‘The Boroughs’ banks on experience to solve a monster problem

Not only are there mysterious creatures moving around the cul de sac, but there are also strange events draining the residents.

A reason to move? Not for Sam Cooper or any of the senior citizens he meets. They share experiences and soon, as Alfre Woodard says, “Boomers saddle up, get together and go to stop” whatever it is that’s hunting them.

In the Netflix series, executive-produced by the Duffer Brothers, Woodard’s character uses her investigative journalist skills to find the source of the problem. In tow: Alfred Molina as Sam, an engineer, Denis O’Hare as Wally, a physician, and Geena Davis as Renee, a retired music manager. The four share information sparingly, then figure out how they can do what Boroughs management can’t — protect and serve.

“All of our characters are looking for a chance to be either seen or heard,” Molina says. “Sam needs to be heard because he wants to get out of there and have control over his future. That’s a huge thing for older people. When your capacity to earn money or your journey through the world is somehow limited, you lose your identity. And in the Boroughs, that’s one of the things that is being taken away as well.”

The mid-century world they inhabit had to be attractive, “a place you’d want to live,” executive producer Will Matthews says. “If it weren’t for that pesky monster problem.”

The set features nine homes on a cul de sac and a series of shops that prove inviting.

“Nothing is an accident,” Matthews adds. “Everything was thought through.”

When the residents start questioning events, management pooh-poohs them.

To make the characters as detailed as the homes, Matthews and co-creator Jeffrey Addiss let the veteran actors create their own back stories.

“When we finally got to actually putting it on the floor, (we) felt very, very well prepared,” Molina says. Personal experience informed the characters and, “I felt I could relate to it. That’s a gift for an actor. It’s also fun to dive in with nothing to hang on to but something that needs to be sustained over a long period of time. It’s helpful to have some landmarks.”

Woodard’s Judy was an investigative journalist who been “diminished” as she got older. Woodard says she got interested in journalism during the era of Woodward and Bernstein.

“I started paying attention and you realize how much of everything we hold dear is predicated on us protecting journalists,” she says.

Judy is "well-mannered, but she’s also impatient and insistent and she can’t keep her nose out of a situation,” Woodard explains.

That becomes essential when the community’s manager questions the friends’ activity. He’s hiding the truth from the residents and has his own crisis to manage.

Because the series’ actors have been around for decades, they knew what works and what doesn’t, Molina says. “It was very easy to slide into,” he says.

“You have to learn how to pick yourself up and go on,” O’Hare says. “I love that Wally gets to do that. It’s kind of a cliché that the guy making the most jokes is making the joke so he won’t weep in the corner.”

Having a purpose — discovering what the “monster” is and who’s behind it — inspires the friends and gives “The Boroughs” its own “Stranger Things” vibe.

“The Boroughs is a place that we want you to want to save,” Matthews says. “That’s one of the hardest things about the haunted house setup — ‘Why don’t you just leave?’ That’s a feeling that sometimes goes around right now. Maybe the country’s not worth saving, maybe the environment’s not worth saving …let’s just move on. But if you stay and fight for The Boroughs, it can be a place where you can have the time of your life. And maybe that’s true for a lot of other things, too.”