The TV Chick

Men of a Certain Age centers around a group of friends who have known each other for 30 years, and their lives, relationships and ups and downs. I was pleasantly surprised by the first few episodes. It’s darker than I would have expected, but the plot intrigues me enough to tune in for more. It has incredibly strong leads with different backgrounds in Andre Braugher (Homicide: Life On The Street), Scott Bakula (Star Trek), and Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond). Romano and his creative time brought incredible success to Everybody Loves Raymond, and I hope that Men of a Certain age garners the same level of success. It has a lot of potential, powerhouse actors and a very unique premise. I recently had a chance participate in a Q&A with all three stars of the show. Here is what Ray Romano (Joe) had to say about the chemistry with his co-stars, his darker role, and his most memorable moment of filming so far.

What made you decide to switch from comedy, you know, Everybody Loves Raymond, to this role of Joe, which is sort of a darker role and a darker show?Well I had done enough of that other thing hadn’t I? You know, I came off of Raymond, it was very successful and I was proud of it. And just when I was deciding what next to do I sat with my buddy, Mike Royce, we had done a lot of work together, he wrote on Raymond, and we both knew we weren’t going to try to do another sitcom, we didn’t want to have to follow ourselves. And we were more drawn to this, to something a little more – I don’t want to say dramatic but definitely more real.  Realer. And this was just, you know, the natural thing to do. We still want to – we still do comedy, you know, and we still write comedy but we write it in a much realer universe, you know.

Do you expect a Neil Sedaka backlash when episodes – the second episode airs?
Boy I hope not, because I’m a fan and I believe I, you know, that’s coming from a young kid’s perspective. And I believe I defend him in that scene. And not only that, I – about five or six years ago in some article in a magazine I mentioned that I have Neil Sedaka on my iPod and he heard about it and came back stage at my show in Vegas and said hello. So don’t start anything up.

This is your second show with your name attached and compared to way back when with, you know, Everybody Loves Raymond, how’s your anticipation? How’s your stomach anticipating this versus the sitcom?
Probably – there’s probably – I don’t want to say there’s more at stake now but I got to think there’s – I’m more nervous now because, you know, I know the world. Before I was like just a fish out of water there and if that show didn’t make it well, I don’t know why or how it doesn’t make it. And here I’ve kind of got fans, I’ve got a history. I have expectations. So it would be more – and it also will be, you know, my failure now – might be more newsworthy and bring more attention to it itself. But aside from that it’s just, you know, we invested all – a lot of the last three years at least of our lives because this was a long time coming out just with the writer’s strike and where – finding a home and all that. So I got to think there’s more at stake now for me.

Did you find that there was instant chemistry when you began working with Andre and Scott or did you find it took a little bit of time for you to gel between each other?
Well Scott and Andre are – they’re both great guys. They’re a little different, you know, Andre is a Julliard-trained actor so right away I was intimidated meeting him. Scott’s a great actor also he just has a different style, a different way of connecting with somebody. And Andre seemed to me it was the same with Peter Boyle where I was scared to death to be in the same scene with him. Once he started talking to me and we started joking and he became, you know, opened himself up to me it was like we were friends for a while and it was very comfortable. So the chemistry there, you know, it wasn’t immediate just because of that, because I’m too insecure to have that but it was really quick.

You say you feel insecure, what would you need to feel secure?
Oh you can’t – what are you going to do? You think I’m going to – 20 years of therapy you think I’m going to be able to answer that right now? There’s not – there is no answer, it’s just keep going. The search is the answer. That’s – why do you think I’m doing this? You know, if we could go back in time and you can get my father to hug me then maybe we’d have a chance. I don’t know. You know, I don’t know, I mean, it’s all different levels of insecurity. You know, I said this joke once on Letterman, I said, you know, before I thought my cab driver hated me and now I just think my limo driver hates me. It’s all the same, it’s just moved up.

You’ve been associated with the standup and you had your sitcom based on that character. Now you’re doing actual real acting, you know, you’re stretching beyond what we know you for. How did you prepare yourself for that?
Well I mean as much as Ray Barone was, you know, an extension of myself, it was still acting. I mean, it was a sitcom, it was a different dynamic maybe, but it was still acting. And, you know, I’ve done a couple things, I’ve done a couple films. I did a somewhat dramatic role in a film before this in between Raymond and this it was called the Last Word. And it unfortunately went right to video but I thought it was a pretty good film. But – so I’ve dipped my toe in that area. Now, you know, this character Joe is – while Raymond was an extension of myself to some degree this guy is also. So, you know, I’m just doing what hopefully I’m doing it organically and well. I’m just taking, you know, what I’ve learned up to now and doing it. Does that make any sense?

Do you have a most memorable moment from your time filming the show so far.
Oh boy, well we’re in the middle of our last episode. I don’t know I mean there are moments – there are scenes, you know there’s one scene in the fourth episode that I – it was just me and Andre and Andre’s character Owen and we’re in my hotel room and he’s telling me that he found out my wife was with this guy having an affair while we were married. And he got this information so and he feels like he needs to tell me. And it was a pretty dramatic scene with this, you know, great actor, Andre. And it was, yeah, I mean, that kind of stays with me. You know, it’s something that it was lucky to experience with this, you know, we got to – hopefully we got to, you know, these – we got somewhere where I never thought I could get, you know, as an actor I guess. I’ll pick that one. But, yeah, I mean it’s just – it’s, you know, I don’t know that there is many shows that kind of go to those places with these guys. You know, we like to think of the movie Sideways as kind of the tone and the – and something that’s similar to these, you know, these guys who are just kind of searching for something. And yeah, they’re at this age where that stuff’s happening, you know, and let’s talk about it because otherwise we got to go to a shrink. Nobody wants to see that, that’s – HBO did that show: In Treatment.