Tag Archives: Will & Grace

Comedy

Will & Grace Call it Quits After Three Seasons

(c) NBC

The cast of reboot comedy Will & Grace put up a united front over the weekend as they announced the unanimous decision to say a final goodbye to the show and characters we’ve all come to love over the past two decades.

The Will & Grace reboot has been one of the more successful reboots of late with the show returning for seasons nine through eleven after an eleven year hiatus. Over the weekend, the announcement to end the show was made through official statements and social media channels.

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The final season is currently shooting and will have eighteen episodes in total, matching the extended tenth season of the show.

Will & Grace is currently streaming on STAN in Australia.

Comedy, FRONT

Will & Grace Extended a Third New Season and More Episodes!

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The dream run of Will & Grace’s reboot continues with the announcement by NBC at PaleyFest that it has committed to a third season of the revived sitcom or its 11th season overall.

Along with this news, it’s been announced the comedy’s second season (or tenth season) has been extended a further five episodes bringing the run up-to eighteen episodes in total and this is before production has even begun on the next season.  The newly announced extra season will also have an eighteen episode run.

NBC’s faith has not been misplaced. Season-to-date, the new Will & Grace ranks as the networks No. 1 comedy and the No. 2 comedy, overall, on TV.

Will & Grace currently streams new episodes on STAN Australia.

 

Comedy, FRONT

Your Essential Viewing Guide to the History of Will & Grace.

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During its original airing, fan favorite comedy Will & Grace ran for a whopping 194 episodes over an eight season stint and with the show about to make its much anticipated comeback, it’s time to look at those ‘essential’ episodes that you need to binge before the show returns to brush up on your Will & Grace history.

These chosen episodes provide pivotal moments in the Will & Grace timeline from major relationships, back stories and family members that bring us to the characters we will meet again in season 9.

1: The Pilot

Obviously, this episodes sets up Will & Grace and their highly dysfunctional long standing relationship.  How much each play in the others lives makes a big impact especially on Grace who finds herself walking away from her boyfriend Danny.

2: The Unsinkable Mommy Adler / Season One – Episode Thirteen

This episode introduces us to Grace’s flamboyant mother Bobbi Adler (Debbie Reynolds) who causes a ruckus when she suggests that Will & Grace should get married.  The comment forces Grace to take a closer look at who she is and just how like her star dazed mom she really is.

3: Big Brother is Coming Parts 1 + 2 / Season One Episode Fourteen and Fifteen

Jack’s surprise party provides more of a surprise to Will when his estranged older brother Sam (John Slattery) arrives at the request of Grace.  A truce between the two is put on hold after Will discovers that Grace and Sam had hooked up at Jack’s party.

4: Guess Who’s Not Coming to Dinner / Season Two – Episode One

Will is finding that Grace is not coping well with their new living situation and to prove Will wrong that she can survive in her own apartment, attempts to throw a housewarming dinner party with Karen and friends Rob and Ellen.  Meanwhile to keep the INS at bay, Jack moves into Karen’s mansion to maintain his fake wedding to Karen’s maid Rosario.

5: Homo For the Holidays / Season Two – Episode Seven

In this Thanksgiving themed episode, it’s revealed that Jack has never actually come out to his mom Judith (Veronica Cartwright) even though Jack was responsible for pushing Will to do the same to his mom.  It’s also revealed that Jack used Grace as his fake girlfriend causing Karen to go into a jealous rage and that Judith lied about who Jack’s real father is.

6: Oh Dad, Poor Dad, He’s Kept me in the Closet and I’m so Sad / Season Two – Episode Thirteen

This episode takes a closer look at Will’s relationship with his father George (Sydney Pollack) and shows that things between the two aren’t as rosy as Will thought.  It turns out George has told all his co-workers that Will is actually married to Grace meanwhile Karen hires a private detective to track down Jack’s real father.

7: An Affair to Forget / Season Two – Episode Nineteen

Leading up to Rob (Tom Gallop) and Ellen’s (Leigh-Allyn Baker) wedding, it’s revealed that when the pair had separated, Rob and Grace had hooked up causing a rift between Grace and Ellen.

8: Lows in the Mid-Eighties Parts One and Two / Season Three – Episodes Eight and Nine

This flashback double episode delves back into Will & Grace’s college years when the two were dating.  Grace brings Will to her parents home for Thanksgiving but he is struggling with issues of his own and seeks help with the out and proud Jack meanwhile Karen meets Rosario for the very first time.

9: Sons and Lovers Part Two / Season Three – Episode Twenty Five

Jack has finally tracked down his birth father but is devastated to learn that he had passed away years earlier.  Struggling with the news that he never got to meet him, Jack is surprised to find out he has a teenage son named Elliot (Michael Angarano)

10: Rules of Engagement / Season Four – Episode Six

Grace is disappointed when boyfriend Nathan (Woody Harrelson) proposes to her, not for proposing but how it was done.  When deciding she wants to make it right, her big surprise gesture goes wrong and Grace finds herself single again.

11: Dyeing is Easy, Comedy is Hard / Season Four – Episode Fifteen

Grace and Will attend Grace’s ex – Danny’s (Tom Verica) wedding where the two try and reinvent themselves from the people they really are while Jack comes head to head with Elliot’s mother Bonnie (Rosie O’Donnell) who isn’t happy with how Jack is raising Elliot.

12: Something Borrowed, Someone’s Due / Season Four – Episode Eighteen

Jack, having finally tracked down Karen’s estranged mother Lois (Suzanne Pleshette) attempts to get the two to reunite but Karen still can’t get past how Lois would use a young Karen as a ploy in her scams.

12: Cheatin’ Trouble Blues / Season Four – Episode Nineteen

Under the assumption that his father’s affair was done with, Will gives his parents tickets for a cruise as a gift for their wedding anniversary but is shocked to learn this George’s affair with Tina (Leslie Ann Warren) is anything but over and that his mother Marilyn (Blythe Danner) is also having an affair.  The episode ends with Will’s parents making the decision to separate.

13: A.I: Artificial Insemination Parts One and Two / Season Four – Episodes Twenty Six and Twenty Seven

Off the back of a ‘bucket list’ Will and Grace begin to talk heavily about having a baby together and consider the options on how to make it happen.  After two failed attempts at IVF and sex being off the table they decide to try IVF once more but a mysterious man on a white horse could change everything.

14: The Kids Stays Out of the Picture / Season Five – Episode Three

With Grace’s relationship with Leo (Harry Connick Jr) moving more quickly than expected, Grace asks Will if they can take a step back from the IVF treatment so she can evaluate her options.  The episode ends with a particularly brutal fight between Will & Grace.

15: Marry Me a Little, Marry Me a Little More / Season Five – Episodes Nine and Ten

Grace and Leo make a spur of the moment decision to get married as part of a TV stunt for the Today Show but the move isn’t well received by Will and Grace’s friends and family.  At the following wedding reception, Grace becomes uneasy as she realizes just how little she knows about her new husband.  After learning their marriage wasn’t actually legal, the two decide to have an official wedding where Will ends up walking Grace down the isle.

16: 23 / Season Five – Episode Twenty Three

Karen is concerned how she’ll come out after her divorce with Stan is finalized but is shocked to learn he has died while in bed with his mistress Lorraine (Minnie Driver). Leo is offered a job in Guatemala with Doctors without Borders and Grace agrees to join him.

17: Last Ex to Brooklyn – Season Six – Episode Two 

Leo and Grace decide to throw a dinner party for Will, Jack, Karen and Leo’s ex girlfriend Dianne (Mira Sorvino) but it turns out, Dianne is the girl Will slept with right after breaking up with Grace (season 3 episodes 8 and 9) and Grace isn’t taking this revelation so well.

18: The Accidental Tsuris: Season Six – Episode Eleven

Karen finds herself with the unwanted attention of Lorraine’s father Lyle (John Cleese) but changes her tune when Lorraine makes it clear that Karen is to stay away from him meanwhile Grace’s older sister Janet (Geena Davis) arrives to launch her jewelry enterprise/folding table subway stand but Grace can’t handle her free-loading sister anymore.

19: I Do. Oh, No, You Di-in’t: Season Six – Episode Twenty Three

Karen and Lyle make the spur of the moment decision to fly to Vegas and elope but shortly after the wedding, it becomes clear that Karen isn’t too keen on Lyle’s strict demands.  Leo also arrives in Vegas and reveals that he cheated on Grace while in Cambodia working for Doctors without Boarders.

20: Alive and Schticking: Season Eight – Episode One 

Will informs Karen that Stan is actually alive and that he was forced to fake his death.  It turns out Rosario also knew this, much to the disgust of Karen, and is fired.

21: Grace Expectations – Season Eight – Episode Sixteen

Grace finds herself struggling with the idea of telling Leo she is pregnant with his child but decides it’s in their both best interests if she tells him.

22: Blanket Apology: Season Eight – Episode Nineteen

Jack goes for an audition for a bit part in a new cop drama but ends up scoring the lead role and a simple dinner at Will’s parents place turns into an all-out brawl as Will’s father gives Grace Will’s cherished baby blanket under the belief that Will will never have children of his own.  The two leave things unresolved before Will learns his father passed away shortly after.

23: The Mourning Son: Season Eight – Episode Twenty

Will struggles with the fact he left things so harshly between him and his father and with the help of his mother, comes to terms with how everything ended.

24: Partners ‘n’ Crime: Season Eight – Episode Twenty One

Will begins to rekindle his relationship with Vince (Bobby Cannavale) forcing Grace to take a look at whether or not Will will have enough room in his life for Vince and Grace and her unborn child.

25: The Finale: Season Eight – Episode Twenty Three

The culmination of eight seasons ends tonight with a one-hour series finale — will Will and Grace raise a child together and find ultimate happiness? Will Jack find anyone that loves him as much as he loves himself? Will Karen find true happiness with the absence of Stan?

Will & Grace returns Thursday night, September 28th on NBC and begins streaming on Friday the 29th on STAN Australia.

 

 

Comedy, FRONT, Stan, Streaming TV, TV

Eveything You Need to Know about the Will & Grace Revival

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Image: NBC

Since the news broke that NBC were two thumbs up for the Will & Grace revival, a slew of information has been streaming out about what to expect when the show returns for a brand new run in late September (Sept 29th on NBC to be precise).  From how THAT original finale plays out into this series to who’s back, who’s missing and who’s stopping by I’ve put everything you need to know about the Will & Grace finale into one single fabulous post!

The Revival:  Even before a single episode has aired of this new season, NBC have already confirmed the show will be back in 2018 for another 13 episode round.  This new season (officially classed as season 9) has already been extended from its originally announced 13 episodes to 16 while at present, season 10 is sitting at 13.

This revival came about thanks to that hilarious election themed mini-reunion episode with NBC taking note of the huge response from fans old and new and went about ordering a 10 episode season revival.

How will the original finale play into this return?:  The original finale that aired back in 2006 saw Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace (Debra Messing) parting ways for almost 20 years, with both characters married (Will to Vince played by Bobby Cannavale and Grace to Leo (Harry Connick, Jr) and each couple with a child.  The last scenes in that finale saw Will & Grace eventually reunite after their college aged children ended up living across from each other at the campus dorm.

Even though this return will be classed as the show’s 9th season and takes place only 11 years after the finale, the entire dissolution of the friendship and each couples kids will be ‘erased’ from the Will & Grace history. Talking to EW, co-creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan said  ‘When the decision was made to bring the series back, we were like, well, we left them with kids, right?” And if they have children, then it has to be about them being parents, ‘cause presumably it would be a priority in their lives. And if it wasn’t a priority in their lives, then they’re still parents, they’re just bad parents, right? We frankly did not want to see them being either good parents or bad parents. We wanted them to be Will and Grace.”

The Core Cast:  The revival will see Will and Grace living together as the two did for the bulk of the series’ run with Jack (Sean Hayes) living across from them and Karen (Megan Mullally) still a rich boozy socialite living in her mansion.  Will is still working as a corporate lawyer, Grace remains an interior designer but with a bigger office and working with current day design technology along with ‘assistant’ Karen while Jack, who flitted from ‘acting’ to retail to student nurse to acting teacher during the shows original run will be back in his latter career teaching the ‘Jackting’ method of acting.

The Recurring Cast: Shelley Morrison who played Karen’s long suffering, viper tongued maid Rosario Salazar confirmed she won’t be back for the revival.  Morrison has now retired from acting, with the exception of a small appearance in the 2016 Will & Grace political themed mini episode.  Rosario won’t be forgotten on ignored with Mutchnick adding “The audience has come to know and love her — as we do — and we’re dealing with her as a character and we’re writing to it very specifically.”

Along with Rosario’s absence, the revival will touch on Grace’s mother Bobbi Adler played by the late Debbie Rynolds.

Confirmed to return are thee integral characters to the Will & Grace history – Harry Connick, Jr as Grace’s husband Leo, Bobby Cannavale as Will’s husband Vince and Minnie Driver as Karen’s British nemesis Lorraine Finster.  Noting that the 2006 finale is being wiped, how Leo and Vince fit into this revival is yet to be seen considering Will and Grace will be back living together.

No word yet on Leslie Jordan as Karen’s best friend/enemy number one Beverly Leslie, Blythe Danner as Will’s widowed mother Marilyn Truman or Tom Gallop and Leigh-Allyn Baker as game night friends Rob and Ellen.

Update Sept 18th:  Michael Angarano is a confirmation to return having filmed his scenes last week.  Angarano played Jack’s son Elliot for 12 episodes during the original run and is currently tapped for a single episode in season 9.

The Guest Stars:  From Madonna to Demi Moore, Cher and Britney Spears, the original series run never shied away from nabbing big named stars to appear on the show and this next season won’t be any different with the recent news that Glee’s Jane Lynch, Girls star Andrew Rannells and 2017 Tony Award winner Ben Platt have all signed on to guest star in season 9.

When and how to watch:  Will & Grace season 9 begins Thursday September 28th as part of NBC’s must-see-TV lineup at 9/8c in the states while here in Australia, the series begins on Friday the 29th on streaming service STAN

This post will be updated as news comes about for the sew season.
Crime, Drama, FRONT, NBC, TV

New Details on Debra Messing’s New Show for NBC

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Debra Messing moves to NBC for new show

Debra Messing is set to headline a new drama for NBC titled “The Mysteries of Laura” playing a homicide detective juggling a demanding work life and twin boys in her home life.

The Mysteries of Laura will see Messing playing a female homicide detective named Laura Diamond who can handle murderous criminals — but not her hell-raising twin children.  The show written by Jeff Rake and directed by McG (Charlies Angels) is based on the popular Spanish series Los Misterios De Laura which explores the life and relationships of Laura Diamond.

Messing, who rose to fame in NBC’s comedy Will & Grace and more recently the NBC musical series Smash was last season, attached to a comedy project for CBS that never came to light.

Berlanti Prods. and Kapital Entertainment are producing “Mysteries of Laura” in association with Warner Bros. TV. The original Spanish series was created by Carlos Vila and Javier Holgado for Boomerang TV and TVE1 Spain.

Via Deadline.com

Update – read my review of The Mysteries of Laura

Comedy, FRONT, TV

Sean Saves the World, but Barely

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Sean Hayes and Samantha Isler in Sean Saves the World

Remember when, after FRIENDS, Lisa Kudrow tried to move on and leave Phoebe Buffay behind with The Comeback?  Probably not right.  Not many people watched, (you should have though – very funny) but people were not ready to see a popular actress portray another role other than the one they love.  Heck, Megan Mullally’s next venture after Will & Grace didn’t fare any better.  Courteney Cox, Matt Le Blanc, Doug Savant, Matthew Perry, Debra Messing, Laura Leighton, Jason Alexander…most have had numerous failed attempts at moving on before finding the right program for them

This is where some of Sean Saves The World finds it’s problems.  Sean Hayes almost went into hiding after the end of Will & Grace until showing up in this so-so comedy and while watching the pilot, it felt like I was watching Sean Saves the World starring Jack McFarland.

Yep, I said it.  This is a poor man’s Will & Grace where Grace is Sean’s teenage daughter Ellie, Karen is his loveable/hate-able mother Lorna and Hayes picking up the Will and Jack roles.  The whole thing does not feel right at all.  Strip everything back, you’d be left with a run of the mill sitcom about a gay man whose teenage daughter suddenly moves in with him while at the same time his work life becomes more demanding.  It’s nothing fancy, but it’s a sitcom after all.  The heavy themes never really come into play here.

Blame however cannot be put solely on Sean Hayes.  In the end, he is a master of his craft and works with what has been given to him (including the copious amount of make-up he sports in the pilot episode).  The set-up of the teenage daughter suddenly appearing to live with him is confusing.  I honestly don’t really know if they had much of a father/daughter relationship before this – I think there may have been a weekend on and off situation going on.  They both act like they haven’t (insert awkward conversations about her conception here) yet Sean’s daughter Ellie (Samantha Isler) comes to his aid to help with save his job and Sean finds himself with literally no idea on how to parent his daughter.

Also, don’t get me started on Sean’s new boss, Max (Thomas Lennon).  Yes, Max is supposed to be a character we’re not going to like but Lennon portrays Max with such evil boss cliques it’s like he is the new bad guy in the next Bond film – all he’s missing is the white fluffy cat on his lap.  While i’m on it, the rest of Sean’s co-workers were pretty ‘bleh’ as well.  I guess they are only fillers but I felt like Megan Hilty (Smash) as Liz was a bit of a wasted role.  The only real saving grace here is Linda Lavin as Sean’s loud mouthed mother Lorna.  She’s nabbing most of the laugh quotes and plays well off Hayes.

Look, If you can ignore Hayes’ over made face full of make-up and the laugh track that’s set on to loud you might like it. While there is nothing really ‘new’ or ‘fresh’ here, there are some (some) funny scenes and yes, it is great to see Hayes not only back on our screens but also exert some physical comedy but my advice to those behind the scenes…to make the show somewhat more watch-able, loose the laugh track and loose either the character of Max or remove Thomas Lennon…one or both are really hurting.  

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Drama, FRONT, TV

Debra Messing Smashes NBC Goodbye.

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With NBC’s musical showpiece ‘SMASH’ delegated a less-than-lovable Saturday night time-slot [from April 6th], star Debra Messing spent no time locking in a back-up plan in case the show is not renewed for a (unlikely) third season.  Viewers has been dropping heavily since the shows second season premiere (recently earning a measly 0.8 rating) resulting in the change of time-slot.

Messing has been attached to a project for CBS,  the lead in a yet-to-be-titled comedy from Sex and the City alums Julie Rottenberg and Elisa Zuritsky.  The untitled comedy will see Messing play “Shira, a happily married but harried mother struggling to balance family, life and work. Between her job as a ghost writer for a demanding celebrity chef and having three children all ranging in age from preschool to 7, she feels like the world’s worst mother because of her tendency to cut corners.”

Messing is the first and only star to be cast.

After two seasons on SMASH as playwright Julia Houston, this will be Messing’s first series comedy role since the end of the popular Will & Grace.

UPDATE: March 2014 – Debra Messing lands lead in new cop drama