Now I realize that my review is 5 years after the show ended, but it's a great time to reflect on what was a ground breaking comedy at the time.
The good
As we all know W&G was the ground breaking show that was built around gay characters, gay life, straight women and their friendships with gay men. What was so great from the very beginning was the fact that the show displayed the dynamics that have existed between gay men and straight women for years. The writers knew that the greatest way to make the show successful was to break new ground, but also show a part of life that has been largely ignored, ie (gays and their fag hags). But beside that W&G worked because it was written extremely well. The main characters were all polar opposites and that allowed every fan to have their favourite characters and favourite character interactions. We got to see the white collared successful gay man with an unsuccessful sex life, the successful and pretty fag hag who ultimately wants to be loved by a man, the campy and flamboyant gay man who is superficial, but underneath it all is a great friend, and the bitchy fun rich drunk who usually denies her love for her 3 best friends. Of course I'm just narrowing their characters down, but the 4 of them together created something that was never quite seen before and made for one hell of a fun show.
The show also had a strong supporting cast and guest actors that kept W&G fresh and exciting. As well, the show always had a campy fun flare that you still can't find in any other show.
The most important part of W&G was the fact that we got to see a different side from traditional life. W&G wasn't afraid to portray women differently than the mom or the working mom. Neither was it afraid to be proud of some of the stereotypes that homophobes try to paint as negative. W&G was proud of the flamboyant, the neurotic, the over the top, and so much more that for years had been used against us.
W&G also had some of the greatest physical comedy that has pretty much gone unmatched by any other show. W&G was full of over the top reactions, spankings, tripping, and other thing you can think of that made the show more than a funny one liner. Also the show went for the simple comedy, the fart jokes, the trashy jokes and what ever else it could for a good laugh and that gave W&G a constant variety of laughs from its audience.
The Bad
By the 5th season W&G took a more serious dark tone that changed the overall dynamics between Will and Grace. It wasn't the fact that Grace found a man and moved out. The real problem was that the chemistry between the 2 main characters had been altered in a bad way. Also, the fact that Grace disappointed many people by taking on a negative stereotype that many disliked. All of sudden Grace went from a loving best friend who was always there for Will to another hag that as soon as she found her man reverted to the typical negative fag hag stereotype. Gay men everywhere have dealt with women either putting us on the back burner or completely forgetting us all together. I know my partner and I have dealt with this and I very much loathed Grace turning out to be that type of person. Although she didn't give up her friendship with Will, she did use him as a surrogate husband until the real one came along.
The biggest problem with W&G was the extreme gay stereotypes and the fact the show never really went beyond that. Being that gays and lesbians are the most diverse minority in the world we are more than just what this show portrays us as. Now don't get me wrong of course there are Will's and Jack's in the world and I love the Will's and Jack's of the world, but there is more than that and W&G never seems to go past what some straights think of us. As well, W&G use those stereotypes sometimes in the most negative ways and when they demonstrate nothing else it narrows us down to nothing more than parodies.
As well the show never goes past what is easy for the "straight world" to get use to. By leaving out the drag queens, the cross dressers, and other parts of our culture W&G comes off as nothing more than pandering to the straight world. By not being too daring or controversial W&G gets to be the middle of the road gay comedy that's safe for someone who really doesn't know too much about gay culture. This makes it seem like our culture is bad or negative in some way. I mean come on Will and Jack barely are seen with men, and the show never really goes beyond "he's a hotty" and "I like to have him in my pants" talk. Where as Grace constantly had bf's, lovers, sex and all the straight stuff.
Overall the show is fun, campy, bitchy and just plain hilarious, but at times it's nothing more than a straight show with some gay characters to add some comic relief.
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