Feedback: Why didn’t Netflix give ‘Grace & Frankie’ a proper sendoff?

Funny to the end

I just want to say that I am totally with [columnist Mary McNamara] on the ending of “Grace & Frankie” [“Where’s the Fuss for ‘Frankie’?,” May 6]. I wasn’t even aware this is the final season. I spread out my viewing on this show so that it’s there when I really want an upper, which makes the fun last.

You really nailed it when you described those two fabulous actresses and the entire cast as exceptional. The writing is incredible. It’s one of the few shows that actually have me laughing out loud and yet it can be downright realistic. And it’s not just geared for the older crowd. I have friends in their 30s who are devoted viewers.

Wendy Mollett
Studio City

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I’m so glad Mary McNamara straightened me out on the purpose and message of the series in its beginning, but the final season of “Grace and Frankie” was a disappointment.

I enjoyed the talents of Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda in the first few seasons and was looking forward to these last episodes, but I found the writing, acting and reach for humor uninteresting and downright unnecessarily crude and base.

The segment with the daughter’s unattractive and unsympathetic personality was especially hard to watch and decidedly unfunny. I’ll give it one more shot but if it’s not better than the first, I prefer to remember the tone and talents in those earlier seasons. This effort is not worth my time.

Marty Wilson
Whittier

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There was an omission in Mary McNamara’s piece on the finale of “Grace & Frankie.” The Netflix hit series was created by Marta Kauffman and Howard J. Morris. The two of them were also the showrunners.

F. Pratt
South Pasadena
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Ah yes, Hanoi Jane, I remember her, in fact I’ve never forgotten her little trip to Vietnam, but apparently many people have. As an old Army veteran I’ll never forgive and forget.

Dale Clanahan
San Dimas

An artist’s legacy

Thank you, thank you for Carolina A. Miranda’s article on La Malinche [“Reclaiming Her Legacy,” May 3]. I really was perplexed by [Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex] Villanueva’s verbal attack on Supervisor [Hilda] Solis, as I didn’t understand the reference [to La Malinche]. Now I get it and then some.

I’m glad I checked the online edition as well to see more pictures of the art you described. Your piece was very enlightening and so timely in the face of the recent attack upon women’s reproductive rights, which you addressed.

Like others, I am angry and discouraged that the “battles” my generation fought 50 years ago are not won. I will not be deterred and look to younger women to broaden our minds and reinforce our determination to move forward in all aspects of society, including art.

Roza Besser
Calabasas

Playing the kid

Thank you for Mary McNamara’s breathtaking portrait of Matthew Goode as Hollywood icon Robert Evans [“Matthew Goode Amps It Up,” May 8]. The photographer [Dania Maxwell] perfectly captured the drama, class and glamour of a bygone era and personified the depth brought to the role by this amazing actor.

It was an unexpected Mother’s Day treat.

Deedee Messana
Sherman Oaks

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Mary McNamara’s outstanding analysis notwithstanding, I’m not sure that Robert Evans would not have approved of Matthew Goode playing him in “The Offer.”

Although this flyover-nobody did not know Mr. Evans personally, I was lucky enough to have a small correspondence with him on Twitter between 2013 and 2017.

I nearly had a stroke (which would have smashed the oversized Evans-like sunglasses I also like) when he followed me and then felt another coming on when he responded several times to my thanks for the follow.

Over the years, I was just a bit less shocked when he would thoughtfully respond to my tweets, which were about decidedly non-Hollywood subjects. I even got a bit accustomed to the occasional direct message and greeting.

Yes, he was an older man by the time I made his online acquaintance. But he seemed to be an older man who perhaps was never as wholly outrageous as his publicly wild lifestyle might have suggested.

The Kid definitely remains in the picture, portrayed by an actor who might capture more of the Evans behind the sunglasses and the headlines. He just might have liked that very much.

Mary Stanik
Tucson

A time for change

Tara Ellison’s review of HBO Max’s ‘Julia’ [“It’s a Refreshing Embrace of ‘the Change,’” May 5] was refreshing and empowering. I too found “the change” as an opportunity to give birth to a new chapter in my life. I was accepted to Pepperdine University as a 59-year-old student pursuing my master’s degree in clinical psychology. I graduated in 2017 and subsequently was admitted to a doctoral program at Fielding Graduate University. I earned another master’s degree in 2019, and I graduated with a Ph.D. in psychology last month at 66 years of age.

I created a nonprofit in October 2021 to pursue my life’s passion. Its name, “STOP THE CUT! Eradicating Female Genital Mutilation.”

Here’s to aging and not growing old.

Maria Viola Sanchez
Westlake Village

That’s not what they call rock & roll

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a laughingstock among rock musicians [“Rock Hall Casts a Wide Net,” May 5]. With every induction of a non-rock artist, including hip-hop, country or easy-listening performers, the Hall further embarrasses itself. Occasionally the Hall inducts a true rock artist, for example, Pat Benatar, but increasingly that’s a happy accident.

Moreover, when a performer with integrity, like Dolly Parton, speaks up to point out that it’s inappropriate for her to be included as a rock artist, the Hall turns a blind eye and ignores the truth.

Mikael Wood seemingly defends the Hall’s fealty to money over integrity by claiming the Hall was “widely criticized for overvaluing the work of old white men.”

That Wood gives credibility to such a stupid argument is surprising. The Hall should honor rock musicians. That many of them happen to be white men is incidental. If there were a hip-hop Hall, would Wood acknowledge criticism that the organization “overvalued contributions of Black artists”?

Ray McKown
Torrance

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Just change the name already.

David Brant
Ventura

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Who can deny that the first names that come to mind on the subject of “rock and roll” are Dolly Parton, Carly Simon and Lionel Richie?

But what about Mozart? I am outraged that the composer of “Leck Mich Im Arsch (KV 382d),” the spirit of which inspired such works as Harry Nilsson’s “You’re Breaking My Heart,” is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yes, he’s an old (well, very, very old) white guy, but that should not keep his work from being so honored.

Steve Thorne
Escondido

Editor’s note: Harry Nilsson is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame either.