A Man On The Inside has more heart than hilarity

Some people think of Ted Lasso as kicking off an era of television where kindness is king, the sort in which a Kansan with a folksy drawl can hand out some books, tape up a “Believe” sign, and bring a rag-tag team together. But as a showrunner, Michael Schur has been at this game from the jump, concocting series after series that sweetly investigates the human condition. First, he took on local government and feel-good coworker camaraderie with Parks And Recreation. Next, he delved into morality and explored its philosophical underpinnings with The Good Place. (And he further dug into these concepts with his book How To Be Perfect.) Then, he brought his themes of community and connectedness to law enforcement with Brooklyn Nine-Nine. With his latest series and first for Netflix, A Man On The Inside, Schur examines the loneliness epidemic through its most vulnerable population: the elderly. Despite the limitations of a season with eight 30-minute episodes can impose on a sitcom, AMOTI is a sweet show with more heart than hilarious punchlines—and a winning cast too boot. And it will probably make you cry.  

Based on Maite Alberdi’s 2020 documentary The Mole Agent, AMOTI follows a retiree as he becomes installed as a spy to investigate a high-dollar theft at a local assisted living facility. It’s a setup that’s well served by Ted Danson, who plays Charles Nieuwendyk, a kindly former engineer in San Francisco with a whole lot of nothing to do following his wife’s passing from Alzheimer’s. His busy daughter, Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia), lives with her husband and three teenage sons more an hour away in Sacramento, and Charles spends his days scouring the newspaper for interesting articles to clip out and send her. Encouraged by Emily to get a hobby, he responds to a Kovalenko Investigations print ad he spots in the paper, and in few moves, he’s welcomed into Pacific View Retirement Community as a new resident.

Of course, the very charming Charles makes friends with everyone at the facility in pretty short order (this is a Mike Schur show, after all), even though his instructions before entering the place were to lay low. This choice for Charles to disregard the demand to remain impersonal seems like one Schur himself often makes in his writing. Whereas the commonly held advice is to allow bad things to happen to your characters, to put them through hell, Schur seems determined to maintain a softer touch. Even when he literally lands people on TGP in “the bad place,” they find support and a found family there to rise above their circumstances. He keeps meanness to a minimum, focusing on his characters’ goodness instead—even when they are kind of jerks. For example, Parks And Rec's Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) went from bad boyfriend to desperate pit-dweller to City Hall shoe-shiner to half of one of the most celebrated couples in the Pawnee-verse when he courted April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza), bringing out her silly side in the process.

But beyond celebrating the utility and redeeming qualities of its characters, AMOTI highlights the value of experiences in life. And it’s a safe bet that the residents denying themselves the joy of a big, luxurious purchase are going to bust out those debit cards to make their dreams come true. But this isn’t some “live, laugh, love,” “feel the rain on your skin,” escapist bullshit: This show reminds its audience that memory is fallible and life itself is fleeting. Which is kind of the perfect sentiment for a sitcom that takes place in a retirement facility. 

It's also worth singling out the show's setting. San Francisco is a beautiful place, one with a scenic waterfront that's just a short drive from Redwoods. Few cities would make a better argument, visually, for getting out there and exploring while you still can, and the series makes good use of SF, though some references to Bay Area mainstays, like the San Jose Sharks, can feel a little clunky and forced at times. (One thing the show does overlook about San Francisco is its countercultural hub status, particularly with regards to lifting up the queer community. While Eleanor Shellstrop was vocally bisexual for the entire run of Schur’s TGP, AMOTI is set in the U.S. city with the largest percentage of its population identifying as LGBTQ+ yet none of its characters reflect this reality. Some seem coded as such, but the omission stands out. Hopefully this is something that's rectified in later seasons.) 

This oversight aside, the representations of folks from different walks of life feels warmly accurate, albeit a bit stereotypical. There’s the cigar-smoking curmudgeon with his sarcastic “thanks, Obama” observations and the horny old ladies full of spirit (played by Sally Struthers and a glowing Margaret Avery). Most delightfully, there are the teen grandsons who argue with their parents with lines like, “Bro, why are you so obsessed with this hose?” Somehow these portrayals of teens as a little aloof and task-averse don’t read as judgmental, though. And the dynamic depicted goes for something deeper than a “kids these days” punchline. 

The show has some neat stylistic choices, too, including midcentury title cards and splitscreen sequences when Charles is in spy mode. If these were deployed often, they would be a little much, but judiciously applied, they serve as a cute nod to the overall genre. The residential facility itself is festooned with wallpaper and crown molding authentic to such spaces, and costume details (like Charles’ pocket square and the flowy sweaters of the facility director, Didi, played by a great Stephanie Beatriz) add depth to these characters and make them feel lived in.

As the culture at large remains divided and more than a little mean, the appetite for heart-warmers like AMOTI isn’t getting quelled anytime soon. And sitcoms for the septuagenarian set can provide a rich landscape of emotions and side stories to explore. A Man On The Inside works because it balances its resonant, evergreen themes related to companionship and aging with measured doses of humor and, indeed, plenty of charm.  

A Man On The Inside premieres November 21 on Netflix