''The Grinder'' is an American single-camera legal comedy television series created by

Jarrad Paul Jarrad Paul (born June 20, 1976) is an American screenwriter, director, and actor. Early life and education Paul grew up in Miami, Florida. After graduating from high school, he moved to Los Angeles. Career Paul co-created and executive produ ...

and Andrew Mogel. The show was picked up to series by

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

on May 8, 2015, and premiered on September 29, 2015. On October 15, 2015, Fox ordered six additional scripts for the first season, potentially increasing the season order to 19 episodes. On October 27, 2015, Fox ordered a full season of 22 episodes for the first season. Despite being acclaimed by critics and viewers, the show never achieved high ratings. ''The Grinder'' was canceled by Fox on May 16, 2016.

Plot

The series follows television actor Dean Sanderson Jr., who returns to his hometown of

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown are ...

, after his long-running television series, ''The Grinder'', ends. Though Dean is not a lawyer, he believes that his experience playing one on television makes him qualified to practice law. He decides to join his family's

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

, Sanderson & Yao, much to the chagrin of his younger brother Stewart, who is an actual lawyer. Stewart and a new hire named Claire are the only people who seem to comprehend that Dean's television experience does not qualify him for a job at a real law firm.

Cast

Main

Rob Lowe Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom ''A New Kind of Family'' (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in ...

as Dean Sanderson Jr., an actor who played the role of attorney Mitch Grinder on the long-running TV show, ''The Grinder''. *

Fred Savage Frederick Aaron Savage (born July 9, 1976) is an American actor and director. He is known for his role as Kevin Arnold in the American television series ''The Wonder Years'' (1988 to 1993). He has earned several awards and nominations, such as ...

as Stewart Sanderson, Dean's brother who is an actual attorney. *

Mary Elizabeth Ellis Mary Elizabeth Ellis (born May 11, 1979) is an American actress, best known for her recurring roles as The Waitress on the FX comedy ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' (2005–present), Nick's ex-girlfriend Caroline in the Fox sitcom ''New ...

as Debbie Sanderson, Stewart's wife. *

William Devane William Joseph Devane (born September 5, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Greg Sumner on the primetime soap opera '' Knots Landing'' (1983–1993) and as James Heller on the Fox serial dramas '' 24'' (2001–2010) and '' ...

as Dean Sanderson Sr., Dean and Stewart’s father and head of the law firm. * Natalie Morales as Claire Lacoste, a new associate in the Sanderson & Yao law firm who is resistant to Dean's romantic advances. *

Hana Hayes Hana Lani Hayes (born March 29, 1999) is an American actress. She is best known for providing the voice and motion capture of Sarah Miller in the action-adventure video game ''The Last of Us'' (2013) and portraying Lizzie Sanderson in the legal ...

as Lizzie Sanderson, Stewart and Debbie's 15-year-old daughter. * Connor Kalopsis as Ethan Sanderson, Stewart and Debbie's 13-year-old son.

Recurring

* Steve Little as Todd, an attorney of questionable skill who works at Sanderson & Yao, and is also a huge fan of Dean's. *John Owen Lowe as Joel Zadack, Lizzie's boyfriend, they eventually break up after becoming more comfortable hanging out with her family. *

Jason Alexander Jay Scott Greenspan (born September 23, 1959), known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor, comedian, host and director. An Emmy and Tony winner, he is best known for his role as George Costanza in the television series '' Se ...

as Cliff Bemis, the creator and head writer for ''The Grinder'' TV show, whose constant disagreements with Dean led to Dean leaving the show. *

Kumail Nanjiani Kumail Ali Nanjiani (; ur, کمیل علی ننجیانی, ; born May 2, 1978) is a Pakistani-American actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is known for his role as Dinesh in the HBO comedy series ''Silicon Valley'' (2014–2019) and for co-wri ...

as Leonard, a prosecuting attorney who gets humiliated by Dean in the courtroom. *

Timothy Olyphant Timothy David Olyphant ( ; born May 20, 1968) is an American actor. He made his acting debut in an off-Broadway theater in 1995, in ''The Monogamist'', and won the Theatre World Award for his performance, and then originated David Sedaris' ''Th ...

as a fictionalized version of himself who becomes Dean's nemesis; he assumes the starring role of Rake Grinder on ''The Grinder: New Orleans'' after convincing Dean to quit the show, and then begins dating Claire. *

Maya Rudolph Maya Rudolph (born July 27, 1972) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. In 2000, she became a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''), and later played supporting roles in the films '' 50 First Dates'' ...

as Jillian, Stewart and Dean's therapist, who later becomes Dean's girlfriend, much to Stewart's chagrin. *

Kenny Lucas Kenny Lucas and Keith Lucas (born September 13, 1985), collectively referred to as The Lucas Brothers, are American identical twin brothers who work together as comedians, actors, filmmakers, writers, and producers. They co-wrote and co-produce ...

as Cory Manler, a former Sanderson & Yao client who sues the firm for malpractice. *

Matt Hobby Matt Hobby (born January 18, 1985) is an American actor and comedian, known for his portrayals of Pastor Jeff in ''Young Sheldon'', Philip in the HBO television series ''Boardwalk Empire'', Rudy Truitt in ''Hart of Dixie'' and Pat Landy in '' The ...

as Pat Landy * Keith Lucas as Rory Manler, twin brother of Cory Manler.

Episodes

Reception

Critical reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the season has a rating of 93%, based on 57 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''The Grinder''s humor is buoyed by Rob Lowe and Fred Savage's chemistry as a hilarious new odd couple." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the season has a score of 71 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". As the first season progressed, the show began to become more popular with critics. Many critics compared ''The Grinder'' to shows such as ''

Arrested Development The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...

'', ''

Community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

'', and ''

Better Off Ted ''Better Off Ted'' is an American satirical sitcom series, created by Victor Fresco, who also served as the show's executive producer. The series ran on the ABC network from March 18, 2009, to January 26, 2010. ''Better Off Ted'' focuses on the ...

'', all of which were shows that had small audiences in their time slots on broadcast television, but received largely positive critical reception because of their characters and writing.

Accolades

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grinder (TV series) 2010s American single-camera sitcoms 2015 American television series debuts 2016 American television series endings 2010s American legal television series 2010s American workplace comedy television series English-language television shows Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Television series about television Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television shows set in Idaho