'Men of a Certain Age' returns -- for now

Last season closed with a trip to Palm Springs, where pals Owen (Andre Braugher), Terry (Scott Bakula) and Joe (Ray Romano) underwent colonoscopies, then underwent a comical barroom brawl. Wednesday night, Owen gets an offer to sell the dealership, but his father (Richard Grant) may not want to sell. Things have gotten interesting between Terry and his one-time commercial co-star, Erin (Melinda McGraw). Joe hangs out with his old bookie, Manfro (Jon Manfrellotti), who got bad news after his own colonoscopy.

MY SAY "Men of a Certain Age" needs a couple of things to survive. First, more viewers wouldn't hurt. It launched with only 2.4 million last season, which is peanuts by TNT standards. Also, a best drama Emmy come September wouldn't be too shabby, either. "Men" is pretty much TNT's lone (and lonely) placeholder for quality TV, so this is not out of the realm of possibility. No one ever wants to see something as wonderful and unique as "Men" end, especially with so much more to learn about Joe, Owen and Terry. Nevertheless, good shows are also pragmatic ones, and Wednesday night you will detect just the slightest elements of plot threads that could lead to the Big O -- as in "over."

BOTTOM LINE Hopefully these threads will turn out to be dead ends, just like Joe's golf game. "Men" remains funny, smart, poignant and real.

GRADE A