‘Will & Grace’ reboot succeeds in recapturing the magic.
A lot of “Will & Grace” fans are surely approaching the show’s comeback with the same kind of trepidation they might take into a high school reunion.
Have the years been kind to your old pals? Is it going to feel awkward, or can you pick right back up without missing a beat? And mostly — after all this time — do you really still feel like hanging out with them?
You can relax. The good news is that, based on the season’s first three episodes made available for review, “Will & Grace” 2.0 basically has the same look and bawdy feel of the groundbreaking show that aired on NBC for 193 episodes between 1999 and 2006. It’s just that the quartet of Eric McCormack ( Will), Debra Messing (Grace), Sean Hayes (Jack) and Megan Mullally (Karen) have a few more miles on them and they’re now living in the age of Trump, which presents a fresh opportunity for timely, tension-fueled humor.
First things first, though. You’ll need to forget about the 2006 series finale that had Will and Grace living apart with their own families and college-age children. In Thursday’s opener, it is quickly — and blithely — suggestedthat itwas all a figment of our imagination — or maybe just Karen’s.
Karen: “What happened to the children you had who grew up and married each other?”
Will: “That never happened.”
Karen: “What a relief. No one wants to see you two raise kids.”
OK, then. Back to the future we go. As the series resumes, our four friends are in the same orbit again. Grace, recovering from a recent divorce, is living in Will’s apartment on a “temporary” basis. He’s still an attorney and she’s still an interior designer who has the boozy, underachieving Karen on the payroll. Nutty Jack, meanwhile, is living across the hall from Will.
And it doesn’t take long for the four to shift into a familiar groove, snapping off rapid-fire zingers and dissing pop cultural figures (and each other) just like back in the day. Clearly, they’ve still got game and their chemistry is as strong as ever.
All this feeling of sameness (and/or lack of growth) can be comforting to a TV viewer. On the other hand, if you were irritated by Jack’s hyperkinetic ways and Karen’s shrill musings in 2006, don’t expect any relief in 2017.
Of course, what spurred this whole comeback tour is that viral election video the cast made last fall in support of Hillary Clinton. It only makes sense, then, that Thursday’s opening episode explores, in an overthe-top way, the bitterness three-fourths of the gang is feeling amid the current political climate.
As for Karen, well, she’s gloating because she’s a Trump supporter — and counts Melania among her gal pals.
So, yes, the show that was credited for bringing gay men and women into the pop cultural mainstream long before samesex marriage was legal still has some things to say. But co-creatorsMaxMutchnick and David Kohan insist that they won’t spend all their time wallowing in politics and taking shots at the administration.
That might be a good thing. The two subsequent episodes move away from the Trump- bashing and actually improve upon the opener. One has Will and Jack dealing with the anxiety — and disappointment — that comes with dating much younger men. It features a hysterical sequence in which poor Jack dons a full-body compression suit.
It’s a glorious reminder that “Will & Grace” has always excelled just as much at physical comedy as the snarky verbal barbs. And it’s one more good reason to welcome this beloved sitcom back into our lives. Contact Chuck Barney at cbarney@ bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow him at Twitter. com/chuckbarney and Facebook.com/ bayareanewsgroup. chuckbarney.