S11.E00: A Will & Graceful Goodbye

[FormerMod-a1]

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Clips of past and present episodes highlight the series' most iconic and memorable moments; superfans and celebrities share stories about what the show means to them.

Original air date: April 23, 2020

[chitowngirl]

What a great reminder of how good this show used to be.

[Annber03]

Aw, that was a nice tribute. Now I want to go back and watch some episodes from the original run :D.

Quite a big deal getting somebody like Norman Lear on to comment about and praise the show. Not surprising, mind, but still very neat. 

The stories from viewers about what this show meant to them were sweet. It is amazing and cool how much has changed regarding LGBT issues since the show began, both on TV and in general.

[Bruinsfan]

It certainly was humbling when they brought home how much American society has changed in the intervening decades, thanks in great part to this show!

Loved seeing clips with Shelley Morrison and Debbie Reynolds in them.

Was anyone else really amazed to see how drop-dead gorgeous Eric McCormack was around the second and third seasons of the show? I recall having a pretty full social calendar back in 2000 so I guess it never really hit me, but the man was stunning.

 

[peachmangosteen]

3 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

Was anyone else really amazed to see how drop-dead gorgeous Eric McCormack was around the second and third seasons of the show? I recall having a pretty full social calendar back in 2000 so I guess it never really hit me, but the man was stunning.

I was struck by how handsome him and Sean Hayes both were. They were fine as hell!

[scrb]

I didn’t even know the reboot started 4 years ago.  They looked younger then too, especially when the cast got excited about doing the reboot.

The original run did occur while things like SSM was becoming broadly accepted in the country.  But the show wasn’t overtly political except for a few lines here and there.

So it may have been one of the first shows to normalize gay characters on mainstream TV but seemed to be on a parallel track from the changes in attitudes occurring in the real world, such as the drive for marriage equality.

I don’t recall them referencing SSM while the laws were changing, for instance, though I’m not sure I watched every episode.

[Blakeston]

Personally, I don't think the show has ever been particularly good at being political. I'm glad they kept the political references occasional early on.

[mamadrama]

My friend, Silas, did a snippet. (He's right after the Cher Off). Silas is a well known author who happens to be gay. We live and grew up in an area that wasn't (and still isn't, to some extent) open to diversity. Being a gay male in Appalachia isn't easy. Not only was the show helpful to the LGBT community here, but it was just as important for the "straight" (I don't know what word to use) because it normalized homosexuality. Things aren't great here now, but they're much better than they were and this show should take a lot of credit for that. 

I cried.

[Bruinsfan]

Same-sex marriage was most certainly NOT being broadly accepted in the country in the late 90s when this show debuted. This was a couple years after the Defense of Marriage Act was signed into law, and things like Matthew Shepard's brutal murder were happening at the time. Will & Grace and Ellen had a huge impact by bringing likeable LGBT characters into America's living rooms and exposing people to the concept, week after week, that they were just normal people like everyone else and worthy of respect and fair treatment.

[TVbitch]

Ah, I am sad to see these four characters go again. I wish they would have done better by them with these reboot seasons. 

Will has always been my favorite for his dry wit and intelligence. ...but yeah, he was smokin' hot.

 

[legaleagle53]

11 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

Ah, I am sad to see these four characters go again. I wish they would have done better by them with these reboot seasons. 

Will has always been my favorite for his dry wit and intelligence. ...but yeah, he was smokin' hot.

 

Well, Eric DID tell Debra that he wasn't allowed to age! 😉

[scrb]

3 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

Same-sex marriage was most certainly NOT being broadly accepted in the country in the late 90s when this show debuted. This was a couple years after the Defense of Marriage Act was signed into law, and things like Matthew Shepard's brutal murder were happening at the time. Will & Grace and Ellen had a huge impact by bringing likeable LGBT characters into America's living rooms and exposing people to the concept, week after week, that they were just normal people like everyone else and worthy of respect and fair treatment.

Original run finished airing in May 2006.  I thought maybe it lasted to more around 2010 but I guess that wasn't the case.

When did Obama change his stance on SSM, a little before the end of his first term, I thought.

But of course, there were cases adjudicated for years (generating headlines) before the president of the US came around.

By the time Obama did come around, sentiment or popular support for SSM had been growing for some time, I believe, with polls indicating a fairly rapid growth in support.

 

OK just a quick search, a lot of these gay marriage cases did overlap with the run of the show, in the early 2000s:

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Lawrence v. Texas[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it.  (February 2015)

Main article: Lawrence v. Texas

In parallel with the campaign for same-sex marriage, LGBT civil rights gained legal recognition. In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Texas' "Homosexual Conduct" law in Lawrence v. Texas.[20] The ruling rendered same-sex sodomy laws in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri and broader sodomy laws in nine other states unenforceable.[21]

Massachusetts and reactions[edit]

On November 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that denying marriage rights to same-sex couples violated the Massachusetts Constitution.[22] Massachusetts became the first United States jurisdiction to license and recognize same-sex marriages beginning May 17, 2004.[23][24]

In February and March 2004, city officials in San Francisco issued marriage licenses to about 4000 same-sex couples before being ordered to stop by the California Supreme Court.[25] On February 20, 2004, the clerk in Sandoval County, New Mexico, issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples for a day until the state attorney general issued an opinion that they were "invalid under state law".[26] Similar actions occurred in New Paltz, New York (February 27); Multnomah County, Oregon (March 3); and Asbury Park, New Jersey (March 8).[27]

On November 2, 2004, voters in eleven states–Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah–approved state constitutional amendments defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.[28] Kansas did so on April 5, 2005,[29] as did Texas voters on November 8 of that year.[30]

The adverse reactions continued in 2006. Alabama voters approved a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman on June 6.[31] Voters in Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin adopted similar amendments on election day, November 7.[32][33] The only exception that day was Arizona, where voters rejected an initiative banning the recognition same-sex marriages and civil unions.[34]

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger twice vetoed legislation that would have made same-sex marriage legal there, in September 2005[35] and October 2007.[36]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_same-sex_marriage_in_the_United_States

Moreover, LGBT activists started debating whether to make marriage rights one of the centerpieces of the broader campaign for LGBT rights.

Of course the broader population weren't aware of these activist campaigns but certainly the court cases increased awareness among the larger population.

Edited April 25, 2020 by scrb

[MaryMitch]

I wish this would have been longer. A show of this length and cultural importance deserved more than 30 minutes.