Fans Campaign to Save TNT’s ‘Men of a Certain Age’

I was among the fans of TNT’s subtle yet affecting drama Men of a Certain Age. I found it to be a soulful, smart meditation on the lives of three, middle-aged, down-to-earth guys who were neither cops nor brilliant surgeons. Their significant others weren’t supermodels or celebrities. They themselves were ordinary looking dudes with ordinary jobs who seemed mystified that they could already have arrived at middle age when inside, they still feel like young, clueless kids.

That’s what made TNT’s decision to pull the plug on the drama – for which Andre Braugher has been justly nominated for an Emmy – disappointing. There aren’t many shows like Men of a Certain Age on TV, the low-keyed ones, the quiet ones that stay with you that don’t throw in other, extraneous dramatic elements to artificially jazz up the action.

And while I hope that the folks who are currently campaigning to Save Men of a Certain Age (there’s a Facebook page and a petition, as well as a blog entry with e-mail addresses to which to send pleas find some success elsewhere, perhaps like NBC's Friday Night Lights did when it was saved by DirecTV) I’m not that optimistic. I don’t think that even compulsive gambler Joe would like the odds.

Entertainment journalist Jon Weisman wrote in Variety that he thinks the campaign is almost certainly doomed. "Watching a movement to save a canceled TV show is a little like watching a squirrel fighting for its life after being hit by a truck," he wrote. "No matter how much you're rooting for that squirrel, it's more than a little painful to witness."

"The new squirrel on the highway is Men of a Certain Age, which was canceled by TNT," Weisman continued. " . . . The 'Save Men of a Certain Age' Facebook page is off to the rescue, complimented by more save-the-show e-mails to me (and therefore, I assume, to many others) than I've seen perhaps in my entire time working at Variety."

Here’s to hoping that the squirrel recovers and comes out of this a winner.

Image credit: Save Men of a Certain Age.