I’ve always had issues with WILL & GRACE as I’ve mentioned in the past (it’s the most gutless “gutsy” sitcom ever) but I watched the final episode as a pop culture junkie.
I thought the killing of Beverly Leslie (Leslie Jordan) was mean spirited.
The falling out between the two, though resolved when they’re middle aged with grown kids, was a bit of a bummer as well.
Karen marrying Rosario in the dream sequence was the funniest part of the show, or the fact that she didn’t age in the “real” or “dream” futures.
What I thought was hypocritical was that the creator could say it wasn’t controversial because it just showed his life, but then they would take credit for being groundbreaking, and even said because it was a “gay show” that they could get away with things other shows couldn’t. I thought the point was that no sexual orientation is any more sexual charged than any other, so why this over-the-top stuff.
I watched it the way I did the Friends finale…so happy to see these people out of our lives. I couldn’t understand why the audience gasped when “Ben” and “Lilah” introduced themselves…they couldn’t see that coming a mile away?
Meh! It was what it was. It did go on for far too long though. I’ve never been a fan of the “time jumping” type of finale. Frankly who cares if Will and Grace’s kids get married. I did like that Will and Vince stayed together. But as for the rest of it? Some of it made me laugh, especially the parts with Jack, Karen, and Rosario. But the rest? As I said before…meh!
Becuase, like me, they thought they were seeing a flashback of Will and Grace’s first meeting (which was the topic of conversation in the last scene), not a flash-forward to their kids.
Anyway, I’ve never seen the show before, but thought this was pretty well-done. The flash forwards were refreshingly bittersweet, whereas most shows of this ilk go straight for the saccharine.
I liked the hour long retrospective before the final show. I never realized how many “wet, sloppy kisses” were exchanged on the show.
I liked seeing the scene with Will & Kevin Bacon dancing. According the Broadway sites, Harry Connick Jr. recorded his scenes the same time as the “airplane” episode, meaning they were not done live.
I was glad that Will & Grace & Karen & Jack all finally grew up and got on with their lives. Even Karen had toned down in the final scene with Jack.
The actress that played Lila was so much like a young Grace in that scene.
Ditto for Ben/Will, but until Eric Mc. put on the age make-up for the dream sequence I never realized how much he looks like Tommy Lee Jones. If I were Eric’s dad I’d be finding out if a young southern Harvard student ever paid a visit to Toronto in the summer of '61.
I missed the first 20 minutes, and didn’t care.
But I’m glad I had tuned in in time to see and hear Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes sing “Unforgettable” That was quite nice.
So, 3 good minutes.
(Weirdly, I’d just seen the re-run where Karen & Jack were commiserating over the fact that Frasier, Friends, and Sex & the City had all ended.)
It was OK, but then again, few of the big series have ever had a really dynamic ending…Friends, Frazier, Cheers…all were kind of so-so.
I think only the Mary Tyler Moore show (group hug moving towards door and then turning out the light) and Bob Newhart (waking up to Suzanne Pleschette from his previous sitcom show and talking about this dream he had) were memorable.
I always thought Will and Grace should have been titled Jack and Karin as they were the real humor in the show.
Oh. They had already shown what Will and Grace looked like young (Grace with poodle hair) so I figured it must be their kids. Oh well.
I missed whatever episode got rid of Taye Diggs…what happened there? I thought they were in love in addition to Taye Diggs needing a green card?
I did like the moment when Kevin Bacon referred to getting “Kyra Forever” lasered off his ankle. I just like that couple IRL and that she probably dug the joke too.
What other shows ended with episodes set in the future? I can think of three offhand:
The soap opera Search For Tomorrow with the matriarch who had been on the show for 87 years having a dream that lasted for two weeks in which she saw how the main characters on the show turned out.
The sitcom Hearts Afire (John Ritter, Markie Post, Billy Bob Thornton) ended with the two of them bickering about splitting up while walking through the front door, then switched to the front porch where they emerged in old age makeup still having the same bickering argument.
Mad About You ended with the adult daughter of Paul Reiser & Helen Hunt (I can’t remember the character names) making a video about her parents’ on-again/off-again relationships post split-up (ending with them getting back together of course).
In all of these the future looked amazingly like the present except the people were older.
The character was MABEL, an anacronym for Mothers Always bring Extra Love. The teenaged Mabel said she was changing her name to Sonya, an anacronym for Some Other Name Ya…Jamie cuts her off before she can say Asshole.
Yeah. For one, it just seemed implausible. For two, it was a bummer. I remember back when the show used to be funny. You know, like a sit-com. The past few seasons they’ve been trying for “serious” and mostly just managed to achieve “depressing”. The show has been nothing but Will and Grace fighting, which I suppose is meant to be true to life and significant or something but it’s really just sort of lazy writing and it makes the show a drag to watch.
This is the only part I really enjoyed.
I’ve been watching fairly sporadically lately. I won’t miss the show all that much. It went way downhill before it ended.
I didn’t think it was terrible–but did they really expect us to believe that, in 18 years, Will’s and Grace’s kids never met, or even saw photos of each other?
Bitchy perhaps. Accurate…I agree with you. I only saw the last few minutes of the series finale, but from I saw it seemed to suggest that Will is absolutely happiest with Grace, while Jack is utterly content to share his life with Karen - rather than with a man. Anita Bryant, Laura Schlessinger and Fred Phleps would all approve.