‘Men of a Certain Age’ back on TNT, Ray Romano chats about series

By April MacIntyre Jun 2, 2011, 4:33 GMT

TNT is airing these six episodes continuing from last December as Joe (Ray Romano), Owen (Andre Braugher), and Terry (Scott Bakula) come to some life changing moments.

TNT’s “Men of a Certain Age,” returns tonight with Andre Braugher, Scott Bakula, and Ray Romano who continue to navigate their male mid-life crisis.

The well-written drama sees nuanced performances from the three leads, and continues to be a character driven gem that weaves three men's lives together who face divorce, death and financial problems with varying degrees of humor and drama.

TNT is airing these six episodes continuing from last December as Joe (Ray Romano), Owen (Andre Braugher), and Terry (Scott Bakula) come to some life changing moments.

In the mid-season premiere, “The Great Escape,” Joe makes the senior golf tour and learning to be single again. Owen faces a career turning point with the dealership and Terry faces 50 and possibly true love, for once.

‘Men of a Certain Age’ returns on TNT on Wednesday, June 1st, 2011.

M&C spoke to Ray on a conference call a few weeks back, here is our excerpt:

Monsters and Critics:  I feel like your character and Sonia there’s still something there even though you’re divorced and that all the dating your character is doing is just making your character realize how much he misses his family. Is there some truth to that or can you expand?

Ray Romano:  Well if you saw that episode, there’s an attempt at rekindling that spark and I think they both realize that that’s not going to work, at least sexually, a sexual relationship between the two. But I think there is a strong connection still between the two and I think even though they’re separated they’ll never get rid of that. Whether or not they ever end up back together physically I mean it appears like they’re not going to just from that first episode.

As far as him dating, I mean I don’t think he’s enthusiastic about dating. I think he just thinks it’s, “Okay. I guess this is what I have to do now that I’m divorced.” And, yes, I think he’s missing his family. I mean the kids are each one of them they’re at points in their life that he’s missing, you know, she’s going to go off to college and the kid’s kind of coming into his own, his son.

I mean I think right now he’s forced into dating. He did make a connection to one woman in the first season but that kind of went sour. So he’s kind of just blindly walking through this single life now not really knowing which way to go. But I think he’s kind of accepted that he and his wife won’t get back together physically at least.

And that was the big thing. We had to make sure we believe that these guys went to school together and had a history with each other.

And, yes, I mean look, sometimes you can’t put your finger on what chemistry is. You know, it’s lucky, it happened with Raymond you know with the brother and the wife and everything. Sometimes it’s there and sometimes it isn’t. We read a lot of people. Before Scott Bakula we read like 70 guys for that role.

Yes. And again with Andre, we originally wrote the role for an actor called Wendell Pierce who was on The Wire and now he’s on Treme - And that’s who we kind of envisioned and then he obviously had - he was doing this show and he wasn’t available and they pitched Andre and we said, “That’s crazy,” but it’s - and especially Andre doing anything that’s comedic. And it’s ended up being this great thing. Yes. So we got lucky. We got a little lucky there.

M&C:  So from your character’s perspective and the other actors in this ensemble, what’s the criteria change for a man who’s 50 looking for love, a woman, a relationship versus when you were initially married and just starting out in life?

Ray Romano:  Well you’re asking the wrong guy because this is why it’s good for me to play this character because I have no idea what I’m doing because I’ve been married for 23 years and this character has been married for 20 years so I feel experienced to play this because my character has no idea and I have no idea and that’s the way it should be. He’s got to find out as he goes. I mean what he’s looking for and what he’s going to get, you know, it’s an unknown.

I know I have friends who are of this age and in the dating world and, I don’t - it’s not easy when you’re of a certain age and you’re looking for someone. But now it’s like with the Internet and everything, it’s so different.

It’s such a new world than when I was dating which was, back in the Civil War that it’s just find it out as you go. That’s the way my character’s going to go... He’s going to find out as he goes what the world is like out there. I can’t pretend like I know what it is like because I don’t, you know?

M&C:  All right. Interesting. What about Terry though?

Ray Romano:  Well Terry’s finding love for the first time, you know. I mean when we left him off he’s experienced something he’s never experienced and that’s actually thinking he wants to spend a lot of time with this person. So that’s going to be new to him too.

And, where we left him off he was realizing that he might be in love with someone. And,  it’s all new and it’s going to be scary and it isn’t going to go well I don’t think. That would be boring.