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Will & Grace is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 and again on September 28, 2017.
It was announced on July 25, 2019 that season eleven would be the final season.
Summary
Will & Grace is set in New York City and focuses on the relationship between Will Truman, a gay lawyer, and his best friend Grace Adler, a Jewish woman who owns an interior design firm. Also featured are their friends Karen Walker, an alcoholic socialite, and Jack McFarland, a flamboyantly gay actor. The interplay of relationships features the trials and tribulations of dating, marriage, divorce and casual sex; as well as comical key stereotypes of gay and Jewish culture.
Cast
Main
- Eric McCormack as Will Truman
- Debra Messing as Grace Alder
- Megan Mullally as Karen Walker
- Sean Hayes as Jack McFarland
Season overview
| Season | Episodes | First air date | Last air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 22 | September 21, 1998 | May 13, 1999 | |
| Season 2 | 24 | September 21, 1999 | May 23, 2000 | |
| Season 3 | 25 | October 20, 2000 | May 17, 2001 | |
| Season 4 | 27 | September 27, 2001 | May 16, 2002 | |
| Season 5 | 24 | September 26, 2002 | May 15, 2003 | |
| Season 6 | 24 | September 25, 2003 | April 29, 2004 | |
| Season 7 | 24 | September 16, 2004 | May 19, 2005 | |
| Season 8 | 24 | September 29, 2005 | May 18, 2006 | |
| Season 9 | 16 | September 28, 2017 | April 5, 2018 | |
| Season 10 | 18 | October 4, 2018 | April 4, 2019 | |
| Season 11 | 18 | October 24, 2019 | April 23, 2020 | |
Production
Conception
Creators of Will & Grace and real-life friends Max Mutchnick and David Kohan modeled the show after Mutchnick's relationship with childhood friend Janet Eisenberg, a New York City voice-over casting agent. Mutchnick, who is openly gay, met Eisenberg while rehearsing a play at Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, California at age of 13. He was the main star of the Hebrew school musical, while she was a student in the drama department. About three years later, she introduced him to Kohan, the son of comedy writer Alan Kohan, in the drama department at Beverly Hills High School. "Max and Janet seemed to have a lovely rapport, but the romantic element confused me, and it confused them as well," Kohan later recalled. "They went out for a couple of years, then they went off to different colleges. And Max comes out of the closet, springs it on her – and she was stunned. It was a shocking revelation for her, so I kind of functioned as a liaison between the two of them, because they both still really loved each other."
While Kohan practiced his shuttle diplomacy, he and Mutchnick began developing sitcom ideas, which prompted the pair to start writing as a duo. They eventually landed staff jobs on HBO's adult-themed sitcom Dream On and executive produced the short-lived NBC sitcom Boston Common. In 1997, they developed an ensemble comedy about six friends, two of them based on Mutchnick and Eisenberg. At the same time, Warren Littlefield, the then-president of NBC Entertainment, was seeking another relationship comedy for the network as Mad About You was going off the air. When Kohan and Mutchnick pitched their idea, which centered on three couples, one of which was a gay man living with a straight woman, Littlefield was not excited about the first two couples, but wanted to learn more about the gay and straight couple, so Mutchnick and Kohan were sent to create a pilot script centering on those two characters. While Kohan and Mutchnick elaborated on the pilot script, they spent four tense months faxing Littlefield the box office grosses from hit films with gay characters such as The Birdcage and My Best Friend's Wedding.
NBC was positive about the project, but there was still some concern that the homosexual subject matter would cause alarm. Ellen DeGeneres' sitcom Ellen, which aired on ABC, was canceled the year before Will & Grace premiered because ratings had plummeted after the show became "too gay." Despite the criticism ABC received for DeGeneres's coming out episode, "The Puppy Episode," Kohan said, "there's no question that show made it easier for Will & Grace to make it on the air." He added: "Will & Grace had a better shot at succeeding where Ellen failed, however, because Will has known about his homosexuality for 20 years. He's not exploring that awkward territory for the first time, as Ellen did. The process of self-discovery and the pain most gay men go through is fascinating, but the average American is put off by it."
Reception
Critical reception
The show garnered a fair amount of criticism and negative reviews upon its debut in 1998, most of which compared the show to the recently canceled ABC sitcom Ellen. Some called it "a gay Seinfeld". One such review said, "If Will & Grace can somehow survive a brutal time period opposite football and Ally McBeal, it could grow into a reasonably entertaining little anomaly – that is, a series about a man and a woman who have no sexual interest in one another. But don't bet on it. If it's doomed relationships viewers want, they'll probably opt for Ally." As popular as the show came to be, particularly among gay viewers, Will & Grace continuously dealt with criticism for having a limited view of the gay community and for reinforcing stereotypes when some felt it should have torn them down.
The series finale was heavily promoted by NBC, and McCormack, Messing, Mullally and Hayes appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Today Show to bid farewell, on May 10 and 18, respectively. NBC devoted a two-hour block in its primetime schedule on May 18, 2006, for the Will & Grace send-off. An hour-long series retrospective, "Say Goodnight, Gracie", featuring interviews with the cast, crew, and guest stars, preceded the hour-long series finale. Series creators and executive producers Kohan and Mutchnick, who had not served as writers since the season 4 finale, penned the script for "The Finale". Regarding the finale, Mutchnick stated, "We wrote about what you want to have happen with people you love... All the things that matter in life, they end up having."
The ninth season was met with generally positive reviews. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 85% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The site’s critical consensus reads, "Will & Grace reunites its ever-hilarious cast for a revival season that picks up right where the show left off 11 years ago -- adding a fresh relevance and a series of stories that make sharply funny use of the passage of time." On Metacritic, the season has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Gallery
External links
- Will & Grace on Fandom
- Will & Grace on Wikipedia