S01.E01: Tinker Tailor Older Spy

[AnimeMania]

Encouraged by his daughter to try something new, widower Charles Nieuwendyk answers an ad from a private eye seeking a mole at a retirement community.

Premiere Date: November 21, 2024   Netflix   

[SoMuchTV]

Really liking this!  I know most people can’t binge the first day, but I’m hoping more folks will be discovering it soon. 

[lucindabelle]

Ted Danson is such a good actor. I literally teared up just at the first shot. I watched with my elderly mom who was very interested! This tugs at the heart a good bit. 

[SoMuchTV]

Oh and I’m kind of loving the episode titles. 

[abbyzenn]

I'm enjoying this too.  It's different from most of what's on these days.  

[Grundoon59]

Absolutely loved the first episode - I want to savor each one, so I am trying not to binge.  Thought it was extremely well done and just enough familiar faces to have an interesting game of "who did they play in ....." to go along with the plot.  Already hoping there will be a second season.  

[iMonrey]

I've watched three episodes so far. It's really good - it gets a little funnier after the first episode, which had a lot of set-up to do. 

I have to say, though, it was a real Uncanny Valley effect with the digital de-aging of Ted Danson for the "video" at his wedding reception. I mean, we all know what Ted Danson looked like when he was young, because Cheers reruns are still airing somewhere. The computer didn't get it quite right. Kind of eerie. 

This show has a great cast! I had to keep looking up where I knew them from.

[Haleth]

This was cute. Ted is always charming. 

[General Days]

On 11/22/2024 at 12:31 PM, iMonrey said:

I have to say, though, it was a real Uncanny Valley effect with the digital de-aging of Ted Danson for the "video" at his wedding reception. I mean, we all know what Ted Danson looked like when he was young, because Cheers reruns are still airing somewhere. The computer didn't get it quite right. Kind of eerie. 

 

It did kind of look like pre-Cheers Ted, but yeah, the whole Uncanny Valley effect was very unfortunate. I rewatched the pilot, because I dozed off the first time I watched it (because I was tired, not because of the show itself). The second time, I fast-forwarded through de-aged scene. It creeped me out.

[dleighg]

I loved The Good Place, and this one has a lot of promise (I've only seen the first episode)

[libgirl2]

On 11/22/2024 at 11:31 AM, iMonrey said:

 

This show has a great cast! I had to keep looking up where I knew them from.

I was doing the same! 

[Valny]

Sally Struthers looks much better than she did on Gilmore Girls. Good for her.

Really enjoying the show, it's such an easy watch. Has humor and heartfelt moments.    

I will put my pick in for the thief.....the lady who runs the place.  If it's not her than it may be Danson's sexual rival! :) 

[SomeTameGazelle]

I have heard a lot of good things about this series and have started watching. I don't think that I have figured out the tone quite yet. For one thing I was bewildered by the fact that Julie hired Charles even though after a promising cell phone intro he seemed to be completely incompetent at the other test assignments she gave him. For another I can't believe Ted Danson as the father Emily described, too shut off and uncommunicative -- he comes across as so loose and emotionally available to me from the start.

I hope we will get to see Charles and Emily interacting more as we go.

On 11/28/2024 at 4:15 PM, Valny said:

If it's not her

Spoiler

than it may be Danson's sexual rival! :

) 

Is this a spoiler? I have not yet seen a character who might be in this category.

[giovannif7]

On 11/22/2024 at 9:31 AM, iMonrey said:

I've watched three episodes so far. It's really good - it gets a little funnier after the first episode, which had a lot of set-up to do. 

I have to say, though, it was a real Uncanny Valley effect with the digital de-aging of Ted Danson for the "video" at his wedding reception. I mean, we all know what Ted Danson looked like when he was young, because Cheers reruns are still airing somewhere. The computer didn't get it quite right. Kind of eerie. 

This show has a great cast! I had to keep looking up where I knew them from.

I'm half way through, and am really enjoying the show, from the actors to the writing to the actual San Francisco location shots. Given where the technology is currently, I was surprised how close the de-aging software got to Danson's pre-Cheers look, as seen in these stills from the 1981 film Body Heat...

[Corgi-ears]

On 11/23/2024 at 1:31 AM, iMonrey said:

I have to say, though, it was a real Uncanny Valley effect with the digital de-aging of Ted Danson for the "video" at his wedding reception.

For a split second, I was terrified that they would be using manipulated historical footage of Danson at the infamous Friars Club roast of Whoopi Goldberg. 

On 11/23/2024 at 2:43 AM, Haleth said:

Ted is always charming. 

...so, not always.

[Madding crowd]

I like Ted Danson and this looks to be good. The only thing I thought of was that it takes a lot of money to move into a retirement community like that; would her client front that much? I looked at assisted living and retirement places with my MIL and they all required a substantial payment up front. She actually decided to just stay in her condo because she didn’t want to give them thousands of dollars and then find out she didn’t like it.

[possibilities]

Yeah, I liked the show well enough, but the whole way through I was thinking about how most places are nothing like that, and everyone I know who was in a place other than their pre-aging/disabled home was in a world of hell. The money thing is huge. I'm sure nice places like this exist, but they're not what anybody I know can afford.

[Bastet]

On 11/22/2024 at 9:31 AM, iMonrey said:

This show has a great cast! I had to keep looking up where I knew them from.

Even though most of them I recognized from one-off guest appearances on old shows, I didn't have to look any of them up.  I immediately recognized the actor playing the client from The Good Place and Dead to Me. The PI was in an episode of Grace & Frankie, as was the son-in-law (who, I just realized, was also in The Good Place -- Pillboi!).  The PI's assistant was in an episode of Major Crimes.  Emily was in an episode of Cold Case.  The woman who runs the home was Pilar on the One Day at a Time reboot.  I spent pretty much this entire first episode having "I know her/him!" moments.

 

Edited December 5 by Bastet

[lovett1979]

On 12/5/2024 at 6:02 PM, Bastet said:The woman who runs the home was Pilar on the One Day at a Time reboot.  I spent pretty much this entire first episode having "I know her/him!" moments.

 

She was also Detective Diaz on Brooklyn 9-9, another Mike Schurr show. But her biggest role was the voice of Mirabel in Encanto.

[Milburn Stone]

On 11/22/2024 at 11:31 AM, iMonrey said:

I have to say, though, it was a real Uncanny Valley effect with the digital de-aging of Ted Danson for the "video" at his wedding reception.

I wasn't sure that was all digital de-aging. It looked to me like some of it was done in-camera, because his hair literally looked like a plastic helmet. (Leaving only the removing of wrinkles to be done digitally.)

[possibilities]

On 12/5/2024 at 6:02 PM, Bastet said:

The woman who runs the home was Pilar on the One Day at a Time reboot.

She was also Rosa on Brooklyn 9-9! A shockingly different character.

[chediavolo]

On 12/1/2024 at 12:39 AM, Corgi-ears said:

For a split second, I was terrified that they would be using manipulated historical footage of Danson at the infamous Friars Club roast of Whoopi Goldberg. 

...so, not always.

This was all Whoopi. She admitted she wrote most of it. She defended it and stood by him . So both of them  were “accountable”. I found it tasteless in my opinion but of course she knew about it and should have known better. 

On 12/1/2024 at 7:27 PM, possibilities said:

Yeah, I liked the show well enough, but the whole way through I was thinking about how most places are nothing like that, and everyone I know who was in a place other than their pre-aging/disabled home was in a world of hell. The money thing is huge. I'm sure nice places like this exist, but they're not what anybody I know can afford.

These types of homes are glorified nursing homes in a way. You age in place. Once you get to a certain stage I would guess it’s no different from a nursing home. But in the meantime it is outrageously expensive . I wish I could afford it because it does look to be comforting to have everything in one place. I’ve heard good things about some of them but like I said. White collar and lower middle class people will not be able to afford this type of arrangement unfortunately. 

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, chediavolo said:

These types of homes are glorified nursing homes in a way. You age in place. Once you get to a certain stage I would guess it’s no different from a nursing home. But in the meantime it is outrageously expensive . I wish I could afford it because it does look to be comforting to have everything in one place. I’ve heard good things about some of them but like I said. White collar and lower middle class people will not be able to afford this type of arrangement unfortunately. 

Even the one gentleman I knew (a Professor) who chose to leave his home and move to an even nicer, more expensive place regretted it. 

Over 10 years my sister argued relentlessly with our mother that Mom and Dad should move to a place with independent living—> assisted living —> memory care. Mom and Dad finally agreed to visit a place and hated it.
But while Dad was in the hospital, my sister got her way. My sister didn’t make money off of selling their home to put them/Mom in the facility, she was just sure it was better. I am still haunted by the counselor who told me my withdrawn mother “misses her home.” (Mom passed 4 years ago.)

Both Mom and the Professor would have been happier paying for help at home.

I think this show could have at least touched on this aspect, but the writers were coming at it from their own experiences with Alzheimer’s.
Sometimes it’s just that the body’s mechanics don’t work as well as the mind.

Edited December 11 by shapeshifter

[dleighg]

My dad moved to a continuing care place after my mother died. Hated it, moved to a one floor condo a year later and was very happy there, where he could cook for himself and so on. Had to give up his car after two accidents, but paid someone to take him shopping. All was good until he broke his hip. The cost of 24 hour care would have been exorbitant, so he had to move to an AL place. He hated it, and died 6 months later. Getting old is not for the faint of heart. For people, unlike my father, with out a million in the bank, the choices are even worse.

[HerkyJerky]

On 11/21/2024 at 7:39 PM, lucindabelle said:

I watched with my elderly mom who was very interested

LB, I wish my ninety-two year-old mother was like that. She hates EVERYTHING! Lol.

[EtheltoTillie]

On 12/8/2024 at 9:35 PM, possibilities said:

She was also Rosa on Brooklyn 9-9! A shockingly different character.

Sheesh—totally did not recognize Stephanie Beatriz!  

On 12/1/2024 at 6:57 PM, Madding crowd said:

I like Ted Danson and this looks to be good. The only thing I thought of was that it takes a lot of money to move into a retirement community like that; would her client front that much? I looked at assisted living and retirement places with my MIL and they all required a substantial payment up front. She actually decided to just stay in her condo because she didn’t want to give them thousands of dollars and then find out she didn’t like it.

Even without the upfront deposits, the monthly charges are high.  But the PI thought they could finish within a month.  That must be some valuable necklace!  

 

On 11/30/2024 at 8:41 AM, SomeTameGazelle said:

I have heard a lot of good things about this series and have started watching. I don't think that I have figured out the tone quite yet. For one thing I was bewildered by the fact that Julie hired Charles even though after a promising cell phone intro he seemed to be completely incompetent at the other test assignments she gave him. For another I can't believe Ted Danson as the father Emily described, too shut off and uncommunicative -- he comes across as so loose and emotionally available to me from the start.

I hope we will get to see Charles and Emily interacting more as we go.

Is this a spoiler? I have not yet seen a character who might be in this category.

Spoiler

Could be episode 2.  John Getz?  I’m only a little through episode 2. 

 

Edited Thursday at 02:37 AM by EtheltoTillie