When Sol (Waterston) and Robert (Sheen) get involved in gay activism marches, it's Sol who is gung ho and Robert who is wary or "too square" to commit. In real life Martin Sheen has actually been arrested nearly 70 times for his activism and protest efforts.
Being her first experience as a lead actress on a television show, Jane Fonda took acting lessons after noticing she was having a hard time playing a character so sustained in time.
In the season 1, 2 and 3 premiere and finale the episodes open and close with a scene on the beach.
Despite the potentially sensitive dialogue surrounding same-sex marriage, Lily Tomlin said in an interview on National Public Radio's Fresh Air that the most difficult line for her was when she had to denigrate substitute teachers.
After the show's release, Tomlin and Fonda expressed displeasure when it became public that their salaries were just equal to those of Sheen and Waterston. "The show is not 'Sol and Robert', it's 'Grace and Frankie,'" said Tomlin, who contended this constituted a significant pay inequity. Shortly thereafter, Sheen and Waterston went on the record to support their co-stars' demands for a salary increase, with Waterston saying, "I think they're being cheated." After fans of the show gathered nearly 200,000 signatures on a petition protesting the disparity, the two actresses issued a public statement backing away from criticism, stating, "This just reminds us to be mindful of how things come across in interviews. We appreciate everyone's support and the attention to this issue, but the structure of Grace and Frankie is fair, and we couldn't be happier to work with Skydance, Netflix and the great cast of this show." Fonda and Tomlin made a statement to The Wrap that they were never unhappy with the salaries to start with and that they had "made a joke in an interview about our salaries, which was taken out of context."