Ted Danson is enjoying critical success on NBC's hit comedy The Good Place. In an interview discussing what he thinks makes the show work, he also shared a crucial lesson he has learned through his career, and it has to do with how he selects his upcoming projects. Danson shared his reasonably straightforward approach for going about it, saying:
I realized my job as an actor is to find the most creative person in the room, and then to ask very nicely if I can part of it. It's more likely to be authentic.
With his career going strong, Ted Danson's strategy seems to be working. While he revealed the method to Variety, the article does not mention which projects of his have come to fruition using the tactic. Danson has certainly worked with his share of brilliant people throughout his career. He counts The Good Place's creator Michael Schur to be among the "brightest" he has encountered.
It is interesting that Ted Danson's career has led him back to acting in a half-hour comedy that airs on NBC, as it is the same network on which his career first took off. The actor's big break came on the classic sitcom Cheers, which ran for eleven seasons, beginning in 1982 and ending in 1993 on the Peacock network. For a while, the comically-inclined actor seemed to be leaning towards the more dramatic end of the spectrum.
In 2007, Ted Danson had a major role on the first season of the FX legal drama Damages. After a considerable run on the CSI franchise and a role in the second season of FX's Fargo, Danson is currently starring as Michael on The Good Place. The show wrapped up its second season back in February, and NBC has greenlit it for a third 13-episode season.
For The Good Place, the actor gets a chance to dabble in the realm of the afterlife. The series follows Kristen Bell's Eleanor, who wakes up after dying in what she believes is the post-life destination for good people. Unfortunately for Eleanor, Season 1's shocking finale reveals that Ted Danson's Michael is actually a demon and she is in "the bad place."
Ted Danson's strategy of working with a creative person is a strong one for an actor to pursue. Creativity tends to conjure the image of an individual with a vibrant imagination. To keep a television show running for multiple seasons, you certainly need to have that in steady and high supply. Given that Danson has starred on long-running series, it would indicate he has had success recognizing such creative forces.
You can catch Ted Danson when The Good Place returns to NBC. For what to watch in the meantime, check out CinemaBlend's guide to TV's summer premieres. If you are done looking through that and still need more info on what's on the horizon, check out the 2018 network TV rundown to find out which shows have been cancelled and which ones have been renewed like The Good Place.
