“You have to connect,” says Linda Lavin, in order to flourish. Lavin is excited to build that connection with the show’s viewers in her new role as Norma, a resident at the retirement home at the core of the TV comedy B Positive (CBS, Season 2 begins Oct. 14, 9:30 p.m. ET). “We’re portraying a very genuine narrative about individuals who no longer live at home but have built a community in a new house, and how that feels and looks like,” adds the Tony winner and Emmy contender. “We hope the audience connects with us in the same way that Alice [her pioneering 1976-85 TV series] did.” That’s what it’s all about for me.”
Lavin explains AARP how connects — whether personally or professionally — keeps you engaged and progressing well into your 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond. She shares her 16 greatest suggestions for making that happen as she celebrates her 84th birthday a day after the second season of her programme premieres.
Norma, like myself, is dealing with the effects of ageing. Ageing is difficult. We aren’t the same people we used to be. In many aspects, I can relate to her: she has a terrific sense of humour, for example. She has a lot of intelligence. She is a strong and ironic woman. She has a realistic outlook that I like and find motivating. I enjoy portraying her since she also has a self-deprecating sense of humour.
Norma has a sensation of being abandoned, which many of us can relate to. We become increasingly susceptible as we become older. I’m thrilled to become a part of the programme and to portray a character who might resonate with millions of people since she’s made the most of a circumstance that has forced her out of her comfort zone as well as taken away her freedom.
My husband, Steve Bakunas, and I’ve been energetic, alive, as well as active as either a couple, rehabilitating communities and constructing a theatre from an auto garage in North Carolina. But now, near Hudson, New York, Steve has designed and built a five-suite inn. We’ve been living in it because of the epidemic.
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