Prime Time by Jane Fonda
What's It About?
The story behind the renewal is amusing. But the bottom line is more important.The new Netflix comedy Grace and Frankie has been picked up for a second season, perhaps due in part to Miley Cyrus. Yes, that’s correct: Miley Cyrus. As it turns out, the pop superstar loves the show that sees two women in their 70s – Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin – struggling to start over after their husbands leave them for each other.
Cyrus Tweeted that she had “found her show,” and Grace and Frankie got their second season the very next day. Even co-creator Marta Kauffman cited Cyrus’ influence as a reason for the show’s extension.
See? It’s an amusing little story. It’s also encouraging to see Cyrus, a 22-year-old, enjoying a show about women in their 70s. This, however, leads us to the bottom line: The “older women” group of entertainers is another under-represented group in Hollywood and to see Fonda and Tomlin at their comedic best is a wake-up call.
The announcement of season two for Grace and Frankie comes at an especially good time, because Hot in Cleveland will run its final episode on June 3. The show starring four older women – Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick, Jane Leeves, and the incomparable Betty White – ran for six seasons, and proved that in fact, women in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and even older can still bring it. Big time.
Still, it’s difficult to find many TV shows that understand this (Golden Girls is long gone, of course), which is why we should raise a glass to Fonda and Tomlin. They’ve blazed this trail before and the best part? They just keep blazing it.
Recommended Reading:
Prime Time: Love, health, sex, fitness, friendship, spirit; Making the most of all your life by Jane Fonda (Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2012)
When is your “prime time?” Don’t quickly blurt out “my 20s!” because that may not be true. Jane Fonda decided to sit down and learn about everything that pertains to a happy life, “from sex to exercise; from nutrition to wisdom. A to Z.” She writes about her own experiences and talks to everyone from doctors to priests to partners in long-term marriages. In the end, she believes it’s important to do a Life Review as you enter your golden years; understanding our past will allow us to “complete ourselves” in the third act.
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