Ryan Murphy's The Shards is dropping its hyper-sexualized prep school drama on viewers, with Baywatch making its grand slo-mo return in the new year, but would you believe that one of the most sex-centric shows yet to hit the small screen will be set at a retirement home, with Katey Sagal and Ted Danson as co-stars? It's definitely happening, and it sounds like it wasn't much of a behavioral change for Sagal to get libidinous.
The actress has turned heads in dozens of TV shows like Married with Children to Sons of Anarchy, and she kinda-sorta even topped my age-old and shockingly mature list of the hottest female cartoon characters. (I've been at this site for a while, guys.) So it's no surprise to learn her sensuousness is still intact, even if Danson himself was quite taken aback to hear it during her appearance on the podcast Where Everybody Knows Your Name, since all he asked was "What should I know about you?" Her answer:
I'm very sexual, Ted. [Laughs.] I'm at this age of my life and I'm still...still into it.
Cue images of trains' steam whistles going off, a bunch of biscuit tins popping open under pressure, and a fire hose flopping about without anyone able to grab hold of it.
Ted Danson's response was actually to admit that he is the exact opposite way, and that he's been that way for essentially his entire life, saying that he immediately gets nervous and sweaty anytime the subject comes up, and joking that he was starting to sweat in the moment. This one reaction sums up his whole vibe during that portion of the convo.
But this isn't about him! It's about Katey Sagal, who explained why she wanted to address that personal topic, and why she's proud to shed light on older generations' sexual proclivities in their new show. As she put it:
I think what's important about saying that — and I say that somewhat facetiously, but it is true — is that I think when I was growing up, I thought that by the time I got to this age of my life, 72, that that would be a distant memory. ... And it's not that. So I think the more that's sort of spoken about, I think that's a good thing.
In the still-untitled comedy created by Liz Heldens and Matt Ward, which will be streaming via Apple TV subscription, Elizabeth Banks plays the newly divorced Heidi, whose attempt to start her second chapter is partially derailed when she gets roped into planning out her father's (Danson) sexual trysts in his retirement home. As he starts to get closer to a new girlfriend (Sagal), Heidi is shoehorned into a kinship with the GF's son, played by Rob Delaney.
In case anyone was curious, Sagal and Danson made it clear that the show will not shy away from just how "rampant" (as the Cheers vet put it) sex is in the retirement community. So get ready to see way more of that in the new show than in Danson's comedy mystery A Man on the Inside.
Speaking about her husband, Sons of Anarchy creator and co-star Kurt Sutter, Sagal pointed out that he's much closer to Danson's sensibilities than her own on that front. As she put it:
My husband is very similiar. I think my husband is super hot, but I think he would never think that. He would never. And that's what makes him so great, I think. I don't like dudes that think they're so hot.
If I could hang out with any celebrity couple for a weekend, I'd almost definitely pick Katey Sagal and Kurt Sutter. And not just because I'd want to pepper him with questions about that still-gestating Sons of Anarchy prequel. They just seem like the best kind of down-to-earth people. (And in second place would be Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen for the same reasons.)
I'm counting the days until we get more info about Sagal and Danson's new show, but until then, the actress is back in action voicing Leela for the recently debuted latest season of Futurama, which is streaming via Hulu subscription.
