The new TNT series “Franklin & Bash” seems to answer a question no one is asking: What would a David E. Kelley legal drama look like if it were aimed at 18-to-34-year-old men rather than 25-to-54-year-old women?  Mr. Kelley is not associated with “Franklin & Bash,” which begins a 10-episode season on Wednesday night. Its producers include Kevin Falls and Bill Chais, who worked together on a previous legal series, “Shark,” starring James Woods. But it hews to Mr. Kelley’s “character based” formula, which is to say it emphasizes eccentricity, emotion and convoluted humor over plausible legal procedure or scannable plots. (This continues the trend set by the two new lawyer shows this winter, “Fairly Legal” and Mr. Kelley’s “Harry’s Law.”)  The fantasy world of “Franklin & Bash” is not that of the well-paid, commitment-free working woman, however. It’s that of the never-ending frat house bromance. You know the young lawyers Peter Bash (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) and Jared Franklin (Breckin Meyer) are mavericks because they sit around their Los Angeles bungalow-office in bathrobes, throwing footballs and clutching guitars. They also say things like, “If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law’s against you ... have a hot chick with enormous breasts take her clothes off in court.”  A hot chick does just that — for a case involving a fender-bender — in the oversexed and fairly unbearable premiere, which also has cases involving a sensitive prostitute and a Chesley Sullenberger-like pilot hero who may have been joining the mile-high club when he was supposed to be in the cockpit.  In subsequent episodes the show settles into a smoother, less frenetic, more Kelley-like — and, not coincidentally, more tolerable — groove. The cases, though, and the jokes, still tend to be sex-based and generally unkind to women. A trophy wife is accused of murdering her ailing husband with excessive copulation; an average-looking woman claims a men’s magazine fired her because she was too attractive.  There’s a nod toward idealism, obligatory in this sort of show, as the two heroes join an established firm but maintain their formulaically iconoclastic attitudes and gonzo courtroom behavior. They’re assisted in this by a no-nonsense black woman (Dana Davis) and a funny Indian man (Kumail Nanjiani), who were apparently hired through an affirmative-action-for-stereotypes program.  “Franklin & Bash” has some of the ingredients of perfectly adequate summer filler: it’s handsomely shot; the writing, line by line, is as good as or better than that of most of the cable competition; and there are appealing actors like Malcolm McDowell, Reed Diamond and Ms. Davis in supporting roles.  The problem is that Franklin and Bash themselves are resolutely uninteresting. In a recurring motif, they pose bedroom-fantasy questions to each other: Would you sleep with Scarlett Johansson if it meant taking one punch from Mike Tyson? A more realistic question might be, Would you take a punch from Mike Tyson if it meant not having to sit through 10 hours of a mediocre lawyer show?
In âFranklin & Bash,â a legal drama starting Wednesday on TNT, two young lawyers are mavericks who tend toward gonzo courtroom behavior.