Brecklin Meyer in 'Franklin & Bash'

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Brecklin Meyer in 'Franklin & Bash' on buzzine.com

TV INTERVIEW: BRECKIN MEYER

Putting the Comedic Spin on Lawyering in New TNT Original Series

By: Parimal M. Rohit
May 30, 2011

Brecklin Meyer in 'Franklin & Bash' on buzzine.comHe earned critical acclaim for his portrayal of a skater stoner in Clueless, but now actor-writer-producer-drummer Breckin Meyer will be trying a role rather foreign to him in the street-smart attorney named Jared in TNT’s Franklin & Bash, which debuts on June 1st. Co-starring Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Saved By The Bell), Mr. Meyer believes audiences will be pleased with the latest legal dramedy to hit primetime cable television.

 
The “Franklin” in Franklin & Bash, Mr. Meyer, said there are several elements of the new TNT original series that differentiates itself from other legal programs densely populating the television universe. For starters, Franklin & Bash, Mr. Meyer points out, focuses less on caseloads and investigations and more on individuals and characters.
 
“Usually about legal dramas, it’s about the case of the week. With Franklin & Bash, the part I liked about it is that we went home with these characters,” Mr. Meyer, who also stars in King of the Hill, told Buzzine in an exclusive interview. “We spend as much time back in the mancave or back at the office as we do in court. That just adds another level where you get to see how these characters live their lives.”
 
With such an emphasis on the individual lives of each character, Mr. Meyer said that both he and Mr. Gosselaar made every effort to bring a sense of realism to his respective character, ergo allowing for both Jared Franklin and Peter Bash to be as relatable to audiences as possible.
 
“He’s fun, but it had to be based in reality,” Mr. Meyer said of Jared. “I couldn’t just be this dancing monkey who shows up in court and goes crazy. Mark-Paul and I both wanted these characters to be layered. You want to believe they are buddies. You want to believe they are lifelong friends. At the same time, you want to believe that they are lawyers.”
 
It helped, at least for Mr. Meyer, to have been surrounded by a few attorneys in his adult life, whether it be on set or through relatives, to provide some guidance on how best to accurately portray Jared Franklin.
 
“My step dad is a litigator, and my father-in-law is a lawyer. I knew a bit about it,” Mr. Meyer told Buzzine, adding how he often relied upon creator Bill Chais, a former public defender, to help fill in holes whenever necessary.
 
While portraying a lawyer was definitely more than a slight change of pace for Mr. Meyer, he also noted he bore very little resemblance in real life to the character he portrays in the new series.
 
“He’s pretty far off from me,” Mr. Meyer said of Jared, who is a bit of a rebel who gets a kick out of challenging authority and shares a few bad-boy antics with Mr. Gosselaar‘s character. “I mean, look, I put on make-up and pretend to be other people for a living, so I definitely didn’t go the normal route. My mom is a microbiologist, and my dad’s a Ph.D., so I rebelled a little bit, but I don’t know if it was conscious or not. But Jared definitely has more moxie than I do.”
 
Characters aside, Mr. Meyer seemed rather pleased to be teamed up with Mr. Gosselaar. While both share a common strand of fictionalized high school life together, the individual life paths of Mr. Meyer and Mr. Gosselaar crossed all but once prior to Franklin & Bash, and even that one interaction was sparse.
 
“Mark-Paul and I met about ten years ago for ten minutes in an airport. That was the only interaction we’d had,” Mr. Meyer pointed out. “I had a little screen test in front of Sony (with Mark-Paul). Right when we started working together, right when we started doing a scene for the screen test, I thought, 'All right, this guy and I can work well together. This will be okay.' We definitely complemented each other.”
 
On June 1st, TNT will find out whether the complementary relationship shared between Messrs. Meyer and Gosselaar will indeed translate into a loveable lawyer-buddy dramedy that will catch on for years to come.
 
Also starring Malcolm McDowell (Heroes, Entourage), Garcelle Beauvais (NYPD Blue), Dana Davis (10 Things I Hate About You), Reed Diamond (Homicide: Life on the Street), and Kumail Nanjiani (Michael & Michael Have Issues), Franklin & Bash premieres on June 1st on TNT at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT).