‘A Man on the Inside’ star Ted Danson on aging: ‘Don’t slow down, just keep going, keep living your life’

Ted Danson sits down to talk about his new TV show and admits he’s nervous. Why? “Because I want people to see it, I really do,” he said. “I think it’s an important conversation.”

It’s strange to imagine Danson being nervous about anything, but in this case, it’s not hard to see why: his latest project means a lot to him and deals with a touching subject all. In the new Netflix series “A Man on the Inside,” Danson is a recently retired widower who doesn’t have much to do until he responds to a private investigator’s complaint and becomes a mole in a nursing home.

Like many TV series, the premise seems a bit far-fetched, but this one is true: It’s based on “The Mole Agent,” a 2020 documentary about a real-life 83-year-old who goes undercover in a Chilean nurse’s home search for signs that patients were being mistreated. What the documentary found was a group of older people battling loneliness and loss with heart and humor.

“A Man on the Inside” is no different, says series creator Mike Schur. “I would say the purpose of this show is simply to discuss a topic that very few people discuss and that is outdated,” Schur said. “It’s this topic that we just don’t like to talk about. It is viewed in this country (I think more than in other countries) as something almost shameful or embarrassing.”

“If you die, you’ve somehow made a mistake,” Danson said.

“You screwed up! “Yeah, you messed up, you got old, you know?” Schur said. “And I find that strange because that’s what happens when we’re lucky. If we’re lucky.” happyWe’re getting old!”

At 76, Danson himself is aging gracefully, with a demeanor inspired by a Hollywood legend: Jane Fonda. “She lived to be 80, and at 70 I started thinking, ‘Well, I’d better find a nice place to land, you know, this plane of life,’ or whatever,” he said. “And I looked at her and thought, No. She has her foot on the accelerator! She works a 12-hour day, shoots her show, jumps on a bus to support the worship industry in Sacramento with a handful of women.

“Don’t slow down, just keep going, keep living your life. I think this is one of the things that our elders can pass on to us. That’s how you live life until the end.”

Apparently, Danson’s elders set a good example: his parents didn’t allow a television in their house. “My mother didn’t like them,” he said. “She would rather you read, go out and play, or be creative.”

But then Danson became famous, on TV. His parents finally got one. “But they hung like a beautiful tapestry over it, and when you walked into their house you didn’t see a TV, you saw this beautiful tapestry with a candle on it, and they took it down and watched.” “Cheers,” he said .

Danson still attributes his success to one show about a bar in Boston. But since he hung up his bartending apron in 1993, he has experienced one blow after another. He was the title character in “Becker.” In “Damages” he was able to compete with Glenn Close. In “The Good Place” he went to heaven and hell. And he even played himself in “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Along the way, Danson used his fame to raise awareness for his passion project Oceana, an organization dedicated to protecting the world’s oceans. Asked if he felt they had made progress, he replied: “Yes. I mean, our focus is on fishing, overfishing and making sure that the world’s fisheries are healthy. Because if you do it right, you could feed a billion people.” Fishmeal every day.

That sounds a bit like a miracle — something he addresses in his new show, and something he says he lives with every day.

When asked about the miracles in his life, Danson replied: “Mary Steenburgen is, you know, literally sent from heaven. I worked on myself for about a year before I met her after Cheers and became more emotionally mature and real. And I worked hard on it. And then came Mary Steenburgen. …We are so blessed. Loving someone and being loved is just one of those miracles of heaven on earth, you know? And that came with Maria.”

And the idea that Ted Danson wants to convey with his latest project is that there are miracles in every life until the end. “This is your life,” he said, “not just until you’re 65 and then you retire and leave. No, you can live until you are no longer alive. And that’s it.” your Life. It’s such a gift. Discover it and be amazed. Yes, it hurts. Yes, it’s sad. Yes, there is sadness. Yes, there is all that. But embrace It. Embrace it, I think that’s the message of the show. I hope I can live with it.”

He became emotional while sharing this. “I’m just emotional because I finally said something I wanted to say!” he laughed.

To watch a trailer for “A Man on the Inside,” click on the video player below:

For more information:

The story was produced by John D’Amelio. Editor: Steven Tyler.