Television: Role models for experienced workers

The Work Buzz is featuring a post today that appears on our blog for PrimeCB, which is a CareerBuilder.com community for experienced workers ages 44 to 64.

Take a look at this entry, which spotlights an interesting trend – how we’re seeing more and more veteran performers and experienced workers on our televisions.

And if you’d like to take a close look at the PrimeCB blog, you can check it out here.

For much of the last decade, television has been in the midst of a youth invasion. Many of the shows featured tweens, teens and twentysomethings.

But in the last few years, television has become a welcome place for mature performers. These hard-working professionals have been far more visible on our TV sets than in previous years.

This article appeared on the ABC News website and talked about two of ABC’s most visible experienced performers: William Shatner, the 77-year-old star of “Boston Legal,” and Oscar-winner Cloris Leachman, who at 82 is causing a stir as one of the contestants on “Dancing With the Stars.”

But Leachman and Shatner are just a few of the most recognizable faces in this trend. Here are some other experienced performers that we’re seeing on our small screens.

You like them….you really, really like them

Another recognizable face on ABC is Oscar-winner Sally Field. Field turns 62 next month, and won last year’s best actress Emmy for her role on “Brothers & Sisters.”

This year’s Emmy winner? 61-year-old Glenn Close, who is the star of “Damages” on the FX network. Her competition this year consisted of four actresses all over 40: Field, 50-year-old Holly Hunter (another Oscar winner), 44-year-old Mariska Hargitay, and Kyra Sedgwick, 43.

Mature men are also prominently featured on the small screen. “30 Rock” features Alec Baldwin, who turned 50 this year. “Dirty Sexy Money” features Donald Sutherland, who at 73 plays the show’s patriarch (opposite 64-year-old Jill Clayburgh). And Shatner’s co-star on “Boston Legal” is 48-year-old James Spader.

And CBS has several experienced guys working the crime beat: The “CSI” shows have, as lead actors, William Peterson (55), Gary Sinise (53) and David Caruso (52), while “NCIS” has 57-year-old Mark Harmon at its center. Anthony LaPaglia, who heads “Without a Trace,” is 49.

Leachman’s co-star on “Dancing With the Stars” is 61-year-old “All My Children” star Susan Lucci.  Lucci has been playing Erica Kane on that show for 38 years.

As Lucci knows, daytime television is also a welcome place for mature performers; this year’s Daytime Emmy-winning best actress was “The Young and the Restless” performer Jeanne Cooper, who turns 80 this month. And 90-year-old Helen Wagner has played the matriarch of “As The World Turns” for 52 years.

Careers and retirement

Television has proved to be a place where mature, experienced performers can work as long as they want. They can set their hours and schedules to make occasional appearances, or they can be leaders and mentors on their show.

And they can choose to retire, as daytime game show host Bob Barker did last year. At 83, he’d been working in TV for 50 years and as host of “The Price is Right” for 35 years.

Of course, performers have the same worries that workers in traditional industries do. They are concerned about health insurance, elder care and retirement. They also face some unique issues, as the choices they make about their careers and retirement are done in the public eye.