Last week and this week I'm featuring TV episodes that have been nominated for 2021 WGA awards.
Here are the two main stories in the Alex Kavallierou's WGA-nominated episode of GRACE & FRANKIE:
A-Story: Grace & Frankie pitch Shark Tank on "Rise Up", their new toilet seat that rises to help elderly people stand back up, but unbeknownst to Frankie Grace keeps undermining any deal with Mark Cuban because her husband Nick told her she can't work with him.
B-Story: Robert tries desperately to distract Sol from the fact he spent their honeymoon money on supporting his community theatre.
The stories share a common premise: Somebody has to keep a secret. And the joy of the episode lies in watching the lengths to which the characters are forced to go to protect that secret. In order to hide what he's done Robert decides to sell his and Sol's burial plots, which leads to the hilariously ridiculous idea of Robert and his theatre director Peter doing a burial plot open house in the cemetery.
(I love that scene so much, but I cannot find a photo from it so please accept this photo of very cute couple Sol & Robert instead:
Sol clearly deserves better but still, they do look pretty wonderful together.)
Meanwhile Grace keeps trying different approaches to avoid Cuban--first ignoring him and trying to get the other sharks invested, to no avail; then, when Frankie says Cuban likes people say no, suddenly cuddling up to him until someone else shows interest; then finally in the end she's completely baffled him, but it turns out he likes that and she instead has to publicly reject his offer.
If any of this sounds familiar, it's because it's the main plot line of every great classic sitcom you've ever seen. Lucy and Ethel, Dick or Laura, Ralph or Alice, Edith, Barney or Andy, Mrs. Cunningham, Zsa Zsa -- they were forever having to keep things secret, either from someone more powerful than them or from their significant others (often these are the same people...), and then having to go more and more ridiculous length to protect it.
It's not unfamiliar to more modern shows either: CHEERS, FRIENDS, FRASIER, MODERN FAMILY, all have variations, as does every children's story ever that involves lying.
I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for ways to mix things up when I get stuck. When you get to that point where you can't go forward and really how many tweets from other people can you like in one sitting, what about taking a stretch break and then watching an episode of I LOVE LUCY or MARY TYLER MOORE?
Who cares if they're old. They're a gold mine of story ideas and comedic construction.
P.S. "The Tank" scene in which Frankie has to demonstrate the Rise Up while Grace narrates is a little comic masterpiece. A must see.
TOMORROW: HOW TO REDEEM A CHARACTER: OZARK''S "FIRE PINK"
