Ted talks for a new generation
With his new series, a popular comedy actor is coming to terms with the realities of growing older.
You may remember Ted Danson from the Three Men and Baby movies or the television series Cheers, Becker, and The Good Place.
Well, at 76, he’s found himself in an entirely new place – playing a man who goes undercover in an aged care home to report to authorities on alleged criminal activity taking place there.
A Man on the Inside, which has just premiered on Netflix, is based on a real incident in Chile which was the subject of an Oscar-nominated 2020 documentary, The Mole Agent.
The series relocates the action to San Francisco and has a subplot about Danson’s character, Charles, trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
While it’s a comedy, A Man on the Inside strives to make some serious points about how seniors are treated and how we approach ageing.
Producer Mike Schur who also worked with Danson on The Good Place, told CBS News, “I would say the purpose of this show is simply to discuss a subject that very few people discuss, which is ageing. It’s this subject that we just don’t like to talk about.”
For his part, Danson said he feels lucky to be able to grow older and still work as an actor.
“One of my joys, and I’ve been able to do it in life several times, is to use my age and what I’m going through in life and explore that,” he told People magazine.
“What is it like to be 76 and be funny, trying to be funny? What does that feel like? Oh my God, my greatest joy is to be funny possibly in every possible way I can.”
Danson said he has an opportunity to show others that older people can still be creative, and that productivity doesn’t decline with age.
“You can still do anything even at our age, and one of the things you have to teach [the audience] is how to die, and how to live right up until you do,” he said.
“Don’t call it quits, don’t wind down, keep going. The world needs you.”
Danson, who is an active supporter of Oceana project to protect the world’s oceans, also cited Hollywood veteran Jane Fonda, 86, as an inspiration because she has kept working in film and television while supporting her own causes.
“She has her foot on the gas pedal,” he told CBS, “She’s, like, doing a 12-hour day, shooting her show, jumping on a bus to go ... support the service industry in Sacramento with a handful of women.
“Don’t slow down, just keep going, keep living your life. I think that’s one of the things our elders can pass on to us. This is how you live life right up until the end.”
Related reading: CBS News, Yahoo!, Hollywood Reporter
