Yesterday – a Saturday — was a very unusual day for me in that I did not attack, address, work on, or deal with any one of the 142 items that I have on my four pages of “To Do’s”.  Not one.  I did not even sit down in front of my laptop to even begin to address an item on my long, way too long, list of To Do’s.

What gives, you may ask.  A day without even addressing one item on your To Do list, Neil.  What gives?

The morning started out with my usual enthusiasm for exercise and sports competition.  Played my usual 2 hours of pickleball, followed by a 30 minute work out in the gym, and then followed by swimming my 8 laps in the 86 degree heated pool.

That effort was quickly followed by a series of errands.  Got the car fueled up, dropped off a shirt to be dry cleaned and shopped for food, flowers and batteries in the grocery store.

All the above took me to about 1 o’clock in the afternoon, at which point I said to myself, I am just going to lie down and stretch out on my couch for a moment to rest, relax and take a breather.  I turned the TV on, hoping to catch the hockey game between the Los Angeles Kings and the Seattle Kraken.

My machinations with the TV remote were frustrating.  Could not find the hockey game.  Refused to watch the myriads of college football games.  Am overdosed with the political news of the day.  So, I turned on Netflix to see if there was anything that would capture my interest.

The first thing that popped up was a new series entitled “A Man on the Inside,” starring Ted Danson.  Just released two days earlier on November 21^st.

For those of my readers, listeners and followers that may not be aware, I am a big fan of Ted Danson.   For three reasons.  One, my favorite TV series of all time is Cheers, voted by some to be the 18^th most popular TV series of all time. I just love this show.  I have on VHS tapes the entire 11 seasons and its 275 episodes.  Whenever I want to laugh out loud, I just watch an episode of Cheers.

The second reason I am a big Ted Danson fan is that I had a chance meeting with him in a grocery store on Martha’s Vineyard in the summer of 2023.  And I very much enjoyed our all to brief but meaningful interaction.  If you are interested in learning more about that encounter, here is the link to the blog that I wrote about it. https://neilstrips.com/you-never-know-whom-you-will-run-into-at-the-grocery-store/

The final reason that I find Ted Danson so interesting is the fact that he continues to work, contribute, and make a mark at the age of 76.  Next month he will be 77.  I admire that.

What happened next surprised the heck out of me.  I started to watch the first episode of “A Man on the Inside” and I could not stop watching it.  Over the next 6 hours – stopping for two hours for dinner with friends — I binge-watched the entire 8 episodes of this sitcom.

At 9pm, after watching all the episodes, I went to bed.  I never go to bed at 9pm.  And I went to bed without even looking at my To Do list, or without checking my emails or messages on my computer or phone.  I just went to bed.

Wow!  This is so unusual for me.  What happened?

The series “A Man on the Inside” had an impact on me.  A real impact.  I think it has had an impact on me in a couple of ways.

One, I found myself reflecting on some important issues – namely, aging, dementia, and death.

And, two, I found myself smiling at the humor in this honest to goodness comedy.

The plot for the show revolves around an 83-year-old retired architect and recent widower who is hired by a private investigator to infiltrate a retirement community where a priceless family heirloom has gone missing.

But the show is really about the loneliness epidemic in the world today.  About people who have been cut off from their friends and from their lives.  About how we can affect each other in different phases of our lives.

It is elegiac, as it explores aging and memory loss and, yes, sadly, death.

With this background you may ask how can this possibly be a comedy.  Yet it is.  Somehow, creator Michael Schur and the show’s writers are able to weave into a comedy very poignant and profound looks at the issues of loneliness, aging, memory loss and death.

I don’t want to spoil the story by telling you about it, but I do want to tell you about the impact it had on me.

I could not stop watching it.  I had to see all the episodes in one day.  It gripped me.

I found myself smiling and laughing many times as I lay on my couch.  I also found myself tearing up several times, as the show and its wonderful cast of characters touched one nerve after another.

When I completed the viewing at 9pm, I was reflective.  I just wanted to absorb what I had just watched and experienced.  Or, to put it another way, I did not want to do any chores or attack any items on my long To Do list.  I just wanted to sleep on it and go to bed.

Bottom line.  If you get a chance, I really recommend that you see the sitcom, comedy series “A Man on the Inside” on Netflix.