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Men of A Certain Age concluded its first season yesterday – at least I think it did. Well, to be honest with you, I hope it did. I watched the first couple of episodes and then we agreed that it was a show that my wife would record to watch while I was doing something more important, clipping my toenails, cleaning out the microwave after that unfortunate incident with the barbeque sauce, stuff like that.
Here is the issue. Men of A Certain Age has nothing to do with men. I suspect that it has a lot more to do with women, of a wide variety of ages, who are in some kind of relationship – wife, friend, daughter, lover, whatever – with a man of a certain age. MOACA is a really good representation of how men handle life’s complexity – but only if men were women. MOACA is a chick flick. It presents a “truth” that some women – apparently those between 25 and 54 - believe about MOACA. For men it is a touch unrealistic. In a way it reminds me of that Jack Daniels commercial where the guys are renting puppies to hit on women. It is a great idea – but men would never think of it.
In another way MOACA is kind of creepy. Again to invert the model, it is like watching professional female impersonators. They are beautiful and seductive – but there is just something “off” about them. The men of MOACA are sympathetic characters, and one can certainly empathize with the issues they confront. Yet, as a man, you watch them and think back on similar conversations you have had with your male friends – and then you realize you haven’t. MOACA more accurately reflects conversations you have occasionally found yourself having with women – rarely with positive results. The phrase “How can you say that?” springs to mind. So when the MOACA protagonists share those meaningful moments, I get those “weird female impersonator” vibes – something is just “off.”
But the show may well be back next cycle [who knows when that really is – but that’s a different issue]. It does fairly well with the 25-54 demo, 1.7 to 2 million viewers per episode - fairly good cable numbers. Which may explain my problems – I aged out of that demographic group a few years ago. Hopefully someone is busy working on my show – Men Past a Certain Age.
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