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LOS ANGELES, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Ted Danson said his new show, A Man on the Inside, premiering Thursday on Netflix, provided opportunities for two genres he seeks in his career. "This is the epitome of what pleases me the most as an actor to be part of -- the comedy and the drama," Danson told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
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Danson, 76, plays Charles, a widower who accepts a job from a private investigator (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) to move into a retirement home and feed her information. She is investigating thefts for a client with a parent in the home.
Danson said some of his most famous roles also combined comedy and drama, like the Cheers bartender character who had a dramatic background in that comedy.
"I've always appreciated that Sam Malone was an alcoholic," Danson said. "Sam Malone was incapable of having a real lasting relationship -- that he would probably be always alone. That's sad, but it was sure funny to play on top of that sadness."
Damages, on the other hand, was a drama with dark comedy underpinnings. Danson played Arthur Frobisher, a CEO defendant in a class-action lawsuit his employees brought against him.
"Damages is a very dark drama, but it sure is funny that my character thinks that he's going to outwit Glenn Close," Danson said. "I like both combinations."
A Man on the Inside reunites Danson with The Good Place creator Michael Schur, who adapted the documentary The Mole Agent, which is based on a real undercover resident of a retirement home.
Schur said the mystery of Man on the Inside, which is solved by Episode 8, is an original story. Like The Mole Agent, and the mystery is incidental to the broader themes.
"The case doesn't really matter," Schur said. "The point is what happens to a man who takes a leap and decides to try to change his life in this way."
The Mole Agent is about Chilean private investigator Romulo Aitken and his inside man, Sergio Chamy. Schur moved the characters to San Francisco and made the investigator a woman named Julie.
Estrada, 35, said she focused on the original character Schur wrote for her, but did explore her backstory outside of the case depicted in A Man on the Inside.
"I needed to have a reason for her to be the way she is -- why she is so fierce," Estrada said. "She is a boss and she is super direct for a reason."
Estrada said she hoped some of the backstory she created can be revealed in a second season of Man on the Inside. Meanwhile, Charles has a daughter, Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis), who is surprised to learn he has moved out of their family home.
Emily and Charles have a strained relationship, largely because Charles keeps to himself. Emily struggles to get Charles to open up to her.
"In trying to protect the people that we love, sometimes we're doing them a disservice and ourselves a disservice because they don't actually know what's going on with us," Ellis, 45, said. "We all just are craving connection, aren't we?"
Exploring the father-daughter relationship in the comedy provides more opportunities for Danson to portray multiple levels simultaneously.
"He has decided that his sorrow, pain and grief over losing his wife is his to hold tightly and not to burden his daughter with it," Danson said, adding that Charles' decision "ends up burdening her with this relationship that doesn't have real truth and meat to it."
Charles discovers the joy of connection by meeting the other residents at the retirement home. Danson currently lives independently with his wife, Mary Steenburgen, but said socializing remains an important part of their lives.
"Staying active and participating in life with others is everything," Danson said. He added that he might opt for a retirement home "if I ever got to the point where my life was not able to bring in as many friends and have dinners as we do now."
Danson's co-stars said the retirement home appeals to them, as well. Ellis said she wanted to participate in "art classes, food made for you all the time, people driving you around wherever you want to go."
Estrada said, "I'm starting to save already. It sounds like summer camp 24/7."
