So this pretty cool show called "Men of a Certain Age" ended it's limited run on cable last week. It starred Ray Romano the "Everybody Loves Raymond" and Andre from "Homicide Life on the Streets" and the Quantum Leap dude.
Romano was the producer and writer on the show and I thought it was a quality show. it gave these guys believable problems and realistic situations. I mean Ray owns a business but he loves to gamble and had to lay off a worker because he was falling behind on his betting. Man I know a bunch of people who did the same thing. They kept chasing it until they lost their business, their homes and their families. Basically everything. A sports obsession can be a pretty bad thing because you think you know and you can bet your way out of trouble. It never happens that way. You always bet yourself into real trouble. But you almost never see a show that has these real life problems.
Andre worked for his dad in his car dealership and his old man keeps putting him down and he substitutes eating for happiness. So much so that his diabetes gets out of control. He finally goes to work for a rival dealership after his Dad puts the smarmy rival guy in charge of his dealership. He does really well and his Dad relents and brings him back. Ok not so believable but still interesting.
Finally the Scott dude from "Enterprise" plays a Peter Pan type actor guy who abandoned his much younger girlfriend to screw around on a movie set for a month. She dumps him and there is a great scene in the Starbucks like joint that she works. She takes his order and writes "Dick" on his cup. So as he tries to explain himself, the other worker who makes the coffee is shouting "Dick, there is a black coffee for Dick... Dick.. Hey Dick your coffee is here." Pretty cute.
They tie everything up a little too neatly and there are basically happy endings to all of the story lines but I guess that is Ray Romano's sitcom chops showing through. But I have to say a recognized a lot of what these dudes were going through and I just keep asking myself the same question.
When did I become an old guy!
