It was a ridiculously rainy day when I was scheduled to interview Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer about their new TNT show, “Franklin & Bash.” I walked the few blocks to the interview, but my umbrella did little to guard against the flash flood quickly rising to my ankles. I was soaked through. Somehow, when I arrived, two guys instantly cheered me up.
“Hi, I’m Breckin,” a beaming face instantly greeted me. “Mark-Paul, nice to meet you,” the more serious said while shaking hands. As we took a seat, I was relieved to see two buddies, not just co-workers, laughing, joking, and even punching each other. It was like being in the back row in any class in high school again. Two friends, just horsing around, and yet it was genuine. It was like I was watching their characters they were there to talk about, “Franklin & Bash.”
The series is an hour-long legal dramedy about Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Peter Bash, and Breckin Meyer as Jared Franklin; together these attorneys make up the firm “Franklin & Bash.” Their unorthodox methods are questionable, and their courtroom dramatics are outlandish, but it catches the eye of a very successful large firm, and the boys are given a heck of a job offer.
I don’t want to ruin the first episode for you so I’ll leave it at that, but these two really have the chemistry behind the scenes that you’ll see on the show. “The show lives and dies by their friendship. First thing is, you gotta believe they’re buddies,” Breckin notes. The two had never met before the show, save for a ten minute meeting in an airport, where they acknowledged each other’s work. (Mark-Paul’s beloved role as Zack Morris from “Saved By The Bell” is fodder for endless taunting from Breckin).
Mark-Paul explained how the two got to know each other for real, and fostered the friendship that so easily comes through the screen to the audience. “We would film all day, and then instead of going home to our families, we would go back to the hotel and we would work with each other on the next days’ work…which I’ve never experienced before; usually after a days’ work you’re like, please, go back home, order room service and I’ll see you tomorrow…but we would go back and sit in the restaurant and kind of go over the next day or two’s work, or look at where our characters were going in the pilot and just embellish on the work that was already there.”
After all of the talk about how great these two are, I had to add a little spice to this interview! I asked Breckin Meyer about his love scene with his gorgeous co-star, the very tall Garcelle Beauvais in the series premiere. “Were you intimidated?” I prodded him.
“Welllll…yeah. She’s 6’7”, I’m legally 3’2”, and she was in heels! I bumped my forehead on her knee (laughs). It was fun…at one point my lip was bloody. It wasn’t a terrible days work…I may have bragged to friends.”
Catch all of the friendship, jokes, hijinx and darn good acting that is “Franklin & Bash” during it’s premiere tonight at 9/8c on TNT!
And be sure to check back often for more of the latest tv news and reviews from Megan Stecher right here on Positively Celebrity!
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