‘Will & Grace’ Bosses on ‘Roseanne’ Revival Success: ‘There’s Not One Part of Us That’s Jealous’
Co-creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan tell TheWrap “the more important thing is the reason” why comebacks are taking off
Jennifer Maas | April 3, 2018 @ 3:10 PM
Last Updated: April 3, 2018 @ 7:00 PM
NBC/ABC
Revivals are the new, well, everything on TV right now.
And while “Roseanne” has been the talk of the town since its monstrous return to ABC last week, and more series are being brought back to life as we speak — we’re looking at you, CBS’ “Murphy Brown” — “Will & Grace” still has bragging rights when it comes to who pulled off a successful comeback first.
Though Max Mutchnick and David Kohan — the co-creators and showrunners of NBC’s old/new hit — told TheWrap in an interview last week that the green-eyed monster has not come by to flaunt Roseanne Barr’s impressive TV ratings in their faces or remind them they started the revival trend last fall.
“There’s not one part of us that’s jealous of anyone else’s success,” Mutchnick said. “And the more that sitcoms do better on network television, the better for us. That’s about as much of a line as we can draw to meeting our own needs. We love the idea that sitcoms are being made and that they do well. That’s only a good thing.”
“The more important thing is the reason,” Kohan added. “Why are people more comfortable now going to things that were? To me, it seems like it brings you back to calmer, happier, less chaotic times. Let’s put it that way.”
“Will & Grace” really doesn’t have much to be jealous about, as the series is seeing nothing but love from its own network, which picked it up for Season 2 before the revival premiered at the start of the 2017-2018 TV season. Oh, and the Peacock recently granted it a third season and upped the episode count for the sophomore installment. (“Roseanne” received its own Season 2 pickup within a week of its debut).
So what do Kohan and Mutchnick think upcoming revivals can learn from the success “Will & Grace” has seen?
“We cast great actors, to be honest,” Kohan said, pointing to leads Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes — who all came back for the comedy’s second go-round. “That’s the first thing that we did well. That we have these four actors who are so good and so capable. They are so able to do whatever you throw at them. Their characters at this point are so well defined, that it makes it — you know when you are going in a weird direction with a character because the character tells you and the actor lets you know.”
“So that’s one thing. But also have a reason in your mind for why you want to do it,” Kohan added about the decision to bring back a beloved show. “And I can understand ‘Roseanne.’ It makes perfect sense to me why they brought that back. There was just that article, where [Disney-ABC TV President] Ben Sherwood was like, ‘We need to take into consideration these people.’ It was right after the election I think, that he convened a meeting, like, ‘How do we talk to those people?’ And ‘Murphy Brown’ was political. These are highly-politicized times. It makes perfect sense that ‘Murphy Brown’ is coming back.”
Indeed, politics is part of it, with “Roseanne”s debut having sparked a week’s worth of conversations about the Conner family being Trump supporters — not to mention the show’s leading lady’s professed love for POTUS.
But on the other end of the spectrum is “Will & Grace,” which some critics believe is packed with too much commentary on Trump’s administration. To that Kohan said the show didn’t set out to focus on politics, it just happened organically.
“It wasn’t like, ‘Right now our goal is to be some kind of political soapbox.’ These characters would have that kind of attitude,” Kohan said. “And it’s interesting, because I think some people like it, and some people are bothered by it being political. But I don’t see it really as political. It certainly isn’t anti-Trump voter. But it is anti-Trump, because these characters — it has nothing to do with Republicans or Democrats, it really is the person who occupies the Oval Office. And I think they are just offended by it as characters.”
The Season 1 — or Season 9, depending on how you look at it — finale of “Will & Grace” airs Thursday at 9/8c
'Roseanne' and 10 Other TV Shows and Movies That Retroactively Changed Their Continuity (Photos)
Sometimes shows and movies write themselves into a corner -- hard. That's not a problem if the series or franchise is pulling the plug for good. But with so many revivals and sequels happening today (not to mention programs that get picked up for an additional season after airing a "fauxnale") it's becoming more common to totally retcon (retroactive continuity) plot points to make things work. Here are some famous examples of writers turning back the clock, calling it "all a dream" and just literally pretending like nothing happened.
1. "Will & Grace" -- The 2006 series finale didn't leave a ton of room for a revival, what with Will (Eric McCormakc) and Grace (Debra Messing) having grown apart over a couple decades, gotten married and only reuniting in the final moments while dropping their children off at college. So, when NBC decided to bring the beloved sitcom back this fall, it was clear that ending would need to go. And it did within a matter of minutes in the premiere when Karen (Megan Mullally) explains away all that drama as a dream she had. The kids never existed, the partners were out (due to divorces) and everything was back to the status quo. Classic.
2. "Roseanne" -- First Dan (John Goodman) survived a heart attack in the final season, then it was revealed in the series finale that he'd actually died, but lived on in a novel the titular character wrote. Now, with the revival set for this spring (and the announcement it's including Goodman) we know they are going to need to retcon their retcon. Did that make sense?
3. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" -- Joss Whedon wants to pretend his first attempt to bring Buffy to life never happened -- and so do most fans. When Whedon got the chance to execute his vision properly with the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" series after bailing on the movie of the same name (based on his screenplay), he basically ignored any part of the film he hadn't agreed with. Good call.
4. "Newhart" -- This show was literally, entirely a dream. In the last two minutes of the final episode, Bob Newhart -- who’d play Dick Loudon, a Vermont innkeeper, for eight seasons -- wakes up in a strangely familiar bedroom. “Honey, wake up, you won’t believe the dream I just had,” he says to Suzanne Pleshette, who played his wife, Emily, on the '70s sitcom "The Bob Newhart Show." So that entire wacky show was retconned into never existing and just being a dream of Newhart's on his previous series. Yeah.
5. "Star Trek" -- Iconic villains-turned allies the Klingons debuted in 1966 as, due to makeup effects limitations, basically guys with tans and goatees. However, in 1979's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," set 5 years after the original series, they received the forehead ridges they're known for. No one commented on the change in subsequent films and it was taken for granted audiences were supposed to pretend they were always like that. Until 1996, when "Deep Space Nine,' set 100 years later, confirmed that old school Klingons really did look different during the Original Series era (the explanation was provided in 2005 by "Star Trek: Enterprise.") But now comes 2017's "Star Trek: Discovery," set just 10 years before the events of the original series. This time, the Klingons look nothing like the original or forehead ridge versions with -- you guessed it -- no explanation given.
6. "St. Elsewhere" -- The staff of St. Eligius Hospital in Boston only exist in the mind of an autistic boy who imagined the NBC drama took place in his snow globe. No, seriously.
7. "Dallas" -- Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) was literally DEAD on this show for an entire season before he was brought back in a very bizarre way. His wife finds him in the shower and suddenly realizes that whole chunk of series was a dream. The was more than a little trippy for fans of the primetime CBS soap.
CBS
8. "Prison Break" -- Apparently, anything is possible on this Fox series. Even bringing people back to life who have electrocuted or been decapitated -- on screen. But, you know, the CIA gets involved, papier-mâché heads. It's all good.
9. "Charmed" -- In the seventh season finale of this long-running WB series about a trio of magical sisters, the girls "killed" themselves off so they could escape their duties as the Charmed Ones. Because the show picked up an unexpected eighth season in the eleventh hour, the writers were forced to find a way to bring them back to the craft. Their solution? Have Homeland Security take responsibility for the cover-up. Works for us!
10. "X-Men: Days of Future Past" -- Remember how Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto died in "X-Men: The Last Stand"? Oh, you do? Why? Cause they didn't. Boom!
11. "Deadpool" -- Honestly, the entire Ryan Reynolds-led superhero series can be considered a retcon. Same actor from "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"? Check. Same character from that universe? Bingo. But they 100 percent pretend his introduction in the 2009 flick never happened.
Will and Grace didn’t have kids and Dan didn’t die — basically everything you knew is a lie
Sometimes shows and movies write themselves into a corner -- hard. That's not a problem if the series or franchise is pulling the plug for good. But with so many revivals and sequels happening today (not to mention programs that get picked up for an additional season after airing a "fauxnale") it's becoming more common to totally retcon (retroactive continuity) plot points to make things work. Here are some famous examples of writers turning back the clock, calling it "all a dream" and just literally pretending like nothing happened.