Howland native gets role on Romano series

Staff and wire reports

LOS ANGELES

Braeden Lemasters, formerly of Howland and now of Santa Clarita, Calif., has a role in TNT’s “Men of a Certain Age,” which opens its second season tonight at 10.

Lemasters plays Albert, the son of the character played by Ray Romano, and will be in nine of the season’s 12 episodes.

The 14-year-old is the son of Dave and Michelle Lemasters. The Lemasters family lived in the Warren area until seven years ago, when they moved to California. Dave was in the popular Youngstown-area rock band Left End.

The younger Lemasters has been enjoying a steady stream of success in Hollywood. He had roles in the films “Easy A” (2010) and “Stepfather” (2009). Braeden is also in The Feaver, a rock band with other 14-year-olds, which recently beat out 200 other Los Angeles bands in a contest sponsored by a radio station. The Feaver will play at the “Men of a Certain Age” wrap party in the near future, according to Dave Lemasters.

“Men of a Certain Age” also stars Scott Bakula. The husband and father of four said he gets a kick out of portraying a feckless playboy at midlife.

“I don’t hope and dream of that other lifestyle, but it’s fun to play a character that’s living it,” said Bakula, who plays Terry on the show, which also stars Romano and Andre Braugher.

In tonight’s season opener, Terry finds he’s got decisions to confront about work, life and growing up as he turns 50.

He’s making progress, Bakula said. Shelving his dreams of acting success, Terry is working at the car dealership managed by buddy Owen (Braugher) and trying to adjust to the daily grind.

Bakula, 56, whose credits include TV’s “Quantum Leap” and “Star Trek: Enterprise” and the movie “The Informant!,” is delighted to be part of a project that he says “felt a little risky.” The three middle-age characters at its center aren’t the demographic prized by youth-obsessed advertisers.

Romano’s clout, the result of his hit CBS sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond,” is why it’s on the air. “A show like this doesn’t get made unless somebody like Ray wants to do it,” Bakula said.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this story.