Everybody loves ... Andre?

Andre Braugher's portrayal of icy, intimidating detective Frank Pembleton in "Homicide: Life on the Street" earned him an Emmy and assured him a rich career of playing no-nonsense authority figures.

It also nearly cost him his latest role.

"Men of a Certain Age," which debuts Monday on TNT, focuses on three middle-age mopers, including a recently divorced owner of a party store, desperately in need of a balloon-gram (Ray Romano), and a lifelong bachelor (Scott Bakula) getting too creaky to crash singles nights.

But the most fascinating and woeful of the trio is Owen, who's weighed down by a pot belly, diabetes and a thankless job as a car salesman at his tyrannical father's dealership. At first blush, the idea of Braugher in the part is akin to imagining Robert Pattinson as Charlie Brown.

At the top of the skeptic's list: the show's star.

Romano, who co-created the series with his "Everybody Loves Raymond" writing partner Mike Royce, originally envisioned the role of Owen going to Wendell Pierce, the roly-poly character actor best known as Bunk, the alcoholic investigator in "The Wire." But before the series could go into production, Pierce learned that David Simon, who oversaw "The Wire," got the green light for a new HBO series about New Orleans and amicably bowed out of the TNT project to join his old boss.

Braugher's agent quickly brought up his client's interest, but Romano wasn't convinced -- even after Braugher came in for an audition, a process that few high-profile actors would submit to for a supporting role in a cable series.

"I don't have any problem meeting or reading," said Braugher, who won a second Emmy in 2006 for his role as a criminal mastermind in "Thief." "I'm expensive. They have the right to get a chance to see what they're going to buy."

Despite the gesture, Romano was ready to keep searching, until he remembered how casting against type had worked for him in the past.

"When we hired Brad Garrett to play my brother in 'Raymond,' we had pictured someone who was the complete opposite," Romano said. "We decided to err on the side of going with the best actor in the room. Sometimes you get lucky. You don't write it that way, but an actor comes in and brings his own thing to it."

Braugher's hire did provide some obstacles, most notably the fact that Braugher isn't exactly known for his comedic skills. But the actor said Romano has been a gracious teacher.

"Ray gave me some excellent advice early on," he said. "He said, 'When I ask you a question, answer truthfully. Don't try to be cute.'"

It's hard to imagine Braugher being cute, even if he wanted to. His last prominent role, as the psychiatrist who deflected the bully tactics of a certain curmudgeon in "House," reminded us that Braugher is no shrinking violet. But "Men" offers new challenges to the actor, especially in the pivotal third episode in which Owen, heartbroken about the shady image of car salesmen, goes overboard to please his customers.

Of course, Braugher has always tried to stretch beyond Detective Pembleton's image -- even when he was playing Pembleton. At the end of the fourth season of "Homicide," Braugher was concerned that he was stuck telling the same old stories and decided it was time to move on. That's when executive producer Tom Fontana suggested that Pembleton have a stroke and that much of the fifth season would deal with his recovery, one that would severely damage Pembleton's relationships with his partner and his wife.

"I didn't want one of those episodes with a spunky therapist who you come to love," Braugher said. "The character considered himself a first among equals and his deadly sin was pride. I wanted to be a part of him dealing with something that threatened that. Struggling characters are interesting to me."

That interest explains why Braugher is thrilled to be playing a frumpy, dumpy depressive whom Pembleton would have booked for simply being a loser.

"What's so fun about doing the same thing again and again?" he said. "You can only slap the handcuffs on a guy so many times."

njustin@startribune.com • 612-673-7431