Ted Danson’s Netflix comedy is going away

On By Littum

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It’s hard not to have high expectations Ted Danson and Michael Schur.

The actor and producer brought us comedy gold together on NBC’s “The Good Place,” and have individually contributed to some of the best television of all time. There’s Danson’s long “Cheers” career plus “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and many more, and Schur’s run of sitcom success with shows like “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Parks and Recreation.” So when the pair teamed up for a new Netflix mystery comedy, it surely meant bigger and better things, right?

Unfortunately, their new series set in a San Francisco retirement home, “A Man on the Inside” (now streaming, ★★ out of four) doesn’t have that “Good Place” or “Brooklyn” spark. A light mix of themes and ideas, the series feels like it’s still a sketch on the drawing board rather than a fully realized story with a beginning, middle and end. It all sounds good on paper, but whines in execution.

It’s a shame because the story and the creatives involved had so much potential. Still as charming and magnetic as ever, Danson plays Charles, a mild-mannered retired professor who struggles to find a groove in his new life after his wife dies from a long battle with dementia. He answers a classified ad in the newspaper to be a spy – well, something that looks like a spy. Private detective Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) has been hired to find a priceless necklace stolen from an old woman in the luxurious Pacific View community. Julie needs someone over 70 to move in and investigate what happened. Charles shows up with a working knowledge of a cell phone and an eagerness to please, so she hires him.

Naturally, once inside, Charles is smitten with everything about the place, from the kind-hearted instructor Didi (Stephanie Beatriz) to the gossipy ladies Florence (Margaret Avery) and Virginia (Sally Struthers) to the stoic backgammon master Calbert (Stephen McKinley Henderson). . Charles tries to put his feelings aside and solve the case while rebuilding his relationship with daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis), which has been strained since his wife’s death.

If it sounds like there is a lot going on, there is, and at times it all fights against each other. “Inside” feels like half a show, or maybe thirds of three different shows that don’t connect into a whole. There’s one about a private detective and her “inner man” trying to solve a crime (by the way, also plotted by a 2008 episode of “Psych”); another is a soapy drama about all the juicy stuff going on inside Pacific View (complete with romantic dalliances and double-crosses); and a third is about Charles rediscovering how to be alive without his wife, with the help of Calbert.

Alas, none of these dangling story threads are woven into anything complete. The mystery/crime element is undercooked and underwhelming. The retirement home relationship drama appears one moment and disappears the next. Calbert barely makes an appearance in the first half of the series, but his friendship with Charles takes up most of the ending. The episodes often feel like collections of scenes rather than a coherent part of a larger story. What we are left with is inherently unsatisfactory in its wishful thinking.

“Inside” had to pick a lane and stick to it because some truly beautiful moments are tucked between its disparate plot lines. An episode where Charles shows homeboy Calbert all his favorite sights in San Francisco is almost too melancholy and sweet, a nicely composed poem dedicated to living life to the fullest. These themes echo Schur’s other works, from the deeply philosophical “Good Place” to “Parks”: his characters always want to do the right thing and live well. Charles certainly strives for both, but we never get deep enough into his character (or anyone else’s) to find out what really makes them tick.

There are excellent stories to tell about aging, and Hollywood is slowly learning that life isn’t over after the Botox wears off. From Netflix’s “Grace and Frankie” to Max’s “Hacks,” we’re starting to see stories about people over 65 that don’t resort to stereotypes and cheap jokes, and that’s wonderfully refreshing.

“Inside” only scratches the surface of the stories, but it could have dug so much deeper. I’m waiting and hoping next time Schur and Danson will try something together again.