Written by David Share
I recently had the pleasure of watching the Netflix limited series, starring Ted Danson, where he plays a 75-year old retiree who is hired to investigate the theft of some jewelry inside a retirement home. Initially, I thought, this could be a hoaky but pleasant time waster, and in the first couple of episodes,
that’s what it seemed to be.
As the show evolved though, it started be something much greater than just another please light entertainment show to stream on Netflix.
It demonstrated the increasing recognition that aging actors, like Ted Danson and others, like Sally Struthers, still have a strong voice and message to convey about the value of living a full life in all of its stages.
It made me realize, with even greater certainty that the initiative my daughter, Zoe Share, with her business partner, Amy Altwerger have embarked upon with Rosie’s Roadshow, has struck a significant chord with our community and also exposed an underlying need for more opportunities to celebrate
aging and also to promote the great accumulation of knowledge and experience every age group in our society can take advantage of by embracing our elders, so that everyone can strive to be the best versions of themselves.
Danson’s character Charles initially struggles in his day-to-day life, seemingly without any purpose or reason to keep on living after the death of his wife, who had suffered with dementia during the last years of her life. When his daughter tells him to take on a project, she nods and says he will look into
that, he comes across a want ad for an older person to go under cover as an investigator in the retirement home.
What he learns during his clandestine assignment, says a lot about humanity and what connections to other people means, even after such a significant loss in one’s life.
This is a big part of Rosie’s Roadshow is trying to foster in putting events together to help people continue to make connections, and the impact of that is reflected in an emotionally touching and empathetic way in “A Man on the Inside”
