After over a decade off our screens Will & Grace is back, honey, and the first verdicts on the much-anticipated revival are in.
So, what did critics think of the return of Will, Grace, Karen and Jack? Well, the general consensus seems to be that the wait was mostly worthwhile from viewing the first few episodes, the first of which airs in the US tonight (September 28).
In the season premiere, appropriately titled 'Eleven Years Later', Karen is best friends with First Lady Melania Trump, Will flirts with a congressman, and there are numerous references to ensure the audience that the show is firmly in 2017 rather than 2006.
While many critics praised its return, some suggested that the first episode did not quite hold up to the next two. However, there was much praise for the fact we have the joy of the show back in our lives in these troubling times, and that the show was "on point" as ever.
Here's a sample of critics' first impressions:
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"The return of Will & Grace on Thursday after 11 years off the air could have been another one of those lame lack-of-new-ideas and blatant-cash-grab revivals that sadly have been in vogue the past few years. Fortunately, that is far from the case for the now ninth season of the sitcom that reunites stars Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally. Already pumped up to 16 episodes this year and renewed for another new season, Will & Grace 2.0 might not be a cultural game changer the way its 1998-2006 run was… David Kohan and Max Mutchnick's NBC series is almost as on point as before."
"The appeal of this weekly semi-sexually fluid rom-com has nothing to do with what really happens in the lives of actual gay and straight New Yorkers. It was and is about spending time in this utterly silly, farcical corner of fantasy Manhattan, with these particular dysfunctional gay and straight people. Maybe we don't need them to take on Trump, but right now, a lot of Americans may need the refreshing break from reality that Will, Grace, Jack, and Karen provide. It's nice to have them with us again."
"Having seen the first three episodes, I can confirm that the so-called 'new but not really' Will & Grace maintains the same cadence as the show's original iteration. However, as far as its actual content goes, some of the best moments are the ones that couldn't have happened more than a decade ago. So I wouldn't go so far as to say that 'nothing has changed' — and nor should NBC."
"Beneath the pile of strenuously topical pop-culture references — Shonda Rhimes, Kellyanne Conway, Ryans Gosling and Reynolds — that fly like wigs in a Drag Race turf war, the DNA of the show remains essentially unchanged. Its loopy charm still rests on deft physical comedy, shrewdly cast guests (including Dear Evan Hansen's delightful Ben Platt as the ADHD-riddled millennial so oblivious to gay history that he thinks Stonehenge is where the movement started), and, of course, the giddy push-me-pull-you chemistry between the original four."
"Revivals like this are tough. Sometimes it seems like the best-case scenario is what this feels like, and what Gilmore Girls sometimes felt like when it returned: Nobody needs it, and it doesn't have that much to say, and you would be better off watching the original series if you're starting from scratch. But just as there is something to be said for having drinks with friends you don't have much in common anymore, there is something to be said for being in the company of characters you like, particularly during times of high anxiety. Maybe that is the way in which the new Will & Grace, in fact, addresses itself most effectively to the national mood."
"They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, a television show by its pilot, or an album by its opening track. In the case of the new Will & Grace, a show that found its legs back in 1998 and is now learning to walk again, you also shouldn't judge a show by its first episode in 11 years.
"Just what Will and Grace (and Jack and Karen) have to say after more than a decade remains unclear. But since the show returns in what seems like the age of the revival – Gilmore Girls, Twin Peaks, Dynasty and Roseanne have all been rebooted for a second go-round – it doesn't necessarily have to say anything too groundbreaking to justify its return. Instead, 2017'd Will & Grace feasts on a nostalgia for the days of the network sitcom, when laugh tracks and slapstick dominated the television landscape."
"The cast has always had the chops to sell a version of this show that has a little more depth and sincerity, flashes of which we get in its return. The best way for Will & Grace to celebrate its past, in other words, is to more fully join the present."
Will & Grace will return to US screens on Thursday, September 28 at 9/8c on NBC.
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Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International. Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' as a sub-editor.
