I will admit the first episode is kind of "meh." I wasn't thrilled. I mean this was Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda! It should have been rolling funny.
It wasn't. And the second episode? Well...
But then!! OMGosh!
By the third episode the writers and cast and crew had found their stride and I was in love. So clever! So funny! So sweet! So engaging! Yes, that is a lot of explanation points but I couldn't help it. The show deserves them all.
Lily is simply wonderful as Frankie. I mean I fell in love with her. I want her as my BFF. Fonda was wonderful as well as the uptight Grace. She could have played it as a cliché but I was happy to find myself slowly warming up her as the episodes passed. In other words, Fonda showed up the person beneath the outer shell.
I liked Sheen but was crazy about Waterston playing the men who leave their wives to be with each other.
I wasn't crazy about some of the kids, but that wasn't the actor's faults. They did great. I just didn't find them very likable people. But again that was all right.
For instance is Brooklyn Decker cold as Mallory--but she was a chip off her old mother (Fonda). And Fonda's other daughter, June Diane Raphael as Brianna, is a bit of a bit*h. But again, she was a product of a mother who was never there and very self involved.
I did however love Ethan Embry as Coyote (one of Tomlin's adopted kids). He is a recovering addict of all kinds and my heart went out to him. The only member of the cast that I was cold to was Baron Vaughn as Nwabudike (the other adopted son). I don't want to be mean but he was terrible. He approached his character as if this show were a 70s sitcom and not a Netflix dramedy--his acting over the top. He jolted me out of the story every time.
I really hope this show comes back for a second season. I loved it!
