It looks like I wasn’t the only one excited about the return of Will and Grace. According to Deadline, the reboot’s Thursday night premiere drew over 10 million viewers. The episode was NBC’s highest rated comedy telecast since the series finale of The Office in 2013. That’s good news for the series, which has already been renewed for a tenth season.
The season nine premiere glassed over the time-shifted season eight finale, taking a page from the “it was all a dream” TV playbook, as Karen (Megan Mullally) catches us up. Present-day Will and Grace are once again living together after Grace’s divorce from Leo (Harry Connick Jr.) and Will’s breakup with Vince (Bobby Cannavale) – and neither of them have kids. Jack is still Jack and Karen is still married to Stan and is working as Grace’s assistant (the brilliantly named Anastasia Beaverhausen). Karen gets Grace a gig redesigning the Oval Office and Will develops a crush on a Senator he disagrees politically with over environmental issues. Jack, meanwhile, reconnects with a former lover who just happens to be a Secret Service agent. Best line of the episode comes when Karen asks Jack, “Were you serviced?” and Jack coyly replies, “Shhh. It’s a secret.” I didn’t realize how much I missed these guys.
The season nine premiere received good reviews. E! called the premiere “nostalgia TV at its finest” and pointed out the stars’ “snap comedic timing” with the laughter from the studio audience (NOT a laugh track) “enveloping you like a warm blanket as you watch.” The review noted that, “At a time when everything feels uncertain and insane, that little bit of comfort can’t be understated.”
While reviewers and fans were delighted with the show’s return, some people were definitely not enthused – Trump supporters. The premiere episode pulled no punches and went after the president with guns a’ blazin’. The shows fans took to Twitter to express their happiness.
I am not one bit upset that #WillandGrace has gone political for their first episode. They have a platform and they are using it. ✊🏼
— Vicki Lugo (@_VickiLugo) September 29, 2017
Not going to spoil #WillAndGrace for my West Coast followers. All I'll say is, pour yourself a drink, but DO NOT drink whilst watching! 😂❤️ pic.twitter.com/jAtfDOFJFP
— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) September 29, 2017
Fans loved it, but the Fox News crew were offended by the show’s humor, with one viewer redubbing the show “Will and Disgrace” and another asking, “Why alienate a large part of America?” The Media Research Center’s TV reporter Amelia Hamilton called the episode “embarrassing” and said the script was “a lazy way to take shots at the president for the entire length of the show.”
.@DebraMessing ruined this show for me with her crazy anti Trump hysteria during election.
Won't be watching this 💩 show#WillAndGrace
— Ex-Dem🇺🇸Latina (@ExDemLatina) September 29, 2017
#WillAndGrace is a liberal cesspool mocking white Americans who voted for Trump. It's garbage, just like every left wing show. Pathetic.
— Mike (@mike_Zollo) September 29, 2017
I am firmly in the former group. I laughed and was happy to reunite with the gang. I’m looking forward to see what they take on next.
Photos: Getty Images, WENN.com
I loved it and totally agree it was like meeting up with an old friend and falling back into your old comfortable routine. I just hope the whole season isn’t trump jokes as I need to tune out at some stage to save my sanity.
I actually resubscribed to Hulu so I could watch it…..
It was perfect. The core four still have it after all this time. No missteps at all in the first episode, which is very unusual. They dealt with explaining the developments since the last season so quickly (neatly getting rid of their last-season partners in the process so Will and Grace could be in the same apartment, as they are supposed to be) and so effectively and with no dragging at all, and it was so funny. And I was relying on cellular thanks to my stupid isp Frontier dsl which is off more than on these days, so had to wait a few times for the spinning whatever to finish doing what it had to do…. Worth it anyway.
I watched the episode and I loved it! It was hilarious. The #notmypresident Trump deserved every jab he got in the show. All of the actors despite the passing of over a decade retain the qualities that made the show a complete success. Two thumps up!
Im really excited to watch this. So happy it didnt bomb.. I really want to hear Jack’s thoughts on Trump, I hope they go for it.
This President is ruining the country and the world so complaining about ruined tv show sounds pretty mellow to me
Didn’t know deplorable would watch a show with the “gay agenda” front and center
Well, they had to watch it so they’d have something to bellyache about later.
True!
So thrilled they’re back, I’ve been binging the series from the pilot on Hulu. Ive missed them so much!
I have yet to watch it. I didn’t love the original series, i was casual viewer. But Jack and Karen were great, friendship goals and all that.
Looking forward to watching the whole season at once
This is the only ‘sit com’ I watched on tv and I rewatched all seasons twice after it went off. It’s HIIGHLARIOUS as they say on the show. Soooo glad it’s back. Loved the charades open. Can’t wait til they bring on lots of jack and Karen moments. Just watched some reruns too like the one where Karen accuses Leo of being in Africa with Doctors Without Borders to “give free boob jobs to hyenas” Lolz.
THIS!!!
The snowflakes can’t handle 🍊🤡 being mocked, but they were okay with President Obama being hung in effigy and set on fire. Bitchez, please.
+ 1000000
Absolutely, GIG. Every day they show themselves for what they really are – hypocritical, bigoted, bitter arseholes. It’s perfectly fine for their clueless, unhinged idol to spout the most vicious, despicable insults and vile lies about brown, gay, female, foreign, poor, suffering, disabled, homeless etc., people, because *free speech*, but no one else is permitted to exercise their right to free speech without being attacked with names like leftie loonies, snowflakes and as we’ve seen, far, far worse. What sensitive and fragile little egos Drumpf and his precious deplorables are saddled with. Mock on..
They are so butthurt. Bigly.
I watched it, it was pretty good, definitely heavy on the anti-Trump jokes, which I was on board for.
Gotta love the “why alienate a large portion of the country” question by someone who voted for a racist bigot with an agenda that is nothing less than horrifically offensive to a different “large portion of the country.”
Ezzactly.
And making Karen a Trump voter was kind of brilliant. Consistent, too. She had a lot of the Trump zingers, since of course Karen would just be all about the tax cuts for the rich and have eyes wide open about the rest.
Where was the outcry over how political the Tim Allen show, Last Man Standing, was? Have caught several reruns recently and EVERY single episode has a minimum of one slam against Obama or Hillary or people wanting gun control, etc. I’ve never seen a network show with such regular and flat out slams against a, at the time, sitting president or political party.
I thought it was pretty good. Will and Karen were the stars!! Jacks voice isn’t the same anymore and Grace was over acting a little. I couldn’t help but wonder why Karen never got her own show?!?! I’m not sure why they gave Grace such an awful wardrobe? Maybe she isn’t comfortable with her weight. Overall I enjoyed it.
Didn’t Grace often have a bad wardrobe? It seems to me Karen often made fun of her clothes.
I think they all aged quite nicely. If anything, they were better than before. I had actually lost interest in watching the old series by the last few seasons, although I should revisit that. But I’ll be watching this season. The writers were so on the mark for the first episode.
I think Grace was always overacting a bit, that’s kind of normal for the character. She’s supposed to be a drama queen. Makes more of a contrast with relatively mellow Will.
Loved It!
Living for It!!
Will and Grace alienates a large part of America? Lol here I thought electing a racist, white nationalist, ableist, unqualified misogynist already did that!
I always laugh when Fox News and other Right Wing outlets say something to the effect of “why alienate a large part of America?” as if their views don’t alienate people every single day.
Fox News hasn’t noticed that every tv show today just has a small portion of the potential viewers because there are so many other options. There are many more than three networks today! I’m sure anybody feeling alienated can just change the channel and let the rest of us enjoy it.
To celebrate my screen name I now have a mug that says: I Am Anastasia Beaverhousen! Cheers ladies!
TV shows shouldn’t alienate anyone, all shows should be bland enough to be enjoyed by all or at least not to piss off anyone, like motel art. Fox is the best network to advance this message because everyone loves all of their shows. It’s really the network that brings America together.