'Men of a Certain Age': Four things to watch for

Ray Romano returns to TV Monday, four years after "Everybody Loves Raymond," with a new series that he co-created.

Naturally, the show from the veteran stand-up and comedy Emmy winner is a drama. "Men of a Certain Age," which Romano co-created with "Raymond" writer and executive producer Mike Royce, premieres at 10 p.m. ET Monday on TNT.

"Drama" maybe isn't the exact right word for the show. "Men of a Certain Age" is an easygoing dramedy about three guys (Romano, Andre Braugher and Scott Bakula) on the far side of 40 who are still trying to figure out the direction of their lives. It's not a show that will reach out and grab you, but it does grow on you with its honest and funny portrayal of long-standing male friendship. Here are five things to watch for in the series.

- Ray Romano knows drama. Romano and Royce don't seem to have much problem adapting their writing to the different style and rhythm of an hour-long show. (Slightly) more surprising is how natural an actor Romano has become, even when he's not playing to a live audience as he did on "Raymond." There's not a lot of heavy drama in the first few episodes of "Men," but in the small moments that the series seeks to capture, Romano, playing a divorced dad named Joe, is really quite good.

- Andre Braugher playing against type. Braugher is best known for playing whip-smart imposing characters like Frank Pembleton ("Homicide") and Ben Gideon ("Gideon's Crossing"). But his "Men" character, Owen, is a hapless car salesman who's still in his father's (Richard Gant) shadow and just can't seem to catch a break.

"I think all of these guys are basically struggling for the same thing ... which is to have it all," Braugher says. "And it wasn't difficult to get into the mindset at all. What Mike Royce and Ray Romano had created here, I think, is a very specific kind of group of truthful relationships, and so consequently it's easy to play and pretty straightforward."

- Scott Bakula through the looking glass. Bakula's Terry is an actor who's never quite broken through but hasn't let go of the dream yet. For Bakula, who's worked steadily for than 20 years, the character has been a bit of a bizarro-world experience.

"I think what makes him kind of sad in a way at this point in his life is he hasn't quite given up yet," he says. "So he's still hanging on, and I think that's the hardest thing -- when we see people that we care about and they're hanging on too long, whether to a relationship or whether it's to a dream or whatever it is."

- Real guys. The show's center is the relationship between Joe, Owen and Terry, and the show gets it right. The three characters have a way with each other that's instantly believable, a mix of mocking and caring that feels as realistic as any other bromance portrayed on TV.

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Photo credit: TNT