Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
At this time last week, I was excitedly counting down the hours until the newest Netflix Original comedy, Grace and Frankie, made its debut. After recently making my way through three consecutive dramas (the meh third season of House of Cards, the excellent yet bleak Bloodline, and the gritty Daredevil), I was itching for a solid comedy to tide me over until the new season of Orange Is the New Black drops in June.
The first six episodes of Grace and Frankie that were made available prior to the premiere last showed promise, which led me to gush about how it was a must-watch based on what I had seen. After finishing the first season over the weekend, however, I came out of it feeling thoroughly disappointed in how flat the Jane Fonda–Lily Tomlin “comedy” fell off after such a strong start. Feeling confounded by the decline, here’s my attempt to outline the reasons how such a well-pedigreed series—it was executive produced by TV vets Marta Kauffman (Friends) and Howard J. Morris (Home Improvement)—ended up feeling so half-hearted.
The single camera format didn't work in the show's benefit.
If you’re unfamiliar with the premise of Grace And Frankie, here goes: Two longtime frenemies, Grace (Jane Fonda) and Frankie (Lily Tomlin), are forced to reconcile their differences after their husbands of forty years, Robert (Martin Sheen) and Sol (Sam Waterston), reveal that they’ve been having an affair, they’re divorcing the two of them, and marrying each other. Clearly, there’s a lot of story potential here for both moments filled with laughs and tears.
Yet after missing beats that would have otherwise been filled by laughter (either from a studio audience or a laugh track), Grace and Frankie proves to be a show that actually feels like it may have played better on broadcast. This can most likely be partially attributed to Kauffman and Morris’ history with the tone of broadcast television and multi-camera formats. But Grace and Frankie is a single-camera setup with no live audience and somewhat misplaced dramatic tones.
Martin Sheen didn't bring his A-Game, and it showed.
“Funny” may not necessarily be the first trait that springs to mind when discussing Martin Sheen; “Presidential” and “Charlie Sheen’s dad” probably take first and second billing. Truth is, however, the man can let loose. Remember that Doomsday video he did for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver? We just might watch it in our remaining moments when the apocalypse strikes. Grace and Frankie should have given Sheen room to flex those innate goofball tendencies as Robert, but instead squandered them, making him an unwanted villain within the series, always stirring the pot and being unrealistically flippant to his ex-wife of forty years. OK, we realize he and Grace weren’t supposed to have gotten along as well as Frankie and Sol, but Robert felt annoyingly antagonizing toward her just as the show’s tone shifted, asking us to get to know and empathize with him and Sol as a couple.
Were Mallory and Coyote a thing? Yes? No? Who knows?!
I’m not sure who or what to blame for the very confusing relationship between Grace’s youngest daughter, Mallory (Brooklyn Decker), and Frankie’s other adopted son and recovering drug addict, Coyote (Ethan Embry). Now, I don’t necessarily think the acting was lackluster (I’ve even previously noted how pleasantly surprised I was by Decker’s performance in general). The sexual tension between the two was obvious, (“You started screaming, don’t marry Mitch when we had already been married seven years by then!”), but never fully set itself up. Instead, we kept getting bits and pieces of Mallory and Coyote’s very complicated friendship (?) that certainly felt like a B-plot that should have strung us along into Season Two, but alas, it inexplicably dissipated.
"The Elevator" episode and haphazardly-placed flashbacks.
Episode Ten, “The Elevator,” was by no means a lackluster episode. In fact, I’d argue it was one of the strongest of the season — if only it fit in with the rest of the series. Following the initial shock of getting stuck in —you guessed it— an elevator, the lead foursome and Bud (Frankie’s and Sol’s adopted son) share their memories of a family barbecue that took place five years earlier where Robert was itching to confess his love for Sol, Coyote was still using drugs, and Mallory gave birth to her youngest in the middle of the living room. Consisting of mostly flashbacks, “The Elevator” offered the deepest character analyses yet for all involved, not just Grace and Frankie. At this point, however, there’s only three episodes left, and it feels like we’re just now getting to know our main characters.
We wanted a true 'Nine to Five' reunion.
Grace and Frankie had all the ingredients (aside from Dolly Parton — we missed you Doralee!) to be the spring’s beloved new comedy series, especially given it features a long-standing, hilarious rapport between Fonda and Tomlin that goes back 35 years. I can’t help but think the two (who also co-executive produced the show) sold themselves a tad short as a comedy duo when this project came to fruition. They had the opportunity to pretty much go balls-to-the-wall and sadly, after the first few episodes, the funny kind of fizzled.
There is no word from Netflix yet regarding Season Two of the series, although, given the streaming platform’s history, it’s likely that Grace and Frankie will get another round. All hope isn’t lost! With the benefit of a season’s worth of familiarity and some format tweaks, hopefully the show will have worked out most of its kinks and be able to come back stronger next time around.
Like what you see? Follow Decider on Facebook and Twitter to join the conversation, and sign up for our email newsletters to be the first to know about streaming movies and TV news!
