With Megan Mullally’s new show In The Motherhood debuting Thursday, there’s no better time to look back on the cast of Will & Grace, America’s first gay sitcom, and play the “Where Are They Now?” game. Has time treated our favorite dysfunctional family well? Have they escaped the curse of forever being associated with a widely popular show that made them millions? No 3-D glasses required to find out!
| Why We Loved Them | Highs and Lows | Where Are They Now? | |
 Eric McCormack |
As Will, McCormack was the personification of A-Gay. Despite despite a string of boyfriends, his true love was Grace. Also, his dimples. | McCormack bounced around Broadway, playing The Music Man and co-star for a Fran Drescher vehicle. He also exec produced the gone-too-soon Lovespring International, which he cameo’d in. | Starring in Trust Me, TNT’s advertising drama. It’s expected to be canceled, but he has a new untitled ABC sitcom in the works. |
Debra Messing |
Grace was the fun, neurotic red-head we all wanted to take out for a cosmo. Back when we thought drinking cosmos made us look cool. At her best, she reminded us of Lucille Ball. At her worst, she’d come off as a co-dependent sad complainer. | Messing’s been a judge on Project Runway (as a fashion expert). Her first starring vehicle, The Wedding Date, was pretty much crap. | Messing found success on her own with USA’s The Starter Wife, which got picked up as a full series after a successful mini series run. But then USA opted not to renew it. Sad face. |
 Megan Mullally |
Karen was a woman without a moral compass, which is just how we liked her. The only one who could cut her down to size was her maid Rosario, but when push came to shove, Karen would show glimmers of having a heart. | Mullally’s been guest starring on everything from How I Met Your Mother to 30 Rock. Her eponymous talk show didn’t last a season. | Mullally is one of the three co-stars of In The Motherhood. Read our article about it! |
 Sean Hayes |
Actually, we never liked Jack, who was a walking stereotype of gay promiscuity and shallowness that rarely, if ever displayed any depth. Still, the best lines went to Hayes and he made a great foil for Karen. | Besides remaining annoyingly in the closet, Hayes has pursued a film career, co-starring in The Bucket List, The Cat In The Hat, and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!. He also exec produced and starred in Situation: Comedy, a reality show about finding the next great sitcom. | Hayes is at work on BiCoastal, a new drama about a man with a wife on one coast and a boyfriend on the other. |
rick
you missed sean hayes in IGOR. i love that movie and sean is a large part of why i love it. he is hysterical and i swear half of his lines are ad libs. Bring me back a toy!
REBELComx
And don’t forget Megan Mullally’s stint in the original Broadway cast of Young Frankenstein.
ggreen
McCormick and Messing stink as actors. Neither was believable as Will and Grace. Mullally and Hayes were terrific. Both very believable in the characters they developed in front of a national audience every week. If you didn’t like the characters they portrayed, that proves they were doing it right. Karen and Jack were written to be obnoxious. The Will and Grace characters were one-dimensional because one-dimensional actors played them. Will and Grace always had some variation of the same problem every week. Pitiful fag’s like Will and creepy hags like Grace always meet the same sad end. Exodus and AA.
GayBobVT
@ggreen: ditto
Landon Bryce
I think Showtime’s “Brothers” was the first gay sitcom on American TV. “Will and Grace” was the first gay sitcom on a network
DJ
don’t forget SOAP, too. not ENTIRELY gay but still a theme
Alan down in Florida
“The Will and Grace characters were one-dimensional because one-dimensional actors played them. Will and Grace always had some variation of the same problem every week.”
The Will and Grace characters were one-dimensional because they were written that way. Jack and Karen were also written that way but it was a pleasure to watch them. I used to watch them with my 80+ mother and constantly remarked that “you know that wasn’t on the page” because they brought such life and vibrancy to flat dialogue and situations.
Erick
@Landon Bryce:
I second that. You can find the first few episodes on You Tube.
osocubano
Hated it!
Except for Megan Mullally, of course.
gayvirgo
Wow….that’s a lot of negative stuff aimed at W&G!! Am I the only one who enjoyed the show? It was a sitcom so of course the characters were over the top and slightly less than real. Haven’t they always been? From Lucy to Mary Tyler Moore to Cheers to Seinfeld and on and on. What makes them enjoyable is the kernel of truth in those people or situations with which people identify. I am not ashamed nor afraid to admit that I saw some of myself in each of the characters in W&G…and LOVED laughing at those quirks that I share.
For me, I made a promise to myself that, no matter what he does, I will always tune in to see whatever Eric M. does. At a time when he was an up-and-coming (straight) actor he made the risky choice to play gay and he did it with dignity and humor and no apologies. Same goes for Bobby Canavale.
Perfect? NO…who is? A sitcom full of perfect people would be boring and you know it! It was a show about people with faults and those faults were what made us laugh.
And who didn’t love the parade of guest stars? GREAT casting of family and friends (The sublime Blythe Danner and Sidney Pollack, the brilliant Debbie Reynolds and Suzanne Pleshette, and Veronica Cartwright!!).
I mean…come on! Really???? You can’t give them credit for at least putting gays on the map on a weekly basis? We all mope and whine every time a serial killer or suicide is gay, so where are the cheers and applause for a show built around 2 happy (if not perfect) gay men and the women (and men) who love them???
What a difference it has made to young gay people to be able to grow up in a world where they can see themselves portrayed in a positive-if imperfect-light every single week. And that show helped many a family conversation, I suspect, but just being presented.
I would have loved being able to turn on my tv and see me growing up. We only had Soap and it was on past my bedtime!
So…can we at least agree to give the show and the actors the credit they deserve? No..it didn’t end world hunger or even give us marriage rights…but I suspect that without W&G (and ELLEN!!) we wouldn’t be as far along as we are!
Bertie
Yes, Showtime’s “Brother”s with 2 gays was the first American gay sitcom with 115 episodes (1984-1989)
Bertie
@gayvirgo: but I suspect that without W&G (and ELLEN!!) we wouldn’t be as far along as we are!
FAR ALONG ? Duiring Will & Grace, you had straight housewives cornering gay men at parties with wide-eyes and fascination and asking them to “DO JACK!”
W&G was a minstrel show — the characters were as self-absorbed as Seinfeld’s characters and not as well-executed.
gayvirgo
@Bertie: I am sorry that you continue to write off the show as completely without merit. I don’t feel that everything is that black and white. I merely suggested that it had it’s positive points. And neither one of us can say for sure what effect the show had on our causes since we can’t go back in time and live the last decade as if there were no W&G.
May I ask you what character on tv you consider a perfect portrayal of a gay person? Or what would your idea of a perfect portrayal be?
gayvirgo
Also…since the show aired I have had more than my fair share of comparisons to Jack. Never bothered me one bit!
Bertie
@gayvirgo:
my idea of perfect portrayal of a gay person on a sitcom would be:
Bea Arthur as Dorothy Sbornak on Golden Girls.
rogue dandelion
@Bertie: what did you expect for the first network sitcom with gay characters?
Most network sitcoms have wooden 1D characters- as if a show like friends was a tour de force of acting… At least it raised the profile of gay people among insulated straight America. And while hewing to some stereotypes, it did show two gay men who had radically different personalities and careers. I think it was a largely positive influence, regardless of the stereotypes
MissEm
I adore W&G. The comedy was light and it made me happy when I needed cheering up.
Favourite episode is ‘Moveable Feast’ in series 4 with the multiple telephone conversations at the start. Very clever idea.
Best Cameo appearance for me was Jeff Goldblum. There’s something very hot about that man that I just can’t turn away from.
Favourite character is definitely Will. He’s a fabulous character. I love Will’s quick and dry sense of humour and his child-like excitement.
I think W&G was a great platform to present gay people in a relaxed, non-confrontational way to the rest of the world. Sure there were some interesting moments, but the sitcom element of the show made it less “shocking” to those that may be considered a bit more conservative than others.
jim
@gayvirgo: VERY well said. Thank you! Some of the queens seem to be feeling WAY political concerning a SITCOM today…shezus.
rick
@Landon Bryce: you are correct sir! loved brothers.
Brendan
… and the set for the show is on display smack dab in the middle of the already-too-small library at Emerson College in Boston, MA.
Jason
I disagree with the fans of Sean and Megan who are slamming Debra and Eric. The characters of “Jack” and “Karen” were cartoon characters. A caricature is always easier to play. “Will” and “Grace” were 3 dimensional characters and Eric and Debra did a fine job.
sam
Notice people always complain when a gay character is portrayed as effeminate or queeny? WHy is that an ‘unrealistic’ depiction, when there are plenty of gay people who act that way? I have my Jack moments (tho i like to think i’m more intelligent than him, bless the little dear)
throughout the run of teh show there were many different gay men depicted, manly and queeny. Patrick Dempseys sports caster, the cop etc
cruiser
How many people remember Tony Randall in “Love, Sydney”(at least I believe that was the title) in which he played a gay housekeeper(it was a very short lived series).
HYHYBT
@Bertie: I haven’t seen Golden Girls more than three or four times since it ended, but wasn’t Dorothy straight?
sparkle obama
oh my gosh, haters can eat it!
will & grace was a classic, just like the underrated “friends”.
the characters of jack and fag hag grace specifically were not even fiction.
that was documentary!
all y’all who try to diminish sean hayes’ characterization as a “minstrelshow” are simply in denial.
that sh*t was a documentary and you know it.
Anastasia Beverhousen
@gayvirgo:
DITTO DITTO AND DITTO! i LOVE WILL & GRACE, LOVE JACK AND KAREN.
i DVR ALL THE RERUNS. THEY MAKE ME SMILE EVERYTIME!!
ewe
oh let’s face it. this was a horrible spinoff of “I love Lucy”.
Oregon Resident
Loved the movie “The Wedding Date”….bought it and watch it as often as I can!