Franklin & Bash

Franklin & Bash
Genre	Comedy-Drama Legal procedural
Created by	Kevin Falls Bill Chais
Starring	Breckin Meyer Mark-Paul Gosselaar Dana Davis Garcelle Beauvais Kumail Nanjiani Malcolm McDowell Reed Diamond
Theme music composer	John Mace performed by Pete
Composer(s)	John Robert Wood
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	10 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jamie Tarses Kevin Falls Bill Chais Jason Ensler
Producer(s)	Dana Calvo
Editor(s)	Joe Hobeck
Cinematography	Dennis S. Hall
Camera setup	Multiple-camera setup
Running time	42 minutes
Production company(s)	FanFare Productions Four Sycamore Productions Left Coast Productions Sony Pictures Television
Broadcast
Original channel	TNT
Original run	June 1, 2011 (2011-06-01) – present
External links
Website

Franklin & Bash is an American drama-comedy television series created by Kevin Falls and Bill Chais. The series stars Breckin Meyer and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as unconventional lawyers and longtime friends. A Turner Broadcasting executive has referred to the series as a "funny legal procedural".^[1]

The series is broadcast in the United States on the cable channel TNT. It premiered on June 1, 2011.^[2] The series was renewed for a second season on July 26, 2011.^[3]

Contents 1 Overview 2 Cast 2.1 Main cast 2.2 Recurring cast 3 Development and production 4 Reception 4.1 Critical reception 4.2 Ratings 5 DVD releases 6 International broadcasting 7 References 8 External links

Overview

Jared Franklin and Peter Bash are two streetwise, plaintiff's attorneys. After defeating Damien Karp of the prestigious law firm Infeld Daniels they are recruited by senior partner Stanton Infeld to breathe new life into the ailing firm. Assisting Franklin and Bash is Carmen Phillips, an ex-convict out on parole who assists with background investigations on cases, and Pindar Singh, a brilliant, agoraphobic attorney.

In agreeing to work for Infeld Daniels, Franklin and Bash were guaranteed that they would still be taking on the same kind of cases as before, only with the backing of a major law firm. Over the course of their cases Franklin and Bash, through their courtroom antics, prove to be effective advocates for their clients, much to the chagrin of Damien Karp and his ex-girlfriend Hanna Linden.

Cast

Main cast

• Breckin Meyer as Jared Franklin, the snarky, self-confident party-boy son of a famous trial lawyer.
• Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Peter Bash, Franklin's best friend and legal partner. He is more mature and level-headed than Franklin, and still has feelings for his ex-girlfriend, Janie (portrayed by Claire Coffee).
• Malcolm McDowell as Stanton Infeld, the eccentric, yet easy-going senior partner of the prominent law firm Infeld Daniels, who hires Franklin and Bash after witnessing their unconventional techniques in court.
• Dana Davis as Carmen Phillips, an ex-convict working for Franklin and Bash.
• Kumail Nanjiani as Pindar Singh, an agoraphobic science fiction nerd working for Franklin and Bash.
• Reed Diamond as Damien Karp, Stanton's nephew, working for Infeld Daniels, who become jealous of Franklin and Bash's good standing and quick success with his uncle. He was once in a relationship with Hanna Linden, but is no longer because he refuses to have relations with a co-worker. Surprisingly, Karp has no interest in taking over his uncle's firm as Karp yearns to be a judge. Karp is amenable to Hanna Linden taking over instead.
• Garcelle Beauvais as Hanna Linden, a lawyer working for Infeld Daniels, and Karp's ex-lover who uses Franklin's affections to get back at Damien.

Recurring cast

• Claire Coffee as Janie Ross, DA Assistant and Peter Bash's ex-girlfriend.
• Alexandra Holden as Debbie Wilcox, an assistant to Franklin and Bash.
• Rhea Seehorn as Ellen, DA assistant who is overshadowed by Janie Ross and dislikes Franklin and Bash

Development and production

The series was originally in development for the TBS network.^[4] In February 2010, TBS placed a cast-contingent pilot order from a script written by Kevin Falls and Bill Chais.^[4] Casting announcements began in early March, with Meyer and Gosselaar taking starring roles as the title characters.^[5] Next to be cast was McDowell, as Stanton Infeld.^[6] Then, comedian Nanjiani was cast as Pindar Singh,^[7] followed by Diamond, as Damien Karp,^[8] and Beauvais and Davis as Hanna Linden and Carmen Phillips respectively.^[8]

The pilot was filmed in Atlanta in late March and early April.^[9][10] In May 2010, the show was moved from TBS to sister station TNT, where network executives believed it was a better fit.^[1][11] The network green-lit production in mid-May with a ten episode order.^[12][13]

Reception

Critical reception

Franklin & Bash has received mixed to average reviews, earning a score of 56 on Metacritic.^[14] The Los Angeles Times described the pilot episode as "not as intrigue-heavy as White Collar, as satiric as The Good Guys or as beautifully located as Hawaii Five-0; 'Franklin & Bash' is smart, it's fun and it's summer."^[15] Variety gave a positive review, describing the show as "playful, silly and wholly unpretentious."^[16] The Hollywood Reporter also gave the pilot a positive review:

In the end, Franklin & Bash uses the legal genre to prop up what is mostly a buddy story. There may be bigger reveals ahead and certain daring complications, but no doubt Franklin and Bash will get out of them with their good looks and quick wits. That’s how they roll – mostly – on TNT.^[17]

Ratings

The pilot episode premiered with 2.7 million total viewers, scoring 1.1 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic and 1.2 million in the 25-54 demographic, making it the fourth most watched cable-program of the evening.^[18] Live + 3 day ratings for the series premiere updated those numbers to 3.5 million total viewers, scoring 1.5 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic, 1.6 million in the 25-54 demographic and 0.7 million in the 18-34 demographic.^[19]

Season	Season Premiere			Season Finale
	Date	Viewers Total (in millions)	Viewers 18-49	Date	Viewers Total (in millions)	Viewers 18-49
1	June 1, 2011	2.74[20]	1.14[20]	August 3, 2011	2.54[21]	1.21[21]

DVD releases

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release the first season of Franklin & Bash on Region 2 DVD on November 14th, 2011.^[22]

DVD Name	Ep#	Release dates
		Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
The Complete First Season	10	N/A	November 14, 2011[22]	N/A

International broadcasting

Country	Network	Premiere date
Canada	Bravo!	02011-08-22 August 22, 2011[23]
United Kingdom	E4	02011-07-13 July 13, 2011[24]
Belgium	RTBF	0TBA[25]
India	Star World	02011-07-02 July 2, 2011[26]
Latin America	Sony Entertainment Television	02011-08-10 August 10, 2011[27]
Latvia	Sony Entertainment Television Baltic	02011-09-05 September 5, 2011[28]
Russia	Sony Entertainment Television Russia	02011-09-05 September 5, 2011[29]
South Africa	M-Net	02011-11-08 November 8, 2011[30]

References

External links

• Official website
• Franklin & Bash at the Internet Movie Database
• Franklin & Bash at TV.com

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