Will power - new NBC-TV sitcom 'Will & Grace' - Cover Story

NBC'S WILL & GRACE IS ONE OF THE SEASON'S MOST ANTICIPATED NEW SITCOMS, AND, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, ITS LEAD CHARACTER IS GAY

With Seinfeld gone and long-running sitcoms such as Mad About You and Friends likely to depart in the next few years, NBC is turning gay to beef up its roster.

In a brave but calculated move, the network's programming chief, Warren Littlefield, is banking on the popularity Of films such as My Best Friend's Wedding and The Object of My Affection to bring the gay-men-and-the-straight-women-who-adore-them dynamic to the small screen. Will & Grace, premiering Monday, September 21 at 9:30 p.m. ET, features a strong but ditsy interior designer named Grace Adler (Debra Messing), whose best buddy, Will Truman (Eric McCormack), is a handsome attorney--and gay. Fortunately, NBC is not owned by Disney (as is ABC, which canceled Ellen) but by General Electric, which can drop a refrigerator on anyone who complains.

And they're likely to--complain, that is. The "gays can be cured" ad campaign by the religious right is too powerful a fund-raising tool for the conservatives to avoid targeting a sinful sitcom set in New York City. But should the straight-acting Will somehow pass under the gaydar, there's always his close friend, Jack McFarland (played by Sean Hayes, the eponymous hero of Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss). And Jack is oh-so-definitely queer. "My dog knows you're gay, "Grace says to Jack in the sitcom's pilot episode. "Dead people know you're gay," adds Will.

At least publicly NBC is adopting the "there's no such thing as bad publicity" posture. You can practically hear Littlefield rubbing his hands together with glee at the thought of some and of controversy. "I look forward to it," he says, reminiscing about how concerned heartland mother Terry Rakolta helped put Married... With Children on the ratings map in 1989 when she tried to organize a boycott against the program's advertisers. "That was probably the greatest publicity they could have had."

Almost everyone involved with the series agrees. "The more the show is talked about, the better it is for everyone," adds veteran director-producer James Burrows, who is committed to helm the sitcom's first 12 episodes. And he hopes to get Will & Grace off to a faster start than another program to which he brought his comedic expertise, Cheers. That series had to be nursed along for a season or two before becoming a hit, a luxury Will & Grace can't afford in this era of ever-shrinking network audiences.

But McCormack, whose credits include Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years, says he'll be surprised if there is a major fracas. "The biggest controversy about the show will be that there'll be so little controversy," he adds. "Other than extremists, I don't know how the show could offend."

The carping, however, might Not come not just from fundamentalists but from gay viewers as well. Inquiring minds may want to know whether Will will engage in on-screen romances like Ellen's Ellen Morgan or be just another pseudo queer like Melrose Place's Matt Fielding. The answer, at this juncture, falls somewhere in between.

First of all, points out Littlefield, "Ellen was about one woman's odyssey. We have a different concept, a unique relationship between these two people." What's more, Will & Grace arrives with none of DeGeneres's offscreen coming-out baggage. Throughout Ellen's final season, both the character of Ellen Morgan and DeGeneres herself seemed to struggle with the political and emotional ramifications of coming out to a worldwide audience. Will's character, on the other hand, is described as a well-adjusted man who has just shed a long-term lover. And in McCormack's case, he's only playing gay.

Besides, says Messing, a veteran of the Fox sitcom Ned & Stacey, this show is about Will and Grace. While she's aware that much of the initial attention will be focused on Will's sexuality, "it's not a gay show," she adds. "The heart of the show is the life and times of two best friends. Being gay is an essential element of who Will is. But it's not the main issue."

The relationship between Will and Grace is what first captured Littlefield's attention, a dynamic reminiscent of the Sam and Diane characters from Burrows's Cheers, with a more effective romantic obstacle built in. But how the series develops is still up in the air. Only eight of the initial 13 episodes have been plotted out. Burrows and the show's creators and executive producers, David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, say that's just the way they want it. They'd like the characters to dictate their arc rather than have it imposed on them.

Friends since high school and children of the entertainment industry, Mutchnick and Kohan also brought viewers the 1996-1997 comedy series Boston Common and were writers on The Dennis Miller Show, Hearts Afire, and Dream On. There's nothing particularly gay about Mutchnick (who is gay) nor anything particularly straight about Kohan (who is straight). If there is anything archetypal about them, it's that there's little to set them apart from other sitcom writer-producer teams--not that that's a bad thing.

And they guarantee that the show's gay content won't be relegated to occasional punch-line status. "Will will be more of a gay man than Ross [David Schwimmer] is a father on Friends," says Kohan. "That plotline seems to have really been shelved. I'm a father, and I know what a factor that is in my life, so I couldn't imagine it being shoved in the background and mentioned every eighth episode."

The show (which also stars Megan Mullally as Grace's socialite secretary, Karen) presents fertile ground for exploring all facets of how gays relate to straights--and to themselves--according to Mutchnick. Though both Will and Grace are just coming out of long-term relationships, there's too much comedy to be mined from their respective dating escapades to keep them off love's battlefield indefinitely. Predictably, most of their attempts will be disastrous. "Let's face it, most guys are assholes," says Mutchnick with the knowingness of a bloodied veteran of the gay dating wars. "Most smart women and men have a rough go of it."

The Will-and-Jack dynamic also offers audiences a chance to see how gays relate to one another. Jack is the more flamboyant character, but, say the show's creators, he's probably more comfortable with his sexuality. While Jack's extroverted nature is often the butt of Will's jokes, says McCormack, it can also be turned back on Will, the more uptight of the two.

And there's plenty of room for sexual shenanigans. "We don't have a lot of absolutes," says Littlefield about which subject matter will be appropriate for Will & Grace. As with other programs airing after 9 p.m. on NBC--including Frasiev' and Veronica's Closet--adult themes will be explored. How far will it go? `Things are always changing," says Littlefield. "Two years ago we would have said that the presentation of AIDS on series TV was a turnoff. But look what we've done on ER," he says, acknowledging the program's ongoing stow line regarding the HIV-positive status of physician's assistant Jeannie Boulet (Gloria Reuben). "It hasn't hurt the show, and it's made for compelling human drama. On Seinfeld we had an entire episode about masturbation [though the word was never uttered]. There's not a lot you can't do."

Based on the pilot episode and positive reactions from test audiences and critics, Will & Grace is off to a good start. "Our initial research has found that large audiences enjoyed the relationship between Will and Grace," says Littlefield. Even Jack hit a nerve. "He could be our Kramer or our Urkel," says Burrows.

But anyone who's expecting Will to have his first male-male kiss any time soon obviously doesn't understand how important foreplay is to the long-term success of a TV sitcom. To have it occur in the first episode or even the first season, says McCormack, might be counterproductive: "The further we go too soon, before the audience gets to know these characters, the better the chance of turning people off. And then everybody loses. We want the audience to get to know him so they'll be rooting for that kiss."

How, when, and if it will happen is viewed differently by almost everyone involved. Mutchnick and Kohan like the sneak-attack method, having it casually dropped in, no bells or whistles. Burrows envisions it as a funny moment like the kiss between Kevin Kline and Tom Selleck in In & Out. Littlefield, however, says it might be an opportunity to lure an audience the way Ellen's coming-out episode did.

"Television is about milestones," he says. "But I don't know. We'll know it when we see it. With Seinfeld there were always strong debates as to what we should promote and what we should let the audience have as a surprise. That'll be the same here too."

If the show succeeds, however, McCormack says the show's lasting legacy won't be whether Will plays dueling tongues with another guy but the week-after-week, year-after-year matter-of-factness of his sexuality. "I think it's much more threatening to find out that Will is a really nice guy," says McCormack, "who could be your son or brother."

Natale is a Los Angel--based freelance writer.

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