Balls Deep (2016–…): Season 2, Episode 1 - Seniors - full transcript
The retirees of Hallandale, Florida's Lake Point Tower keep their golden years nice and busy. SENIORS!
[ Clears throat ]
* Summertime
* And the living is easy
Fish are bumping.
* Fish are bumping
And the cotton is high.
* And the cotton
is high -- high *
Oh, your daddy's rich.
* Oh, your daddy's rich
And your mom's good-looking.
* And your mom's good-looking *
* Good-looking
* Looking
So hush.
- * So, hush
- Little baby, don't you cry.
* Little baby
* Don't you cryyyy
Good.
A bit -- yeah.
- I wish I could sing.
- Me, too.
[ Laughs ]
Me, too.
**
Thomas: As long as I remember,
I wanted to be old.
Not just older, like a teenager
or a cool college student,
but old, like
a proper old person.
They drove around in long,
slow cars carelessly.
They wore Harrington jackets
in pastel colors
I didn't even know they made,
walked around with an air
of terminal insouciance
like they were a gang
of out-of-shape mods.
They were my idols.
However, as I've grown closer
and closer to death myself
and felt the effects
of aging on the body,
the dream of being old
has turned into a sort of
an inevitable nightmare.
But fortunately, thanks to
advancements in medical science
and the retirement
of the Baby Boom generation,
America is now older
than it's ever been.
So, I've come to the capital
of age in America --
Florida --
for Memorial Day Weekend,
which is something that older
people tend to do a lot,
although not always
with tremendous facility.
Remember things, I mean.
Remember things.
Hey, there, Bob.
- Oh.
Thomas:
Just getting my stuff.
This is our lobby.
- Very nice.
- We're gonna go this way.
This apartment on your right.
Thomas:
Wow, very nice.
All right, this is your place
for how long you're gonna stay.
I appreciate it.
This is quite a pad.
Yeah.
Let me show you the chute
to throw your garbage down.
Okay. Okay,
and we do have recycling here.
Ah, okay. And by doing all
the recycling we're doing,
we're number one in recycling.
Yeah?
That's great.
Thomas: Bob Canatore is the
president of Lake Point Tower.
Lake Point Tower
is a condominium
in sort of the classic
South Florida
retirement castle tradition.
It's got a cream
and harvest gold exterior,
a security gate set far back
from the main drag
to keep residents safe from
the hoi polloi of Hallandale.
You know that Hallandale
is listed
the highest of aides
in the United States?
- AIDS?
- In the United States.
Why is that?
Nurses' aides.
Okay, you did that on purpose.
Thomas: Bob takes a really hands-on
approach to his presidenting...
Wilbur?
You by the water taxi?
I got to get those trees
out of there.
...overseeing all
the maintenance and daily chores
that go into running
a condo like this.
In his pre-tirement,
Bob ran construction
outfits in New York
that worked on projects like
the bicentennial clean-up
at the Statue of Liberty
and the mid-'70s renovation
of Yankee Stadium.
The legacy is sort of carrying
on into his dotage
with the myriad
of capital improvements
he's bestowed upon
Lake Point Tower.
So, you're doing a lot of work
for someone who's basically --
ought to be retired.
I'll never retire.
I retire, I'll be in a coffin.
Okay. You can't retire.
You got to go on.
Wave to Tom, everybody.
- Oh, hi. How are you?
- Hi, Tom.
That's Sandy, Ben, and Bella.
- Good to meet you.
- You, too, Tom.
Bob's been nice about
introducing me to everybody.
This is Norm's wife, Jan.
Hi, how are you? I'm good.
Thank you, sweetheart.
Maybe it's the role
of the president in a condo.
He seems also, like, kind of
a social coordinator of sorts.
- This is Dr. Norm.
- Dr. Norm.
This is Gene.
Hey, baby.
This is my Carol.
I can't stop hugging her.
She's number one.
Hello, ladies.
- What's happening?
- Hello.
- Hi, my baby.
I'm gonna kiss all of yous.
I'm not gonna let yous go.
No, that's later.
[ Chuckles ]
Lovely, right?
There you go.
Manny.
- Hi, I'm Tom.
- Good to see you.
Hi, Tom.
- Pleasure to meet you.
We were babies when we got married.
Manny: Babies.
This is your relaxation station.
Oh, wow.
Oh, my God.
Ah, look at you two.
Yeah, a little darker
my hair was, right?
Yeah.
Yours, too, yeah.
Bob: I had hair then.
My wife, since we met --
and that's 13 years old --
we've been together.
You met at 13?
I was 12.
You were 13.
We met. Boom.
That was it. Never again.
- High school, college.
- Nobody in between.
Bob:
My wife is 76 years old.
That is the part
that shocked me.
Thank you.
Is it weird
at all having friends
who are like 30 years older
and 30 years younger?
When I came here,
they said to me,
"Manny, don't you feel funny
hanging with us old ladies?"
And at that time,
I was in my 50s.
And I didn't think
of it that way.
They were just so sweet,
the people.
You get smart by talking
to older people.
Yeah, yeah.
It's true.
You know, you go back
in time that you can't do.
Now, Tess Finkle is how old?
- 98.
- Okay.
- Turn right.
- Turn right. Okay.
Tess: Come in, come in.
Coming in.
- Tessie, this is Thomas.
- I'm Thomas.
My pleasure.
Handsome-looking boy.
- Thank you.
- What do you want to do?
Kiss you like I usually do.
Oh, you don't -- you --
he's my only boyfriend.
Can you imagine?
- Tom? Ooh.
My only -- I used
to have 19 boyfriends.
Now I only have one.
- 19? At the same time?
19 at the same time, yeah.
- How did that even work?
- Give me those pictures.
I want to show you.
- Okay.
This is my wonderful husband.
I want you to meet my husband.
He fought in
the second World War.
This is me when I got
my real estate license.
- Mm-hmm.
- On my birthday, 1958.
Do you mind me
asking you a question?
No. Why are you
taking pictures of me?
Because you're
the prettiest one here.
Oh, my God, please.
I should have combed my hair.
- Your hair looks beautiful.
- Got it.
Now, as you enter my place,
I don't know
if you noticed there,
letters from Roosevelt.
- On the wall.
- Oh, they're framed. Okay.
"Grateful memory of Second
Lieutenant Melvin Finkle. FDR."
I've been noticing my whole life
how, you know, the older
people get, kind of the ways
their stories tend to wander.
Tess is approaching
100 right now,
and it's almost like
listening to "Finnegans Wake."
Just all the different
confluent streams.
- What is your name?
- Thomas.
- Tom? Thomas?
- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Thomas.
That's a very famous name.
T-H-O-M-A-S.
You hear a lot of Thomas.
**
Now, you said you were still
working when you moved here.
Oh, up until three years ago,
when I had this tragedy. Mm-hmm.
I'm in very, very --
very bad shape.
I don't know if I can
go on much longer
because I can't take this life.
I'm not used to this life.
You're not in that bad of shape.
I see you on the screen.
You're going
with the shopping cart.
You walk up stairs.
Wait, you have on
high heels right now.
I'm beginning to like him.
[ Laughter ]
I don't want to fall
in love with you.
I want to show you something.
- Come on, kid.
You see this here?
Take the chair away.
- Tess.
- Look.
Yes, I want to
tell you what it is.
Tess.
- What?
Listen to me.
Are you listening?
- Yeah.
- They have the --
They come in,
and they kick the carpet.
They have to spread it.
It came off the tacklers.
Do I have to live
with this here?
No, you're not
gonna live with it.
Are you gonna get
a carpet for me?
Another carpet,
and we're gonna kick it in.
You're gonna kick it in?
She out-cons me every time.
I mean, this woman
is unbelievable.
I'll kick you if you
don't take care of this here.
I will.
I love you.
I love you.
- I'm gonna kick you.
Okay.
I'm gonna take --
No, I'm living -- I'm living --
I'm living this way.
I'm not used to living this way.
All right.
I'm not gonna live much longer,
so you better be good to me.
Come on, will you stop that?
- Ohh!
- Stop!
- Goodbye, baby.
- We fight all the time.
I got to run.
Where's Gene?
- I'm here.
- Gene.
I'm gonna kiss you, too.
- Okay.
- You never kiss me.
Now you kiss me --
give me another kiss.
And you promise to take care
of me until I die, right?
- Right to the end.
- Now, be honest.
- Now, be honest.
- Mm-hmm.
Are you telling me
that everything I said
to you is gonna be
on television?
- Some of it. Not all of it.
- No, I -- no.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
**
**
Thomas: You know, I was a little
worried coming out here
that, you know,
retirement would be boring.
There wouldn't be
anything going on.
Days are surprisingly full.
There's tons
of activities today.
There's, uh,
Zumba in the morning.
Some sort of dance class
in the middle of the day.
Bingo at night.
I guess it's important
to keep your energy up.
'Cause otherwise you
just kind of sit and wilt
when you don't have
anything to do.
**
Feel the music!
We're going to play Round Robin.
Look so you don't forget.
I 24.
No, ma'am.
I'm starting to realize
that this retirement community
is a lot like high school.
- Hi, Bob!
People from all of these
disparate kind of
social and economic classes
and different parts
of the country
are all hanging out
with each other,
simply because they're all
in the same building.
- B 4.
- Bingo!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Bob:
All right, Tommy!
Did everybody
thank Tom and Irene?
Even the types --
like, you've got, like,
Adrian and Irene who are sort
of kind of like the artsy kids,
trying to lead culturally
edifying activities.
Did you have a good time, girls?
Women: Yes!
Thomas:
You have Bob running the place,
I guess as, like,
student president.
Norm and Jan, classic
freshman sweethearts.
And Belle and her husband,
like, jock-ish
sort of health nuts.
There's even a pink haired girl
that everyone seems
to kind of thinly tolerate.
**
I was gonna take you
to the racetrack.
Just take your touring.
I want to show you the horse.
Thomas: I can't believe I've never
been to a horse track before.
I'm gonna put you in my car.
- Yeah?
- It's a Hyundai.
- Ah.
- Hyundai.
Thomas: I got number 8.
8? I got 7.
Okay, all right.
One of us.
Thomas: I think a lot of people
describe old age
as kind of a return
to childhood.
But this seems more like a --
I don't know, like a second
adolescence, but instead
of being all self-conscious
about everyone else,
you don't give a shit
what anybody thinks.
Because they're all younger
than you. Come on!
- Come on 8!
- Come on 7!
Thomas: You eat bad food,
loaf around a lot,
go gambling,
go to the racetracks,
hit on women that will
never sleep with them.
- Come on, come on.
- One horse.
Oh, 1!
- Number 3 -- nada.
- Nothing? Ah.
- See, I'm with number 8.
- Nada.
- Good work.
- Boom.
Good work with those ladies --
that was...
- Whoa.
- ...that was smooth.
You even feel, like,
you can kind of, like,
can get away with more shit
when you get a little older?
Yeah, I think so.
They look at me --
like, "What the fuck
you gonna do?"
[ Both laugh ]
It's the perfect in.
I've been playing that angle
from the young side
my whole life -- harmless.
- Here we have this monitor here.
- Mm-hmm.
This has everything
that goes on in the building.
- Yeah, so that where the --
- Board meeting.
Tonight's the board meeting
for the recertification?
- Right.
- And a champagne toast?
- Yeah.
- Excellent.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Bob: Well, I'm gonna start it
right on the money.
All righty.
Here we go -- 911.
Gene? Call 911.
There's this guy.
- Yeah.
Bob:
He's here with the ponytail.
- Yeah?
- He's a trouble maker.
Bob:
And he did a lot of damage.
Bob just told the security
guard to call 911, so...
- Here we go.
- This board meeting's I think...
Man: It's none of your business.
...about to get a lot more exciting...
- Ooh!
...than I would have guessed.
I don't have to threaten you.
You're breaking up a meeting.
- Get away from my client.
- Shut up, you asshole.
Man:
Get away from my client.
Thomas: So, it's taken me a little
while to wrap my head around this,
but apparently
this guys shows up
to every board meeting
trying to disrupt it.
So, the cops were called,
and they're apparently
trying to consult, like,
the condo's bylaws
to see what the proper
form of action is,
which is funny 'cause bylaws,
by their nature,
should be superseded
by cops, law enforcement.
Bob: What I'm gonna do is
adjourn the meeting.
Okay. I can't give in to
that fucking cock sucker.
Yeah. Remember what I told
you when we first came here?
- Right.
- Look.
- All right.
- [ Chuckles ]
Hey, listen.
While this is going on
we're gonna have some champagne.
How's that?
- That's good, Bob.
Hey salud to happy 50.
Salud! Salud!
Hey not just salud, l'chaim!
- L'chaim.
- L'chaim.
- Salud.
- Cheers.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Thomas: I realized that --
with the exception
of a couple old widows,
most of whom have
live-in nurses --
everybody else is still married
and in some
sort of relationship,
which is probably a healthy
antidote to boredom.
Norm and Jan, who are
sort of younger additions
to the Lake Point community,
invited me over for drinks.
- Hi.
- Come on in! Yeah.
Is this an okay time?
- Oh, that's -- hello.
- Hello, hello. Sure!
Men, actually two drinks a day
is actually very safe and good.
- Yeah? Okay.
- Minimum. Yes.
- Women --
- Not so for women.
Women, two drinks a day
is considered alcoholic.
- Oh?
- Yeah.
- Not good.
- Salud.
Thomas:
You guys are young.
You're spring chickens
compared to --
- Comparatively.
- ...compared to most of them.
I'm asking everybody
kind of how they feel
about the effect of aging
on the body
and the mind and stuff.
Coming from
the medical profession,
how do you guys look at that?
How does it feel?
Is it scary at all?
I always thought it could be.
Yeah, it's scary getting old.
I have two total knee
replacements.
You know,
I get up in the morning
and my joints are stiff,
and -- and --
You know, you forget something,
and you're like, "Oh, my God.
I've got Alzheimer's."
You know, you feel
yourself slowing down.
If you've ever been put under,
it's wonderful, okay?
And this gives me --
- I know.
This relaxes me, okay?
And I'm convinced that's what
awaits me in death and dying.
I mean, I'm gonna go under
and it is just go-on time.
- Void.
- A void -- you know, nothing.
You know, it'll be a good rest.
- Yeah.
It will be a good rest, honey,
you know?
Yeah.
Bob: Well, I'm 77,
and I'm trying to stay
with it a little bit,
and it's a difficult thing.
I have sleep apnea.
You know, which is not bad,
but it's annoying.
Is that your mask, that, uh...
- Yeah.
- ...for the sleep apnea?
- Let me put it on for you.
- Real nice.
I couldn't sleep,
I couldn't sleep.
So we went to the hospital,
and they give you the test
for the sleep apnea.
And so I slept
with a Chinese girl.
Manny:
She was monitoring him.
I had 35 episodes
stopping breathing
for 20 to 25 seconds.
That's when they say you die
in your sleep -- that's it.
I'm pretty sure
that's what they mean,
but what a saver.
We're blessed.
Manny went through
bladder cancer.
Mm-hmm.
And both of us were going crazy
because, I-I told her --
I said, "You go down,
I'm going with you.
'Cause I ain't staying here.
You're not leaving me
with all these kids.
I'm out of here.
Wherever you're going,
I'm going right alongside you."
If you got a fear of dying,
there is no sense in living.
- Yeah.
- Forget it.
I always held by that, you know?
There's a kind of fearlessness
I think I've always admired
in the elderly.
You don't see people living
in kind of a shook state.
I used to be scared just
to go to bed, you know,
because somebody had, you know,
likened death
as going to sleep,
probably to try to, like,
calm my nerves.
But I assumed the reverse
must be true,
and that going to
sleep must be like death.
And, I mean, this was
when I was five
so I can only imagine
when you're 70 or 80
and it could happen any night --
how difficult that must make it
to kind of drift off.
But they go and they do it.
I guess that's just either
a lifetime's experience
just kind of piling up
and cushioning you each night,
or they really lose
that fear over time.
It would be nice.
- Good night.
Thomas: Good night.
Sweet dreams.
**
**
Thomas: So, this Memorial
Day party doubles
as the 40th Anniversary
for the building.
Or, no, it's the 40-year certification.
I keep forgetting things.
Something -- something
about the air down here.
Maybe just living too relaxedly.
- Sleep okay?
- Yes, I did.
Slept in till about 9:00.
It was luxurious.
Oh, good for you. I kept Norman
from snoring so he could sleep.
Bob -- Bob slept good, too.
I like how much
sleep talk there is.
It's, like, a good way
to start the day --
everybody checking in
on everybody's sleep.
Are those the decorations, or...
Yeah.
- You want me to spread them out?
- Let's go see what you got.
- Yeah. Ah.
- Honey-comb balls.
Thomas: Party City is
stepping up their game.
Bob:
Holy shit, is that nice!
I didn't mean to
fucking curse, excuse me.
Oh!
[ Laughter ]
Oh, man.
Whew, all coming together?
Yeah, actually
it's coming together.
I think you worry
a little too much.
I -- I just want it right.
I'm 77, and I cannot
change my fricking self.
If I want to change myself,
am I too late?
33?
- You've got plenty of time.
In your lifetime,
you'll change three more times.
- Is it always good changes?
- It's good changes.
Well, I think seeing my --
having seen my grandfather
and stuff get older
and it's, like,
you know, you worry
when you see it.
Because you're not
experiencing that,
you -- you assume it must
be scary and painful...
- Yeah.
- ...all the time.
And it's refreshing
to see that it's not.
We're doing all right.
We can handle ourselves.
We can handle ourselves.
You know, like Tess
and the other ones.
They can handle themselves.
They don't need their son
or daughter
there to tell them anything.
When they need your help,
they'll call you.
- Yeah.
- Leave them alone, you know?
Let them do what they got to do.
They're fine.
- You're supposed to age, right?
- Right.
This is something
the body does to you.
That's right.
It's not -- it's not some sickness.
That's right.
Exactly, you know?
Well, thank you...
- You're welcome.
- ...for everything.
Um, let's go have a party.
Let's go have a party.
I'm ready for that, kid.
**
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Show me.
Show me.
We're gonna do more.
Sit here.
Whoop.
This is Dr. Kelly.
She lives in our building.
And she's gonna play
a piano piece.
And she's on YouTube with this.
[ Cheers and applause ]
**
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
- Yous want to eat?
- Yeah.
All right, then listen --
you're gonna have an antipasto
that's here with everything --
brucchutta, cabacole,
cananacca, ka-ka-ka-ka.
And now don't forget,
this is informal, all right?
It's a pool party.
So here's your dishes.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
**
Thomas: You know,
it's a relief to see, even here
in the heart of God's
Waiting Room in Florida,
that aging isn't
the grim death-spiral
I'd always feared it is.
[ Shouting, laughter ]
[ Shouting ]
I know I'm starting
to develop a tendency
to repeat myself,
but this retirement community
seems a lot less like the
last years of people's lives.
It's kind of like
the last week of high school.
I got too much on me.
You guys -- man.
Responsibilities sort of offset
to the younger generation.
Everybody's just focused
on hanging out with,
you know, whoever's left.
Whether it be in the building
or just alive.
- Come on!
- I can't swim!
Come on!
Christ, are they
more fun than me?
[ Cheers and applause ]
Even the body's
natural deterioration
seems a lot less terrifying
than it is kind of
a gradually increasing
inconvenience
towards having maximum fun.
I may still have a few more
working years in me left
before I adopt
the Lake Point lifestyle,
but glad to be back
to looking forward to it.
[ Shouting, laughter ]
Seniors!
Bob: I hope you
come back again, kid.
* Summertime
* And the living is easy
Fish are bumping.
* Fish are bumping
And the cotton is high.
* And the cotton
is high -- high *
Oh, your daddy's rich.
* Oh, your daddy's rich
And your mom's good-looking.
* And your mom's good-looking *
* Good-looking
* Looking
So hush.
- * So, hush
- Little baby, don't you cry.
* Little baby
* Don't you cryyyy
Good.
A bit -- yeah.
- I wish I could sing.
- Me, too.
[ Laughs ]
Me, too.
**
Thomas: As long as I remember,
I wanted to be old.
Not just older, like a teenager
or a cool college student,
but old, like
a proper old person.
They drove around in long,
slow cars carelessly.
They wore Harrington jackets
in pastel colors
I didn't even know they made,
walked around with an air
of terminal insouciance
like they were a gang
of out-of-shape mods.
They were my idols.
However, as I've grown closer
and closer to death myself
and felt the effects
of aging on the body,
the dream of being old
has turned into a sort of
an inevitable nightmare.
But fortunately, thanks to
advancements in medical science
and the retirement
of the Baby Boom generation,
America is now older
than it's ever been.
So, I've come to the capital
of age in America --
Florida --
for Memorial Day Weekend,
which is something that older
people tend to do a lot,
although not always
with tremendous facility.
Remember things, I mean.
Remember things.
Hey, there, Bob.
- Oh.
Thomas:
Just getting my stuff.
This is our lobby.
- Very nice.
- We're gonna go this way.
This apartment on your right.
Thomas:
Wow, very nice.
All right, this is your place
for how long you're gonna stay.
I appreciate it.
This is quite a pad.
Yeah.
Let me show you the chute
to throw your garbage down.
Okay. Okay,
and we do have recycling here.
Ah, okay. And by doing all
the recycling we're doing,
we're number one in recycling.
Yeah?
That's great.
Thomas: Bob Canatore is the
president of Lake Point Tower.
Lake Point Tower
is a condominium
in sort of the classic
South Florida
retirement castle tradition.
It's got a cream
and harvest gold exterior,
a security gate set far back
from the main drag
to keep residents safe from
the hoi polloi of Hallandale.
You know that Hallandale
is listed
the highest of aides
in the United States?
- AIDS?
- In the United States.
Why is that?
Nurses' aides.
Okay, you did that on purpose.
Thomas: Bob takes a really hands-on
approach to his presidenting...
Wilbur?
You by the water taxi?
I got to get those trees
out of there.
...overseeing all
the maintenance and daily chores
that go into running
a condo like this.
In his pre-tirement,
Bob ran construction
outfits in New York
that worked on projects like
the bicentennial clean-up
at the Statue of Liberty
and the mid-'70s renovation
of Yankee Stadium.
The legacy is sort of carrying
on into his dotage
with the myriad
of capital improvements
he's bestowed upon
Lake Point Tower.
So, you're doing a lot of work
for someone who's basically --
ought to be retired.
I'll never retire.
I retire, I'll be in a coffin.
Okay. You can't retire.
You got to go on.
Wave to Tom, everybody.
- Oh, hi. How are you?
- Hi, Tom.
That's Sandy, Ben, and Bella.
- Good to meet you.
- You, too, Tom.
Bob's been nice about
introducing me to everybody.
This is Norm's wife, Jan.
Hi, how are you? I'm good.
Thank you, sweetheart.
Maybe it's the role
of the president in a condo.
He seems also, like, kind of
a social coordinator of sorts.
- This is Dr. Norm.
- Dr. Norm.
This is Gene.
Hey, baby.
This is my Carol.
I can't stop hugging her.
She's number one.
Hello, ladies.
- What's happening?
- Hello.
- Hi, my baby.
I'm gonna kiss all of yous.
I'm not gonna let yous go.
No, that's later.
[ Chuckles ]
Lovely, right?
There you go.
Manny.
- Hi, I'm Tom.
- Good to see you.
Hi, Tom.
- Pleasure to meet you.
We were babies when we got married.
Manny: Babies.
This is your relaxation station.
Oh, wow.
Oh, my God.
Ah, look at you two.
Yeah, a little darker
my hair was, right?
Yeah.
Yours, too, yeah.
Bob: I had hair then.
My wife, since we met --
and that's 13 years old --
we've been together.
You met at 13?
I was 12.
You were 13.
We met. Boom.
That was it. Never again.
- High school, college.
- Nobody in between.
Bob:
My wife is 76 years old.
That is the part
that shocked me.
Thank you.
Is it weird
at all having friends
who are like 30 years older
and 30 years younger?
When I came here,
they said to me,
"Manny, don't you feel funny
hanging with us old ladies?"
And at that time,
I was in my 50s.
And I didn't think
of it that way.
They were just so sweet,
the people.
You get smart by talking
to older people.
Yeah, yeah.
It's true.
You know, you go back
in time that you can't do.
Now, Tess Finkle is how old?
- 98.
- Okay.
- Turn right.
- Turn right. Okay.
Tess: Come in, come in.
Coming in.
- Tessie, this is Thomas.
- I'm Thomas.
My pleasure.
Handsome-looking boy.
- Thank you.
- What do you want to do?
Kiss you like I usually do.
Oh, you don't -- you --
he's my only boyfriend.
Can you imagine?
- Tom? Ooh.
My only -- I used
to have 19 boyfriends.
Now I only have one.
- 19? At the same time?
19 at the same time, yeah.
- How did that even work?
- Give me those pictures.
I want to show you.
- Okay.
This is my wonderful husband.
I want you to meet my husband.
He fought in
the second World War.
This is me when I got
my real estate license.
- Mm-hmm.
- On my birthday, 1958.
Do you mind me
asking you a question?
No. Why are you
taking pictures of me?
Because you're
the prettiest one here.
Oh, my God, please.
I should have combed my hair.
- Your hair looks beautiful.
- Got it.
Now, as you enter my place,
I don't know
if you noticed there,
letters from Roosevelt.
- On the wall.
- Oh, they're framed. Okay.
"Grateful memory of Second
Lieutenant Melvin Finkle. FDR."
I've been noticing my whole life
how, you know, the older
people get, kind of the ways
their stories tend to wander.
Tess is approaching
100 right now,
and it's almost like
listening to "Finnegans Wake."
Just all the different
confluent streams.
- What is your name?
- Thomas.
- Tom? Thomas?
- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Thomas.
That's a very famous name.
T-H-O-M-A-S.
You hear a lot of Thomas.
**
Now, you said you were still
working when you moved here.
Oh, up until three years ago,
when I had this tragedy. Mm-hmm.
I'm in very, very --
very bad shape.
I don't know if I can
go on much longer
because I can't take this life.
I'm not used to this life.
You're not in that bad of shape.
I see you on the screen.
You're going
with the shopping cart.
You walk up stairs.
Wait, you have on
high heels right now.
I'm beginning to like him.
[ Laughter ]
I don't want to fall
in love with you.
I want to show you something.
- Come on, kid.
You see this here?
Take the chair away.
- Tess.
- Look.
Yes, I want to
tell you what it is.
Tess.
- What?
Listen to me.
Are you listening?
- Yeah.
- They have the --
They come in,
and they kick the carpet.
They have to spread it.
It came off the tacklers.
Do I have to live
with this here?
No, you're not
gonna live with it.
Are you gonna get
a carpet for me?
Another carpet,
and we're gonna kick it in.
You're gonna kick it in?
She out-cons me every time.
I mean, this woman
is unbelievable.
I'll kick you if you
don't take care of this here.
I will.
I love you.
I love you.
- I'm gonna kick you.
Okay.
I'm gonna take --
No, I'm living -- I'm living --
I'm living this way.
I'm not used to living this way.
All right.
I'm not gonna live much longer,
so you better be good to me.
Come on, will you stop that?
- Ohh!
- Stop!
- Goodbye, baby.
- We fight all the time.
I got to run.
Where's Gene?
- I'm here.
- Gene.
I'm gonna kiss you, too.
- Okay.
- You never kiss me.
Now you kiss me --
give me another kiss.
And you promise to take care
of me until I die, right?
- Right to the end.
- Now, be honest.
- Now, be honest.
- Mm-hmm.
Are you telling me
that everything I said
to you is gonna be
on television?
- Some of it. Not all of it.
- No, I -- no.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
**
**
Thomas: You know, I was a little
worried coming out here
that, you know,
retirement would be boring.
There wouldn't be
anything going on.
Days are surprisingly full.
There's tons
of activities today.
There's, uh,
Zumba in the morning.
Some sort of dance class
in the middle of the day.
Bingo at night.
I guess it's important
to keep your energy up.
'Cause otherwise you
just kind of sit and wilt
when you don't have
anything to do.
**
Feel the music!
We're going to play Round Robin.
Look so you don't forget.
I 24.
No, ma'am.
I'm starting to realize
that this retirement community
is a lot like high school.
- Hi, Bob!
People from all of these
disparate kind of
social and economic classes
and different parts
of the country
are all hanging out
with each other,
simply because they're all
in the same building.
- B 4.
- Bingo!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Bob:
All right, Tommy!
Did everybody
thank Tom and Irene?
Even the types --
like, you've got, like,
Adrian and Irene who are sort
of kind of like the artsy kids,
trying to lead culturally
edifying activities.
Did you have a good time, girls?
Women: Yes!
Thomas:
You have Bob running the place,
I guess as, like,
student president.
Norm and Jan, classic
freshman sweethearts.
And Belle and her husband,
like, jock-ish
sort of health nuts.
There's even a pink haired girl
that everyone seems
to kind of thinly tolerate.
**
I was gonna take you
to the racetrack.
Just take your touring.
I want to show you the horse.
Thomas: I can't believe I've never
been to a horse track before.
I'm gonna put you in my car.
- Yeah?
- It's a Hyundai.
- Ah.
- Hyundai.
Thomas: I got number 8.
8? I got 7.
Okay, all right.
One of us.
Thomas: I think a lot of people
describe old age
as kind of a return
to childhood.
But this seems more like a --
I don't know, like a second
adolescence, but instead
of being all self-conscious
about everyone else,
you don't give a shit
what anybody thinks.
Because they're all younger
than you. Come on!
- Come on 8!
- Come on 7!
Thomas: You eat bad food,
loaf around a lot,
go gambling,
go to the racetracks,
hit on women that will
never sleep with them.
- Come on, come on.
- One horse.
Oh, 1!
- Number 3 -- nada.
- Nothing? Ah.
- See, I'm with number 8.
- Nada.
- Good work.
- Boom.
Good work with those ladies --
that was...
- Whoa.
- ...that was smooth.
You even feel, like,
you can kind of, like,
can get away with more shit
when you get a little older?
Yeah, I think so.
They look at me --
like, "What the fuck
you gonna do?"
[ Both laugh ]
It's the perfect in.
I've been playing that angle
from the young side
my whole life -- harmless.
- Here we have this monitor here.
- Mm-hmm.
This has everything
that goes on in the building.
- Yeah, so that where the --
- Board meeting.
Tonight's the board meeting
for the recertification?
- Right.
- And a champagne toast?
- Yeah.
- Excellent.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Bob: Well, I'm gonna start it
right on the money.
All righty.
Here we go -- 911.
Gene? Call 911.
There's this guy.
- Yeah.
Bob:
He's here with the ponytail.
- Yeah?
- He's a trouble maker.
Bob:
And he did a lot of damage.
Bob just told the security
guard to call 911, so...
- Here we go.
- This board meeting's I think...
Man: It's none of your business.
...about to get a lot more exciting...
- Ooh!
...than I would have guessed.
I don't have to threaten you.
You're breaking up a meeting.
- Get away from my client.
- Shut up, you asshole.
Man:
Get away from my client.
Thomas: So, it's taken me a little
while to wrap my head around this,
but apparently
this guys shows up
to every board meeting
trying to disrupt it.
So, the cops were called,
and they're apparently
trying to consult, like,
the condo's bylaws
to see what the proper
form of action is,
which is funny 'cause bylaws,
by their nature,
should be superseded
by cops, law enforcement.
Bob: What I'm gonna do is
adjourn the meeting.
Okay. I can't give in to
that fucking cock sucker.
Yeah. Remember what I told
you when we first came here?
- Right.
- Look.
- All right.
- [ Chuckles ]
Hey, listen.
While this is going on
we're gonna have some champagne.
How's that?
- That's good, Bob.
Hey salud to happy 50.
Salud! Salud!
Hey not just salud, l'chaim!
- L'chaim.
- L'chaim.
- Salud.
- Cheers.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Thomas: I realized that --
with the exception
of a couple old widows,
most of whom have
live-in nurses --
everybody else is still married
and in some
sort of relationship,
which is probably a healthy
antidote to boredom.
Norm and Jan, who are
sort of younger additions
to the Lake Point community,
invited me over for drinks.
- Hi.
- Come on in! Yeah.
Is this an okay time?
- Oh, that's -- hello.
- Hello, hello. Sure!
Men, actually two drinks a day
is actually very safe and good.
- Yeah? Okay.
- Minimum. Yes.
- Women --
- Not so for women.
Women, two drinks a day
is considered alcoholic.
- Oh?
- Yeah.
- Not good.
- Salud.
Thomas:
You guys are young.
You're spring chickens
compared to --
- Comparatively.
- ...compared to most of them.
I'm asking everybody
kind of how they feel
about the effect of aging
on the body
and the mind and stuff.
Coming from
the medical profession,
how do you guys look at that?
How does it feel?
Is it scary at all?
I always thought it could be.
Yeah, it's scary getting old.
I have two total knee
replacements.
You know,
I get up in the morning
and my joints are stiff,
and -- and --
You know, you forget something,
and you're like, "Oh, my God.
I've got Alzheimer's."
You know, you feel
yourself slowing down.
If you've ever been put under,
it's wonderful, okay?
And this gives me --
- I know.
This relaxes me, okay?
And I'm convinced that's what
awaits me in death and dying.
I mean, I'm gonna go under
and it is just go-on time.
- Void.
- A void -- you know, nothing.
You know, it'll be a good rest.
- Yeah.
It will be a good rest, honey,
you know?
Yeah.
Bob: Well, I'm 77,
and I'm trying to stay
with it a little bit,
and it's a difficult thing.
I have sleep apnea.
You know, which is not bad,
but it's annoying.
Is that your mask, that, uh...
- Yeah.
- ...for the sleep apnea?
- Let me put it on for you.
- Real nice.
I couldn't sleep,
I couldn't sleep.
So we went to the hospital,
and they give you the test
for the sleep apnea.
And so I slept
with a Chinese girl.
Manny:
She was monitoring him.
I had 35 episodes
stopping breathing
for 20 to 25 seconds.
That's when they say you die
in your sleep -- that's it.
I'm pretty sure
that's what they mean,
but what a saver.
We're blessed.
Manny went through
bladder cancer.
Mm-hmm.
And both of us were going crazy
because, I-I told her --
I said, "You go down,
I'm going with you.
'Cause I ain't staying here.
You're not leaving me
with all these kids.
I'm out of here.
Wherever you're going,
I'm going right alongside you."
If you got a fear of dying,
there is no sense in living.
- Yeah.
- Forget it.
I always held by that, you know?
There's a kind of fearlessness
I think I've always admired
in the elderly.
You don't see people living
in kind of a shook state.
I used to be scared just
to go to bed, you know,
because somebody had, you know,
likened death
as going to sleep,
probably to try to, like,
calm my nerves.
But I assumed the reverse
must be true,
and that going to
sleep must be like death.
And, I mean, this was
when I was five
so I can only imagine
when you're 70 or 80
and it could happen any night --
how difficult that must make it
to kind of drift off.
But they go and they do it.
I guess that's just either
a lifetime's experience
just kind of piling up
and cushioning you each night,
or they really lose
that fear over time.
It would be nice.
- Good night.
Thomas: Good night.
Sweet dreams.
**
**
Thomas: So, this Memorial
Day party doubles
as the 40th Anniversary
for the building.
Or, no, it's the 40-year certification.
I keep forgetting things.
Something -- something
about the air down here.
Maybe just living too relaxedly.
- Sleep okay?
- Yes, I did.
Slept in till about 9:00.
It was luxurious.
Oh, good for you. I kept Norman
from snoring so he could sleep.
Bob -- Bob slept good, too.
I like how much
sleep talk there is.
It's, like, a good way
to start the day --
everybody checking in
on everybody's sleep.
Are those the decorations, or...
Yeah.
- You want me to spread them out?
- Let's go see what you got.
- Yeah. Ah.
- Honey-comb balls.
Thomas: Party City is
stepping up their game.
Bob:
Holy shit, is that nice!
I didn't mean to
fucking curse, excuse me.
Oh!
[ Laughter ]
Oh, man.
Whew, all coming together?
Yeah, actually
it's coming together.
I think you worry
a little too much.
I -- I just want it right.
I'm 77, and I cannot
change my fricking self.
If I want to change myself,
am I too late?
33?
- You've got plenty of time.
In your lifetime,
you'll change three more times.
- Is it always good changes?
- It's good changes.
Well, I think seeing my --
having seen my grandfather
and stuff get older
and it's, like,
you know, you worry
when you see it.
Because you're not
experiencing that,
you -- you assume it must
be scary and painful...
- Yeah.
- ...all the time.
And it's refreshing
to see that it's not.
We're doing all right.
We can handle ourselves.
We can handle ourselves.
You know, like Tess
and the other ones.
They can handle themselves.
They don't need their son
or daughter
there to tell them anything.
When they need your help,
they'll call you.
- Yeah.
- Leave them alone, you know?
Let them do what they got to do.
They're fine.
- You're supposed to age, right?
- Right.
This is something
the body does to you.
That's right.
It's not -- it's not some sickness.
That's right.
Exactly, you know?
Well, thank you...
- You're welcome.
- ...for everything.
Um, let's go have a party.
Let's go have a party.
I'm ready for that, kid.
**
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Show me.
Show me.
We're gonna do more.
Sit here.
Whoop.
This is Dr. Kelly.
She lives in our building.
And she's gonna play
a piano piece.
And she's on YouTube with this.
[ Cheers and applause ]
**
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
- Yous want to eat?
- Yeah.
All right, then listen --
you're gonna have an antipasto
that's here with everything --
brucchutta, cabacole,
cananacca, ka-ka-ka-ka.
And now don't forget,
this is informal, all right?
It's a pool party.
So here's your dishes.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
**
Thomas: You know,
it's a relief to see, even here
in the heart of God's
Waiting Room in Florida,
that aging isn't
the grim death-spiral
I'd always feared it is.
[ Shouting, laughter ]
[ Shouting ]
I know I'm starting
to develop a tendency
to repeat myself,
but this retirement community
seems a lot less like the
last years of people's lives.
It's kind of like
the last week of high school.
I got too much on me.
You guys -- man.
Responsibilities sort of offset
to the younger generation.
Everybody's just focused
on hanging out with,
you know, whoever's left.
Whether it be in the building
or just alive.
- Come on!
- I can't swim!
Come on!
Christ, are they
more fun than me?
[ Cheers and applause ]
Even the body's
natural deterioration
seems a lot less terrifying
than it is kind of
a gradually increasing
inconvenience
towards having maximum fun.
I may still have a few more
working years in me left
before I adopt
the Lake Point lifestyle,
but glad to be back
to looking forward to it.
[ Shouting, laughter ]
Seniors!
Bob: I hope you
come back again, kid.