Will & Grace 

Gay lawyer Will and straight interior designer Grace share a New York City apartment. Their best friends are gleeful and proud gay Jack and charismatic, filthy-rich, amoral socialite Karen.

Creators:

David Kohan, Max Mutchnick

Stars:

Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally

Nominated for 30 Golden Globes. Another 95 wins & 275 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Eric McCormack	...	Will Truman 246 episodes, 1998-2020
Debra Messing	...	Grace Adler 246 episodes, 1998-2020
Megan Mullally	...	Karen Walker 246 episodes, 1998-2020
Sean Hayes	...	Jack McFarland 246 episodes, 1998-2020

Storyline

Gay lawyer Will Truman (Eric McCormack) and straight interior designer Grace Adler (Debra Messing) are best friends living in New York City. Grace is engaged to a real jerk until the relationship falls apart and she moves in with Will. It's supposed to be temporary, until Grace finds her own place, but more and more it looks like a permanent arrangement. Grace's secretary and assistant is fun-loving wealthy socialite Karen Walker (Megan Mullally); Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes) is Will's flamboyant gay friend.

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Plot Keywords:

gay | best friend | gay friend | lawyer | new york city | 

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Taglines:

Meet Will and Grace...they're not a couple, they're a couple of best friends.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

TV-14

Did You Know?

Trivia

Similar to Love Sidney; although Will and Grace is more explicit in its discussion of homosexuality. But both involve a straight woman moving in with her gay best friend in a posh Manhattan apartment and forming a new kind of family. (And in both shows the leading lady is a redhead, and the lead male is a brunette. And in both shows the man is the level headed steadying force; and the woman is kind of a lovably ditzy and wild-eyed dreamer). But Will and Grace was much more successful; running for 8 seasons in its original run; 4 during the reboot; and was ensconced in the top 10 for much of its run; it was an Emmy winning and critically acclaimed show; lauded by Vice President in his campaign speeches; and it was a landmark series and a turning point for LGTB rights; whereas Love Sidney is mostly a forgotten curio at this point; it failed to find an audience during its initial run and was cancelled after just 2 seasons. But both were important NBC sitcoms about the gay experience; both with essentially the same premise.

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Goofs

Actor Eric McCormack is Canadian. Will, the character he plays, is not. Nonetheless throughout the series "Will" frequently lets slip with a Canadian accent, particularly on the stereotypical 'about', which he pronounces 'aboot'.

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Quotes

[Jack is meditating to prepare to tell his mom he's gay]
Jack: And now I'm calm.
[Here's a knock on the door and learns it's his mother]
Jack: Sarah Jessica Parker. Hide me.

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Connections

Referenced in The Paley Center Salutes the Best of Will & Grace (2017)

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Soundtracks

(Theme)
Composed by Jonathan Wolff

User Reviews

Funny, but needs a bit of a facelift.

OK, I feel like a bit of a traitor not totally gushing over every aspect of the show, as it has brought me a LOT of laughs over the years, but something seems to have gone amiss, but it's not too late to turn around.

When the show started, I was still upset about the cancellation of "Ellen" and didn't watch, but when I did I was HOOKED IMMEDIATELY! It was fresh, well-acted and written. Due to work commitments, I have to rely on syndication to watch it and it wasn't until recently that I got to see more recent episodes.

Probably the best episode of the first season was "Will Works Out" where Will is terrified that one of his clients would find out he was gay, and his own internal homophobia shone through when he called Jack a "fag." Jack's line "I'd rather be a fag than afraid." was amazing.

One of the show's strengths was that the cattiness was only on the surface and it really showed that these characters were vulnerable and loved each other. But, lately, the comedy has just become, well, mean.

This show is still great and has a lot of potential, I just wish the characters would be allowed to be human again. The episode where Karen gets rejected by that player restaurant manager (Andy Garcia, I think, but don't quote me on that), was a turning point for her character. We really saw that all Karen's mean-spirited barbs were just bravura to cover her insecurity. She and the recently-married Grace had a great moment at the end. Classic.

Lately, the characters have become somewhat one-note, but this can change. If this show is going to survive (which I REALLY hope it does) the lovability of these characters needs resurrection.

Kudos to the amazing cast, brilliant writers and directors. Also, Shelley Morrison (I hope I spelled that right) deserves note, she is very funny as Karen's somewhat frightening maid/henchwoman Rosario.

To all concerned, please bring "Will and Grace" back to it's former glory. You've created a gem...it just needs a bit of polishing.

Details

Official Sites:

NBC

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 September 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Will and Grace

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

KoMut Entertainment, Three Princesses and a P, Three Sisters Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1