I have never come across a TV show with characters so honest, with story-lines so simple yet hilarious, with situations so real and with outcomes of those situations so true. After watching the first 3 episodes of the show at a stretch, I was crazy curious to know what to expect from the show. It’s a new show so I felt after the initial episodes it would pick up pace and move in a different direction to attract audiences. I was wrong. I guess it’s for the first time that a TV show is trying to be honest rather than entertaining.

A few weeks back I read an article criticizing Stargate Universe for being sexist, and a few weeks later I sensed that the story-line began portraying the female characters as strong individuals, especially Camile Wray. For me, that isn’t fair. Story-lines should not be altered according to fan or critical opinions. Show-writers need to have the creative freedom to take the show where they want it to go. SGU’s story-line eventually settled back to where it was after the spat between the Captain and Camile came to an end.

Coming back to “Men of a Certain Age”, the show has realism as a major component. That’s why I like it. I usually don’t like Dramas but this one and “House MD” are strong exceptions. The show is largely meant for the male audience since the female audience may find it hard to relate to. It might be for the first time that the male audience of a TV show sympathizes with the characters. It’s oh-so-hard to feel sorry for unreal TV characters. Maybe a certain class of men feels sorry for the characters in “Desperate Housewives” , but no one feels sorry about Gregory House (we love that he’s an addict!).

I feel the situations are like those in Seinfeld. Very real. While Seinfeld tries to be funny, this show tries to be honest. Get a glimpse of the sensitive side of men; a side you don’t get to see very often.

For Joe’s character (played by the awesome Ray Romano), it’s not a story of a 40+ separated “underdog” who scores a hot chic. It’s a story of up’s and down’s; the small, little things that bother him, pull him down, and the silly things that make him happy. He owns a party-supply store (who wouldn’t want to own a party-supply store with cool balloons, hats and fancy items!), has a gambling problem, and has a tendency to fret over the silliest of things. He’s single, vulnerable and lonely, but a great father and a nice genuine guy. After being married for a long time and separating from his wife, he finds dating to be a tedious task. The most hilarious scene was this guy on a float in a pool, totally drunk (after he finds that his ex-wife has moved on), with packets of chips floating around in the water. Being kind of a straight arrow, I guess this was the first time he broke a vending machine to get chips out of it, used the pool after official hours, and got drunk with his “bet-provider”. I felt the episode ended with the sentiment that two random guys who’ve been through similar situations (“girl problems”) can relate to each other pretty easily and no matter how unlikely their friendship may be, they can have a crazy night to fix it all. Brotherhood.

Terry, the struggling actor, who manages to date girls almost half his age, is kind of a playboy but with a great heart. He’s clear about his intentions before he starts the “relationship”. Although he breaks up with his dates pretty often, he appears to still have good relations with them, which is very commendable. He believes in Yoga and some other spiritual crap, and tries to give (unusual) advice to his friends when they need him. He’s also been mighty helpful to his friends.

Owen is a family-man who has a seemingly difficult relationship with his hard-headed Dad, and puts in quite a bit of effort to prove himself to his critics. A wonderful family-man.

Personally, I love Joe’s character, admire Owen, and find Terry hilarious (although he doesn’t try to be funny). Terry’s in-depth knowledge of how to hook up with younger chics is also commendable.

This show, along with the movie “(500) Days Of Summer” is something I feel every guy should watch. Not for entertainment, but for realism.

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