15 feel-good shows to binge over the holidays
Grace and Frankie season 4 production still. Photo: Melissa Moseley/Netflix
Grace & Frankie
Series availability: 4 seasons, 52 episodes
Watch now on Netflix.
Four words: Jane Fonda. Lily Tomlin. There really isn’t any better reason to watch Grace & Frankie besides the stellar stars of the Netflix original, but I’ll try to elaborate anyway.
Grace & Frankie hit Netflix in 2015, breaking down barriers for older women in comedies in the process. Sure, shows have always had sassy older women, but very few gave them good, fully fleshed out stories, and they rarely ever made them sexual in any way. Except for The Golden Girls, can you name a show where women over 50 openly talk about their sex lives and the struggles they face as older women?
On Grace & Frankie, the show deals with a lot of issues that helped it become so popular among people of all ages. First, the series starts with business partners Robert and Sol coming out of the closet and revealing to their wives that they have been lovers for years. It’s a massive blow, especially after so many years of marriage, made even worse by the fact that Robert and Sol’s families are so close they’re practically related.
While trying to cope with this massive change, Grace and Frankie, their wives, become unlikely friends — even though they couldn’t be more different. Grace is a retired cosmetics mogul whose daughter now runs her company. She’s all pantsuits, blowouts, and wine. Frankie, on the other hand, is a hippie art teacher who loves weed and makes her own all-natural yam lube. Yes, that kind of lube!
Even though they butt heads at first, the two become a pretty fabulous duo; eventually, they use Grace’s mind for business and Frankie’s ingenuity to go into business together, marketing a line of sex toys for women of a certain age. How often do you hear senior women talking about dildos? Hopefully you’re not a prude, because Grace and Frankie do not shy away from dirty details!
Since the fifth season is premiering in the new year — Jan. 18 to be exact — now is the best time to binge the first four seasons!