There have been occasions when Irish actor Gabriel Byrne has taken a long time to make up his mind. Currently starring and executive producing "Madigan Men" (8:30 p.m. Friday, WLS - Ch. 7), he admits when he was 12 he was determined to study for the priesthood. Then, after four years of study at a seminary in England, he returned to Ireland, thinking archeology would be his life work. Next followed a series of jobs - from short-order cook to bullfighter to attaching the eyes to teddy bears. "I kept going to school and taking classes, and eventually taught Spanish at an all-girls school," Byrne said. "Then in 79, I joined an acting group mainly because my friend, Jamie Sheridan, and another buddy, Liam Neeson, were in it."

Who could have guessed that it would be acting that stuck? "Maybe I am a late bloomer," Byrne said in that lilting Irish accent. "I didn't come to America until I was 37, and I didn't begin my career in films here until I was 38, which is ancient by Hollywood standards." Byrne was reminiscing between rehearsals for his TV series. Leaning back in his set chair, he confided he seldom rushed into decisions, for he says he likes to "bounce things around in my head.

"Deciding to do my first TV series wasn't so difficult," he said. "One sunny day I was watching my daughter, 7, and my son, 10, having such fun playing together, and I just thought you don't get these years back." There were two film scripts sitting on the table beside him, each with locations a world away from his home. He'd been there done that in films such as "The Man in the Iron Mask," "Stigmata" and "End of Days." He pushed the scripts aside.

"I just said, no, this is about me and my family. It's really difficult to be with your kids in a faraway location while working 14 and 15 hours a day."

He was a single father who knew what he wanted. He wanted to film near his home in New York and he wanted to be home by 3 in the afternoon (except show day) so he could have time with his youngsters. When the comedy "Madigan Men" (created by Cindy Chupack, who received a Golden Globe for "Sex and the City") was offered, he didn't wait a century to say yes. Being single again (he and actress Ellen Barkin are divorced but remain friends and share custody of their children, Jack and Romey Marion), he understood the format of the series, three generations of Irish men entering, or re-entering, the dating world.

"I wanted to play something lighter, and this comedy seemed a perfect fit. Also, Roy Dotrice plays my father. We got along so well when we were together on Broadway in 'A Moon for the Misbegotten' - he won the Tony for it - I suggested him for the series."

The play was important to Byrne. New York critics praised his performance so highly it was as if his mother had written the reviews. His Irish eyes twinkled as he continued, "It was incredibly rewarding because it helped me to redefine myself as an actor. The role is difficult, and this may sound a bit heavy, but the part allowed me to grieve for a lot of things in my life. In that way, it was a purging and therapeutic thing to do. The discipline of working night after night and reaching an emotional climax was so rewarding, so terrifying, yet so exhilarating, that it made me totally reexamine my relation to the theater. "I feel this series will also allow me to explore a lot more in terms of the world around me. I have six great writers working on themes for each week's show. It feels creatively like a satisfying thing to do. I want to lose that 'brooding Irish actor' description. In Ireland, brooding refers to hens and laying eggs. I don't relish that comparison," he said smiling.

With more time at home, Byrne has started working on another book. "My first was called 'Pictures in My Head,' which is about storing memories in terms of photos. It was an attempt to come to terms with my past. The second book is 'Album.' I've always envied songwriters who could choose a subject or a subject would choose them, and they'd write a song about it." Byrne's new book will look like a rock album on the outside, but inside it will be filled with short stories and poetry. It will cover a variety of topics, from silence to mirrors to saying goodbye. The actor suggested writing, like acting, is another form of therapy.

"The TV series is really about men, the secret emotional life of men - which is a fairly uncharted ocean. The culture encourages men to keep things suppressed - men don't cry and all that. Actually my experience is that men and women are much more similar than we pretend to be. The culture forces us to behave in different ways, but we all understand jealousy, pain, loss, envy, desire. Women's magazines freely discuss these issues, but most men's magazines talk about rock climbing or how to have perfect abs in 10 days. It's a very different world for men and women, in terms of what they are allowed to express."

Byrne believes his mother was his guide in the fields of poetry and books. "I found all the things that I planned never happened. All the things that I didn't plan happened. I used to believe that order was the norm and chaos the accident. Now I believe chaos is what we have to deal with, and order is the accident. If you look at the world in that way, you never take anything for granted. You realize you only have one day. Tomorrow is not promised to anybody, regardless of age.

"My mother used to say, 'Live today like it's your last, and one day it will be. Take today and make it full and useful to others, then you're living to enjoy.' That's what I tell my children."

(With thanks to Sonja Marie from Gabriel Byrnes Update List for providing this article)