Half-way through the prime-time television season, networks are starting to announce which shows have the good fortune of being renewed for another season.  The biggest surprise that came on Thursday, January 14, was TNT’s announcement that it decided to bring the Ray Romano drama ‘Men of a Certain Age’ back for a second season, as reported in the television section of AOL.com.

Romano’s first TV series since his hit CBS sitcom ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ went off the air in 2005.  ‘Men of a Certain Age’ focuses on the everyday lives of three male best friends, played by Romano, Andre Braugher and Scott Bakula, who are nearing their fifties.  Romano stars as a separated father of two who runs a party store and battles compulsive gambling, while Bakula plays an aging actor.  Meanwhile, Braugher portrays a family man who works for his father as a car salesman.

The drama, which airs Mondays at 10PM and premiered last month after the hit crime show ‘The Closer,’ is averaging 4.4 million viewers per episode.  But the drama enjoyed the best ratings of any new show launched on basic cable in 2009 and was the top new show among adults 25-54, which in part persuaded the network to order 10 additional episodes.

The more obvious second season pick-ups include the strongly rated CBS dramas ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’ and ‘The Good Wife.’  Both shows rank as the top new shows in terms of total viewers.  The LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell-helmed ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’ averages 16.8 million viewers per week, while ‘The Good Wife,’ starring Julianna Margulies, Christine Baranski, and Chris Noth, averages 13.7 million viewers. 

Written by: Karen Benardello