You know those 30 under 30 lists that make you feel kinda inadequate and terrible? 70 Over 70 is the opposite of that. Max Linsky talks to 70 remarkable people all over the age of 70 about their lives — what they’ve learned, what they’re still trying to figure out and how they’re thinking about what comes next.
Transcription
[0:00] INTRO
Max: You know those 30 under 30 lists? The ones filled with overachievers that make you feel kinda inadequate and terrible?
[THEME SONG STARTS]
Nikki Giovanni: We are not 25. We are fortunate enough to be 77.
Max: This is gonna be the opposite of that.
[MONTAGE]
William: I’m 72 years old.
Paula: I’m 75, miraculously enough.
Sandy: I’m 83 years old.
Betty: I’m 88 years old.
James: You know, I’m here at 92.
Lucia: I’ll be 94 in May.
Donalda: I’m 101 years old.
Max: I'm Max Linsky and this is 70 Over 70.
[MUSIC CONTINUES]
[0:38]
Max: Over the next few months, I’m going to talk to 70 incredible people, all of them over the age of 70. Some will be people you know.
Dan Rather: I’ve never considered myself, you know, a lonely person, but in the end, when the red light goes on...it’s just you.
Max: Some you’ll be meeting for the first time.
Ed McGinty: I haven’t hit anybody in the face in 50 years, ok? But I still remember how to do it.
Max: All of them have lived remarkable lives.
Maira Kalman: I feel as if I have returned very much to that state of being a seven or an eight-year-old. I'm a seven or an eight year-old with money.
Alice Waters: I thought I was afraid of dying and I realized I wasn't.
Jim Clyburn: When you lose, weep softly...and um I wept softly
Max: But this show isn’t going to just be a walk down memory lane. I want to know what it feels like to be them right now.
Andre De Shields: Everyone talks about wanting to get back to normal when indeed normal has put its foot in our butt and said, ‘Get out of here’
Max: I want to know what they’ve learned and what they haven’t.
Michio Kaku: In some sense, every mistake has a purpose and if you learn the purpose of that mistake, you come out to be a better person.
Max: And I want to know how they’re thinking about what comes next.
Sister Helen Prejean: Do you know how they say rest in peace? I'm not so sure there's rest.
Max: Because I've been thinking about that stuff too.
Sister Helen: What if it’s a vibrant energy? Getting away from the whole idea of rewards and punishments of a wrathful God who's going to burn you in an eternal skillet in hell. I don't buy that--speaking of fire, what if fire's just love?
Max: Good kind of fire.
Sister Helen: Yeah. Good fire. Good fire, Max.
[MUSIC CONTINUES]
[2:25]
Max: 70 Over 70, a new show from Pineapple Street Studios about how we make the most of the time we have left. Coming soon.
[MUSIC FADES OUT]
Diana Nyad: Sometimes I'm just shocked to look at photos. And I, I see my breasts are like five inches lower than I think they are when I walk around, so um gravity is happening, and I gotta get real with it.
[2:49] END