NBC’s ‘Will & Grace’ revival ignores original series finale
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — NBC has faith in its revival of sitcom “Will & Grace” (9 p.m. Sept. 28): Even before an episode airs, the peacock network ordered a 13-episode second season and extended the first season from 12 to 16 episodes.
The “Will & Grace” revival began last fall when the cast and creators got together to film what amounted to an episode of the series that also served as a campaign video on behalf of Hillary Clinton featuring the show’s core quartet of Will (Eric McCormack), Grace (Debra Messing), Karen (Megan Mullally) and Jack (Sean Hayes).
That campaign ad episode ignored the events of the “Will & Grace” series finale, and the new show will do the same.
“Will & Grace” co-creator David Kohan said that finale will now be considered “more or less a fantasy projection into the future.”
“We said what was it that we missed? It was the dynamic between the four of them more than we missed the possibility of seeing what their life would be like as parents,” said series cocreator Max Mutchnick. “We never would have gone in that direction unless we were ending the show.”
NBC execs are fine with the revival ignoring the original series’ finale that saw the series fast-forward to show Grace married to Leo (Harry Connick Jr.) and Will married to Vince (Bobby Cannavale). Will and Grace had a falling out, had children, and then their kids go to college and become roommates, leading to a rapprochement between Will and Grace.
“The finale was written when there was no anticipation of ever continuing the show,” Mr. Greenblatt said. “I don't think you want to see them with aging children. … We just sort of wanted the old show.”
The new “Will & Grace” will wink at the original finale, and the plot will suggest Will and Grace have not been living together the entire time since the series ended in 2006, but events will bring them back together.
While the revival will essentially be the same as the
Read more coverage from the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Tuned In Journal at http:// communityvoices.post-gazette. original series, Mr. Mutchnick said it will be set in the present.
“We stopped at the B in LGBTQ,” Ms. Messing said of the original series. “My hope now is we can finish the alphabet. There are so many things being discussed in the culture now.”
One character who won’t return: Rosario. Producers said actress Shelley Morrison is retired and chose not to reprise her role.
When asked about the wisdom of revivals, NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt joked, “We're creatively bankrupt.”
“I think when you're putting on 30 to 40 original series a year, if there's a great old idea you bring back, I'm totally comfortable,” he said.
“You can't imagine the redos we're batting back,” added NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke.
‘Crazy Ex’ seeks revenge
Season three of The CW's “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” (8 p.m. Oct. 12) returns with a Disney-style opening number for its third season, which follows what happens after Josh Chan (Vincent Rodriguez III) left Rebecca (Rachel Bloom) at the altar at the end of season two.
“If you thought the show was going to be a funny 'Fatal Attraction,' that's what we're going into the season as,” said series star Rachel Bloom. “She thinks she's a woman scorned.”
But it won't always work out as planned.
“If Rebecca tried to boil a bunny, she'd go, 'It's so cute,' and a month later she'd have 50 bunnies,” said executive producer Aline Brosh McKenna. “She's not very good at being the femme fatale she'd like to be.”
“Rebecca associates sex with power,” Ms. Bloom added. “Whenever she's trying to get her power back, she uses her sexuality very openly.”
Ms. McKenna and Ms. Bloom said they have a fourseason arc for the series, and they don't worry about an early cancellation, adhering to the slogan, “Live like you're dying.”
“We just do them the way we planned it,” Ms. McKenna said.
Channel surfing
Freeform renewed “Famous in Love” for a second season. … ABC has postponed until 2018 its live “Little Mermaid,” slated to air in October, due to cost concerns.… Netflix will spoof its own “Making a Murderer” with the eight-part mock documentary series “American Vandal,” debuting Sept. 15.