1998 New York Times review of Will & Grace

She's correct.

It was absolutely ordinary and the exercise of formula upon formula, and that's what it had to be to get mainstream network audiences to accept gay characters at the time.

It was The Karen Show. The rest was filler.

Jack went from a reasonable guy in the pilot to a blithering idiot who believed Santa Claus came to visit.

I hated how they tried to make Will way too straight-acting in the first season with his cigar smoking and poker playing with all his straight buds. That was ridiculous.

And what was the point of Gary Grimes’ character? Why was he even there?

R4 the show agreed with youn the Gary Grimes character because he was dropped by season 2 and never mentioned again.

Even early promos hid that Will was gay out of fear many wouldn’t even watch if they knew beforehand.

The first season was a bit dull from what I remember; it took many other sitcoms a while to hit a groove though, too.

Karen wasn't using the voice yet and Will had a mullet or something and wasn't funny.

Who was the Gary Grimes character?

Gary Grubbs was oddly annoying

r8 it was Gary Grubbs, not Grimes

r10 Omg, thank you! I was googling Gary Grimes and didn't find anything, I thought I was going crazy.

This cast pic makes it look like they intended him to be part of the core cast, possibly as a totem for all the straight guys in the audience to identify themselves with, so they could slowly make Will's gayness more "overt". Got this pic off a Gary Grubbs fan page on Facebook where the caption says that Harlin Polk was a fan favourite. In what universe?

Will & Grace was the best written show on television since The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

When it hit, it fucking hit. And it was a good alternative to other aggressively straight sitcoms also airing at the time. There hasn't been anything like it since and I'm sad the reboot didn't do better, but I guess its original success depended a lot on the sociopolitical context of the time.

The reboot did very well.

It may be the most successful network reboot OAT.

And would have done better if Deb and Meg could have stashed their cuntiness away.

First season was dreadful.

But it's one of the few sitcoms I can watch on repeat. Always makes me laugh. (Yes, it's mostly Karen as to why.)

R14 The Connors says Hi.

The show was shit. They needed something to air after Seinfeld ended.

[quote] It may be the most successful network reboot OAT.

No, that would be Roseanne.

The Will & Grace reboot ratings were in the toilet for the majority of its run.

W&G reboot premiere episode: 10.19

Roseanne reboot episode: 18.44

Roseanne stayed in double digits it’s entire run while W&G was getting a 2 or a 3 during its run.

Next time, check your facts.

For me, season 2 was when the show really hit is stride.

At least Grace was thin in the first season and didn’t hide behind bags or pillows.

An unwatchably stupid and retrograde series. The same observations seem to hold true of its fans.

r21 Your suggested better alternative(s) would be?

Anything but that fucking minstrel show.

The Matt Damon episode was a classic.

It had plenty of forgettable moments but as others have said, when it hit it hit.

r23 Meh, fail

The NYT AKA The Gray Lady has often missed the mark in its reviews. I agree that the first season was so-so, but the show flourished thereafter. I've always thought of W&G as the battle of the Ids (Jack and Karen) vs. the Egos (Will and Grace).

Will and Grace and Jack and Karen show.

Will was a character designed to appeal to straight women- he’ll take you dancing and you can sit in the park and check out the cute boys together.

🤮- Even the gay author Andrew Holleran called Will & Grace a repellent sitcom.

R12

Seriously? Best sitcom since 'Mary Tyler Moore'?

You might want to check out 'Frasier.' It will be a revelation.

Taxi and Cheers were better than Frasier.

R30

And all three of them were better than 'Will and Grace'.

That was more the point.

I only watched Will and Grace for Karen. She made that show.