Back when Netflix first came onto the TV streaming scene (or created the TV streaming scene), it introduced us to the phenomenon of binge streaming, or watching all episodes of something as soon as they hit the internet. However in my opinion, the streamer hasn't put out anything worth binge-watching in several years.
Almost every time I start a new Netflix show, I watch an episode and decide "one episode was enough of that", and in the rare case I stick with a show, I end up following the noncommittal schedule of a weekly broadcast TV show from back in ye olden times. However that finally changed this week, when I watched A Man on the Inside.
A Man on the Inside, released on Thursday, November 28, managed to top Netflix's global top-10 list of English-language TV shows for the week it was released (with nearly 7 million views), which is an achievement given that it only released mid-way through said week. So I'm clearly not discovering a hidden gem... but the streamer has four different #1 videos per week (it has four top ten lists: TV and shows in English and non-English), so I'm surprised that I've finally enjoyed one.
As you'll no doubt be aware if you've seen the show advertised, A Man on the Inside is about a grieving retiree (played by Ted Danson) who answers a newspaper ad to help a private investigator called Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada). He has to infiltrate a retirement community to investigate a potential theft, while avoiding detection from its director Didi (Stephanie Beatriz) and reconnecting with his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis).
TV fans might recognize those names, and one other: the series was created by Mike Schur, A TV producer who was also behind The Good Place, Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which is a pretty impressive resume!
Nearly everything I liked in A Man on the Inside, I recognized from The Good Place and Parks and Rec, two shows I'm a big fan of. It takes its character-based story and drama from the first (as well as its star) and its dry humor and optimistic worldview from the latter.
Despite its premise, A Man on the Inside isn't a crime show, nor is it really a comedy. I'd classify it more as a drama, as it mainly focuses on Danson connecting with peers and learning to overcome its issues. It's not too challenging a show, and I challenge anyone to disagree with its broad message of "perhaps old people still have value!".
I went in expecting a crime plot, but my favorite elements ended up being Danson's Charles finally making a friend (Stephen McKinley Henderson's Calbert). Emily's infuriatingly passive children, and the various retirement-community dramas that Charles found himself in the middle of.
I watched the first two episodes for our A Man on the Inside's recaps but ended up watching the entire remaining six episodes in one stint the next day, out of choice. They're 30-minute episodes so that's not a luxurious waste of time, but it still felt surprising for a non-binger like me!
Like Schur's previous shows, A Man on the Inside is very easy watching, and so I challenge anyone to watch one episode and not be charmed enough to continue. With Netflix usual fare being dreary Euro crime shows, vapid reality series, thrillers where nothing happens, sensationalist documentaries and "blockbuster" movies that cause your eyes to glaze over, I was pleasantly surprised by the series and I'm looking forward to the next show worth binge-watching (in several years time, probably).
