On the surface, the Netflix comedy/drama series “A Man on the Inside” sounds like a precariously thin concept that could be stretched to pieces over the course of eight episodes. The capsule description sounds like a failed TV pilot from 1987:
A lonely widower finds purpose in life after he answers a classified ad placed by a detective agency and becomes a mole inside a San Francisco retirement residence.
Ah, but the star is Ted Danson, whose Hall of Fame television career spans from “Cheers” through “Becker” to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” to Season 2 of “Fargo” and “The Good Place.” That ups the percentages. Also, the series was inspired by the Academy Award-nominated documentary “The Mole Agent” from 2020, which told the story of an 83-year-old Chilean widower who infiltrated a retirement home to see if the residents were being mistreated. Interesting!
Perhaps most important, the creator of “A Man on the Inside” is one Michael Schur, who has been a writer, producer and/or co-creator on “The Office” (where he also played Dwight’s cousin Mose), “Parks and Recreation,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” the aforementioned “The Good Place” and “Master of None.” With Schur as the primary guiding force behind the scenes and the 76-year-old Danson as adept as ever at handling light comedy and poignant dramatic beats, “A Man on the Inside” is one of the best new comedies of 2024. If you’re into warmhearted yet sharply delivered shows such as “Ted Lasso” and “Shrinking,” this is right up your alley.
It takes just one exquisitely constructed sequence in the premiere episode for us to want to wrap our arms around this series. As Cat Stevens’ “The Wind (of My Soul)” plays on the soundtrack (I listen to the wind, to the wind of my soul, where I’ll end up, well, I think only God really knows …), Ted Danson’s Charles, a retired professor of engineering, goes through his daily routine, and we get the distinct feeling he’s living in a kind of real-life version of “Groundhog Day.” He wakes up, shaves, clips his nose hairs, picks out his wardrobe, makes gourmet coffee, does a crossword puzzle, takes a nap, cuts out an article from the newspaper, seals it in an envelope and mails it, watches the goings-on at a dog park, has Chinese takeout with a glass of red wine, reads John Le Carré’s “Smiley’s People,” goes to bed. We know Charles is a widower from the visual cues throughout this montage; him waking up and falling asleep on the same side of the bed, the half-empty closet, the moment when he reduces the size of the scoop of beans for his morning coffee, because it’s coffee just for one. It’s tender and lovely and heartbreaking, and we’re already hoping for Charles to find some purpose and meaning.
That purpose comes in the admittedly gimmicky premise that has Lilah Richcreek Estrada’s Julie, a private detective in San Francisco, taking out a classified ad seeking a male between the ages of 75-85 to pose as a new client at the Pacific View Retirement Community in order to investigate the disappearance of one resident’s family heirloom necklace. Was it stolen by another resident, or an employee, or was it simply lost? On a whim, Charles answers the ad and gets the gig and checks into Pacific View, basically playing himself as he goes undercover and gathers information about a number of residents and staffers.
Having a retirement community as the main setting for a series might seem kind of bleak, and indeed there are solemn reminders of the locale, from memorial services to the ominous door that leads to the Memory Care wing, but Pacific View is also a vibrant and colorful environment — kind of like a landlocked, upscale, seniors’ cruise ship. Happy Hour celebrations, romantic entanglements, community activities, the occasional puff of marijuana smoke, endless gossip — and oh yes, the thefts are continuing. There’s a lot going on, and Charles pours himself into the gig.
“A Man on the Inside” moves at a breezy clip, but still finds room to flesh out a number of subplots and supporting players. Mary Elizabeth Ellis is wonderful as Charles’ daughter Emily, who has become semi-estranged from her father as he refuses to confront the depth of his grieving. Stephanie Beatriz does her usual terrific work as Didi, who is the director of Pacific View and gives every inch of her to the job, and seasoned character actors Stephen McKinley Henderson, Margaret Avery, Susan Ruttan, Sally Struthers, John Getz and Lori Tan Chinn bring three-dimensional life to their roles as Pacific View residents.
The first season of “A Man on the Inside” ends with the tantalizing promise of Charles taking on a a whole new case in a different locale. This darn thing could become “The White Lotus,” only much kinder and not as murder-y.