Will And Grace

I've been binge watching old TV shows.  One in particular - Will And Grace - and I've been thinking about it a lot.  I've always been a fan of the show, much to the ridicule of some of my friends who consider it a stereotype and unrealistic depiction of gay life.  I think in many ways Will And Grace wasn't very gay at all. 

I wouldn't call it stereotypical because a lot of the stereotypes of gay men never actually surfaced in the show.  That is possibly due to the fact it was essentially a "family" show - I hate using that term in this context as being exclusionary to gay people, but that is the best way I can describe it.  For a show about a gay man and his best friend there's no gay sex at all, which although it doesn't have to be explicit, isn't even alluded to; the terms "Top" and "Bottom" are thrown about a few times and a few innuendos here and there but gay sex itself is never discussed.  As for the romantic side of gay relationships, there are very few gay kisses on the show.  I have not counted myself, but one forum post I found after a quick google lists 12 for a show with 194 episodes that's decidedly a miss.

Will And Grace, as a show I am more inclined to label as a sitcom that happened to have gay characters as opposed to it being a gay sitcom.  Then again the actor who played Will, arguably the main character of the show, Eric McCormack, was in fact straight.  It's interesting to note here that Sean Hayes who plays Jack is actually gay, and also interesting to note that in many ways Jack comes to overshadow Will throughout the series.  Equally, Debra Messing who plays Grace was almost exclusively depicted as straight, and whilst being my favourite character between her and Will, she's also not the main female character to attract the focus of gay fans, that honour is reserved for Megan Mullally who played Karen.  Karen for a start is sexually ambiguous, and her gender fluidity is also worthy of note as a number of times throughout the series it is made ambiguous.  Karen's sexuality is played with throughout the series.

Jack and Karen very much steal the show, in my eyes because they are a truer representation of the LGBT community.  Now it's important to note this is the first time in this post I have used that acronym - LGBT - because up until this point it was gay [male] oriented.  It's also important to note that there will be hostility for calling Jack an accurate representation, indeed Sean Hayes did get quite a bit of hostility whilst acting in the series for what many people deemed a derogatory depiction.  The problem with that however in my mind is that whether people like it or not, I've met quite a few gay guys who are the embodiment of Jack and even more who would never admit it. 

Jack and Karen do much more than this however, in my opinion they are also the two characters on the show who develop the most.  Will through the course of 8 seasons never really grows, the same is true for Grace, they end up in the finale behaving in the same way they always did.  Jack however grows through the series and matures.  He eventually has a relationship that lasts longer than 5 minutes and even gets a job that he's actually good at.  Karen goes from a 2 dimensional character who has more money than sense, ironically, to a 3 dimensional woman with more sense than money.  Jack and Karen swap places as provider and provided, but their dynamic remains the same even through their growth.  Karen goes from a heartless shrew, to exhibiting genuine human emotion, even showing moments of maternal affection.

In terms of my favourite moments for each character there are many but if I had to pick then for Grace I would choose "Brothers, A Love Story" where she scolds Will for his hypocrisy, her defence of his sexuality as something he should not have to hide for any man.  For Jack, undoubtedly his coming out scene from "Homo for the Holidays" - it is perhaps the most heartfelt scene Sean Hayes performed in the series, made even more ironic by the fact Hayes was a gay in a glass closet - he didn't actually come out as a gay man until years later, despite the fact pretty much everyone already knew - side note, Veronica Cartwright who played Jack's Mom, is an absolute legend.  As for Karen, my favourite moment comes in "Stakin' Care of Business" when Grace locks her in the elevator because she would not give her a loan to expand her business, Karen then delivers a short speech which proves despite the projection of a bimbo she's actually quite intelligent and knows a thing or two about business - which in a way is demonstrative of her expertise at deception, something she got from her mother. 

Picking my favourite moment for Will is actually pretty hard - not because there are a lot to choose from, but because I'm not that keen on him as a character.  There are many facets to his personality and his behaviour that rub me the wrong way.  In fact I'd go so far as to say my favourite moment for Will wouldn't be a happy moment but a sad one, from "Polk Defeats Truman" - Will seals a deal for Harlin and "trims the fat" by getting rid of all his clients who stood by him, only to be fired by Harlin soon after bringing him karmic retribution for his actions - another side note, Gary Grubbs who plays Harlin Polk is also an absolute legend.

From the cameos by Cher, Elton John, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and James Earl Jones to name a few, through to the celebrities who played one-time parts, Camryn Manheim as Psychic Sue, Jack Black as Dr Isaac Hershberg, Glenn Close as Fannie Lieber, Ellen DeGeneres as Sister Louise, and Madonna as Liz to name a few - the show was not short of big names with even more to name.

Will And Grace remains one of my favourite TV Shows, even after all these years I still watch it and still notice things I didn't before, still enjoy watching episodes I've seen a thousand times before, and still turn to it when I'm feeling down or sick and just want to sit back and watch something to make me smile.