If Daredevil is Netflix's bloodiest show, then Grace and Frankie may be the streaming service's most comfortable. Like a beloved blanket excavated from your parent's attic, this sitcom, about two women bonding after learning their septuagenarian husbands are in love with one another, hopes to envelope you in the soothing warmth you so desperately seek. Starring Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Martin Sheen, Sam Waterston, and co-created by sitcom demigods Marta Kauffman (Friends, Veronica's Closet) and Howard J. Morris (According to Jim, My Wife and Kids), any who dare stream the pilot will surely succumb to its reverent edginess.
Like a beloved blanket excavated from your parent's attic
For the television snobs among us, it's tempting to giggle off a show like Grace and Frankie as an expensive update on a stale formula. But there's a lot happening inside and outside this show. Netflix is now so ubiquitous that its programing needn't cater to niche fan bases or prestige award voters. Netflix has been in the HBO business for years, but now it's also gunning for network television. It's doing so by hiring some of the best talent in the business. Look at that cast list! This is my mom's Avengers moment.
Grace and Franke premiers on May 8th. Please give your DVR full of Golden Girls reruns my condolences, because it's about to get displaced.