Pilot (Will & Grace)
Encyclopedia
"Pilot", also known as "Love & Marriage", is the first episode of Will & Grace
' s first season. It was written by David Kohan
and Max Mutchnick
, and directed by James Burrows
. It originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in the United States on September 21, 1998. In the episode, Grace
receives an unexpected marriage proposal from her boyfriend. Her gay
best friend Will
tries to support her, but finally tells her that she is making a big mistake, even though he risks losing their friendship. The situation gets complicated when Grace's socialite assistant, Karen
, and Will's flamboyantly gay friend, Jack
, interfere.
Kohan and Mutchnick based the show on their own lives; for example, Mutchnick, who is openly gay, based the relationship between Will and Grace on his real-life relationship with a woman named Janet. When the pilot was pitched to NBC, the network was positive about the project. There was still some concern, however, that the homosexual subject matter would cause alarm, since the sitcom Ellen
was canceled because ratings had plummeted after the show became "too gay". Since airing, the pilot episode of Will & Grace has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating
of 8.6, equivalent to approximately 8.4 million viewing households.
(Eric McCormack
) talking on the phone with his best friend, heterosexual Jewish interior designer Grace Adler
(Debra Messing
), about each other's life. The following day, Will hosts a poker game at his apartment with his friends, when an angry Grace arrives and informs Will she just had an argument with her long-term boyfriend, Danny (Tom Verica
), and does not want to discuss anything with Will. After the game is over, Will insists that Grace spend the night—much to the displeasure of Will's gay friend, Jack McFarland
(Sean Hayes
), who was planning to move in with Will temporarily.
Later at her office, Grace Adler Designs, Grace reveals to her socialite assistant Karen Walker
(Megan Mullally
) about her argument with Danny. Karen tells Grace to make up with him, explaining to Grace that Danny is a "good catch". After staying another night with Will, Grace decides to end her relationship with Danny, because the relationship had reached a "fork in the road" and ending things with Danny was the right decision. However, when she tries to end things she receives an unexpected proposal of marriage from him, which she accepts. After the proposal, Grace goes to Will's apartment and asks for his blessing on her and Danny's marriage. Will attempts to be supportive of her decision, but finally tells her that Danny is not right for her, even though he risks losing their friendship. Grace informs Will that she does not need his blessing, and that she is going to marry Danny regardless.
With the intention of apologizing to Grace, Will shows up at Grace Adler Designs the following day. Karen reveals to Will that Grace has gone to City Hall to get married. However, Grace shows up at her office and informs Will that she realized he was right, and that she left Danny at the altar, unable to marry him. Will reassures Grace that she will find someone eventually.
and David Kohan
based the show on their own lives. Mutchnick, who is openly gay, based the relationship between Will and Grace on his real-life relationship with a woman named Janet. Originally, Mutchnick and Kohan first went to the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), who told them to create a television series about a new young love story, as Mad About You
was going off the air. The character of Will was part of a sitcom Mutchnick and Kohan first pitched to NBC executives in 1997. The original concept was an ensemble comedy featuring three couples, one of which was a gay man living with a straight woman. Warren Littlefield
, the executive vice president of NBC at the time, was not excited about the first two couples, but wanted to learn more about the gay and straight couple, so Mutchnick and Kohan was sent to create a pilot script centering on those two characters. NBC went to sitcom director James Burrows
to see what he thought of the homosexual subject matter and if an audience would be interested in the show. Burrows liked the idea and when he first read the script in November 1997, he decided that he wanted to direct it. Burrows said, "I knew that the boys had captured a genre and a group of characters I have never read before." The filming of the pilot began in March 1998. The actors behind Will and Grace, Eric McCormack and Debra Messing, were positive about the series and they thought it had the potential to last long on television. McCormack said: "When shooting was finished that night, Debra and I were sitting on the couch and looking at each other and I said, ‘We’re gonna be on this set for a while.’ And we sort of clasped hands, but we didn’t want to say anything beyond that and jinx it."
NBC were positive about the project, but there was still some concern that the homosexual subject matter would cause alarm. Ellen DeGeneres
's sitcom Ellen
that aired on ABC
was canceled the year before Will & Grace premiered because ratings had plummeted after the show became "too gay". Despite the criticism ABC received for DeGeneres's coming out
episode, "The Puppy Episode
", "there's no question that show made it easier for Will & Grace to make it on the air," said Kohan. He added: "Will & Grace had a better shot at succeeding where Ellen failed, however, because Will has known about his homosexuality for twenty years. He's not exploring that awkward territory for the first time as Ellen did. The process of self-discovery and the pain most gay men go through is fascinating, but the average American is put off by it." Kohan also commented that rather than concentrating on Will's gayness, Will & Grace is using it as a device: "It's like that When Harry Met Sally...
line when Billy Crystal
says, 'A man and woman can never be friends, because sex always gets in the way.' What we want to explore is what happens between a man and a woman when sex doesn't get in the way."
Mutchnick said Will was originally going to be named Will Herman ("her man") because the staff wanted to use names that "speak exactly to the essence" of the characters. However, they changed it to Truman ("true man") since they thought it was more accurate, as Will "really lives his life in an honest way". John Barrowman
was one of the final candidates for the role of Will, but was rejected because he "wasn't gay enough". The part instead went to Eric McCormack, who revealed that taking the role was not difficult because he liked the concept of a gay show not being about the "issues" of being gay. Having played gay characters several times in his career, McCormack did not have a problem with it and thought his character could become a "poster boy for some gay movement", like DeGeneres became a spokesperson with her character. He explained the when he first read the script, "what hit me immediately was that this was me. I mean, sexual orientation aside, Will was so much like me. He's a great host, he's relatively funny and he has great friends and he's a good friend to them ... the gay issue just wasn't really a big thing." McCormack was also the first actor to be cast. In response to the relationship between Will and Grace, McCormak said that gay men and straight women have "more fun than anybody" in their relationships; "Straight guys like me are jealous because of how much fun they have. We can show the audience part of that."
Mutchnick, in regards of Debra Messing's character, said: "Grace doesn't fall into any of those categories that have stereotyped Jewish women. She's strong, she's pretty and she's a proud Jewish woman." Mutchnick revealed that Nicollette Sheridan
was originally brought in to read the part of Grace, but even though she did a "great job", her performance was "too desperate". Mutchnick and Kohan decided to cast Messing in the role instead, who at the time was starring in ABC's drama Prey
. After her first meeting with them, Messing was not convinced she wanted the role. Messing revealed that Mutchnick and Kohan showed up at her home with a bottle of vodka; "They poured me several shots, we spoke for several hours and they pitched me the show. I'm a lightweight. I didn't need much to be a little giddy. By the end of the evening, they said, 'Will you do it?' I said, 'Let's talk tomorrow.'" They called her the next day to inform her that they "loved her" and asked "if she'd made up her mind". Messing still did not make her mind up. However, the following day, she called Mutchnick and Kohan and accepted the role. In discussion of the character, Messing said: "I have a lot more confidence and I'm much more relaxed. I feel comfortable that Grace will be a character I'll enjoy doing for a long time." She later, however, admitted that director Burrows was the reason for doing Will & Grace. Messing was the last actor to be cast.
Sean Hayes was cast in the role of Jack. When a NBC casting executive saw Hayes's role in the indie gay romance film Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss
, he sent the script to Hayes, who was attending the 1997 Sundance Film Festival
in Utah
. Even though Hayes enjoyed the script when he read it, he threw it away as he did not want to spend money on a plane ticket to Los Angeles
for the audition. However, a few weeks later when Hayes was in Los Angeles, he was sent the script again and decided try out for the audition. If asked if he regrets accepting the role, Hayes said: "If you're truly an actor, in the long run ... I don't know that I would have done it either. I think of all the things that I still want to do, and I don't know if I'll get to do them." However, he admits that he "love[s]" the idea that people assume that he is either gay or straight. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly
, Hayes admitted that people believe he is Jack "24 hours a day".
Before Megan Mullally was given the role of Karen, she had previously been cast as a series regular on sitcoms such as The Ellen Burstyn Show
, My Life and Times, and Rachel Gunn. Mullally guest starred on many other shows, including Ned & Stacey
, on which she first worked with Messing. Mullally informed her agent that she did not want to do any more sitcoms or auditions for sitcoms, during the time that Will & Grace came around. "Because my feeling was, like, Look, I've done it. It's not clicking. It's not for me. But he [her agent] was always arguing the point that the right thing hadn't come along yet." She initially auditioned for the role of Grace, but admitted that she did not want to audition for the part of Karen. When asked about Karen's voice, Mullally revealed that the voice was an "instinctive thing". She also said, "...I think it was just a feeling that I had that it would be better for the pace of the show and it would be funnier in some way, but I didn't know why. Karen has a lot of joy, even when she's in a bad mood. She's pretty much happy with who she is, and that is something I think is a great thing to play, because the character of Karen could have been very unlikeable, and I think she's likeable because she has joy and she can be very childlike."
for forty-first place in ratings for the week of September 21–27, 1998. With a Nielsen rating
of 8.6, equivalent to approximately 8.4 million viewing households, it was the fifteenth highest-rated show on NBC the week it aired. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. Joyce Millman of Salon Entertainment said the episode has "glimmers of class" and the jokes are "relatively sophisticated". John Carman of the San Francisco Chronicle
commented that Burrows's direction was "sharp as usual" and the writing was "above average". Brian Lambert of the St. Paul Pioneer Press
said the pilot was "nicely staged by veteran director Jimmy Burrows, and coming from a couple producers, Max Mutchnick and David Cohan, who assisted Boston Common and Dream On, the show – which is to say the pilot episode (everything could go to hell next week) – has the best verbal interplay of any of the season's new sitcoms." William Horn from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) thought the episode was a "wonderful" representation of a gay man's life "regardless of whether he's in a relationship in that very moment. I think it's important that American audiences realize that lesbians and gay men are not simply all about sexual situations." Ellen Gray of the Chicago Tribune
was also positive about the show: "For those who believe that Hollywood's engaging in a conspiracy to 'normalize' a sexual orientation that many Americans still find abhorrent, Will & Grace will look like a candy-coated poison pill. To those who think that Hollywood isn't moving fast enough in offering sexual parity for gays, it may just look like poison. But... there's a large audience out there that's somewhere in the mushy middle, an audience that might be ready to embrace Will & Grace."
The actors' performances were praised by several critics. Carman thought McCormack and Messing worked "nicely" together, and called the supporting cast "an asset". Kay Mcfadden of the Seattle Times also praised McCormack, Messing and the supporting cast as "very funny". Robert Laurence of The San Diego Union-Tribune
wrote: "Messing and McCormack play wonderfully together, tossing lines back and forth as if they'd been at it for years, making their relationship quite believable. Sean Hayes, as the flamboyantly gay Jack, adds to the mix. Jack is flighty, temperamental, good-humored and highly likable." A reviewer for USA Today
said he thought it would be nice to see Will have a "full life of his own", and not just serve as a "love-life adviser" to Grace and Jack. "I know it won't happen soon; NBC is so skittish about the so-called Ellen 'gay show' stigma, it's gone to Herculean lengths to avoid mentioning Will's sexuality. But a grace period can only last so long."
The episode received less positive reviews as well. Rahul Gairola of PopMatters
wrote that while "the pilot lays the usual groundwork by showing how the characters' lives are intertwined, it also demonstrates immediately the sitcom's major drawback, that the stereotypical gay character is the stand-out comic figure." A reviewer for the Los Angeles Times
said "there's something not quite right about this show's approach to homosexuality... It has everything to do with Will's attitude. It approaches asexual, his gayness appearing to exist solely as a device to give him the moral authority to repeatedly ridicule the mincing manner of his bandanna-wearing homosexual friend, Jack, without being labeled homophobic." Suite101.com's Hana Lewis thought it was "regrettable" that the pilot's jokes revolved "solely around gay stereotypes and sexual innuendo". Some reviewers were also skeptical about the future of the show. One such review said, "If Will & Grace can somehow survive a brutal time period opposite football
and Ally McBeal
, it could grow into a reasonably entertaining little anomaly
— that is, a series about a man and a woman who have no sexual interest
in one another. But don't bet on it. If it's a doomed relationships
viewers want, they'll probably opt for Ally."
Will & Grace
Will & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...
David Kohan
David Sanford Kohan is an American television producer. After writing for The Wonder Years and The Dennis Miller Show, Kohan co-created and produced Will & Grace, Good Morning, Miami, Twins and Four Kings with Max Mutchnick. Kohan has won an Emmy and a People's Choice Award. He has been nominated...
and Max Mutchnick
Max Mutchnick
Jason Nidorf Mutchnick is an American television producer. He has received an Emmy Award, a People's Choice Award, and several Golden Globe Award nominations....
, and directed by James Burrows
James Burrows
James Edward Burrows is an American television director who has been working in television since the 1970s.-Biography:...
. It originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in the United States on September 21, 1998. In the episode, Grace
Grace Adler
Grace Elizabeth Adler-Markus is a fictional character on the American sitcom Will & Grace, portrayed by Debra Messing. She is a Jewish interior designer , living in New York City with her gay best friend Will Truman...
receives an unexpected marriage proposal from her boyfriend. Her gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
best friend Will
Will Truman
William Pierce "Will" Truman is a fictional character on the American sitcom Will & Grace, portrayed by Eric McCormack. He is a gay lawyer who lives in the Upper West Side of New York City with his best friend, Grace Adler.-Fictional character history:...
tries to support her, but finally tells her that she is making a big mistake, even though he risks losing their friendship. The situation gets complicated when Grace's socialite assistant, Karen
Karen Walker (character)
Karen Walker is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Will & Grace . She was portrayed by actress and singer Megan Mullally...
, and Will's flamboyantly gay friend, Jack
Jack McFarland
John Philip "Jack" McFarland was a fictional character on the American television sitcom Will & Grace, played by Sean Hayes.-Character personality:...
, interfere.
Kohan and Mutchnick based the show on their own lives; for example, Mutchnick, who is openly gay, based the relationship between Will and Grace on his real-life relationship with a woman named Janet. When the pilot was pitched to NBC, the network was positive about the project. There was still some concern, however, that the homosexual subject matter would cause alarm, since the sitcom Ellen
Ellen (TV series)
Ellen is a U.S. television sitcom that ran on the ABC network from March 29, 1994 to July 22, 1998, producing 109 episodes.The theme song, "So Called Friend" is by Scottish band Texas...
was canceled because ratings had plummeted after the show became "too gay". Since airing, the pilot episode of Will & Grace has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 8.6, equivalent to approximately 8.4 million viewing households.
Plot
The episode begins with homosexual lawyer Will TrumanWill Truman
William Pierce "Will" Truman is a fictional character on the American sitcom Will & Grace, portrayed by Eric McCormack. He is a gay lawyer who lives in the Upper West Side of New York City with his best friend, Grace Adler.-Fictional character history:...
(Eric McCormack
Eric McCormack
Eric James McCormack is a Canadian American actor, musician, writer and producer. Born in Toronto, he began his acting career performing in school plays at Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute High School...
) talking on the phone with his best friend, heterosexual Jewish interior designer Grace Adler
Grace Adler
Grace Elizabeth Adler-Markus is a fictional character on the American sitcom Will & Grace, portrayed by Debra Messing. She is a Jewish interior designer , living in New York City with her gay best friend Will Truman...
(Debra Messing
Debra Messing
Debra Lynn Messing is an American actress, voice artist, and comedienne. She is perhaps best known for her role as Grace Adler in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace and as Molly Kagan in the mini-series The Starter Wife....
), about each other's life. The following day, Will hosts a poker game at his apartment with his friends, when an angry Grace arrives and informs Will she just had an argument with her long-term boyfriend, Danny (Tom Verica
Tom Verica
Tom Verica is an American actor and director, known for his role of Jack Pryor on the NBC drama American Dreams. He played Astronaut Dick Gordon in the HBO miniseries From The Earth To The Moon...
), and does not want to discuss anything with Will. After the game is over, Will insists that Grace spend the night—much to the displeasure of Will's gay friend, Jack McFarland
Jack McFarland
John Philip "Jack" McFarland was a fictional character on the American television sitcom Will & Grace, played by Sean Hayes.-Character personality:...
(Sean Hayes
Sean Hayes (actor)
Sean Patrick Hayes is an American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his role as Jack McFarland in the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, for which he won an Emmy Award, four SAG Awards, one American Comedy Award, and six Golden Globes nominations.He also portrayed comedian Jerry Lewis in the...
), who was planning to move in with Will temporarily.
Later at her office, Grace Adler Designs, Grace reveals to her socialite assistant Karen Walker
Karen Walker (character)
Karen Walker is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Will & Grace . She was portrayed by actress and singer Megan Mullally...
(Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally
Megan Mullally is an American actress and singer.After working in the theatre in Chicago, Mullally moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and began to appear in supporting roles in film and television productions. She made her Broadway debut in Grease in 1994 and she has since appeared in several Broadway...
) about her argument with Danny. Karen tells Grace to make up with him, explaining to Grace that Danny is a "good catch". After staying another night with Will, Grace decides to end her relationship with Danny, because the relationship had reached a "fork in the road" and ending things with Danny was the right decision. However, when she tries to end things she receives an unexpected proposal of marriage from him, which she accepts. After the proposal, Grace goes to Will's apartment and asks for his blessing on her and Danny's marriage. Will attempts to be supportive of her decision, but finally tells her that Danny is not right for her, even though he risks losing their friendship. Grace informs Will that she does not need his blessing, and that she is going to marry Danny regardless.
With the intention of apologizing to Grace, Will shows up at Grace Adler Designs the following day. Karen reveals to Will that Grace has gone to City Hall to get married. However, Grace shows up at her office and informs Will that she realized he was right, and that she left Danny at the altar, unable to marry him. Will reassures Grace that she will find someone eventually.
Conception
Creators of Will & Grace and real-life friends Max MutchnickMax Mutchnick
Jason Nidorf Mutchnick is an American television producer. He has received an Emmy Award, a People's Choice Award, and several Golden Globe Award nominations....
and David Kohan
David Kohan
David Sanford Kohan is an American television producer. After writing for The Wonder Years and The Dennis Miller Show, Kohan co-created and produced Will & Grace, Good Morning, Miami, Twins and Four Kings with Max Mutchnick. Kohan has won an Emmy and a People's Choice Award. He has been nominated...
based the show on their own lives. Mutchnick, who is openly gay, based the relationship between Will and Grace on his real-life relationship with a woman named Janet. Originally, Mutchnick and Kohan first went to the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), who told them to create a television series about a new young love story, as Mad About You
Mad About You
Mad About You is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992 to May 24, 1999. The show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a newly married couple in New York City. Reiser played Paul Buchman, a documentary film maker. Hunt played Jamie Stemple Buchman, a public relations specialist...
was going off the air. The character of Will was part of a sitcom Mutchnick and Kohan first pitched to NBC executives in 1997. The original concept was an ensemble comedy featuring three couples, one of which was a gay man living with a straight woman. Warren Littlefield
Warren Littlefield
Warren W. Littlefield is an American former television executive.A protégé of Brandon Tartikoff, Littlefield developed Cheers, The Cosby Show, and The Golden Girls as senior and executive vice president of NBC Entertainment under Tartikoff...
, the executive vice president of NBC at the time, was not excited about the first two couples, but wanted to learn more about the gay and straight couple, so Mutchnick and Kohan was sent to create a pilot script centering on those two characters. NBC went to sitcom director James Burrows
James Burrows
James Edward Burrows is an American television director who has been working in television since the 1970s.-Biography:...
to see what he thought of the homosexual subject matter and if an audience would be interested in the show. Burrows liked the idea and when he first read the script in November 1997, he decided that he wanted to direct it. Burrows said, "I knew that the boys had captured a genre and a group of characters I have never read before." The filming of the pilot began in March 1998. The actors behind Will and Grace, Eric McCormack and Debra Messing, were positive about the series and they thought it had the potential to last long on television. McCormack said: "When shooting was finished that night, Debra and I were sitting on the couch and looking at each other and I said, ‘We’re gonna be on this set for a while.’ And we sort of clasped hands, but we didn’t want to say anything beyond that and jinx it."
NBC were positive about the project, but there was still some concern that the homosexual subject matter would cause alarm. Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American stand-up comedienne, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and was also a judge on American Idol for one year, having joined the show in its ninth season....
's sitcom Ellen
Ellen (TV series)
Ellen is a U.S. television sitcom that ran on the ABC network from March 29, 1994 to July 22, 1998, producing 109 episodes.The theme song, "So Called Friend" is by Scottish band Texas...
that aired on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
was canceled the year before Will & Grace premiered because ratings had plummeted after the show became "too gay". Despite the criticism ABC received for DeGeneres's coming out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
episode, "The Puppy Episode
The Puppy Episode
"The Puppy Episode" is a two-part episode of the situation comedy television series Ellen. The episode details lead character Ellen Morgan's realization that she is a lesbian and her coming out. It was the 22nd and 23rd episode of the series' 4th season...
", "there's no question that show made it easier for Will & Grace to make it on the air," said Kohan. He added: "Will & Grace had a better shot at succeeding where Ellen failed, however, because Will has known about his homosexuality for twenty years. He's not exploring that awkward territory for the first time as Ellen did. The process of self-discovery and the pain most gay men go through is fascinating, but the average American is put off by it." Kohan also commented that rather than concentrating on Will's gayness, Will & Grace is using it as a device: "It's like that When Harry Met Sally...
When Harry Met Sally...
When Harry Met Sally... is a 1989 American romantic comedy film written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner. It stars Billy Crystal as Harry and Meg Ryan as Sally. The story follows the title characters from the time they meet just before sharing a cross-country drive, through twelve years or...
line when Billy Crystal
Billy Crystal
William Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes...
says, 'A man and woman can never be friends, because sex always gets in the way.' What we want to explore is what happens between a man and a woman when sex doesn't get in the way."
Cast and characters
John Barrowman
John Scot Barrowman is a Scottish-American singer, actor, dancer, musical theatre performer and media personality. Born in Glasgow yet growing up in Illinois after his family emigrated to the United States when he was eight years old, Barrowman was encouraged to further his love for music and...
was one of the final candidates for the role of Will, but was rejected because he "wasn't gay enough". The part instead went to Eric McCormack, who revealed that taking the role was not difficult because he liked the concept of a gay show not being about the "issues" of being gay. Having played gay characters several times in his career, McCormack did not have a problem with it and thought his character could become a "poster boy for some gay movement", like DeGeneres became a spokesperson with her character. He explained the when he first read the script, "what hit me immediately was that this was me. I mean, sexual orientation aside, Will was so much like me. He's a great host, he's relatively funny and he has great friends and he's a good friend to them ... the gay issue just wasn't really a big thing." McCormack was also the first actor to be cast. In response to the relationship between Will and Grace, McCormak said that gay men and straight women have "more fun than anybody" in their relationships; "Straight guys like me are jealous because of how much fun they have. We can show the audience part of that."
Mutchnick, in regards of Debra Messing's character, said: "Grace doesn't fall into any of those categories that have stereotyped Jewish women. She's strong, she's pretty and she's a proud Jewish woman." Mutchnick revealed that Nicollette Sheridan
Nicollette Sheridan
Nicollette Sheridan is an English film and television actress. She is best known for her roles as Edie Britt on Desperate Housewives and as Paige Matheson on Knots Landing.-Early life:...
was originally brought in to read the part of Grace, but even though she did a "great job", her performance was "too desperate". Mutchnick and Kohan decided to cast Messing in the role instead, who at the time was starring in ABC's drama Prey
Prey (TV series)
Prey was a science-fiction television series that aired for one season in 1998 on ABC. The series starred Debra Messing, Adam Storke, Larry Drake, Frankie Faison, James Morrison, and Vincent Ventresca.-Premise:...
. After her first meeting with them, Messing was not convinced she wanted the role. Messing revealed that Mutchnick and Kohan showed up at her home with a bottle of vodka; "They poured me several shots, we spoke for several hours and they pitched me the show. I'm a lightweight. I didn't need much to be a little giddy. By the end of the evening, they said, 'Will you do it?' I said, 'Let's talk tomorrow.'" They called her the next day to inform her that they "loved her" and asked "if she'd made up her mind". Messing still did not make her mind up. However, the following day, she called Mutchnick and Kohan and accepted the role. In discussion of the character, Messing said: "I have a lot more confidence and I'm much more relaxed. I feel comfortable that Grace will be a character I'll enjoy doing for a long time." She later, however, admitted that director Burrows was the reason for doing Will & Grace. Messing was the last actor to be cast.
Sean Hayes was cast in the role of Jack. When a NBC casting executive saw Hayes's role in the indie gay romance film Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss
Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss
Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss is a 1998 American independent, gay-themed romantic comedy film written and directed by Tommy O'Haver and starring Sean P. Hayes, Brad Rowe, and Meredith Scott Lynn...
, he sent the script to Hayes, who was attending the 1997 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. Even though Hayes enjoyed the script when he read it, he threw it away as he did not want to spend money on a plane ticket to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
for the audition. However, a few weeks later when Hayes was in Los Angeles, he was sent the script again and decided try out for the audition. If asked if he regrets accepting the role, Hayes said: "If you're truly an actor, in the long run ... I don't know that I would have done it either. I think of all the things that I still want to do, and I don't know if I'll get to do them." However, he admits that he "love[s]" the idea that people assume that he is either gay or straight. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, Hayes admitted that people believe he is Jack "24 hours a day".
Before Megan Mullally was given the role of Karen, she had previously been cast as a series regular on sitcoms such as The Ellen Burstyn Show
The Ellen Burstyn Show
The Ellen Burstyn Show is an American sitcom starring Ellen Burstyn. The series was produced by Touchstone Television and debuted on ABC on September 20, 1986 The series was canceled after 13 episodes.-Synopsis:...
, My Life and Times, and Rachel Gunn. Mullally guest starred on many other shows, including Ned & Stacey
Ned & Stacey
Ned & Stacey is a US television sitcom that aired on the FOX network from 1995 to 1997. It starred Thomas Haden Church and Debra Messing. The major thread of the series was that the two were brought together in a marriage of convenience—Ned Dorsey needed to be married to get a promotion at...
, on which she first worked with Messing. Mullally informed her agent that she did not want to do any more sitcoms or auditions for sitcoms, during the time that Will & Grace came around. "Because my feeling was, like, Look, I've done it. It's not clicking. It's not for me. But he [her agent] was always arguing the point that the right thing hadn't come along yet." She initially auditioned for the role of Grace, but admitted that she did not want to audition for the part of Karen. When asked about Karen's voice, Mullally revealed that the voice was an "instinctive thing". She also said, "...I think it was just a feeling that I had that it would be better for the pace of the show and it would be funnier in some way, but I didn't know why. Karen has a lot of joy, even when she's in a bad mood. She's pretty much happy with who she is, and that is something I think is a great thing to play, because the character of Karen could have been very unlikeable, and I think she's likeable because she has joy and she can be very childlike."
Reception
The episode was first broadcast in the United States on NBC on September 21, 1998 in the 9:30–10 p.m. (PST) timeslot. In its original American broadcast, the pilot tied with WorkingWorking (TV series)
Working was an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from 1997 to 1999. The series was created and executive produced by Michael Davidoff and Bill Rosenthal.-Synopsis:...
for forty-first place in ratings for the week of September 21–27, 1998. With a Nielsen rating
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 8.6, equivalent to approximately 8.4 million viewing households, it was the fifteenth highest-rated show on NBC the week it aired. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. Joyce Millman of Salon Entertainment said the episode has "glimmers of class" and the jokes are "relatively sophisticated". John Carman of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
commented that Burrows's direction was "sharp as usual" and the writing was "above average". Brian Lambert of the St. Paul Pioneer Press
St. Paul Pioneer Press
The St. Paul Pioneer Press is a newspaper based in St. Paul, Minnesota, primarily serving the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Circulation is heaviest in the eastern metro region, including Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington counties, along with western Wisconsin, eastern Minnesota and Anoka County,...
said the pilot was "nicely staged by veteran director Jimmy Burrows, and coming from a couple producers, Max Mutchnick and David Cohan, who assisted Boston Common and Dream On, the show – which is to say the pilot episode (everything could go to hell next week) – has the best verbal interplay of any of the season's new sitcoms." William Horn from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) thought the episode was a "wonderful" representation of a gay man's life "regardless of whether he's in a relationship in that very moment. I think it's important that American audiences realize that lesbians and gay men are not simply all about sexual situations." Ellen Gray of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
was also positive about the show: "For those who believe that Hollywood's engaging in a conspiracy to 'normalize' a sexual orientation that many Americans still find abhorrent, Will & Grace will look like a candy-coated poison pill. To those who think that Hollywood isn't moving fast enough in offering sexual parity for gays, it may just look like poison. But... there's a large audience out there that's somewhere in the mushy middle, an audience that might be ready to embrace Will & Grace."
The actors' performances were praised by several critics. Carman thought McCormack and Messing worked "nicely" together, and called the supporting cast "an asset". Kay Mcfadden of the Seattle Times also praised McCormack, Messing and the supporting cast as "very funny". Robert Laurence of The San Diego Union-Tribune
The San Diego Union-Tribune
-Predecessors:The predecessor newspapers of the Union-Tribune were:* San Diego Sun, founded 1861 and merged with the Evening Tribune in 1939.* San Diego Union, founded October 10, 1868.* Evening Tribune, founded December 2, 1895.-Ownership:...
wrote: "Messing and McCormack play wonderfully together, tossing lines back and forth as if they'd been at it for years, making their relationship quite believable. Sean Hayes, as the flamboyantly gay Jack, adds to the mix. Jack is flighty, temperamental, good-humored and highly likable." A reviewer for USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
said he thought it would be nice to see Will have a "full life of his own", and not just serve as a "love-life adviser" to Grace and Jack. "I know it won't happen soon; NBC is so skittish about the so-called Ellen 'gay show' stigma, it's gone to Herculean lengths to avoid mentioning Will's sexuality. But a grace period can only last so long."
The episode received less positive reviews as well. Rahul Gairola of PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
wrote that while "the pilot lays the usual groundwork by showing how the characters' lives are intertwined, it also demonstrates immediately the sitcom's major drawback, that the stereotypical gay character is the stand-out comic figure." A reviewer for the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said "there's something not quite right about this show's approach to homosexuality... It has everything to do with Will's attitude. It approaches asexual, his gayness appearing to exist solely as a device to give him the moral authority to repeatedly ridicule the mincing manner of his bandanna-wearing homosexual friend, Jack, without being labeled homophobic." Suite101.com's Hana Lewis thought it was "regrettable" that the pilot's jokes revolved "solely around gay stereotypes and sexual innuendo". Some reviewers were also skeptical about the future of the show. One such review said, "If Will & Grace can somehow survive a brutal time period opposite football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
and Ally McBeal
Ally McBeal
Ally McBeal is an American legal comedy-drama series which aired on the Fox network from 1997 to 2002. The series was created by David E. Kelley, who also served as the executive producer, along with Bill D'Elia...
, it could grow into a reasonably entertaining little anomaly
Wiktionary
Wiktionary is a multilingual, web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in 158 languages...
— that is, a series about a man and a woman who have no sexual interest
Sexual attraction
Sexual attractiveness or sex appeal refers to an individual's ability to attract the sexual or erotic interest of another person, and is a factor in sexual selection or mate choice. The attraction can be to the physical or other qualities or traits of a person, or to such qualities in the context...
in one another. But don't bet on it. If it's a doomed relationships
Intimate relationship
An intimate relationship is a particularly close interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Physical intimacy is characterized by romantic or passionate love and attachment, or sexual activity. The term is also sometimes used euphemistically for a sexual...
viewers want, they'll probably opt for Ally."
External links
- "Pilot" at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- "Pilot" at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...