Will & Grace

Will & Grace
File:Will & Grace title card.jpg Title card
Created by	David Kohan Max Mutchnick
Directed by	James Burrows
Starring	Eric McCormack Debra Messing Sean Hayes Megan Mullally Shelley Morrison Gary Grubbs Michael Angarano
Theme music composer	Jonathan Wolff
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	194 (list of episodes)
Production
Production location	Los Angeles
Running time	22 minutes
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 21, 1998 (1998-09-21) – May 18, 2006 (2006-05-18)
Related
Friends (1994-2004)

Will & Grace is an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006, for a total of eight seasons. The show takes place in New York City and focuses on Will Truman, a gay man and lawyer, and his best friend Grace Adler, a Jewish woman who runs her own interior design firm. Also featured are their friends Karen Walker, a rich socialite, and Jack McFarland, a struggling actor/singer/dancer who also has had brief careers as an acting teacher, back-up dancer, cater-waiter, talk-show host and student nurse.

Will & Grace is the most successful television series with gay principal characters. Despite initial criticism for its particular portrayal of homosexuals, it went on to become a staple of NBC's Must See TV Thursday night lineup, where it was ensconced in the Nielsen Top 20 for half of its network run. Throughout its eight-year run, Will & Grace earned 16 Emmy Awards and 83 nominations.

Will & Grace was filmed in front of a live studio audience (most episodes and scenes) on Tuesday nights, at Stage 17 in CBS Studio Center, a space that totals 14,000 sq ft (1,300 m²). Will and Grace's apartment is on display at the Emerson College Library, having been donated by series creator Max Mutchnick.

Cast and crew

Principal main characters

• Eric McCormack as Will Truman

A lawyer, he studied at Columbia University, where he met Grace. They have been best friends ever since. He has a very neurotic side, especially when it comes to cleaning. Several characters have commented that his relationship with Grace is more like that of a romantic couple than of two friends.

• Debra Messing as Grace Adler

An interior designer with an apparent obsession with food, who has been Will's best friend since college. Selfish, messy and neurotic, she often plays as a counter-balance for Will's more uptight nature.

• Megan Mullally as Karen Walker

The wife of the wealthy (but never seen) Stan Walker. She "works" as Grace's assistant making "Grace Adler Designs" more popular among her social contacts. Known for abusing alcohol and pills, she can be quite insensitive, but is close to Grace and Jack, and occasionally Will.

• Sean Hayes as Jack McFarland

One of Will's best friends, he is flamboyant and superficial. He plays a more stereotypical gay role than Will. Jack drifts from boyfriend to boyfriend and job to job, including struggling actor, retail associate and student nurse. Early on in the show he establishes a close friendship with Karen.

In the opening credits, McCormack and Messing are billed together, with top billing alternating between episodes.

Secondary main characters

• Shelley Morrison as Rosario Salazar

Karen's maid, Rosario was working as a cigarette lady when Karen hired her in 1985. She was briefly married to Jack so she would not be deported. Rosario and Karen had a love hate relationship where sometimes they would yell and argue with each other but when the fight would usually end with a light-hearted exchange between them. Rosario was a recurring character for the first two seasons and was promoted to a main character from the beginning of season three. Although she was promoted to main in season three, because she's not one of the main four, she's titled as a secondary principal.

• Gary Grubbs as Harlin Polk

Will's Texan client when he had his own law firm, until Harlin fired him. Grubbs was only a main character for episodes 1-11 of season one.

• Michael Angarano as Elliot

Jack's biological son from a donation to a sperm bank. Elliot was a recurring character in season 3 and was promoted to a main character from the beginning of season four.

Angarano, Morrison and Grubbs were only credited in episodes they appeared in

Principal recurring characters

See Supporting characters on Will & Grace for complete list of recurring characters and guest stars.

• 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 from college and regular charades buddies, a married couple with three children
• Joe (Jerry Levine) and Larry (Tim Bagley) – two of Will and Grace's close friends, a homosexual married couple with an adopted daughter, Hannah
• Lorraine Finster (Minnie Driver) – the feisty British mistress who stole Stan from Karen and caused their divorce. She and Karen then become enemies.
• Beverley Leslie (Leslie Jordan) – a closeted homosexual, staunchly Republican, very short and very wealthy socialite whose relationship with Karen changes rapidly from friend to enemy and back
• 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 reconcile and are raising their daughter, Lilah
• 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
• Vince D'Angelo (Bobby Cannavale) – Will's first long-term boyfriend (after Michael)(Seasons 6–8), with whom he eventually raises his son, Ben (end of Season 8)
• Ben Doucette (Gregory Hines) – Will's boss at the law firm Doucette and Stein, who briefly dates Grace
• Mr. Stein (Gene Wilder) – Will's neurotic other boss at Doucette and Stein after Ben Doucette leaves the firm.

Crew

• Max Mutchnick – Creator, Head Writer
• David Kohan – Creator, Head Writer
• James Burrows – Executive Producer and Director—Burrows directed all 194 episodes of the series, which has since become a directing record.
• David Kohan – Executive Producer
• Jhoni Marchinko – Executive Producer
• Max Mutchnick – Executive Producer
• Jeff Greenstein – Executive Producer

• Jon Kinnally – Executive Producer
• Tracy Poust – Executive Producer
• David Flebotte – Executive Producer (Season 7)
• Alex Herschlag – Executive Producer
• Adam Barr
• Gail Lerner
• Kari Lizer
• Bill Wrubel

Story and episodes

Main article: List of Will & Grace episodes

Will & Grace's relationship

The Early Years

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).

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. 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.

Relationships

Grace 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, despite Will's initial dislike of him. Leo in fact often looked to Will in order to help him deal with Grace's neurotic behavior. Furthermore, 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 that Leo had had an adulterous affair while working with Doctors Without Borders in Cambodia. In the final season, on a flight to London, Grace meets Leo on the plane where they have sex, resulting in Grace becoming pregnant, which she keeps a secret from him, upon finding that he plans to remarry. In the series finale (May 2006), however, Leo tells a heavily pregnant Grace that he loves her and broke off his engagement. They subsequently raise their daughter, Lilah, together having gotten remarried.

Will was usually less successful romantically, having the occasional one-episode fling, but never a long-term relationship. This eventually drew some criticism from those who noted that Grace was often shown being affectionate with her dates and boyfriends, while Will rarely was. In the first season, it is mentioned that Will had a seven-year relationship with a man named Michael, but this partnership ended before the series began. During the early seasons Will only had one relationship that could be constituted as 'long-term', with a sports broadcaster, Matthew played by Patrick Dempsey. Their relationship was portrayed in a total of three episodes, before they broke up. There is a brief moment at the end of season 5 where Will and Jack wake up together naked in the same bed on Karen's Yacht after a night of drinking, at the beginning of season 6 they go through a whole episode of freaking out until Karen reveals to them that the security camera for their room showed that they didn't do anything. 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 City 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" resulting in an unofficial but obvious break-up. Will then met James, supposedly by fate, at a movie theater and again in Los Angeles. Just as they started to get close, however, James discovered he was going to be deported. To give Will and James a chance, Grace agreed to marry James to help him avoid deportation. This plan, along with James' relationship with Will, was short-lived when it was revealed he was a major jerk, who seemed completely cruel towards other people. He was played by Rent star Taye Diggs. However in the final season, Will was reunited with Vince, and the two would eventually get married and raise a son together, named Ben.

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 to help her gain U.S. residency (green card). It was also revealed that he had a teenage 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 unlike the others, does not attempt to stay in long-term relationships, but instead shallowly jumps from boyfriend to boyfriend. Jack's longest relationship is with Stuart Lamarack (Dave Foley), which lasts several months during the sixth season, during which Jack sees him at the movies with another man and assumes that Stuart is cheating on him. Jack finds out later that the other man was actually Stuart's son. Ironically, their relationship ends when Jack cheats on Stuart, who is not seen again. He ends up spending the rest of his life living with Karen, in a purely platonic relationship that ironically is similar to Will and Grace, who they both mocked for living together.

Karen is the only member of the cast to be in a married relationship at the start of the series. Her husband, Stanley 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. Although Karen often insults Stan and implies she married him for his money, the truth is she was hopelessly devoted and in love with Stan. 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 begin dating again, 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 finds that she had fallen out of love with him and thus leaves Stan for good, at which point it is revealed that everything he owned was on loan, rendering Karen's huge divorce settlement worthless. However, she gets Jack to be "company" to Beverly Leslie, who was left a huge amount of money from his late wife, Crystal, after his "business partner" Benji, leaves him. When Beverly accidentally is swept off the balcony from strong winds, he leaves Jack all his money, which he uses to support Karen and his life in luxury.

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 eventually decides she is against the idea. Will then accuses Grace of being a flake. Joe and Larry's daughter, Hanna, has a birthday party at which Jack and Karen force and lock them into a moonwalk; after much arguing and bouncing, they do make up. In season eight, Grace is pregnant with Leo's baby from their mile-high adventure, but she never has a chance to tell Leo as he is getting married. Will was going to help raise her child and act as the father until the finale where Grace does tell Leo she's pregnant, it is his and then we, the audience, see Will open the door to the apartment. Though it isn't shown on screen, its very well implied that they had some major words with each other, deciding to end their friendship. Cut to the future; they go two years without speaking until Karen and Jack come up with a scheme to make Will and Grace friends again. Eventually they reconcile, but being too busy raising their children, they find it hard to find time for one another until many years later when their children meet and fall in love in college.

Reception

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." 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.

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 May 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."

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards won by Will & Grace

Will & Grace had been nominated for 83 and won 16 Emmys. From 2001–2005, Will & Grace was the highest-rated sitcom among adults 18–49. 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. This was almost an all time record, the two shows were second behind The Larry Sanders Show, with 16 nominations in 1996. 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. For almost every season, Will & Grace was the most nominated Comedy Series at the Emmys.

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. For the second-time, the show wasn't nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series (the first in 1999 for season 1) after 6 consecutive years of nominations.

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.

Ratings/NBC broadcast history

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.

"The Finale" drew over 18 million viewers, 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 four episode "A Chorus Lie", which aired on February 7, 2002 and ranked #8 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 premiere "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 Eastern Time Zone.

Season	Time slot	Premiere	Finale	TV season	Season rank	Viewers (millions)
1	Monday 9:30 P.M. (September 21, 1998 – November 30, 1998) Tuesday 9:30 P.M. (December 15, 1998 – March 23, 1999) Thursday 8:30 P.M. (April 8, 1999 – May 13, 1999)	September 21, 1998	May 13, 1999	1998–1999	#40	12.3
2	Tuesday 9:00 P.M.	September 21, 1999	May 23, 2000	1999–2000	#44	12.0
3	Thursday 9:00 P.M.	October 12, 2000	May 17, 2001	2000–2001	#14	17.3
4		September 27, 2001	May 16, 2002	2001–2002	#9	17.3
5		September 26, 2002	May 15, 2003	2002–2003	#11	16.8
6	Thursday 9:00 P.M. (September 25, 2003 – January 22, 2004) Thursday 8:32 P.M. (February 10, 2004 – April 8, 2004) Thursday 9:00 P.M. (April 22, 2004 – April 29, 2004)	September 25, 2003	April 29, 2004	2003–2004	#16	15.2
7	Thursday 8:30 P.M.	September 16, 2004	May 19, 2005	2004–2005	#44	10.0
8	Thursday 8:30 P.M. (September 29, 2005 – December 8, 2005) Thursday 8:00 P.M. (January 5, 2006 – May 18, 2006)	September 29, 2005	May 18, 2006	2005–2006	#61	8.7

The cable network Logo has announced that they have acquired the non-exclusive, basic cable rights to Will & Grace and they will begin airing the series in September 2013. Lifetime Television can still air the series if they renew the contract.

Spin-offs

Karen: The Musical

It has been announced that Megan Mullally will be starring in a new Broadway musical entitled Karen: The Musical. This musical will have Mullally reprising her role of Karen Walker. She stated in an interview that the show may also involve recurring guest star Leslie Jordan in his role as Beverley Leslie.

Other

There had been talk in 2008 that a spin-off was being developed by NBC entitled Jack and Karen, featuring Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally reprising their roles. Hayes initially showed interest in the spin-off but was ultimately put off by the short-lived Friends spin-off, Joey. Furthermore, Mullally's new work schedule in the form of her talk show, which was quickly canceled, didn't allow her to pursue the spin-off at the time.

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, Kohan and Mutchnick felt that they were cheated out of considerable profits by the network's shopping of 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. 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.

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 episode, "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.

Broadcasters

• Arab World – Super Comedy
• Australia – Seven Network (2000–2007), Network Ten (2008), Arena (2002–2008), 111 Hits (November 2008 – July 2009), TV1 (August 2009 -)
• Austria – ATV
• Argentina – Sony
• Belgium – 2 BE
• Bosnia and Herzegovina – OBN
• Brazil – Sony, Play TV
• Bulgaria – Nova Television (Seasons 1 and 2), Fox Life (Repeats of seasons 1 and 2, season 3-)
• Canada – OnTV (1998–99), Global (1999–2006), W Network (Syndication)
• Chile – Sony
• Colombia – Sony
• Croatia – Nova TV
• Czech Republic – TV Prima
• Denmark – Kanal 4
• Egypt - ShowComedy
• El Salvador – Sony Entertainment Television (Latin America)
• Estonia – Sony Entertainment Television (Baltic)
• Finland – MTV3, Sub
• France – Canal+, Canal Jimmy, TF1, France 4
• Germany – Pro 7 Season 1–7, Sat.1 Season 8
• Greece – Star Channel, Fox life
• Guatemala – Sony Entertainment Television (Latin America)
• Hungary – Viasat 3
• India – Zee Café
• Ireland – TV3
• Israel – Channel 3, yes+, HOT3, yes stars 3
• Italy – Italia 1 (Mediaset), Fox, Fox Life
• Japan – NHK, Fox
• Kazakhstan – Sony Entertainment Television
• Kenya - Kenya Television Network
• Latin America – Sony

• Latvia – TV6
• Lebanon – ShowComedy
• Lithuania – TV6
• Macedonia – Sitel
• Mexico – Sony, Canal 5 Televisa
• Nepal – Zee Café, ETC
• Netherlands – NET 5, Veronica
• New Zealand – TV3
• Norway – TVNorge
• Pakistan – Super Comedy, Paramount Comedy 1
• Peru – Sony
• Philippines – Studio 23, Velvet, ETC
• Poland – Fox Life, HBO, Wizja Jeden, TV Puls
• Portugal – TVI, Fox, Fox Life, SIC Mulher
• Romania – Naţional TV
• Russian Federation – Sony Entertainment Television
• Serbia – FOX Life
• Slovenia – Kanal A
• South Africa – SABC 3, M-Net Series, Sony Entertainment Television
• South Korea – GTV (1998–2001), On Style (2002–2003), Fox (2004–2006)
• Spain – TVE2, Fox, SET en VEO (TDT)
• Sweden – TV4
• Switzerland – SF zwei
• Thailand – True Series
• Turkey – ComedyMax, TNT
• United Kingdom – Living TV, Channel 4
• United States – First broadcast on NBC, now in syndication on Lifetime.
• Venezuela – First on Venevisión, then on Sony

DVD releases

Lionsgate Home Entertainment has released all 8 seasons of Will & Grace on DVD in Region 1.

DVD releases

Season	Ep#	Discs	Release dates (by region)			Notes (Region 1)
			1	2	4
1	22	4	August 12, 2003	August 30, 2004	September 5, 2007	All 22 episodes included in their entirety.
2	24	4	March 23, 2004	August 30, 2004	September 5, 2007	"Ben?Her?" appears as the syndicated version Episode listing on box does not match episode listing on discs Episodes on the fourth disc appear out of sequence
3	25	4	September 7, 2004	August 30, 2004	October 3, 2007	The "super-size" episode, "Cheaters", appears as the original version, without the extra footage later added for syndication "Cheaters" is incorrectly labeled as "Cheaters, part 1"
4	27	4	August 16, 2005	August 30, 2004	October 3, 2007	All 27 episodes included in their entirety.
5	24	4	August 29, 2006	March 7, 2005	October 3, 2007	The "super-size" episode, "Board Room and a Parked Place," and the one-hour 100th episode, "Marry Me a Little, Marry Me a Little More" appear as the full versions The "super-size" episodes, "Women and Children First", "Dolls and Dolls", "May Divorce Be With You", "23", and the season finale "24", appear as the syndicated versions
6	24	4	May 1, 2007	August 15, 2005	November 21, 2007	The "super-size" episodes, "Dames at Sea" and "Ice Cream Balls", appear as the syndicated versions
7	24	4	December 4, 2007	January 30, 2006	November 21, 2007	All 24 episodes included in their entirety.
8	24	4	September 16, 2008	August 7, 2006	November 21, 2007	All 24 episodes included in their entirety.
Finale	1	1	May 30, 2006	—	—	One-hour series finale included in its entirety.
1–8	194	33	September 16, 2008	August 7, 2006	April 30, 2008	Re-packaged discs from the previous releases with a bonus disk containing: A re-hashing of season 8's themed featurettes Eric's favorite episode with commentary by him and Debra Messing Debra's favorite episode with commentary by her and Eric McCormack The Pilot Episode with commentary by Max Mutchinck, David Kohan, and James Burrows A slideshow of stills from over the series' run.

Note: Episode count is based on the format in which episodes originally aired. One-hour episodes are counted as one episode, as per the numbering system used by NBC.

Languages

• All DVDs have English audio.
• The Region 1 Season 1 DVD has Spanish audio which sounds Mexican accented. Season 2 has English audio and subtitled Spanish only. Seasons 3–7 have English audio but do not have English subtitles at all.
• The first three seasons have German and English audio tracks and optional subtitles (Region 2 DVD).

Running gags

• Karen frequently expresses her confusion by asking three brief questions; e.g. "Honey what is this? What's going on? What's happening?"
• Karen always describes Stan as overly obese, or in other words "I can't wait to put my hands 2/3 the way around you."
• Before a short argument starts, both Will and Grace will simultaneously say the same words.
• Will and Grace being referred to as "married."
• Other characters and even Grace herself implying that she has a thing for gay men or at least subconsciously attracted to gay men.
• Grace would claim that she has a striking resemblance to certain red-haired celebrities, such as Lucille Ball, Julia Roberts, Rita Hayworth, and Nicole Kidman.
• Zsandra, Jack's acting teacher, is always claiming about how much she hates teaching acting, even though she continues to teach them until Jack takes over.
• Grace always eats the other characters' food.
• Karen continually mocks Grace's sense of style (e.g., "Grace, that blouse hurts like a hangover.").
• Will and Grace often ignore Jack and Karen's ridiculous and stupid questions and statements.
• Many characters, primarily Karen, mock or mention Grace's small chest.
• Karen forgetting not only the names of her friends, but her own.
• Grace's mother Bobbie, greeting her daughter by singing a broadway song.
• Karen often addressing Will by a girl's name such as "Wilma".
• 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).
• 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.
• 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.
• Will and his family behaving like stereotypical WASPs, refusing to acknowledge anything that could cause an awkward moment or trouble, such as Will's father's affair.
• 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 makes mocking references to his size, calling him names such as "Baby Gap," "Seed of Chucky," "Teacup Poodle," "Thumbelina," "Angry Inch," or "Keebler Elf."
• The uncertainty about Karen's age, especially when she makes comments such as about "firing Picasso" and "The Great Depression."
• Karen's unwillingness to do actual work at Grace's office, despite being her assistant. (Karen does not even cash her paychecks.)
• Grace singing, despite her terrible singing voice.
• Karen often claims friendship or mutual understanding between herself and God or the Devil: "I'm gonna live forever. That's the deal isn't it Red?" or "What the hell did I do to deserve this?...Oh, that's right, you got me there!"
• Will and Grace often make ridiculous and embarrassing messages for their answering machine, such as (to the tune of The Brady Bunch theme song): "This is the story... of a lovely lady (Grace: That's me!) who was living with a very lovely girl (Will: That's me!). Leave a message!" Afterwards, they voice dislike for the their action, occasionally blaming it on a night of drinking.
• Jack being hetero-phobic and claiming anything between a man and a woman is inappropriate.
• Jack's dislike for lesbians.
• More prominently in the sixth and seventh seasons, there is often a confusion between two characters after they send text messages to each other. For example, Karen: "Honey, I couldn't understand your message! Some Mary needs a line of blow?" Grace: "...I'm in line for Barry Manilow."
• Despite claiming he is hetero-phobic, Jack is often seen touching or kissing Karen.
• Karen's bisexual nature, often hitting on assorted woman such as Grace and Leo's ex Diane.
• Karen claiming to be homophobic, despite her close relationships with Will and Jack.
• In many scenes, Jack and Karen raise their shirts and touch their stomachs together.
• Jack excitedly exclaiming the names of famous people in moments of exasperation that relate to the situation, such as when he discovered that the mother of Elliot is gay - "K.D. Lang, you are a lesbian!" or when his son walks out of the dressing room at Barney's wearing something Jack picked out for him - "Haley Joel Osment, you look fantastic"
• Karen frequently "hums" as she walks into a scene: "bah-bah-dah, bee-bah-dah."
• Jack entering a room, while commenting on his physical 'perfection' such as "Mail's here! And he's fabulous!"
• Jack referring to God as a woman: "God's coming and she's pissed!" "God can hear you right through the building, and she's not happy" "Did you see God? Is she mad at me?"
• Karen describing a problem or situation in her life by beginning, "You guys know how I . . ." followed by some habit or interest the others had no clue about (e.g., "You guys know how I'm in a gang," or "You guys know how I love Aerosmith.")
• Jack's obsession with Cher.
• Karen, despite working for Grace for a number of years can never remember her surname, Grace: "Thanks to you I'm now getting mail adressed to Miss Grace Adloaf!"
• Jack's self-belief that he is an entertaining and adored performer despite not being to act or sing, and having his bored audience walk out of his one-man show before he finishes.

See also

• List of television shows with LGBT characters

External links

• Official website
• Will & Grace at IMDb
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