Netflix’s “A Man on the Inside” has Ted Danson nervous, the longtime “Cheers” star admitted to CBS News. Danson is set to star in the new series, a show inspired by the true story of an 83-year-old widower’s experience going undercover at a Chilean nursing home.
In the 2020 documentary “The Mole Agent,” the widower infiltrated the nursing home to determine if its residents were being mistreated. The older adult discovered that many of them were fighting inspiring battles against loneliness. So what has the actor so concerned?
“Because I want people to see it, I really do,” Danson, 76, told CBS News’ Tracy Smith. “I think it’s an important conversation.”
According to series creator Mike Schur, at its core, the show is about aging — a topic “The Office” writer and producer added is often treated as taboo in American culture.
“It’s this subject that we just don’t like to talk about,” he told Smith. “It’s thought of in this country (I think more than other countries) as something almost shameful or embarrassing.”
When asked about his own feelings on the topic, Danson — who has been working in television for nearly half a century — said his attitude on aging was largely inspired by a Hollywood legend: 86-year-old Jane Fonda.
“She was turning 80, and at 70 I was starting to go, ‘Well, I’d better look for a nice place to land, you know, this life plane,’ or whatever,” Danson said. “And I looked at her and it was like, no. She has her foot on the gas pedal! She’s, like, doing a 12-hour day, shooting her show, jumping on a bus to go, you know, support the service industry in Sacramento with a handful of women.
“Don’t slow down, just keep going, keep living your life,” he continued. “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.”
Through Netflix’s latest series, the TV star hopes to do just that — pass it on.
“This is your life,” he said, “not just up to, you know, 65, and then you retire and are going down. No, you get to live right up until you don’t live. And it’s your life. It’s such a gift. Explore it, and be excited about it. Yes, it hurts. Yes, it’s sad. Yes, there’s grief. Yes, there’s all of that. But embrace it. Embrace it, is kind of what I think the message of the show is. It’s what I hope I live with.”
“A Man On the Inside” debuts Nov. 21 on Netflix.
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