Sean Hayes Confirms Upcoming WILL AND GRACE Cast Reunion as Part of James Burrows Tribute Special

It's really happening, WILL & GRACE fans.

BroadwayWorld is excited to bring you the awesome news that WILL & GRACE will converge one more time on NBC. In celebration of veteran TV director/producer James Burrows (MARY TYLER MOORE, CHEERS, FRIENDS, WILL & GRACE), stars Megan Mullally, Sean Hayes, Eric McCormack, and Debra Messing are set to appear in the nostalgic television special. BroadwayWorld previously reported that the cast of FRIENDS (minus Matthew Perry) would be appearing in this tribute as well.

"We've confirmed all casts from all shows. On 24 January we tape, and it airs 21 February," Sean Hayes revealed at the Television Critics Association press tour. "It's the reunion of all reunion shows. It's going to be unlike anything everyone's ever seen."

Will & Grace is an American sitcom created by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan about the relationship between best friends Will Truman (Eric McCormack), a gay lawyer, and Grace Adler (Debra Messing), a straight interior designer. It was broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006, for a total of eight seasons. During its original run, "Will & Grace" was one of the most successful television series with gay principal characters.

Despite initial criticism for its particular portrayal of homosexual characters, it went on to become a staple of NBC's Must See TV Thursday night lineup and was met with continued critical acclaim. It was ensconced in the Nielsen top 20 for half of its network run. The show was the highest-rated sitcom among adults 18-49, from 2001 and 2005. Throughout its eight-year run, Will & Grace earned 16 Emmy Awards and 83 nominations. All four stars each received an Emmy Award throughout the series, making it one of only three sitcoms in the award's history to achieve this feat. In 2014 the Writers Guild of America placed the sitcom at number 94 in their list of the 101 Best Written TV series of all time

Since the final episode aired, the sitcom has been credited with helping and improving public opinion of the LGBT community, with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden commenting that the show "probably did more to educate the American public" on LGBT issues "than almost anything anybody has ever done so far". In 2014 the Smithsonian Institution added an LGBT history collection to their museum which included items from Will and Grace. The curator Dwight Blocker Bowers stated that the sitcom used "comedy to familiarize a mainstream audience with gay culture" that was "daring and broke ground" in American media.

Will & Grace was filmed in front of a live studio audience (most episodes and scenes) on Tuesday nights, at Stage 17 in CBS Studio Center, a space that totals 14,000 sq ft (1,300 m2). Will and Grace's apartment is on display at the Emerson College Library, having been donated by series creator Max Mutchnick. When the set was removed in April 2014, rumours came up about a cast reunion, but the actors involved denied that such a reunion was planned. It was merely moved to Emerson's new center in Los Angeles.

A long-running legal battle between both the original executive producers and creators and NBC took place between 2003 and 2007. All seasons of the series have been released on DVD and the show has been broadcast in more than 60 countries.

Source: Hollywood Life

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