'Franklin & Bash' - 'Pilot': Bros before depos
What did everybody think of the new TNT legal drama?
Breckin Meyer and Mark-Paul Gosselaar in "Franklin & Bash."
Credit: TNT
I've already offered up my (unfavorable) review of TNT's "Franklin & Bash" (as well as a look back at the career arc of leading man Mark-Paul Gosselaar). Now it's your turn. For those who watched the pilot tonight, what did you think? Are you likely to set a season pass for it?
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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Login or create a HitFix account Login Signupnicholas henderson
June 1, 2011 at 10:06PM EST Reply to CommentSomewhat Corny, Few laughs,I'll give it an episode or two before giving up on it
Shilee
June 1, 2011 at 10:07PM EST Reply to Commentwell I liked it, I thought it was stylish, witty, sexy & the guys are very charismatic!!!!
webdiva You must be really young and without a decent frame of reference or a history of watching classic films ... Witty?? Charismatic??? Either you have remarkably low standards, or we weren't watching the same show. Paul Newman, Cary Grant, Robert Redford, George Clooney, Jimmy Smits, Brad Pitt -- *those* guys are charismatic. These two losers, however, are simply overgrown adolescents with unjustifiable attitude and out-of-control hormones. And for a standard for wit, you need to see The Thin Man or His Girl Friday. F&B has puerile writing and will never be in the same category.
June 6, 2011 at 3:25AM ESTDino
June 1, 2011 at 10:08PM EST Reply to CommentMaybe this is just because the NBA playoffs have been really good, and "Franklin and Bash" is getting some residual good will, or maybe Alan just had such a negative reaction that I expected the worst, but I actually kinda liked it. It's a good, light summer show. I'll give it another go around next week for sure.
Max
June 1, 2011 at 10:10PM EST Reply to CommentTotal ass.
Felchfrot Fred
June 1, 2011 at 10:48PM EST Reply to CommentNeeds more Tyrion Lannister as a prosecutor
JJ
June 2, 2011 at 12:14AM EST Reply to CommentI had very high expectations for its awfulness, and it exceeded them. I laughed, but probably not for the reasons the show's writers intended.
Tammy It's such a ridiculous show. Only a few minutes in, and my friends and I were already making a game of predicting things that would happen. It's like they slotted in silly quirks and clichés in at every opportunity, straight off the shelf.
June 2, 2011 at 2:38AM ESTBrandon
June 2, 2011 at 12:27AM EST Reply to CommentCould it have been better? Sure.
There were definitely moments when it tried too hard to fit into pop culture.
Was it entertaining/Will I follow MPG wherever he may go? Heck yes.
George Agreed
June 2, 2011 at 5:36PM ESTKendall
June 2, 2011 at 4:13AM EST Reply to CommentI enjoyed it, but I like frat-boy humor. There were some weird legal things going on (if the pilot and the airline were both clients of the firm, and then stuff happened where the firm does unethical stuff, so F&B does some stuff...and my head explodes), but it was good fun for what it is, if you don't think too much (and don't have a legal education).
It doesn't have the occasional elegance of Boston Legal, but as someone who enjoyed the sillier parts of that show as much as the serious arguments, I'll give it a season pass.
Jon88
June 2, 2011 at 8:49AM EST Reply to CommentIf by "season pass" you mean "I'm going to pass on the season," then yes.
lyson
June 2, 2011 at 9:58AM EST Reply to CommentI went in with reasonably low expectations and even those weren't met. I usually give a show 2 to 4 episodes - this is one of the few that is one and done for me.
June 2, 2011 at 1:12PM EST Reply to CommentIs this a comedy or dramedy? which ever one it is it fails at both.
klg19
June 2, 2011 at 10:23PM EST Reply to CommentWow. You weren't kidding about the misogyny. That was even worse than I was expecting.
But I am a sucker for Breckin Meyer. I can't help myself. I won't be programming the DVR, but I'll probably check in from time to time...
Zach
June 5, 2011 at 7:55PM EST Reply to CommentIt's the summer, what else is there to watch in that time slot? And it's not like the DVR will get full.
webdiva
June 6, 2011 at 3:16AM EST Reply to CommentIt deserved your negative review. On all counts. Misogynistic, for sure. And I've had it with that crap. Grow out of it, already. Frat-boy humor (if you can call it humor)? Never liked it when I was that age, hate it now. I'm not obligated to spend my free time on insults to my intelligence. It's a bad sign when I'm waiting for Malcolm McDowell to utter a few lines because I'm so bored with the overgrown juveniles. I always thought Gosselaar and Ricky Schroeder were bad replacements for Jimmy Smits on NYPD Blue (Smits can act, unlike those two), and neither has grown in acting chops since. Bluntly, it made me impatient for the return of The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles (Tess Gerritsen writes much better characters, and so do the writers on The Closer).
I won't be watching any more of this show. I'd even take a marathon session of all the slow episodes of The Killing over this.