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177 comments in total

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52 out of 74 people found the following comment useful :-
Classic Sit-Com Who Broke Grounds,but Lost its Touch Along the Way., 22 April 2005
Author: nycritic

Who would have thought that a show with not one, but two gay leads would hit the TVs across America and ensure its place among must-see TV Thursdays (albeit being shown Tuesdays in its first season and eventually displacing FRASIER) while also garnering critical reviews and numerous Emmys? WILL AND GRACE came and un-intentionally filled the void that ELLEN and her gay oriented sitcom left, keeping the sexuality quietly placed in the background while focusing on the quartet's dysfunctional and often crazy antics (except for some truly clever in-jokes that only gay men and women could catch). Fast moving dialogue, truly innovative slapstick and a balanced out cast created one of the best shows in the last five years, one that had an interesting DICK VAN DYKE SHOW feel, and even if the first season was a little bit clunky at times and some of the comedic situations seemed clearly forced for laughs, it worked.

Lately the show has taken something of a dip in quality. Season 5 reached an early peak in November sweeps with Grace's marriage to Leo Markus, and trying to establish a long term relationship with Will and Barry proved fruitless as it was truly unfunny. Season 6 proved dismal in many ways, from the writing which was not delivering good jokes, to Debra Messing's forced absence due to her pregnancy which took the balance out of the story lines, to Jack and Karen's essences being dumbed down to make them look more like morons in search for a quick laugh, to situations which seemed repetitive and even unfocused. Then Season 7's dismal beginning, with episodes featuring Jennifer Lopez and Janet Jackson essentially doing nothing to bring any comedy to the sitcom questioned would the series be canceled sooner than not, but lately it has been getting back on track, putting the mega-guest stars aside for some actual comedy. Characters are a little more defined, less cartoonish, and situations don't seem as tiredly funny as they were during the aforementioned slump, and whether the show goes on for another season or two I hope that it will go back to how it began, with frenzied humor and sharp lines which was how it got its trademark. It is still a great show and one that deserves the best presentation NBC has to offer.

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43 out of 60 people found the following comment useful :-
Great show, great cast, great writing, 25 January 2002
Author: metalgoth (metalgoth@gawab.com) from Pennsylvania

Will & Grace is a great show and will continue to be so even after its gay theme loses its novelty. The writing is usually great, sometimes exceptional, the hour long flashback episode was the best thing I saw in the 2000/2001 TV season. But I would credit the cast most of all. Eric McCormack is (comparatively) subtle and nuanced as Will, Megan Mullally bizarre and sharp as Karen, but I reserve my highest praise for Debra Messing and Sean Hayes. Hayes' Jack is endlessly energetic, always plotting, and watching Hayes' performance is like watching a Van Halen guitar solo, almost too fast to follow but every note perfect. Debra Messing's Grace seems to be the character that everything happens to, and you can see every bit of it on her face. Her bio tells of her extensive arts education, and it shows. If there's ever been another Lucille Ball, it would have to be Debra Messing. Will & Grace has all the necessary sitcom ingredients: interesting situations, hilarious comedy, and characters you care about.

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28 out of 35 people found the following comment useful :-
Good show!, 8 February 2003
Author: Em Richardson from Toronto

I like this show and do you know what? I'm reading some of these comments and they are being way too picky, because though Jack's character is stereotypical, and Will never has a boyfriend, I think it's a show that makes you laugh, and that's what it has set out to do. Don't analyze it. It's a comedy with a great script and great actors. Karen and Jack are great, but Debra Messing and Eric McCormack do a wonderful job too, and what I like about Debra is that she is her, and probably won't change that. Most stars who are flat would have huge plastic knockers by now, but she takes pride in her chest! Good for her! Watch it. It's funny, and you'll find yourself wrapped up in the friendships, romances and Jack. Just Jack!

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37 out of 54 people found the following comment useful :-
Amazing!, 12 July 2000
Author: Devyalento Latchford Deschanel from London, England

Will And Grace is just the best! Everything about it screams class, the scripts, the jokes and most of all the cast, who are one of the best ensemble casts I've ever seen in a sitcom. Eric McCormack And Debra Messing are excellent as Will And Grace, and have some great lines, but its clear that Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally are the real stars as Jack and Karen. Hayes is a fireball of talent as Jack and Mullally's Karen is just one of the best sitcom characters EVER. Will And Grace deserves all the recognition and praise it gets, finally, a gay themed sitcom thats always a joy to watch! More please, and quickly!

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38 out of 61 people found the following comment useful :-
Funny, but needs a bit of a facelift., 1 November 2004
Author: Futura-2 from Here

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.

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13 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
truly odd couple, 4 January 2006
Author: bigwig_thalyi from United Kingdom

Once a perfect couple,will and grace, shared a flat and they had two best friends,neurotic Jack and filthy rich Karen,but this perfect couple have one problem,Grace is straight and will is gay. This is the premise for what i think is the funniest US to Uk sitcom import on our TV screens at the moment. This is basically a comedy about a search for love and the complications involved. Personally i think the main laughs come from my two favourite character,jack,Sean Hayes,and Karen,Megan Mullally.The two characters have perfect chemistry.Sean Hayes may play his gay character stereotypically but that makes him very funny and Megan mull ally has her rich character down to a tee. The series has a lot of big guest stars including Matt Damon who plays a straight man pretending to be gay so he can join jacks gay choir. The only slight problem is that some of the jokes are about American themes and may not be understood by a British audience but apart from that this is a cracker of a comedy. for this reason,American themes, i give this sitcom 9/10

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13 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
A great cast, perfect chemistry, smart writing and a classical style, "Grace" is a flawed sitcom juggernaut, 27 May 2006
Author: howTVshouldbe from star range: 1 - 4, expanded to 5 for classics

Network: NBC; Genre: Sitcom; Content Rating: TV-14 (for strong language and strong sexual dialog); Available: Syndication and DVD; Perspective: Classic (star range: 1 - 5);

Season Reviewed: Complete Series (8 seasons)

On the surface "Will & Grace" will seem like just another shallow, sex-based studio-audience sitcom, and beneath that it is -in fact - just another shallow, sex-based studio-audience sitcom. But David Kohan and Max Mutchnick have put together a sitcom with all the elements of a classic screwball comedy, given it a modern attitude and a tad of bite that the genre is starving for since the departure of "Seinfeld". In the network sitcom machine, they have proved to be light-years ahead of the hacks.

"Grace" makes a favorable comparison to "Seinfeld". It features a tight-nit cast of distinctly different friends, all of them vain and narcissistic to the point that the world outside their own social life is expendable. They include long-time best friends lawyer Will Truman (Eric McCormack) and designer Grace Adler (Debra Messing, "Seinfeld"), her obscenely wealthy, pill-popping, gin-swilling assistant Karen Walker (Megan Mullally) and flamboyant man-child and would-be actor Jack McFarlane (Sean Hayes). McCormack plays Will as one of the funniest straight-men in recent TV history, the height of irony since Will and out-and-proud Jack are gay, which in network execu-speak makes "Will & Grace" "gay-themed". Grace is straight and ties her happiness to her success or failure in relationships with men and Karen is whatever she wants.

"Just Jack" Hayes writes himself a ticket to chew up the screen and has an impeccable gift for slapstick, but without a doubt the breakout star of the series is Megan Mullally who makes Karen Walker into one of the best supporting characters in TV history. Always by her side is Rosario (Shelley Morrison). Like the Toto to Karen's Princess Centimillia, Rosario is the funniest human prop in recent TV memory. Whatever is going on in the scene just wheel in Rosario, let Karen demean her and it's almost a free laugh from me every time.

So you could talk about "Grace" as a sitcom or as a work of Hollywood social conditioning. In a usually mindless genre, Kohan and Mutchnick looked into their crystal ball and jumped out in front of the impending rise in gay-themed shows based in a politically correct agenda that would crest while this one was one the air, and ultimately have the most debatable and divisive sitcom to come along in quite a while. An achievement, to say the least. Time was good to "Will & Grace" and as the rest of TV caught up with it, it took a step further. A culturally aware satire, with a great ability to take topical current event hot buttons and turn them into a spry one-liner that smashes pulp in the faces of everyone who expects to hear it make a point. Whether "Grace's" technique of simultaneously admitting and challenging broad gay stereotypes speaks well for its audience is highly debatable and something I don't feel qualified to answer.

The real truth is that "Will & Grace" is an opposite sex platonic love story masquerading as the more network-acceptable gay-themed sitcom. Because any network, particularly NBC, would mandate that Will and Grace "got together" in any other scenario, Kohan and Mutchnick made Will and Jack gay and effectively removed that potential problem to their platonic love story, between Will and Grace as well as an adorably co-dependent relationship between Jack and Karen.

I've changed my stance on "Will & Grace" over the years. Maybe it was the consistently great performance and active vocal lobbying amid the reality invasion from McCormack, maybe it was the degrading rate of every sitcom around it that, but the show won me back after suffering a long drought in the middle of the series. During that drought the show made some head-scratching choices, taking the show into melodramatic territory. The series picked up the "never-be-alone" TV mandate and made Grace as miserable as possible trying to find a man, from an insufferable arc with Woody Harrelson to the addition of the comically anemic Harry Connick Jr. as Grace's white knight globe-trotting doctor husband. In the last 2 seasons, (and with the help of Alec Baldwin guesting as Will's insane new boss) the show pulled itself back out to its former glory.

Baldwin would be one in a handful of big celebrity guest stars that would come through the "Will & Grace" universe over the years. For all of its crude sex jokes, "Grace" recalls a classically styled sitcom in the way its characters will interact with the stars of today playing themselves in the same way Lucille Ball used to interact with Bob Hope on "I Love Lucy". Highlights include Jack meeting his idol Cher and Parker Posey hitting on Will and low-points involving a slap fight with Jennifer Lopez and Michael Douglas embarrassing himself in a character role as a gay cop. The show also went to the wall with gutsy "live" shows and slapstick that most TV isn't limber enough to go for.

Yes, some of the jokes were as subtle as a javelin in the eye and the characters skirted dangerously close to being one-note. But the writing is whip smart and doused with terrific pop culture references and a phenomenal cast glued together with everlasting chemistry catapulted it far ahead of most post-"Seinfeld" sitcoms. "Will & Grace" didn't re-invent the wheel, but played well within convention defying techniques of the classic sitcom. It broke some mandates and followed others religiously. But most importantly (with the exception of some out-of-place cartoon moments) the show felt truly real and had an undeniable sweetness to the relationship. One thing is for sure, with the exception of that aforementioned hole in the middle of the series, it is always good for a laugh.

* * * ½ / 5

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19 out of 32 people found the following comment useful :-
Wonderful all around, 7 March 2001
Author: Willow192 from Orlando, Florida

This is one of the best comedy sitcoms ever made. When I first heard about this show I just knew that it was going to get canceled. Because of the fact that it is about homosexuality. But I was wrong, and I'm so glad that I was! This is the most funny show that I have ever seen. Debra Messing and Eric McCormack are great. But the stars of the show are really Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally. They both won well deserved Emmy Awards for their roles as Jack and Karen. IMO, they make the show, and w/o them, the show probably would have been canceled. A question people have is...are Sean and Eric gay? My answer: Who cares? They're still funny and that's all that matters!

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
"Things that you lean on!" "Each other!!!!", 19 January 2007

Author: kikirriki from Serbia and Montenegro

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"Things that you lean on!" "Each other!!!!" Episode one. Yes, they are good in playing Pyramid. I know this is just a TV Show, but still, it's about people and relationships, friendship and other values. It's not about improving yourself.

I asked myself – What's the idea of Will and Grace? Some might say – they end up living together like in marriage…but… maybe it's about showing people that the word FAMILY can have another meaning. The whole idea of family is shown differently.

From the beginning, there's Grace, who's not able to think for herself and to make her own decisions. During the seasons she kinda tries to learn that. Or she doesn't try at all. Her problems are so easy to solve for Will, who at the beginning – doesn't have it's own problems. Sometimes, we get the idea that he doesn't have a life at all. During the seasons, we see them both dating people and getting involved with others, but it all ends the same way. They get single again, both of them. And then they try on… like in real life. One moment you think to yourself – why do they even try?

During the whole show, you hear things like: "I can't do this without you…" "I need you", they count on each other, they lean on each other. Those things sound sweet. They just sound sweet. If you wish to avoid loneliness, get used to being alone. If you wish to avoid pain, get used to control your emotions. Leaning is close to depending. Depending is bad – even if you depend on the person you love most, the one who would (probably) never hurt you, the one who is perfect for you, still you shouldn't depend.

I recognize a lot of Will's and Grace's features in my friends. That are the features that are laughed at in this sitcom. They are shallow, materialistic, jealous, possessive, even narrow-minded at one point. While sticking to each other, of course it's hard to make a healthy connection to someone else. What will Will think of Grace's boyfriend, and does Grace like his – this thing appear as the main topic in this show. Of course, we all laugh about that, but if you think about it - it's so wrong. And then it turns out that the first impression seems to be wrong, and they all make such a drama about that. People should not be like that. The audience can learn lots of thing from this show such as – don't be like that. It's funny overall, but see, look at them – it sometimes looks so tempting and sweet to live with your best friend, to depend, even to 'stick' to each other. Well, it's not sweet at all. Get independent – once you find a really good friend and the things between you are clear, you both know how you feel about each other, and you both know that you love the other one – don't be like Will and Grace. They are lovable, yes, for example I sometimes like Grace so much, I wish I was in Will's shoes (although I don't like Prada) but I don't want to be someone's mom, dad or what ever. BEST FRIENDS should help the other one in improving him/herself as a person. They should be strict to each other, because that's the only way of stopping your best friend from repeating the same mistakes in life.

When I started to watch the 1st season of Will and Grace – I was amazed. I said to myself – I wanna live like that. I want someone to lean on, to count on all day and night, to call up in the night if I can't sleep from all the problems I have... Years went by and I saw how wrong that is. If I ever lived like that, I would feel like standing in one place and not moving at all. And beside me, my best friend, would be doing the same. Repeating mistakes. No. Never. I have really good friends, girls, but we're not like Will and Grace. OK, they might be like Grace, but when I notice that, I have reactions like – "Stop being like that - pathetic, depending, weak. Get strong and I'm here to help you. Get secure in my love for you and the strong friendship we have. And now – let's fix you, let's fix me – let's deal with life and the problems we all have. Let's be better, stronger."

I know it's just a TV Show created for the audience, after they own needs, but still – it's there, with all the stories we have seen, with all emotions the characters went through, with all emotions we went through. We are here, watching them, laughing and of course thinking. Let's be better, stronger.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Boo, 27 May 2007

Author: Michael S from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Will and Grace were two annoying charters that had very little to offer. They are simply under-developed, incomplete human beings that focus on the each others' shortcomings rather than their own. Karen and Jack were far funnier, although still pitiful and empty. All that was interesting to see could have been squeezed into two seasons. And as for guests, the show may as well have been the "love boat" in New York. How many times do you have to jump a shark for the series to die? As a gay man, I did not feel represented in anyway what so ever by these characters or plots. Not that the show should be expected to be a gay rights platform. But it was so formulaic as to not be much of a platform for humor. The jokes were more groaners than belly laughers. I do think the actors did a very good job of being consistent. I acknowledge that they received many awards, but that's more about politics than substance from my perspective. So I say: "Boo"

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