Will & Grace
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Will & Grace | |
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| Format | Sitcom |
| Created by | David Kohan Max Mutchnick |
| Starring | Eric McCormack Debra Messing Sean Hayes Megan Mullally Shelley Morrison |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 184 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Los Angeles |
| Running time | approx. 23 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | September 21, 1998 – May 18, 2006 |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Will & Grace is a popular American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from 1998 to 2006. The show takes place in New York City and focuses on Will Truman, a gay lawyer, and his best friend Grace Adler, a straight Jewish woman who runs her own interior design firm. Also featured are their friends Karen Walker, a very rich socialite, and Jack McFarland, a struggling gay actor.
The show debuted on Mondays beginning on September 21, 1998 and steadily gained in popularity, culminating when it moved to Thursday night as part of NBC's Must See TV line-up. The show ultimately became a highly rated television show in the United States, earning a top-twenty rating during four of its eight seasons, including one season at # 9. However, when the show lost Friends as its lead-in after the 2003-04 season, gained the disappointing Friends spin-off Joey as its lead-in, and competition from CBS's Thursday night line-up increased, Will & Grace began shedding viewers and slipped out of the top 20 during its last two seasons. Throughout its 8-year run, Will & Grace earned 16 Emmy Awards, out of a total of 83 nominations.[1]
Will & Grace was filmed in front of a live studio audience (most episodes and scenes) on Tuesday nights,[2] at Stage 17 in CBS Studio Center, a space that totals 14,000 sq. ft.
Taglines:
Meet Will and Grace...they're not a couple, they're a couple of best friends.
Where there's a Will there's a Grace
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[edit] Cast and crew
[edit] Principal characters
- A gay lawyer and longtime best friend of Grace. He has a very neurotic side, especially when it comes to cleaning. Several characters have commented that his relationship with Grace is more like a couple than that of two friends.
- An interior designer with an apparent obsession with food. Grace has been best friends with Will since college. They were a couple in the 1980s until Will realized he was gay after meeting his friend Jack.
- One of Will's best friends, he is flamboyant and superficial. Jack drifts from job to job, including a struggling actor, retail associate and student nurse. Early on in the show he strikes up a close friendship with Karen.
- An alcoholic and the wife of the wealthy (but never seen) Stan Walker. Karen also has a dependence on prescription drugs, she "works" as Grace's assistant making "Grace Adler Designs" more popular among her social contacts. She can be quite insensitive, but is close to Grace and Jack, and occasionally Will.
- Karen's feisty maid from El Salvador who gives as much abuse to her employer as she gets. Rosario was briefly married to Jack so that she wouldn't be deported.
In the opening credits, McCormack and Messing are billed together, with top billing alternating between episodes.
[edit] Principal recurring characters
See Supporting characters on Will & Grace for complete list of recurring characters and guest stars.
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[edit] Crew
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[edit] Plot
[edit] Will & Grace's early relationship
Will and Grace first met at Columbia University in 1985, living across the hall from one another in a co-ed dorm. They instantly connected and soon began dating. Will then threw a Dorm Party which Jack crashed, and after the party was over Jack accused Will of being in denial about his sexual orientation. After proposing marriage to Grace (as a way to postpone sleeping with her) Will finally came out to her. Grace threw him out of her family's house and they did not speak for a year (Grace having moved off campus), but they accidentally ran into each other again on Thanksgiving the following year (1986) at D'Agostino's supermarket. This meeting spurred a reconciliation and they became best friends. (These events are seen as flashbacks during the third season of the show).
[edit] As roommates
In the pilot episode of the show, Grace was about to get married to her boyfriend Danny. When Will disapproved, she became angry and planned to get married secretly anyway. However on the way to the wedding she realizes that Will was right, and she leaves Danny. Needing an apartment, she moved in with Will, in his apartment on the Upper West Side in NYC. Will and Grace spend a lot of time with one another as well as with friends Jack McFarland and Karen Walker. Jack is a flamboyant, gay, struggling stage actor-singer-dancer who, over the course of the show, has a range of jobs including cater waiter, acting teacher, student nurse, retail sales (working for Banana Republic and Barneys), back-up dancer for singers such as Jennifer Lopez and Janet Jackson and TV producer. Karen, an alcoholic multimillionaire, works as Grace's assistant, a job she took to have time away from the home she shares with her husband Stan and his kids, Mason and Olivia. Another character who factored into the early episodes of Will & Grace was Will's client Harlin Polk, played by Gary Grubbs. At first he was given billing in the opening credits with the other four cast members, but interest in his storyline waned, and he was written out of the show early in the second season (Harlin, rather reluctantly, fired Will and hired another lawyer).
The show follows both Will and Grace's attempts to establish romantic relationships without sacrificing their often co-dependent reliance on one another for emotional support. A common joke finds Jack and Karen referring to Will and Grace as married, "non-romantic life partners", or "sexless lovers." At the beginning of the second season Grace moved into her own apartment (across the hall from Will's) in an attempt to put some distance between herself and Will, but then ended up moving back at the beginning of the third season. She moved out again after getting married early in the fifth season, but she moved back in with Will after separating from her husband during Season 6.
[edit] Relationships
Grace has had several lovers on the show, portrayed by actors such as Woody Harrelson and Edward Burns. Frequently, her lovers feel frustrated by her relationship with Will, jealous of their closeness, personal jokes, and ability to finish each other's sentences. Eventually she married Leo, played by musician and actor Harry Connick, Jr. Leo was unusual in that Grace's friendship with Will seemed not to bother him; at one point, when Grace was extremely upset about Leo's upcoming six-month absence, she asked if Will could sleep (platonically) with them, and Leo responded with good humor, saying, "I knew this was going to happen one day." They split in the finale of the show's sixth season after Grace discovered Leo had had an adulterous affair while working with Doctors Without Borders in Cambodia. In the series finale (May 2006), however, Leo tells a heavily pregnant Grace that he loves her. They subsequently raise their daughter, Lila, together.
Will has been less successful romantically, a fact lamented by many fans who long to see a gay man portrayed on television in a happy relationship. He did have a seven-year relationship with a man named Michael, but this partnership ended before the series even began. Will does not have any more serious long-term love interests until the spring of 2004 when the character of Vince, an Italian-American New York Police Department officer played by Bobby Cannavale, was introduced. Their relationship lasted until the spring of 2005, when Vince lost his job and the two decided to "take a break." Will met James, supposedly by fate, at a Sound of Music sing-along and again in Los Angeles. He was played by Rent star Taye Diggs. However in the final season, Will was reunited with Vince.
Jack, whose floundering one-person show and acting career has been established as a hopeless dream, eventually finds work in retail sales and married (and later divorced) Karen's maid and longtime friend Rosario Salazar in order to help her gain US residency (green card). It was also revealed that he had a teenaged biological son named Elliott, played by Michael Angarano. Elliott was conceived through artificial insemination and mothered by Bonnie, a lesbian played by Rosie O'Donnell. Jack's longest relationship is with Stuart Lamarack (Dave Foley), which lasts several months during the sixth season, until Jack cheats on Stuart.
Karen's husband, Stan Walker, is described as an extremely wealthy and overweight man with some unusual sexual tastes, who gives a lot of business to Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Jailed during season four for tax fraud, Stan was released in season five, but Karen soon caught him sleeping with his British mistress Lorraine Finster (played by Minnie Driver), whom he met when she worked in the prison cafeteria. During Stan and Karen's divorce proceedings at the end of season five, Stan dropped dead, and season six saw Karen explore other avenues of dating, culminating in her 20-minute-long marriage to Lorraine's father, Lyle (played by John Cleese, who went uncredited). At the end of the seventh season, it was revealed that Stan faked his death and, in season eight, he and Karen reconciled after she had a brief affair with a government agent (played by Alec Baldwin). However, by the end of the show, Karen leaves Stan for good, at which point it is revealed that much of everything he owned was on loan, hence her huge settlement was worthless.
[edit] Conflicts
In season five, Will and Grace experience their first big fight since the series began. Will and Grace decided to have a child together via artificial insemination. However, she meets and falls in love with Dr. Leo Markus and becomes unsure about continuing with the plan. Will and Grace argue about if she still wants to have the baby and she decided against the idea. Will then accuses Grace of being a flake. The two argue heatedly, deciding to end their friendship. Karen and Jack scheme to make Will and Grace friends again, eventually succeeding.
[edit] Reception
[edit] Critical reactions
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. 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."[4] Ally McBeal had its final episode in 2002, four years before Will & Grace ended. As much as the show's eventual appeal disproved much of its initial criticism, the show continually dealt with the criticism for having a limited view of the gay community and for reinforcing stereotypes when some felt it should have torn them down.[5]
The series finale was heavily promoted by NBC and McCormack, Messing, Mullally and Hayes appeared on Oprah and The Today Show to bid farewell, on May 10th and May 18th, 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."[6]
[edit] Awards and nominations
Will & Grace had been nominated for 83 and won 16 Emmys. From 2001-2005, Will & Grace was the second-highest-rated sitcom among adults 18-49, second only to NBC's own Friends, which usually preceded it on the Thursday-night schedule. It has also been heralded as responsible for opening the door to a string of gay-themed television programs, such as Queer as Folk, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Boy Meets Boy. Will & Grace has won several GLAAD Media Awards for its advocacy of the gay community. Despite more than two dozen nominations, Will & Grace never won a Golden Globe award.
In the summer of 2005, Will & Grace was nominated for 15 Emmys, tied with Desperate Housewives as the series receiving the most nominations. Unlike Housewives, however, Will & Grace received many of its nominations during the 2004-2005 season for its guest actors and actresses. From these nominations, the series won two awards for the season. One of the two awards was for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, won by Bobby Cannavale for his role as Vince, Will's boyfriend.
In the summer of 2006, Will & Grace was nominated for 10 Emmys for its final season, including a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress for Debra Messing, Outstanding Supporting Actor for Sean Hayes, and Outstanding Supporting Actress for Megan Mullally. Mullally won the award for her category (her second win out of seven nominations), and Leslie Jordan won the award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his recurring role as Beverley Leslie.
Will & Grace is one of only three sitcoms in which all actors playing the main characters (McCormack, Messing, Hayes, and Mullally) have each won at least one acting Emmy. The other two sitcoms to have achieved the same feat are All in the Family and The Golden Girls.
Each with three awards, both Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally hold the record of winning the most Screen Actors Guild Awards for the categories Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy Series and Best Performance by an Actress in a Comedy Series, respectively, for their roles in Will & Grace.
[edit] Ratings/NBC broadcast history
"The Finale" drew in an estimated 18.1 million viewers,[7] ranking # 8 for the week, easily making it the most watched episode of the final two seasons. While the series finale is considered a ratings success, it is far from being the most watched episode of Will & Grace—that accolade remains with the season three episode "New Will City", which aired on 12 October 2000 and ranked # 4 for the week. When the show was at the height of its popularity (seasons 3-5), ranking in the Top 10 was a common occurrence, but the finale's Top 10 rank was the only such rank for season 8 and the first such rank since the season 7 premier "FYI: I Hurt, Too".
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Will & Grace on NBC.
Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps. All times listed are North American Eastern Time.
[edit] Lawsuit
In December 2003, in the midst of the series' sixth season, executive producers and creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick sued NBC and NBC studios, alleging that the network sold the rights to the series in an attempt to keep profits within the NBC family and thus cheating Kohan and Mutchnick out of considerable profits had the network shopped the show to the highest bidder. Another allegation against the network was that during the first four seasons of the series, the studio licensed the rights for amounts that were insufficient for covering production costs, thus leading to extraordinarily large production deficits."[16] Three months later, NBC filed a countersuit against Kohan and Mutchnick stating that the co-creators were expected to act as an independent third party in the negotiations between NBC and its subsidiary, NBC Studios."[17]
With a pending lawsuit and production beginning on other projects, Kohan and Mutchnick were absent on the Will & Grace set for most of its final seasons. They wrote the season 4 finale "A Buncha White Chicks Sittin' Around Talkin'" and did not return to the writers' seat until the series finale four years later. Three years after NBC's countersuit and one year after the series ended, the legal battle between NBC and Kohan and Mutchnick ended in 2007 when all parties agreed on a settlement, with the series creators being awarded $49 million, of their original $65 million lawsuit.[18]
[edit] Broadcasters
[edit] DVD releases
[edit] Running gags
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- Before a short argument starts, both Will & Grace will simultaneously say the same words.
- Will & Grace being referred to as "married".
- Grace would claim that she has a striking resemblance to certain red-haired celebrities, such as Julia Roberts, Rita Hayworth and Nicole Kidman.
- Karen continually mocks Grace's sense of style. ("Grace, that blouse hurts like a hangover.")
- Karen claims that scenes from movies (e.g., Speed, To Sir With Love, Norma Rae) or literature (e.g., Heidi) are her own experiences.
- Jack constantly makes jokes about Will's hair loss and obesity (even though Will is clearly neither fat nor losing his hair).
- Grace displays an odd love of food throughout the series and is generally slovenly and unladylike
- Karen and Rosario always get into short, heated arguments, with one talking over the other. The argument always ends with both compromising and hugging while confessing their love for each other.
- Whenever Rosario is not in an episode, Karen often mentions doing demeaning things to her or having her do demeaning things in an offhand way, such as having her maced and decorating a birthday cake with her teeth marks.
- Grace's small breasts are mentioned and made fun of throughout the series, in contrast to Karen's ample bosom. Debra Messing has stated that although, "There have been many jokes made along the way about me having small breasts." "I'd never get implants, because that's just not me. Certainly it's a popular trend, but it is an American beauty ideal that I don't subscribe to."[19]
- Will is borderline obsessive compulsive, often being referred to as something clever like "anal annie" or mocked for the fact that he often follows people around his apartment with a mini-vac.
- Whenever Karen is at a bar and in need of advice, the bartender "Smitty" (as Karen calls him) would always reply with a sad story of loss in his own life. When he finishes his stories, Karen always laughs heartily and tells Smitty that he's always there to cheer her up.
- Karen has a "secret" alias Anastasia Beaverhausen which she often uses while "slumming" in a place where she'd prefer not to be identified.
- When fighting with Beverley Leslie (Leslie Jordan), Karen will always come back at him with a reference to his size, such as "Baby Gap", "Seed of Chucky", "Teacup Poodle", "Thumbelina", or "Keebler Elf".
- Karen doesn't see her alcoholism and pill popping habits as an addiction. The other characters also mention her addictions in a light or joking way.
- When discovering something shocking, Jack will often quickly gasp celebrities with double barrel names such as Haley Joel Osment, Uma Thurman Hawke, Sarah Jessica Parker, or Britney Spears Federline.
- The uncertainty about Karen's age, especially when she makes comments such as about the "firing Picasso" and "The Great Depression".
- Karen's unwillingness to do actual work at Grace's office, despite being her assistant.
- Jack has an obsession with Cher and Kevin Bacon.
- Karen has an obese husband named Stanley who never appears to viewers. Karen makes constant remarks and jokes about his weight.
- Karen rapidly asking three questions at once, when confused or curious. (example: "What's this? What's going on? What's happening?")
[edit] Will & Grace in pop culture
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- In the South Park episode "South Park Is Gay!", at one point they are watching NBC and the announcer says, "You're watching Queer Eye for the Straight Guy! Coming up next is Will & Grace, followed by The Love Boat... with Men!"
- On the sitcom Scrubs, Dr. Cox once referred to J.D. and Elliot as Will and Grace, calling J.D. Grace, continuing his habit of calling J.D. by girls' names.
- Karen Walker was featured as #11 on E!'s "50 Most Wicked Women of Primetime" special.
- One of the categories in the game show Jeopardy! was "Will & Disgrace."
- On The Charlotte Church Show, Charlotte Church did a comedy sketch with Eric McCormack called Hywl & Grwys, a Welsh version of Will & Grace.
- Besides the Sony dubbed version, the Will and Grace concept was exported to Spanish-speaking countries as the Mexican-made sitcom Diseñador Ambos Sexos, starring Hector Suarez Gomis and Chantal Andere.
- On Dawson's Creek, gay character Jack McPhee and his straight female best friend Jen occasionally address each other as Will and Grace.
- In the song "Couch Potato" by Weird Al Yankovic, the singer's TiVo device assumes he's gay because he watches Will & Grace.
- In an episode from the final season of 3rd Rock From The Sun, the Solomons traveled to an alternate world where Harry is the CEO of NBC. One of Harry's decisions to improve the channel's TV ratings is to change the format of Will & Grace by making it "one night Will and one night Grace."
- In the American Dad! episode "Failure is not a Factory-Installed Option." when Stan Smith is inspecting the man in the beginning of the episode, he claims "the look in his eye states that he's not sure what Eric McCormack is going to do after Will & Grace either."
- In the Family Guy episode, "Airport '07," after Peter tells Lois he'll talk to Quagmire about leaving the house, there is a quick parody of the opening montage of Will & Grace with Peter and Lois as Will and Grace and Brian and Stewie presumeably as Jack and Karen.
- In The Office episode "Gay Witch Hunt," reacting to the recent outing of a coworker, homophobe Angela says that she sometimes watches Will & Grace. She says she enjoys Harry Connick Jr. ("He's so talented"), but otherwise it makes her want to throw up.
- In Men in Trees episode "Nice Girls Finish First," it turns out that Buzz's son is gay. When Mai founds out about this, she becomes happy since now she can have a gay friend, just like Karen.
- In a skit from The Chapelle Show, Clayton Bigsby, an African-American white supremacist, tells his followers at a rally, "If you don't like Will & Grace, that don't mean there's something wrong with you. It means there's something wrong with Will! He's a homosexual."
- An episode of Will & Dewitt has the parody title Will & Grass.
- In the movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, the son of one of the characters says that the couple is just like Will & Grace because they do everything together.
- In the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin, one of the characters says to two of the main characters that are emotionally discussing relationship problems, "Back to work, Will and Grace."
- In a skit from Da Ali G Show, the character Bruno asks a Christian minister if watching Will & Grace violates Christian values, to which the minister replies, "It's ungodly."
[edit] See also
- List of Will & Grace episodes
- Supporting characters on Will & Grace
- List of guest stars on Will & Grace
- List of awards won by Will & Grace
- List of television shows with lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered characters
[edit] References
- ^ IMDb (2006). Awards for Will & Grace
- ^ Goodnight, Gracie: 'Will & Grace' ends landmark run. SignOnSanDiego (9 May 2006). Retrieved on 2008-03-23.
- ^ Will & Grace: The Big Finale is Full of Surprises. TVSeriesFinale.com (29 May 2006). Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
- ^ Will & Grace. Daily Variety (September 16, 1998). Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
- ^ Watching with Ambivalence. Pop Matters Television (October 3, 2000). Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
- ^ NBC's 'Will' bows out gracefully. USA Today (May 17, 2006). Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ 'Will & Grace' Helps NBC Stay Tough on Thursday. Zap2It (May 19, 2006). Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ "TV Winners & Losers: Numbers Racket A Final Tally Of The Season's Show (from Nielsen Media Research)", Entertainment Weekly, June 4, 1999. Retrieved on 2008-03-17.
- ^ "US-Jarescharts", Quoten Meter, May 30, 2002. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ "Outback in Front: CBS Wins Season", E Online, May 25, 2001. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ "How did your favorite show rate?", USA Today, May 28, 2002. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ "Networks face Reality Check", The Enquirer, May 25, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ "I. T. R. S. RANKING REPORT 01 THRU 210 (OUT OF 210 PROGRAMS) DAYPART: PRIMETIME MON-SUN", ABC MediaNet, June 2, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ "2004-05 Primetime Wrap", Hollywood Reporter, May 27, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ "2005-06 primetime wrap", Hollywood Reporter, May 26, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ "Producers of 'Will & Grace' sue NBC", USA Today, December 16, 2003. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ "NBC sues 'Will & Grace' creators", USA Today, March 5, 2004. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ "Surprise settlement in 'Grace' case", Hollywood Reporter, April 27, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ Messing Defends Small Breasts. Contactmusic.com (October 4, 2005). Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
[edit] External links
- Official NBC Site
- Will & Grace SPAIN
- Fansite with Episode Guides
- Will & Grace Theme Song
- Will & Grace at aboutgaymovies
- Official Canal+ Site (French Broadcaster)
- Will & Grace World
- Will & Grace at the Internet Movie Database
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