Mark-Paul Gosselaar: That Raising the Bar Guy Was "So Righteous"
Franklin & Bash
He's back on TNT. He's back in the courtroom playing a lawyer. But Mark-Paul Gosselaar says the similarities between his short-lived legal drama Raising the Bar and his upcoming series Franklin & Bash end there.
For starters, his Raising the Bar character was kind of uptight.
"Honestly, I miss working with [Raising the Bar creators] David Feige and Steven Bocho, but to play that character was ... he was so righteous all the time," Gosselaar said Thursday at the Television Critics Association's winter preview sessions. "Playing a public defender was great because you don't see that a lot, but I'm having a much better time doing this. [Raising the Bar] was so heavy. It's so nice to be on this show that's a little lighter and more comedic."
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In Franklin & Bash, Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer play a scrappy legal team whose unusual legal practices are put into question when they are hired by a prestigious, more traditional firm. "This is much a much fresher idea," Gosselaar said. "It's different."
Their questionable tactics include making a woman take off her shirt in court and having Jared (Meyer) appear in court completely drunk.
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The comedy in Franklin & Bash also seems to come from the actors themselves. Gosselaar joked it helped that he and Meyer started dating before shooting started.
"Dating is a strong word," Meyer said. In truth, the two had only met briefly at an airport seven years ago, but they seem to have hit it off. "We got along real well," Meyer said. "Not anymore, but we did."