Will & Grace
"The Finale" drew in an estimated 18.1 million viewers,[7] 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 three episode "New Will City", which aired on 12 October 2000 and ranked # 4 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 premier "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 North American Eastern Time.
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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 and thus cheating Kohan and Mutchnick out of considerable profits had the network shopped 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."[16] 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."[17]
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 finale "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.[18]
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Broadcasters
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DVD releases
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Running gags
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- Before a short argument starts, both Will & Grace will simultaneously say the same words.
- Will & Grace being referred to as "married".
- Grace would claim that she has a striking resemblance to certain red-haired celebrities, such as Julia Roberts, Rita Hayworth and Nicole Kidman.
- Karen continually mocks Grace's sense of style. ("Grace, that blouse hurts like a hangover.")
- 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).
- Grace displays an odd love of food throughout the series and is generally slovenly and unladylike
- 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.
- Grace's small breasts are mentioned and made fun of throughout the series, in contrast to Karen's ample bosom. Debra Messing has stated that although, "There have been many jokes made along the way about me having small breasts." "I'd never get implants, because that's just not me. Certainly it's a popular trend, but it is an American beauty ideal that I don't subscribe to."[19]
- 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.
- 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 will always come back at him with a reference to his size, such as "Baby Gap", "Seed of Chucky", "Teacup Poodle", "Thumbelina", or "Keebler Elf".
- Karen doesn't see her alcoholism and pill popping habits as an addiction. The other characters also mention her addictions in a light or joking way.
- When discovering something shocking, Jack will often quickly gasp celebrities with double barrel names such as Haley Joel Osment, Uma Thurman Hawke, Sarah Jessica Parker, or Britney Spears Federline.
- The uncertainty about Karen's age, especially when she makes comments such as about the "firing Picasso" and "The Great Depression".
- Karen's unwillingness to do actual work at Grace's office, despite being her assistant.
- Jack has an obsession with Cher and Kevin Bacon.
- Karen has an obese husband named Stanley who never appears to viewers. Karen makes constant remarks and jokes about his weight.
- Karen rapidly asking three questions at once, when confused or curious. (example: "What's this? What's going on? What's happening?")
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Will & Grace in pop culture
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- In the South Park episode "South Park Is Gay!", at one point they are watching NBC and the announcer says, "You're watching Queer Eye for the Straight Guy! Coming up next is Will & Grace, followed by The Love Boat... with Men!"
- On the sitcom Scrubs, Dr. Cox once referred to J.D. and Elliot as Will and Grace, calling J.D. Grace, continuing his habit of calling J.D. by girls' names.
- Karen Walker was featured as #11 on E!'s "50 Most Wicked Women of Primetime" special.
- One of the categories in the game show Jeopardy! was "Will & Disgrace."
- On The Charlotte Church Show, Charlotte Church did a comedy sketch with Eric McCormack called Hywl & Grwys, a Welsh version of Will & Grace.
- Besides the Sony dubbed version, the Will and Grace concept was exported to Spanish-speaking countries as the Mexican-made sitcom Diseñador Ambos Sexos, starring Hector Suarez Gomis and Chantal Andere.
- On Dawson's Creek, gay character Jack McPhee and his straight female best friend Jen occasionally address each other as Will and Grace.
- In the song "Couch Potato" by Weird Al Yankovic, the singer's TiVo device assumes he's gay because he watches Will & Grace.
- In an episode from the final season of 3rd Rock From The Sun, the Solomons traveled to an alternate world where Harry is the CEO of NBC. One of Harry's decisions to improve the channel's TV ratings is to change the format of Will & Grace by making it "one night Will and one night Grace."
- In the American Dad! episode "Failure is not a Factory-Installed Option." when Stan Smith is inspecting the man in the beginning of the episode, he claims "the look in his eye states that he's not sure what Eric McCormack is going to do after Will & Grace either."
- In the Family Guy episode, "Airport '07," after Peter tells Lois he'll talk to Quagmire about leaving the house, there is a quick parody of the opening montage of Will & Grace with Peter and Lois as Will and Grace and Brian and Stewie presumeably as Jack and Karen.
- In The Office episode "Gay Witch Hunt," reacting to the recent outing of a coworker, homophobe Angela says that she sometimes watches Will & Grace. She says she enjoys Harry Connick Jr. ("He's so talented"), but otherwise it makes her want to throw up.
- In Men in Trees episode "Nice Girls Finish First," it turns out that Buzz's son is gay. When Mai founds out about this, she becomes happy since now she can have a gay friend, just like Karen.
- In a skit from The Chapelle Show, Clayton Bigsby, an African-American white supremacist, tells his followers at a rally, "If you don't like Will & Grace, that don't mean there's something wrong with you. It means there's something wrong with Will! He's a homosexual."
- An episode of Will & Dewitt has the parody title Will & Grass.
- In the movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, the son of one of the characters says that the couple is just like Will & Grace because they do everything together.
- In the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin, one of the characters says to two of the main characters that are emotionally discussing relationship problems, "Back to work, Will and Grace."
- In a skit from Da Ali G Show, the character Bruno asks a Christian minister if watching Will & Grace violates Christian values, to which the minister replies, "It's ungodly."
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See also
- List of Will & Grace episodes
- Supporting characters on Will & Grace
- List of guest stars on Will & Grace
- List of awards won by Will & Grace
- List of television shows with lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered characters
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References
- ^ IMDb (2006). Awards for Will & Grace
- ^ Goodnight, Gracie: 'Will & Grace' ends landmark run. SignOnSanDiego (9 May 2006). Retrieved on 2008-03-23.
- ^ Will & Grace: The Big Finale is Full of Surprises. TVSeriesFinale.com (29 May 2006). Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
- ^ Will & Grace. Daily Variety (September 16, 1998). Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
- ^ Watching with Ambivalence. Pop Matters Television (October 3, 2000). Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
- ^ NBC's 'Will' bows out gracefully. USA Today (May 17, 2006). Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ 'Will & Grace' Helps NBC Stay Tough on Thursday. Zap2It (May 19, 2006). Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ "TV Winners & Losers: Numbers Racket A Final Tally Of The Season's Show (from Nielsen Media Research)", Entertainment Weekly, June 4, 1999. Retrieved on 2008-03-17.
- ^ "US-Jarescharts", Quoten Meter, May 30, 2002. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ "Outback in Front: CBS Wins Season", E Online, May 25, 2001. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ "How did your favorite show rate?", USA Today, May 28, 2002. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ "Networks face Reality Check", The Enquirer, May 25, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ "I. T. R. S. RANKING REPORT 01 THRU 210 (OUT OF 210 PROGRAMS) DAYPART: PRIMETIME MON-SUN", ABC MediaNet, June 2, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ "2004-05 Primetime Wrap", Hollywood Reporter, May 27, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ "2005-06 primetime wrap", Hollywood Reporter, May 26, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
- ^ "Producers of 'Will & Grace' sue NBC", USA Today, December 16, 2003. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ "NBC sues 'Will & Grace' creators", USA Today, March 5, 2004. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ "Surprise settlement in 'Grace' case", Hollywood Reporter, April 27, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
- ^ Messing Defends Small Breasts. Contactmusic.com (October 4, 2005). Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
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External links
- Official NBC Site
- Will & Grace SPAIN
- Fansite with Episode Guides
- Will & Grace Theme Song
- Will & Grace at aboutgaymovies
- Official Canal+ Site (French Broadcaster)
- Will & Grace World
- Will & Grace at the Internet Movie Database
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