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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Dec 9, 2009 11:45:18 GMT -6
TNT launched a long hyped series on Monday, "Men of a Certain Age" about 3 friends staring down their mid-life crises. I DVRed and watched it last night. It apparently succeeded in affirming that hype works, 5.4 million viewers is 2nd best premier for the year.
You put names like Ray Romano, Scott Bakula, and Andre Braugher together and you would think you have the makings of a huge success... you would think.
I found the opener tedious, spending the entire hour demonstrating what a pathetic trio these guys are. If you havent watched it, here is the summary:
Romanos character is a gambler, and separated from his wife; Braugher's character is still trying to live up to his father/bosses expectations while dealing with diabetes and raising a very young family for his age (twins about 5 and a 1 year old, I only hope that this is a second family for him, that wasnt made clear); Bakula's character is a failed actor trying to figure out what he wants to do in life.
During the entire episode, I wasnt given a single reason to like any of these guys. I hope that this was just a very elaborate set up episode for what is to come. There was a hint of each deciding to ch-ch-change their lifes at the very end of the episode.
I plan to give it a couple more chances, but if you missed the premier, dont go out of your way to see it, you didnt miss much.
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Post by Chicago Jake on Dec 9, 2009 11:55:15 GMT -6
I DVRed it too, and almost posted a thread here. I guess I liked it more than you did. I liked the low-key, non-laugh-track humor. Like Andre body-checking the younger salesman, Ray calling his wife to tell her he "quit" gambling, and Bakula describing a job as "Sisyphean." There's a word you don't hear every day!
You are right that they don't give you much to like about the characters. Except their obvious devotion to each other. It makes me wonder what other qualities they have.
It wasn't great, but I'll give it a few more episodes before giving up. Pilot episodes always have a tough task, needing to introduce the characters and the situations as well as entertain.
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Dec 9, 2009 12:36:38 GMT -6
I agree about the non-laugh track. I know that studies have found people like to know when to laugh. I remember when the laugh track was pulled for one episode as an experiment. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts. If anything it puts a lot of pressure on the writers, sloppy jokes will be much more likely to fall flat without the laugh track clue.
Didnt hate the show, just thought that if I hadnt seen it, I wouldnt be too far behind coming in on episode two.
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Post by Chicago Jake on Dec 15, 2009 12:48:15 GMT -6
I watched the second episode last night. I think it is starting to pick up steam. One great Seinfeld-like line, which I won't spoil for you. Come to think of it, I'll put it in tags so you can check later: You "ran the plates"? What are you, Mannix? Plus a couple of funny and touching concepts. All three leads get some meaty stuff to do. |
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Dec 17, 2009 18:56:22 GMT -6
Watched it this evening, and yep, its improving!! I did like the spoiler quote you listed, though I thought the "So are you gonna go Billy Jack on us?" reference that followed was better. I most enjoyed the car jacking/retribution scene best of all. |
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Post by Chicago Jake on Dec 22, 2009 3:02:03 GMT -6
I watched episode 3 tonight. Thought it was pretty good. I'd say that the show has probably hit its stride: if you don't like it by now, you probably never will.
Some non-spoiler observations:
- Owen (Andre) has his car sales toted up on a white-board. TOTALLY reminded me of the Big Board they had in the police station on "Homicide: Life on the Street." That couldn't have been a coincidence!
- I can't decide if his wife is his grounding and his salvation, or if she is a total bitch. Maybe that's the point: that the two extremes go hand in hand.
- also: his man-boobs are NOT getting any smaller!! And they had a bunch of customers coming into the dealership and asking for "the fat guy."
- Joe (Ray) is turning into a totally Seinfeld character: dealing with his neuroses, and even passing them along to his offspring.
- Terry (Bakula) continues to be the most pathetic of the characters.
- The music was especially great tonight. I'm going to have to try to find a soundtrack album.
- "Dick Hole" seems to be the insult of choice. Last week, Owen's wife called his father by that epithet, and this week, one of the car salesman called another salesman by it. I've never heard the term before, but it kind of makes sense.
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Post by Chicago Jake on Feb 2, 2010 2:24:12 GMT -6
Interesting situation: I'm still watching this show every week, yet rarely do I find anything worthy of comment on the message board. It's like cinematic comfort food: satisfying to watch in the moment, but nothing really needing deep analysis.
Anyone else feel the same?
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Feb 2, 2010 6:25:38 GMT -6
Nice way to put it Jake, yes, its video snack that sits well before bedtime. The characters have become a little bit more 3 dimensional... like about 2.2 dimensions. There is still not a lot to like about them, but the background information that has collected over the past few episodes explains a lot. I think the comfort factor that I get from the show is "thank god Im not them".
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Jul 16, 2011 5:54:35 GMT -6
This show grew on me and I loved the second season. It was well written, produced and acted, intelligent... I guess it was doomed to an early death. Two too short seasons were not enough.
I enjoyed watching the characters ch-ch-change as they reacted to the situations in their lives... not always moving to the better of course, but thats life. The characters had a dynamic that I could relate to, even if it was at a "dont be stupid" level.
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Post by Chicago Jake on Jul 16, 2011 9:28:10 GMT -6
I'm sorry to see it go, but not surprised. It had zero "buzz" and not nearly enough appeal to a broad audience.
On the plus side, maybe TNT will pick up "The Chicago Code" to fill the gap!
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Post by Merlot Joe on Nov 21, 2011 15:13:25 GMT -6
We just starting watch this on Demand.
We have seen about the first 15 episodes and it is the same shit just a different kind of a show.
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