Golden Boys

The “Cheers” version of Ted Danson – the one television viewers first met 24 years ago – no longer exists.

He’s 58 now. His hair is awash in gray. And he admits that he doesn’t exercise all that much anymore because nagging joint pain makes it a challenge simply to go “from here to there.”

Considering how television has been such a youth-obsessed medium as of late, you might think Danson, by now, would be relegated to cameo appearances – if not bolted to a rocking chair on the porch of the TV retirement home.

Instead, when broadcasting’s new season launches next month, he’ll be the marquee name in the ABC sitcom “Help Me Help You,” playing a group therapist struggling through a midlife crisis.

Danson won’t be the only veteran actor making the scene in prime time this fall.

At age 59, James Woods will be starring in his first weekly series, playing a cocky, high-powered attorney in CBS’ “Shark.” Over on Fox, former “Alias” star Victor Garber, 57, will be the leading man in another legal drama called “Justice.”

Then we have those golden oldies John Lithgow, 60, and Jeffrey Tambor, 62, who will star in NBC’s “Twenty Good Years” – a sitcom about longtime pals who are determined to charge down the home stretch of their lives in a blaze of glory.

So what’s happening here? Are the networks ready to adopt “Old guys rule” as their season motto?

Well, not quite, but it is encouraging to see at least a handful of veteran performers being afforded the opportunity to shine on the small screen.

“I’ve got no false humility,” Danson said during an appearance at the networks’ recent summer press tour. “To be able to still go to work every day and do something funny is an amazing privilege.

“During ‘Cheers,’ all of us were so young and didn’t know any better. We all thought, ‘Well, this is the way it always will be.’ But that’s just not the case in Hollywood.”

Lithgow, who headed NBC’s “3rd Rock from the Sun,” insists he doesn’t think of himself as an old guy, anyway.

“I’m 60 and I feel like about 34,” he says. “That’s my strange self-delusion, which is why I’m such a fool.”

There was a time when plenty of TV productions were tethered to older characters – shows such as “Golden Girls,” “Murder She Wrote” and “Matlock.” But during the 1990s, the remarkable success of “Friends” ushered in a wave of series about young, single twentysomethings hanging out in coffee shops and really cool apartments.

Advertisers also began to pay a premium to reach younger viewers, reasoning that was where the disposable cash was. And programmers, eager to appease the advertisers, became intent on stocking their shows with fresh faces.

But Eric Gold, one of the executive producers behind “Twenty Good Years,” says his team was determined to zig while others zagged.

“A lot of the situations and the material and the jokes (of the younger sitcoms) had been beaten into the ground,” he says. “So there weren’t a lot of fresh areas to mine with everyone being twentysomething.

“We wanted to do a show that reflected society a little bit more and had characters who felt more real.”

Tom Werner, one of Gold’s partners on the show, claims there’s a shortage of young actors these days who have the chops to do great comedy. So he believes the networks should be relying more on the polished veterans.

“There was a reason ‘Golden Girls’ worked,” he says. “When you looked at those talented people, they were all wonderful comedians. Likewise, we’re blessed to have two really funny people at the center of this.”

On the other hand, this newfound respect for their elders is certainly not all-encompassing among programmers.

None of their new shows, for example, are being anchored by older women. And there’s no denying that television remains youth-oriented: The newly formed CW network (a combination of the former WB and UPN) is specifically pegged to the 18-to-34 demographic.

Even in shows that are headed by older actors, they’re typically surrounded by plenty of younger faces, as NBC has done with 66-year-old James Caan in “Las Vegas.”

“I think network executives are always looking for young stars to pop and be the next big thing. That’s the way the business works,” says David McNally, an executive producer on “Justice,” which features Garber as the leader of a young legal team.

“In our case, we felt the team needed an elder statesman – a guiding force – or it would seem disingenuous.”

Whether this embracing of older performers becomes more pervasive in television could hinge on how well the new shows perform in the ratings.

Whatever happens, though, Danson says programmers should keep in mind that entertainment value has nothing to do with age.

“When my kids were young, they always thought Rodney Dangerfield was very funny. They found him to be delightful and surprising,” he says.

“And I think that’s what it’s all about – delighting and surprising people. Certain things are ageless.”