Three ‘SU grads’ are central characters in new ‘Men of a Certain Age’

Kevin Morrow
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TNT debuts a new original series at 10 p.m. ET today, “Men of a Certain Age,” starring Emmy winners Ray Romano (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) and Andre Braugher (“Homicide: Life on the Street,” TNT’s “Salem’s Lot”), and Golden Globe winner Scott Bakula (“Quantum Leap,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) as three good friends facing the travails of middle age in Los Angeles. Oh, and all three pals attended Syracuse University. References to SU appear throughout the series.

The Syracuse connection comes from co-creator and co-executive producer Mike Royce, a Jamesville-DeWitt High School graduate and a former Emmy Award-winning writer for “Everybody Loves Raymond.”

Syracuse Post-Standard writer Bill LaRue has written about the series’ Syracuse ties: http://blog.syracuse.com/entertainment/2009/12/new_tnt_show_men_of_a_certain.html.

Here is TNT’s description of the comedy/drama:

“Men of a Certain Age” explores the unique bonds of male friendship among three men experiencing the changes and challenges of mid-life. They have been best friends since college but now, in their 40s, are navigating through the second act of their lives. Joe (Romano) is a friendly, slightly neurotic, recently separated father of two who had dreams of being a professional golfer. Now he owns and runs a party store. Terry (Bakula) is a laid-back, handsome actor who seems to breeze through life (and women). Lately, he’s spending more time working as a temp than as an actor. And Owen (Braugher) is an overstressed husband and father of three who endures constant criticism from his father, for whom he works as a car salesman.

These friends face very different challenges. Joe, who currently lives in a hotel, tries to connect with his kids and is dipping his toe in the dating pool, while also struggling with the gambling problem that may have ended his marriage. The unmarried Terry scoffs at domestic issues but sometimes wonders if his own single life is all it’s cracked up to be. Owen does everything he can to climb the sales board at his father’s car dealership and keep his cool over the seemingly endless renovation project in the home he can barely afford. Through it all, these men are there for each other when it counts.

For more on “Men of a Certain Age,” visit the TNT website: http://www.tnt.tv/series/menofacertainage/.