Netflix's 'Grace & Frankie' vs. 'Shark Tank' crossover is a TV knockout
The following contains mild spoilers for Grace & Frankie Season 6.
When Netflix announced the fictional entrepreneurs of Grace & Frankie were taking their latest product to ABC's Shark Tank, I was ecstatic.
The ingenious co-inventors of the arthritis-friendly vibrator Vybrant and farm-to-vagina organic Yam Lube, Grace Hansen and Frankie Bergstein (played by Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin) are a perfect match for the business reality show. They've got story, style, chemistry, zero production prospects — it's what Shark Tank stars are made of.
Would Barbara Corcoran sweep in with an angel offer? Would Lori Greiner and Mr. Wonderful spar over the numbers? Would Mark Cuban make a completely irrelevant sports metaphor?
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It's the best crossover event Netflix has ever attempted, and an asset to everyone involved.
On Wednesday, Netflix dropped all 13 episodes of Grace & Frankie Season 6, and my questions were answered in a glorious 27-minute installment, aptly named "The Tank." It's the best crossover event Netflix has ever attempted, and an asset to everyone involved.
Seeking a $200,000 investment for 10% equity, Grace and Frankie entered the Shark Tank promoting their latest invention Rise Up, a "sleek and sexy" toilet with hydraulics capable of hoisting the user off its seat. The prototype was inspired by Grace's central emotional arc of the season.
After moving in with her new husband Nick (Peter Gallagher), Grace struggled to reconcile her needs as an 80-year-old woman with her status as the new wife of a billionaire. In episode 2 "The Rescue," her bad knee seized up while she was on the can, and to avoid telling her husband, Grace called Frankie to quite literally rescue her ass.
10 episodes of secrecy and shenanigans later (including the toilet briefly getting involved with a SoCal robbery scheme?), Grace, Frankie, and the Rise Up were on Shark Tank.
Shark Tank brings the best out of Grace & Frankie...
As the reality series' earworm theme played, my knuckles went white. Grace and Frankie busted through the soundstage doors, and put the merchandising fate of Rise Up in the hands of these ruthless critics — less concerned with bottoms than with bottom lines. My favorite comfort series was colliding with the dastardly world of primetime dream-shaming. I was loving it and losing it all at once.
Over the past 5 years, Grace and Frankie have become some of streaming's most beloved and relatable characters. We've watched as this dynamic duo has taken on many of the very real challenges that come with aging, from medical scares and love lost to the terrifying nature of change. In Season 6, this theme rippled throughout the cast as Sol grappled with a major surgery, Robert took on an extra job as a Lyft driver, and some of the series' most beloved couples called it quits.
... and Grace & Frankie brings the best out of Shark Tank.
Since I already loved these two saleswomen who were jumping in with ABC's Sharks, I was filled with dread. What if my girls got hurt? What if they never recovered? What if this was the one stunt they just couldn't pull off?
To avoid spoiling the season finale, I won't tell you how their pitch goes. But I will say: Shark Tank brings the best out of Grace & Frankie, and (much to my surprise) Grace & Frankie brings the best out of Shark Tank.
The cutthroat setting made Grace and Frankie only more lovable — allowing Fonda to put her formidable character through some uneasy emotional paces and Tomlin to pantomime the hell out of being stuck on the commode. As performers, they absolutely crush the opportunity to spread their wings (fins?) and take on the Tank.
As for the all-star investors, the episode takes a little bit of the bite out of their typically intimidating personas. The Sharks are clearly rattled by being anyone but themselves on-camera.
It's a cute look at a bunch of alleged tough guys who have been placed very far out of their element.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban seems particularly stressed by the whole thing, and understandably so considering he takes on more lines and plot than any of his co-stars. (Anytime he has to react negatively to Fonda, it's clearly a struggle.) Guest shark Rohan Oza, who has been appearing on Shark Tank only since Season 9, is easily the most comfortable, although Barbara Corcoran and Kevin O'Leary tie for a close second. Lori Greiner — charming as always.
It's a cute look at a bunch of alleged tough guys who have been placed very far out of their element. It should also be said, there is something delightful about seeing a network show comfortably collaborating with a streaming site — melding two worlds often kept apart by programming schedules, financial barriers, and industry competition.
Suffice to say, Grace & Frankie Season 6 nails what could have been a gimmicky play, further cementing their role as one of the most consistently excellent series on Netflix. With just one season left in the Hansen-and-Bergstein adventure, it seems that creators can cross "swimming with Sharks" off Grace and Frankie's to-do list.
Grace & Frankie Season 6 is now streaming on Netflix.
Topics Netflix
