On the need for older actors

Once upon a time, older actors could get a job on television, and they played key roles in notable shows.

I'm thinking back to the 80s and 70s here, but shows such as "Newhart", featuring Bob Newhart, "All in the Family" (featuring Carroll O'Connor), "Sanford and Son", (Redd Foxx), and "St. Elsewhere" (a number of older actors, including Ed Flanders) are a few examples of shows that included actors older than 50, or in some cases, 60. "Coach" on "Cheers" was a senior citizen, the landlords on "Three's Company" (Mr. Roper and Furley) were both old men.

Even older women actresses were once almost en vogue. Consider "Maude", "The Golden Girls." I'm not saying either of these programs were very good, but at one time older actresses had a possibility of landing a job on a big network show.

Older actors don't seem to have as good as shot anymore. Many of today's primetime actors are not even actors - they're on reality shows, so they're amateurs. But even the real actors are mostly young. There are a few older actors on "The Office", which I like, but you would be hard-pressed to find actors over 50 on most shows. I think this is because the coveted demographics are young - from 25 to 44 years old. Trends, they say, start with the young. And young people are not thought to like watching older people. They want to watch people like themselves.

And when developing programs, it is all about ratings and advertising revenue. Not the quality of the writing, the actors, or the show itself.

Older actors can add an element of maturity and credibility, I believe. The world is not just young. Many older people, like my parents for instance, watch A LOT of TV, much more than me. It is often difficult to find a younger person who comes off as someone who you can learn something from. It is different with older actors. They've been around.

Older actors can also be funny, as in Ray Romano's parents in "Everybody Loves Raymond." I didn't like that show when it was on, I especially didn't like Ray Romano, but his parents were very funny. "Seinfeld", a great show regardless, also featured Jerry's and George's parents, which added a funny intergenerational dynamic.

Hospital shows, in particular, need older actors. In "House", though, House, the doctor is not old enough. I don't recall seeing a seasoned older doctor in Grey's Anatomy, or any of the new hospital dramas. In these hospitals, it seems, the only doctors are young, attractive, and struggling with self-identity. An exception was "Scrubs", which featured a few older docs, including Ken Jenkins who played Doctor Kelso hilariously.

With a lot of television programming in the toilet, network executives need to consider older actors. Plenty are out there, waiting for work. Older actors will make for better programming and add a much-needed ingredient to a program's plot, something that is sorely missing from most contemporary shows today.