my H1N1 shot today. Now I have an unusual craving for pork chops and apple sauce.
The Closer is back for a three episode mini season. I’m not a cat person, but that is one seriously cute kitten Fritzy got for Brenda. It looks so fragile that I wonder how it withstands being manhandled that way. Though I know it is probably one of the realities of working homicide in L.A., I find the gang-related plots on this show less interesting than the typical episodes. Hopefully that won’t dominate the storylines.
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About
Bev Vincent is the author of The Road to the Dark Tower, the Bram Stoker Award nominated companion to Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and The Stephen King Illustrated Companion, which was nominated for a 2010 Edgar® Award and a 2009 Bram Stoker Award.
His short fiction has appeared in places like Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, From the Borderlands and The Blue Religion. He is a contributing editor with Cemetery Dance magazine and a member of the Storytellers Unplugged blogging community. He also writes book reviews for Onyx Reviews.
