'Trust Me:' Isn't It Bromantic?

In TBS's new dramedy "Trust Me," Eric McCormack, formerly America's favorite gay man on "Will & Grace," plays Mason McGuire, a conscientious professional trying to work on his relationship with his partner, Conner (Tom Cavanagh.) Before you start thinking McCormack has been typecast, I'll have you know that Mason is happily married. And not Connecticut-married–his wife Erin is played by Sarah Clarke, once the unsinkable villain Nina Myers on "24." Mason and Conner are partners, but only in the professional sense–they work together at Rothman Greene & Mohr, a pressure-cooker of an advertising agency not unlike "Mad Men's" Sterling Cooper would be after civil rights movements and employment laws ruined all the good-old-boy fun. But more than it is about American consumption, work culture or the creative process, "Trust Me" is about the intricacies of a male friendship, and it's about time there was a show like it.

For years women have had such shows, the most notable of which is "Sex and the City." That show was about copulation and urban life on the surface, but it was really about friendships – what builds them, what breaks them, what makes them last. This is no more evident than when Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her gals disagreed. A scene (in the clip above) in which Carrie and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) have a blow-out in a clothing store is one of the most observant fight scenes I can remember seeing on television. Male friendships are seldom captured well. Usually they are seen as fratty and childish, like in MTV's stupor-inducing "Bromance. Other times, they are sensitive in all the wrong ways, as in the Patrick Dempsey rom-com "Made of Honor." There are several scenes in which Dempsey's character chops up his predicament with his buddies, and not one of them is the least bit credible.

The truth is, male friendship usually lands somewhere right in the middle. Yes, it is jocular and juvenile, but also steady and fiercely loyal. Thanks to Judd Apatow, we get to see this accurately depicted in films – "The 40 Year Old Virgin," "Superbad" and "Knocked Up." The upcoming "I Love You, Man" deals with men's friendships more directly. Paul Rudd plays Peter, a guy who has never made friends because he's always been tied up with his girlfriend. When it comes time to get married, he doesn't have anyone to be his best man, and has to make a buddy in a hurry. Jason Segal (an Apatow alum, like Rudd) steps into the role. Hijinks ensue.

"Trust Me" is a different animal, though. It's funny, but by no means a straight comedy. It's got the tone and rhythms of drama. Better still, Mason and Conner aren't the agers or neer-do-well manchildren that populate Apatow's films. They are older and wiser, with the responsibility to show for it. Even Conner, the Oscar of their Odd Couple, has a mite more gravitas than we're use to seeing from contemporary men on television. Their relationship is based on necessity of course – their opposing personas perfectly balance out – but also on loyalty, mutual respect, and, yes, love. The show hasn't quite reached the heights of Carrie's row with Miranda, but give the pair a little more history and it'll get there. Mason and Conner have all the right ingredients for a true and lasting bromance.