HOLLYWOOD

BOWING OUT WITH GRACE AND FRANKIE

Since 2015, audiences have been treated to the antics of former rivals Grace Hanson (Jane Fonda) and Frankie Bergstein (Lily Tomlin) on Netflix’s Grace and Frankie, who become unlikely BFFs upon discovering that their husbands Robert and Sol (Martin Sheen and Sam Waterson) have been carrying on with a decades-long affair.

To say they were shook by the magnitude of the revelation would be an understatement, as the seismic shift of their lives hit 10.0 on the Richter scale. But as the dust begins to settle, the two become reliant on each other, with the basis for the laughs on the show being that opposites attract.

Along for the ride are their offspring, Frankie’s two sons Coyote and Nwabudike “Bud” (Ethan Embry and Baron Vaughn) and Grace’s daughters Mallory and the delightfully caustic Brianna (Brooklyn Decker and June Diane Raphael).

The treasured Netflix show will conclude its broadcast day, the sun setting on two characters in their sunset years. But, as the saying goes, “All good things must come to an end.” So, here’s a look at what these characters leave behind and what’s to come for Grace and Frankie.

THE LAST LAUGH

The road to giving audiences one last go for the duo was a series of starts and delays, beginning with COVID-19 production delays on filming halted due to the ’Rona, not once, but twice in the year we’d all rather forget. Hint: It begins with a 20 and ends with a 20.

Fonda told The Today Show that it was a necessary safety measure, as “all of the leads are older, so they have taken extra precautions.” She added that “I love Lily. When I don’t see her on a regular basis, I need a fix.” Amen, sister!

But then Netflix announced that the first four episodes would drop in June of last year to chronicle the further misadventures of the modern-day Lucy and Ethel — yeah, I said that! Whatcha gonna do about it? — with the final 12 episodes to air at an unspecified future date, later revealed to drop on the streamer on April 29.

The inaugural swan song episodes involved the titular characters becoming roomies with their exes, after their latest invention, the Rise Up toilet, floods their home and the pair attempts to reconnect physically, nudge, wink.

Not only that, but the ladies must also contend with hiding a stash of ill-gotten cash that Grace’s new husband Nick (Peter Gallagher) is hiding from the Feds that they discovered hidden in a couch. Frankie and scam queen Joan-Margaret (Millicent Martin) concoct a plan to launder the money before you can say stone-cold busted — and why wouldn’t you really?

Grace and Frankie continue to live together, after the former tries to figure out her marriage to the jailbird husband. All the episodes illustrate why this smart, sharp, hilarious and heartfelt series will be sorely missed.

As for what will transpire next, the plot points, and even episode names, for the remaining Season 7 episodes are being kept so secret that even a seasoned entertainment reporter is stymied as to what will transpire. I’d wager a bet that even Nancy Drew or Angela Lansbury would find it a difficult nut to bust. I mean to crack.

Thankfully, Netflix dropped a trailer that gives a bit of clarity to the goings-on. Well, kinda. Actually, not really, except that it shines

a spotlight on the strength of their friendship, with Grace terming their lives together as “a crazy ride” she’d “rather take with you than a normal ride with anybody else.”

While Frankie laments that she “wants a triumphant ending” for her life, hoping it will culminate into a “Thelma and Louise thing.” Grace assures her that “we are not done yet and the best is yet to come.” So, I guess the Thelma and Louise scenario is out. And in a way it could have been an interesting plot point — done in a dream sequence, natch — with two women who have blazed new trails, just as their cinematic equivalents did in 1991 by getting a conversation started about feminist liberation.

REPRESENT

And Grace and Frankie certainly leaves an indelible legacy on the television landscape. Not only is it the longest-running scripted show ever on Netflix, but it also showed that there is an underutilized market in shows that depict what it’s like to grow older. As Tomlin put it in an interview, she’s hopeful that the show would open the door for more series that feature older actors and stories revolving around the aging experience. Granted, they have presented audiences with some rather unique plots on that front. I mean, we never saw The Golden Girls inventing and selling a vibrator geared towards the older set. Well, maybe Blanche would have, given the chance. But that’s neither here nor there. These two women have showcased that females in their 70s were still viable, and gulp, human with the same desires that they had when they were younger. Not surprisingly, both lead actresses have been nominated for Emmys for their roles and are among some of the oldest nominees in that recognition. Hopefully, this last season can rectify them not winning in previous seasons. I’ll cut a beeyatch to make it happen!

Another legacy that it leaves behind is in its portrayal of older gay men with Robert and Sol’s relationship, which started under dubious circumstances, and blossomed into one of the more endearing character studies in television history.

REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD

The show will also make a little bit of herstory with a certain guest star in the, ahem, form of a long-awaited reunion.

The 1980 comedy, 9 to 5, has long been

considered a ground-breaking workplace comedy starring Fonda, Tomlin and the incomparable Dolly Parton. Even though I saw it at age 12, and jokes about bondage or doing “M & M’s” sailed over my head, I could discern that there was something magical in the trio of actresses whose characters take down Dabney Coleman as their “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot” of a boss.

There have been attempts to reunite the actresses for a sequel over the years, with the latest one being a 2018 announcement that actress Rashida Jones would spearhead a reboot, which would feature three new characters seeking out the advice from Doralee Rhodes, Judy Bernly and Violet Newstead. Please hold.

Alas, it didn’t come to be and the closest we ever got was them appearing together at the 2017 Screen Actors Guild Awards and not in an acting project. Until now, that is. And as with the rest of the remaining details of the second season goes, Parton’s role is being kept under wraps. C’mon, throw us a gays a bone! But it’s the next best thing, because as Parton has stated about the prospect of a sequel at this point in time, “We better get after it. We’ll have to call it 95, not 9 to 5!”

WHAT’S NEXT

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, creators Marta Kauffman and Howard J. Morris were asked whether they felt like they got to explore every story line they wanted to, or whether there were narrative stones left unturned. The answer was no, but “if you’d like to see a Christmas movie, we’ll consider it,” Morris said.

Fonda is slated for three upcoming projects. Moving On is a comedy about two old friends who reconnect at a funeral and plan to exact revenge on a widower. Eighty for Brady will be produced by Tom Brady and is a sportsball comedy — duh — that will also feature Sally Field and Rita Moreno as friends who have a life-altering experience by attending the Super Bowl. She is also lending her voice to the animated flick Luck.

And speaking of the latter and as it would have it, Tomlin is also starring with Fonda in both Moving On and Eighty for Brady, as well as appearing solo in the comedy The Road Home. Sheen will appear on the Hollywood-set dramedy series Ramble On, and Waterson has returned on the recently rebooted Law & Order and in the Hulu series The Drop Out.

As for their television offspring, Raphael appears in the recently released remake — say that three times in a row! — of Cheaper by the Dozen. Embry has a co-starring role in a comedy called Rites & Wrongs. Maybe it’s a look at the Roman Catholic Church covering up sexual abuse over the years? Vaughn is slated in one post-production project, The Time Capsule, and the currently filming Scroll Wheel of Time. Unfortunately, Decker didn’t have anything in the works as of right now.

CUT. PRINT. THAT’S A WRAP!

I often joke that I’m dead inside, and while humor sometimes comes from the truth, I will admit that I got a bit teary-eyed watching the final trailer for Grace and Frankie. For me, there’s much to be missed about the show, chiefly the friendship between these two women and how they are there for each other, no matter what. Who wouldn’t want that type of person in your later years, whether it’s a partner or a chum?

I know I do.

And even though they are fictional characters, both represent that very real prospect of having someone there for you. Someone who will, oh, I don’t know, be there through good times, through bad times, who will be on your side forever more . . . I mean that’s what friends are for. Hmm, that might make a good song. Until next time, that’s all the news that’s fit to print.