Will & Grace

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Will & Grace was a popular Emmy Award-winning American television situation comedy that focused on Will Truman, a gay lawyer and his best friend Grace Adler, a straight Jewish woman who runs her own interior design firm, as well as Karen Walker, a very rich socialite and Jack McFarland, an effeminate gay struggling actor. The show took place in New York City.

The show debuted on the NBC network 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. Since the sixth season, however, the shows ratings gradually declined before stabilizing in the eighth and final season.

The eighth season première was broadcast live on September 29, 2005. The hour-long final episode aired May 18, 2006, preceded by a one-hour retrospective. The final broadcast drew in an estimated 18.1 million viewers.

Will & Grace was filmed in front of a live studio audience (most episodes), at Stage 17 in CBS Studio Center, a space that totals 14,000 sq. ft.

Reruns can be seen on daily syndication and on Lifetime Television.

Contents

Plot

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Will & Grace's early relationship

Will and Grace first met at Columbia University, where they became boyfriend and girlfriend. Will met Jack at a party, where Jack accused Will of being in denial about his sexuality. With the counsel of Jack, Will finally came out to Grace, after discovering she was celebrating their engagement with her family. Once the shock set in, Grace threw him out of the house. They did not speak for a year (Grace moved off campus), but they accidentally ran into each other again on Thanksgiving the following year at D'Agostino's supermarket. This meeting spurred a reconciliation and they became best friends.

As roommates

When the show debuted, Grace was about to get married to her boyfriend Danny. When Will disapproves, she becomes angry and plans 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 moves in with Will, in his apartment on the Upper West Side in New York City. Will and Grace spend a lot of time with one another as well as with friends Jack McFarland and Karen Walker. Jack is a flamboyantly gay struggling stage actor who, over the course of the show, has a range of jobs including cater waiter, acting teacher, back-up dancer for singers like Jennifer Lopez and Janet Jackson and TV producer. Karen is an alcoholic millionaire and 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-sexual 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 getting divorced at the start of the seventh season.

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 remarry and raise their daughter, Laila, 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. In the show's early seasons, Will did not have any long-term love interests, but this changed in 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 foundering 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 long-time friend Rosario Salazar in order to help her establish U.S. citizenship. It was also revealed that he had fathered a son many years prior (through artificial insemination with a lesbian woman played by Rosie O'Donnell).

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.

Conflicts

In season five, Will and Grace experience their first big fight since the series began (although there have been many minor arguments as well as a reference later in season three to a major fight back in 1985; the two also did not speak for a year after Will came out to Grace when they were dating in college). Will and Grace decided to have a child together via artificial insemination. However, she meets and falls in love with Dr. Leo Marcus 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.

Series finale and conclusion

Grace becomes pregnant with ex-husband Leo's baby, the result of a one-night stand on an airplane, but Leo currently lives in Rome and is about to marry someone else, unaware of Grace's pregnancy. When Will and Grace go out to dinner with a couple who are facing a very happy divorce, they find Vince working there as an undercover detective, and Will and Vince reunite as friends. Will's father (George Truman) then dies of a heart attack just two days after he and Will have a huge fight over Will's homosexuality and Will's decision to someday have kids. At George's funeral, Vince shows up. Will's mother tells him that he should be completely honest about his feelings. Will then tells Vince that he misses him even though he's seeing someone, but Vince surprises Will by telling him that he misses him too, and he's not seeing anyone because of it, and they reunite. But just two episodes later, they break up because Will's commitment to raising Grace's baby with her interferes with Vince's idea of the two of them moving in together. After that, Grace shows up saying that she talked to Leo's best man from the wedding who said that Leo called the wedding off and that she wants to go to Rome and talk to Leo about the pregnancy convinced that he still loves her, but Will asks if he called saying that he loves her, Grace doesn't give a response and gets shocked when she hears that Will broke up with Vince and that it was the hardest thing to do, but he did it for her. So, a week later, when Grace is home alone, Leo shows up declaring his love for her, the two of them kiss when Grace reveals her pregnancy. She goes with Leo to Rome. Will and Grace don't speak for two years; during this time, Will gets back together with Vince, and the two move in together and have a baby, Ben, thanks to Will's sperm and a young lady who "sold her eggs for rent money." Grace, meanwhile, gives birth to a girl, Lila, and one year later, she and Leo eventually move back to their old place in Brooklyn. Jack and Karen plot to reconcile Will and Grace and use lies and manipulation to get them to meet up. They make up and try to rekindle their friendship, but they are unable to return to their previous level of closeness.

Will and Grace's friendship remains distant (at best) for another 20 years until they bump into each other again when their children, Ben and Lila, move in to the same college dormitory. Later on, the two of them reunite with Karen and Jack for a drink. The group remarks that even though a lot of things have happened, they are still pretty much the same. Flash forward to years later, when Will and Vince's son, Ben, marries Grace and Leo's daughter, Lila.

Beverley Leslie (Leslie Jordan) meets Jack at a restaurant, and it is revealed that Beverley's long-time gay lover, Benjy, who was always referred to as a "business associate," had parted ways with Leslie. Beverley makes advances towards Jack but is rejected, even though he offered to share his vast fortune with him. However, when Karen hears of this, she, now poor after her second divorce from Stan and knowing that everything Stan owned was borrowed, forces Jack to get into a relationship with Beverley, stating that she has been supporting Jack for all these years and that it was only fitting for him to support her now. After Rosario insists that Jack is unhappy in his relationship with Beverley, Karen goes to visit him and tells him that she doesn't want to force him to keep the relationship up. Jack, after telling Karen that Beverley had just made him his sole heir, leaves a note, and then he leaves with Karen. Beverley then enters the room looking for Jack and decides to check the balcony. However, he's whisked off by a sudden gust of wind and apparently dies, leaving Jack incredibly wealthy.

Karen and Jack's story arc ends with them growing old and rich, living happily together in Jack's luxurious apartment, and with Karen taking care of a wheelchair-using Rosario.

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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 fair and accurate representation of the gay community. Despite more than two dozen nominations, Will & Grace has never won a Golden Globe award (as of April 2006).

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 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.

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Cast and crew

Regular characters

In the opening credits, McCormack and Messing are billed together, with the name that goes on top alternating between episodes.

Recurring characters

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  • Stan Walker (unseen character) - Karen's obese husband
  • Olivia Walker (Hallee Hirsh) - Karen's stepdaughter
  • Mason Walker (unseen character) - Karen's stepson, whom she calls "the fat one"
  • Lois Whitley (Suzanne Pleshette) - Karen's mother; her deep voice (Pleshette's natural voice) contrasts sharply with Karen's exceptionally high range (Mullally's fake voice)
  • Bobbi Adler (Debbie Reynolds) - Grace's entertainer mother
  • George Truman (Sydney Pollack) - Will's father
  • Marilyn Truman (Blythe Danner) - Will's mother
  • Tina (Lesley Ann Warren) - Will's father's mistress
  • Rob (Tom Gallop) and Ellen (Leigh-Allyn Baker) - two of Grace and Will's closest friends and regular charades buddies, a married couple with three children
  • Val Bassett (Molly Shannon) - a slightly crazy, alcoholic, divorced woman who lives in the same building as Will, Grace, and Jack; Val tends to get into fights with Grace, and has been known to stalk Jack
  • Joe (Jerry Levine) and Larry (Tim Bagley) - two of Will and Grace's close friends, a gay married couple with an adopted daughter
  • Beverley Leslie (Leslie Jordan) - a closeted, staunchly Republican, very short and very wealthy socialite whose relationship with Karen changes rapidly from friend to enemy and back
  • Nathan (Woody Harrelson) - Grace's neighbor and boyfriend (seasons three and four)
  • Barry (Dan Futterman) - Karen's gay cousin, who Jack and Will help transform from a slobby man just out of the closet into a more confident and refined gay man, and then both fall for him
  • Lyle Finster (John Cleese) - the father of Stan's mistress (Lorraine), briefly engaged and married to Karen (season six)
  • Dr. Marvin "Leo" Markus (Harry Connick Jr.) - Grace's boyfriend (starting in season five) and eventual husband; their marriage ended (season seven) after he cheated on her. He is also the father of her child (season eight) and in the series finale they have remarried and are raising their daughter, Lila.
  • Vince D'Angelo (Bobby Cannavale) - Will's first long-term boyfriend in the shows run, whom he eventually marries and raises his son, Ben, with (seasons six through eight)
  • Stuart Lamarck (Dave Foley) - a client of Will's and boyfriend of Jack's (season six)
  • Ben Doucette (Gregory Hines) - Will's boss at Doucette & Stein and occasional love interest of Grace (seasons two to three); occasionally showcased Hines' real-life tap-dancing skills
  • Mrs. Freeman (Jo Marie Payton) - Ben Doucette's secretary whom always "mmm-hmmm"s at Will and refers to Jack as Will's boyfriend. (seasons two to three).
  • Zandra (Eileen Brennan) - Jack's acting coach, who later kicked him out of her class and eventually was retired to an Actor's Nursing Home
  • Lorraine Finster (Minnie Driver) - Stan's mistress (and therefore one of Karen's many rivals), a cafeteria worker at the prison, and Lyle's daughter. According to the sixth-season episode "The Accidental Tsuris," she was raised as a girl despite being genetically male or perhaps hermaphroditic.
  • Eleanor Markus (Judith Ivey) - Leo's mother and a noted author of three books on theatre, she meets Grace during brunch alongside her husband, and attends both their weddings. She also is the first to tell her new daughter-in-law her son's actual name, Marvin.
  • Michael (Chris Potter) - Will's first long-term boyfriend, whom he dated for 7 years and is often referred to (unseen) in Season 1. He appears in one episode of Season 2.

Notable guest stars

Will & Grace often has high-profile guest stars appearing on the show. This list is by no means complete. Guest stars in character roles:

  • Shohreh Aghdashloo (as a Jewish Iranian hired by Grace)
  • Alan Arkin (as Martin Adler, Grace's father, not featured in the series until its seventh season)
  • Rosanna Arquette (as Julie, a masseuse who Grace befriends until she touches Grace inappropriately)
  • Alec Baldwin (as Malcolm Widmark, a man hired by Stan to return Will to the legal profession; he also dates Karen for a short period of time)
  • Jason Biggs (as Baby Glenn, a former local celebrity and a guest at Will's auction)
  • Jack Black (uncredited) (as Dr. Isaac Hershberg, who examines Karen; he is also the brother of the occasionally-seen nurse Sheila, played by show writer Laura Kightlinger)
  • Beau Bridges (as Daniel McFarland, Jack's stepfather)
  • Edward Burns (as Nick, Grace's first serious boyfriend since her divorce from Leo)
  • Veronica Cartwright (as Judith McFarland, Jack's mother)
  • Richard Chamberlain (as Clyde, an elderly man who Will brings to game night, much to Grace's chagrin)
  • John Cleese (as Lyle Finster, father of Lorraine, who marries (and is then divorced by), Karen in the season six finale)
  • Glenn Close (as Fannie Lieber, a noted photographer who takes Will and Grace's picture)
  • Joan Collins (as Helena Barnes, a designer with whom Grace competes for a job)
  • Macaulay Culkin (as Jason Towne, the lawyer representing Karen in the case of her divorce from Stan)
  • Matt Damon (as Owen, Jack's heterosexual rival, pretending to be gay to vie for a spot in the Manhattan Gay Men's Chorus)
  • Geena Davis (as Janet Adler, Grace's screwed-up, elder sister)
  • Kristin Davis (as Nadine, Vince's straight female friend)
  • Ellen DeGeneres (as Sister Louise, a nun to whom Will sells Grace's (now deceased) Uncle's old car)
  • Patrick Dempsey (as Matt, a sportscaster who becomes Will's boyfriend until he refuses to come out to his boss)
  • Taye Diggs (as James, Will's Canadian boyfriend who Grace briefly marries in a green card wedding)
  • Michael Douglas (as Gavin Hatch, a somewhat closeted gay cop who becomes attracted to Will and has issues with seeing food stuck in people's teeth)
  • Minnie Driver (as Lorraine Finster, Stan's British mistress)
  • Edie Falco (as Deirdre, one of a pair of lesbian real-estate "flippers")
  • Victor Garber (as Peter Bovington, a former actor now working as a doorman)
  • Andy Garcia (as Milo, a restaurateur and lover of Karen's)
  • Sara Gilbert (as Cheryl, like Will, a Barry Manilow fanatic, a.k.a. "fanilow")
  • Jeff Goldblum (as Scott Woolley, Karen's self-proclaimed nemesis, who initially wants to ruin her but ends up falling in love with her)
  • Seth Green (as Randall Finn, a gay former child star)
  • Woody Harrelson (as Nathan, one of Grace's boyfriends)
  • Neil Patrick Harris (as Bill, the leader of a group of former homosexuals)
  • Gregory Hines (as Ben Doucette, Will's boss who becomes Grace's boyfriend)
  • Stacy Keach (as Wendell Schacter, a former colleague of Jack's who usurps his acting class)
  • Michele Lee (as Lanore, one of the lesbians who ended up dancing with both Will & Jack)
  • Hal Linden (as Alan Mills, an elderly gay man who briefly becomes Will's "sugar daddy")
  • Natasha Lyonne (as Gillian, Grace's intern, who decides to turn into the spitting image of Karen)
  • Madonna (as Liz, Karen's room-mate for a brief period of time)
  • Lee Majors (as Burt Wolfe, a friend of Grace's father)
  • Camryn Manheim (as Psychic Sue)
  • Dylan McDermott (as Tom, a boyfr