Ted Danson May Have Broken a TV Record With His Latest Sitcom

It’s hard to imagine a time when Ted Danson wasn’t on TV. After all, he spent a whopping 11 seasons playing Sam Malone on Cheers, six years as Dr. John Becker on Becker, and, more recently, took on the part of a 6,000-foot tall tentacled fire demon who's taken on the form of a 6-foot-2 silver fox in The Good Place. 

Not to mention the fact that he regularly popped up on Curb Your Enthusiasm, effortlessly inhabiting what was perhaps his greatest role to date: Ted Danson.

Now Danson has a brand new show coming out: A Man on the Inside. While it may sound like the title of a self-help book written by Tobias Fünke, it’s actually a new Netflix comedy that reteams Danson with The Good Place and Parks and Recreation producer Mike Schur.

A Man on the Inside is reportedly an adaptation of The Mole Agent, an acclaimed 2021 documentary about a senior citizen who ends up working as a spy for a private detective.

This new show could be a big deal for Danson, not just because it has the potential to be a hit amongst the “parents using their adult children’s Netflix passwords” demographic, but because Danson has now allegedly beaten the record for having starred in the most scripted TV series of all time.

According to Forbes, Danson has topped the record previously held by the late Robert Urich, the star of shows like Spenser: For Hire and S.W.A.T., with this his thirteenth recurring role in a TV show. Yeah, it’s easy to forget that Danson starred in short-lived sitcoms like Ink (along with his wife, Mary Steenburgen) and Help Me Help You, as well as dramatic turns in shows like Damages and CSI. 

And, of course, Danson co-starred in the woefully under appreciated HBO comedy-mystery series Bored to Death, alongside Jason Schwartzman and Zach Galifianakis.

Contrary to Forbes’ claim that Danson is now the record-holder, some have claimed that Urich’s record consists of fifteen TV shows, which would mean that Danson is still slightly short of dethroning the Love Boat: The Next Wave star. Forbes itself previously reported that Urich’s magic number to beat was 14. Although that tally could be counting TV mini-series like Lonesome Dove. 

Others have suggested that Urich had major roles in just 12 TV shows, which would mean that Danson has won the record. Perusing his credits, I count 13 TV scripted shows in which Urich regularly appeared. Maybe some folks don’t count the Emeril Lagasse sitcom Emeril, purely because they’re trying very hard to forget it ever existed.

So perhaps Danson and Urich are tied? If so, Danson only has to make one more show to unequivocally beat the record once and for all. Unless ABC decides to reboot Spenser: For Hire with a CGI Robert Urich. 

You (yes, you) should follow JM on Twitter (if it still exists by the time you’re reading this).