Some sitcoms lose their spark after a few seasons, stretching characters thin to keep the laughs coming. Grace and Frankie, Netflix’s long-running comedy starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, took the opposite path—it let its characters age, stumble, and grow closer, turning an unlikely friendship into the soul of a series that only got better with time.
Created by Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman and Howard J. Morris, the show premiered in 2015 and wrapped in 2022 after seven seasons and 94 episodes. It wasn’t an instant critical darling, but it found its footing by following two women who discover that life doesn’t stop just because their plans have fallen apart.
What Is 'Grace and Frankie' About?
Grace Hanson (Fonda) is a sharp-tongued former cosmetics executive who likes her martinis strong and her opinions stronger. Frances “Frankie” Bergstein (Tomlin) is a free-spirited artist whose approach to life couldn’t be more different. The two women have little in common and have never really liked each other, but their husbands are about to change that.
Robert (Martin Sheen) and Sol (Sam Waterston), longtime law partners who have each been married for 40 years, reveal they’re in love and plan to marry. With their marriages over and their futures uncertain, Grace and Frankie move into a shared beach house in San Diego, where they must figure out what comes next.
The setup sounds like a familiar odd-couple sitcom, but Grace and Frankie doesn’t leave its protagonists stuck in a cycle of petty disagreements. Their relationship evolves as they navigate new romances, complicated family dynamics, health scares, and increasingly ridiculous business ventures—including attempting to develop a toilet designed for older adults, because starting over in your seventies means becoming an entrepreneur.
The supporting cast makes the most of the chaos. Grace’s daughters, Brianna (June Diane Raphael) and Mallory (Brooklyn Decker), have their own complicated relationship, while Frankie and Sol’s sons, Coyote (Ethan Embry) and Bud (Baron Vaughn), bring different kinds of dysfunction. Robert and Sol also get their own storylines, letting the show explore what happens when one chapter finally makes room for another.
Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin Make an Unbeatable Comedy Duo
The biggest reason to watch Grace and Frankie is its two leading ladies. Fonda plays Grace with deliciously cutting wit, delivering insults with the confidence of someone who’s spent decades getting exactly what she wants. Tomlin’s Frankie is her perfect opposite, a woman whose unconventional worldview can turn even the most ordinary situation into an adventure.
Their chemistry makes their friendship believable, even when their personalities threaten to annoy each other. Grace always tries to control Frankie’s life, while Frankie keeps pushing Grace to reconsider the strict rules that govern hers. Neither woman is always right, and they don’t have to change their personalities for the friendship to succeed.
The show portrays friendship as something as significant as love. Grace and Frankie become friends not because the storyline requires it, but because they learn to understand each other and admit their mistakes along the way. Their friendship becomes the central theme, giving the comedy a backdrop to build on rather than simply relying on laughter.
Fonda and Tomlin are supported by a cast that knows how to make even the smallest moments count. Raphael is particularly entertaining as Brianna, whose caustic humor and refusal to pretend she likes people make her a natural successor to her mother’s sharp tongue. Sheen and Waterston also bring warmth to Robert and Sol, whose marriage offers a different perspective on love, commitment, and the passage of time.
Seven Seasons Gave This Netflix Comedy Room to Grow
Across 94 episodes, Grace and Frankie has enough room to explore its sprawling family without losing sight of the two women who started it all. Not all subplots work well, and some side characters aren’t used as effectively as they could be. However, the show’s ability to let characters evolve over time makes the series so effective—something long-running sitcoms often struggle to achieve.
That narrative method is clearest in the show’s final season. As Grace and Frankie face anxiety about their future, their friendship becomes even more vital. As they learn to adapt to one another’s personalities, the show ends with the ultimate question: What does it mean to live with someone who becomes crucial to your happiness? The answer isn’t that love makes aging or loss any less frightening. Those experiences become easier to face when you don’t have to face them alone, and Grace and Frankie finds humor in the indignities of getting older without pretending those indignities are the whole story.
Seven seasons later, the show’s greatest achievement is keeping Grace and Frankie complicated until the very end. Their friendship doesn’t erase their differences; it gives them a reason to keep working through them.
If you’ve been putting off this comedy because you’ve already seen a dozen odd-couple sitcoms, give these two women a chance. You might laugh at their latest disastrous scheme one minute and think about your own closest friendships the next. And if Grace and Frankie teaches us anything, it’s that the best relationships are often the ones we never saw coming.
For more Netflix gems, check out our list of must-watch titles before October ends, or dive into 10 shows you won't be able to pause this weekend.
