Grace and Frankie

Here, Kauffman speaks to Variety about how difficult it was to wrap up the beloved show after seven seasons, creating a “9 to 5” reunion with Dolly Parton and ...

Of course, we have to talk about the one and only Dolly Parton and getting the “9 to 5” group back together. My favorite moment came when we were going to take a picture at the very end and she looked at me. But we’re really proud of what we did and we’re really proud of 94 episodes. And then, once we got back, we did not realize how much we were going to have to do and adjust for the protocols. We felt like we told the stories we wanted to tell and we didn’t have a lot that we needed to expand upon. I was directing, so I was kept really busy, and couldn’t focus too much on the “this is the last lollipop I’ll have on the set” kind of things. You can’t have that many people in a scene, and you can’t have that many extras, so we were constantly adjusting. She wears four-inch heels all the time, going up and down these steps to the stage. In terms of the Grace and Frankie story, we had a few iterations of it. When you do a show, the show begins to tell you when it’s over. So, they both are able to head back to the beach and walk together into the sunset. At first, Agnes agreed to send Grace back down to Earth, as Frankie was the only one meant to die from the electrocution.

The Lily Tomlin/Jane Fonda comedy returns for one last hurrah.

The lack of serious conflict might be a problem for some, but for those of us who have been following these ladies from the very start of their journey, the largely peaceful, occasionally wacky waters of Grace and Frankie are what made us fall in love with it to begin with. Our Take: Grace and Frankie has never made any apologies for what kind of show it is; silly, sweet, and a little bit soapy, the comedy is reliable and comforting, a soothing balm in the sea of crazy content that is swirling around on Netflix these days. The Gist: Grace (Jane Fonda) and Frankie (Lily Tomlin) are adjusting to life with Nick (Peter Gallagher) in the house. As the two of them (and Frankie) wonder what the future holds, Nick’s attempt at a dramatic exit fails when his ankle monitor alarm starts going off. Fonda and Tomlin are as lovable as ever in these final installments, leaning into the chemistry that made the show such a hit right out of the gate. Fresh out of prison (and now on house arrest), Nick has made himself at home with them, much to Frankie’s annoyance.

Heading into the April 29 finale, fans had been hopeful that the title characters (played respectively by Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin) may actually tie the knot ...

Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin's on-screen bond has seen them through a whole voyage of self-discovery – from divorce to arthritis-friendly vibrators.

And so there is a sense of urgency: time is not on their side. When Grace and Frankie premiered in 2015, it lulled viewers into something of a false sense of security. Grace and Frankie’s big friendship moments happen against a backdrop of failing bodies, assisted suicide, cancer, grandparenting, dementia, alcoholism and arthritis-friendly vibrators. By those standards, the premise of Grace and Frankie should have been the beginning of the end for its main characters: two septuagenarian frenemies discovering that their husbands had been having an affair for two decades. Those gags are certainly in there but, more important, so is a revolutionary narrative of women finding meaningful relationships beyond their familial structures. How easy it would have been for them to check out of their final chapters and simply run down the clock.

A look at each character's beauty ethos—and the hair and makeup tricks behind their signature looks this season.

Here, we’re speaking with Fonda and Tomlin’s glam team about each character’s beauty ethos—and the hair and makeup tricks behind their signature looks this season. “A lot of older women say to me and to Lily, ‘You know, you gave me hope. Needless to say, there’s much that’s aspirational about Grace and Frankie. As Fonda put it, “I think one of the reasons that people like the show is that it’s really easy on the eye.” There’s the scenic California locales, like that beachfront San Diego house.

The actor and country music superstar makes a special guest appearance on the series finale of Fonda and Tomlin's long-running Netflix comedy "Grace and Frankie ...

“Well, if those two women can survive that kind of trauma that happened in the first episode, then maybe I’ll be OK kind of thing.” They first teamed up to make audiences laugh in the 1980 workplace comedy “9 to 5," playing a gang of fed-up secretaries who get revenge on their chauvinist boss played by Dabney Coleman. Parton appears as an angel named Agnes in the episode.