Marta Kauffman On Lack Of Shows About Mature Americans: “I Think It Would Be Hard To Sell Grace & Frankie Now”
deadline.comWhen Grace and Frankie drops for its seventh and final season April 29, fans will have to bid farewell to more than just good laughs about yam lubricant and hydraulic-assisted toilet seats.
The comedy from Marta Kauffman and Howard J. Morris is one of the last remaining series that features golden agers who actually address golden age topics.
For all the talk in Hollywood about inclusion, there remains an astonishing lack of shows that both cast — and provide authentic depictions of — older Americans.Just one year ago, there were actually two such shows and they both streamed on Netflix — Grace and Frankie, which follows two 80-something roomies whose husbands left them to marry each other, and The Kominsky Method, about a 70-something actor (Michael Douglas) whose close connection with his agent-pal Norman (Alan Arkin) was more relatable than most TV marriages.
Kominsky, from the mind of the prolific Chuck Lorre, lasted three seasons and garnered 14 Emmy nominations. G&F, which launched in 2015, has so far earned 13 Emmy noms and stars four actors — Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston — who are all over 80.“I think it would be hard to sell Grace and Frankie right now,” Kauffman tells Deadline. “It’s a little scary that there may not be more shows with women at a certain age.”It’s not like Tomlin and Fonda wanted to walk away from their fictitious lives on the beach.
Read more on deadline.com