Review: Franklin & Bash - "Pilot" - Your Entertainment Corner

Airdate: Wednesday, June 1, 2011, 9 pm ET/PT on TNT

Rating: ★★★★★

L-R Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Peter Bash, Malcolm McDowell as Stanton Infeld, and Breckin Meyer as Jared Franklin

If you’re looking for a serious drama in Franklin & Bash, change the channel now. This is not your father’s legal procedural. Rather, it’s a buddy show that happens to be based in a law firm. The law firm of Infeld Daniels in particular, which is run by senior partner Stanton Infeld (Malcolm McDowell). I think Stanton describes Jared Franklin (Breckin Meyer) and Peter Bash (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) perfectly when he tries to hire them from their own firm. “I’ve had my eye on both of you for quite some time. Peter Bash, no one plays a jury better than you. The way you look past their eyes into their souls. Jared Franklin, … you’re F. Lee Bailey meets Barnum & Bailey.” They really are quite a pair. Infeld himself is a curious character – cultured world traveler and fierce legal competitor, while at the same time being slightly eccentric, yet loveable. The quirkiness of Franklin and Bash’s bromance, combined with the supposed seriousness of the Infeld Daniels law firm is an odd match, but that’s what makes this new TNT series click.

Coming with Franklin and Bash (F&B) to the Infeld Daniels firm is Pindar aka Pindy Singh (Kumail Najiani). He and his photographic memory are invaluable to F&B, although his agoraphobia is a bit hard to deal with. During F&B’s first partner meeting at their new firm, Pindy appears on a huge computer monitor behind Stanton’s head. When Franklin explains his absence, saying “We expect him to be in the office very soon,” we get a glimpse of the comedic ability of Najiani. The way he wrinkles his nose in response gave me a good chuckle. And despite the vomiting in Carmen’s (Dana Davis) car when he attempts to leave the house to get to the courtroom, he’s the one who saves the day. Who’s Carmen, you might ask? Well, Pindy doesn’t get out much, so he fancies her his girlfriend. In reality though, she’s F&B’s paralegal/private investigator. According to TNT, Carmen “often finds herself serving as den mother to the unruly organization.…” Oh, she’s also an ex-con, so I can’t wait to see what the writers will come up with as this character develops.

Infeld Daniels attorney Damien Karp (Reed Diamond) doesn’t seem to like F&B very much, and can’t believe Stanton hired them into their very staid law firm. He has an estranged relationship with lawyer Hanna Linden (Garcel Beauvais), as well as being Stanton’s nephew. I expect we’ll be seeing a fair amount of brown nosing. Linden seems to have a thing for Franklin almost immediately, and I’m not sure if she’s just using him to get back at Karp, or if she really likes him. So far, we haven’t met the other half of Infeld Daniels. I wonder if he/she even exists and if so, what kind of character they’ll be.

Jared Franklin (Breckin Meyer) and Peter Bash (Mark-Paul Gosselaar)

There are hot tubs, parties, quirky dialogue, lots of T&A, and my favorite part – Gosselaar’s naked butt. I’d watch the show just for that! The show does follow some legal cases too – in particular, one about a dominatrix that Bash handles and wins, and one about a hero pilot who Karp throws under the bus in the series premiere. I was expecting Bash’s win from the beginning, as I expect most of F&B’s cases will end, but I was surprised by the outcome of the airline lawsuit. It’s all just a lot of good lighthearted, campy fun with some mildly serious undertones.

I think the writers are going to have to be careful though that they don’t put too much camp and quirkiness into the show each week. There’s a fine line between being a good comedy and too over-the-top. I expect to see a lot of character growth in the coming weeks and a fair share of funny situations for the guys to get themselves out of. Franklin & Bash reminds me of CBS’ The Defenders, which I liked, but was cancelled due to low ratings. Let’s hope Franklin & Bash doesn’t fall victim to the same fate.

Tune in to Franklin & Bash, Wednesdays, 9 pm ET/PT on TNT.

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Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!