When you watch a Mike Schur comedy, you’re expecting a certain tone. Punchy characters, zany situations, larger-than-life guest stars and light-hearted warmth are trademarks of series like “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” “Parks and Recreation” and “The Good Place.”
So Schur’s new Netflix series, “A Man on the Inside,” may surprise you. Sure, the comedy features another diverse cast with optimistic undertones, but it’s also unafraid to sit in its moments of silence to tackle some of life’s biggest questions in a delightfully uplifting way.
“A Man on the Inside” reunites Schur with lead Ted Danson (“The Good Place”). The project is based on Maite Alberdi’s 2020 Oscar-nominated documentary “The Mole Agent,” in which a man responds to a newspaper ad and becomes a spy in an assisted living community. Here, Danson plays a fictionalized version of that man, named Charles.
When we meet Charles he’s incredibly lonely. His wife has passed away, his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) and three grandsons are far from his San Francisco home, and he passes his days in solitude with crosswords and solo meals. There’s a moving scene in the premiere that highlights that isolated tone, in which Charles doesn’t say a single word out loud for an entire day.
This abruptly changes when Charles responds to an ad and begins working with a private investigator named Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada). Suddenly, he’s the man on the inside of a colorful assisted living community, where a son has concerns about some thefts taking place.
Part of the fun is watching Charles badly embrace his shoe gum role, complete with code names, disguises and a tape recorder in which he highlights every wild observation. But within his new living space he’s also surrounded by a fun cast of characters played by seasoned actors like Sally Struthers, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Susan Ruttan and Margaret Avery. Through them, Charles realizes that friendships have been missing from his life, and he slowly finds new purpose and meaning in this next chapter.
Reining in all the wildness of the group is Stephanie Beatriz, who plays community manager Didi. It’s a much more caring and empathetic role for Beatriz than her previous deadpan Schur gig on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” Here, she plays the straight person to the others’ punchlines, grounding the show like a warm blanket. By Episode 6, which spotlights Didi and her unique plights at the center, you can’t help but root for her. Didi is the type of person you’d want taking care of your loved ones in such a situation, but you also really, really want to get her a cup of warm coffee.
It’s just one example of how Schur expanded the characters from the original doc to offer a more nuanced look at the importance of having a strong community no matter where you are in life. The expansion takes some of the heavy lifting off Danson too, and allows for light but meaningful interactions as Didi grows suspicious of Charles.
Still, it’s Danson who truly shines, bringing genuine warmth and earnestness to the role of Charles in only the way Ted Danson can. It’s no wonder the role was developed and written with him in mind. Charles, an architect nerd and professor, cares deeply about the residents he befriends and carries an infectious enthusiasm for becoming an investigator. At the same time, he is grieving his wife and her final days dealing with dementia, a subject the show handles with absolute care.
No one with dementia is ever the butt of a joke, and the conversations surrounding patient care are grounded in reality. It’s a level of realism that Schur hasn’t always injected into his other series, but it works here when balanced with the overall tone of the show and the other characters within the story. You always want to return for more, even when unfortunate truths seep in.
Adding even more depth is the relationship between Charles and Emily, as the two struggle to connect. While Charles carries that burden inside, Emily is more vocal, particularly as she grieves both the loss of her mother and her sons, who are now media-obsessed teenagers and clueless about anything not on a screen.
As Charles learns to forge new connections and delights in his daily reports to Julie (who moonlights as Emily within the home for another layer of deceit), he also comes to life in a new way with his daughter. The result is a beautiful look at the adult-child and parent relationship at an age where things change drastically for both parties. It’s also a topic rarely explored on television.
In fact, as ratings shift and streamers opt for overall subscribers over target demos, “A Man on the Inside” is a great example of a series that might not have been made otherwise but delivers some powerful messages about aging. By the time the initial season wraps (and the door is open for more installments should Netflix wish), you’ll want to call your parents if you’re lucky enough to still have them around.
Or, if you have been wondering what’s next for you or how to move forward in the world the way it is in 2024, this is the kind of show that will motivate you to find your own purpose. The pandemic had us all shrinking inside and avoiding human connection. But as “A Man on the Inside” proves with each thoughtfully curated and heartfelt scene, it’s connecting with others that makes us human.
“A Man on the Inside” premieres Thursday, Nov. 21, on Netflix.