Ted Danson Goes Undercover in a Retirement Home

Retired professor Charles (Ted Danson) feels life has nothing new in store for him. A year after his wife's passing, he's become stuck in his routine and grown distant from his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis).

But when he spies a classified ad from private investigator Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada), he's inspired to roll the dice on a new adventure. Charles' mission: to go undercover inside the Pacific View Retirement Home in San Francisco and solve the mystery of a stolen family heirloom.

Everyone, residents and staff alike, is a potential suspect, and it's up to Charles to solve the case without landing on the radar of Didi (Stephanie Beatriz), the all-seeing, all-knowing director of Pacific View. But keeping a low profile proves difficult as the affable Charles quickly endears himself to his fellow residents.

Being a "man on the inside" sends Charles on an exciting journey that makes him realize there's a lot more life left to be had - and allows him to reconnect with Emily in the process.

From creator Mike Schur, "A Man on the Inside" is based on the Chilean film "The Mole Agent," a 2021 Oscar nominee for Best Documentary feature. Schur and Danson team up for the first time since their television show, "The Good Place."

"'The Mole Agent' was recommended to me by a bunch of people when it came out," said Schur. "I knew almost nothing about it, and I just fell for it so hard. I think it's a really special piece of work. The hero, Sergio, is so wonderfully wrought, so real, just a lovely human being. It's also a beautiful meditation on aging, a subject we are uniquely terrible in this country at confronting, dealing with or discussing. It showed the reality of aging for people along a very broad spectrum - some folks who were doing great and some folks who were not - and that really grabbed me."

Schur urged Danson to watch "The Mole Agent."

"I found the opening scenes with the 80-plus-year-olds trying to figure out how to work a cellphone very sweet and funny," Danson said. "Then Sergio - that perfect, perfect man - showed up and he was so touching and charming right off the bat. I was very excited to do it.

"I realized about 10 years ago, once I began to see that satellite view of the curvature of my life, that what I really want to do as an actor is find out what it means and feels like to be funny at every age," he added. "Not trying to hold onto youth or be an advanced-age Sam Malone, but to be 76 and know what it's like and explore the humanity and humor that comes through my 76-year-old body.

"Removing some of the awkwardness and stigma from those conversations between mid-40s folks and mid-70s folks about their lives, what they need, and what they should and shouldn't do is a pretty worthy goal," said Schur. "I would love if this show could be watched by people of all generations and discussed by them. And if it led to the realization that aging can be hard and weird, but also it's natural, and should be talked about straightforwardly and lovingly."

"The message society gives to older people that we also give to ourselves is the opposite of what we told our kids: you can be anything you want," Danson said, "At a certain age, we stop having that affirmationfor ourselves. We tell ourselves we need to slow down and pass the baton.

"In this dialogue between different generations, aging people need to make sure they're leading purposeful lives and not giving up before their last breath," he said. "And younger people should help older people cross the finish line rather than suppress them or try to put them in a box that makes them feel safe as a child with an aging parent. That message is what made me want to be part of this."