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Season One:

Will & Grace debuted with a controversial splash because one of its two lead characters is gay--but smart writing and topnotch performances, not politics, have made the show a hit. Two neurotic and sharp-tongued urbanites--gay lawyer Will (Eric McCormack) and straight interior designer Grace (Debra Messing)--delight in their volatile but enduring friendship as they share a sumptuous New York apartment. Sweeping into the mix are Will's unapologetically queeny friend Jack (Sean Hayes) and Grace's wildly eccentric assistant Karen (Megan Mullally). Much like Seinfeld, the humor on Will & Grace springs from self-obsession, petty jealousy, and compulsive interfering in each other's lives--basically, the building blocks of human nature. The show's writers apparently feel compelled to keep the lead characters warm and likeable in the usual sitcom mode (which hardly seems necessary, as McCormack and Messing are naturally engaging). As a result, it's Jack and Karen who get free reign to be truly obnoxious and ridiculous--which, of course, makes them incredibly funny and charismatic. Hayes and Mullally rise to the occasion, ripping through absurd situations and arias of narcissistic wit with dazzling panache. Will & Grace's plots routinely center around scenarios that could feature a married couple or two same-sex roommates: Will and Grace bicker over buying a dog, find their relationship tested by apartment renovations, or discover they're both pursuing the same guy--standard sitcom material that the gay factor gives a clever spin. Though their relationship gets in the way of their sex lives, the two take so much pleasure in each other's company that they can't help but stick together--a surprisingly chaste theme for such a culturally groundbreaking show, but one that Will & Grace's addicted audience undoubtedly appreciates. --Bret Fetzer

Season Two:

After a first season made controversial by the mere presence of openly gay characters, Will & Grace returned triumphantly with renewed confidence and vigor. In their second season, sidekicks Jack and Karen (the very, very funny Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally) are more snide and gleefully obnoxious than ever; Will (Eric McCormack) has perfected his prickly panache; and in particular Grace (Debra Messing) has entered a whole new plane of sexy goofiness, diving even more headlong into physical comedy--such as the episode when, in order to woo a high school crush, she gets a water-padded bra that springs a leak. The writing has also become tighter, grown more deft in its gay and pop culture references (which were often self-conscious in the first season) and at juggling sustained storylines, such as the Immigration department investigating Jack's marriage to Karen's Salvadorian maid Rosario (Shelley Morrison), Grace and Will struggling to become less emotionally incestuous, and Jack seeking his biological father. The show excels at tackling emotional subjects (like Will discovering that his father, who has accepted and even embraced his homosexuality at home, has told his co-workers that Will is married to Grace) with a sharp comic eye. Guest stars start to accumulate: Molly Shannon returns, Sydney Pollack and Debbie Reynolds play Will's dad and Grace's mom, Joan Collins appears as a rival designer, Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, M.D.) plays the leader of a going-straight support group, and Gregory Hines takes on a recurring role as Will's new boss, a high-powered lawyer who seduces Grace. Will & Grace mixes superb sitcom farce with sly sociopolitical commentary; the fusion is smart and consistently entertaining. --Bret Fetzer

Season Three:

Will & Grace strode into its third season with the kind of cultural cache TV executives would kill for. These 22 episodes are littered with hip celebrity guest stars, from Ellen DeGeneres to Sandra Bernhard to Cher, and the performances of the core quartet--Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Karen Mullally, and Sean Hayes--became more comically exaggerated as they risked pushing their characters (already riddled with neuroses and snippiness) into the realm of caricatures. But due to clever writing and confident, full-throttle performances, it doesn't matter. Even when Jack and Karen's high-handed behavior go beyond anything recognizably human, audiences love them all the more; no matter how high-strung Will and Grace become, their well-honed rapport keeps them engaging and lovable. Wisely, the writers swiftly returned the pair to roommate status and got Grace out of her ongoing relationship with Will's former boss (Gregory Hines), bringing the show's focus back on how the pair sublimate their love lives with the cozy intimacy of friendship--one particularly strong episode flashes back to how they first met in college, replete with godawful '80s fashion. But, as ever, it's Jack and Karen who up the comic ante; Mullally and Hayes are shamelessly self-absorbed and shallow, exploiting and abusing everyone around them. Jack forces Will to play Cyrano, feeding him pick-up lines over his salesperson headset; Karen, worried that some experimental plastic surgery might turn out badly, manipulates another socialite into getting it first. Not all plotlines fly--Grace gets into a relationship with an obnoxious neighbor (Woody Harrelson) that never becomes more than stunt-casting--but the racy wit flies fast and furious, the slapstick is topnotch, and Karen's hairdo towers magnificently. --Bret Fetzer

Season Four:

As the fourth season of NBC's award-winning comedy begins, Will (Eric McCormack) has just returned from France--alone--while Grace (Debra Messing) is still seeing Nathan (Woody Harrelson). Meanwhile, Jack (Sean Hayes) is adjusting to fatherhood of newfound preteen son Elliot (Sky High's Michael Angarano), while Karen (Megan Mullally) remains, well, Karen. Alas, in "Crouching Father, Hidden Husband," the authorities finally catch up with her (never seen) tax-evading hubbie Stan and toss him in the clink. Grace's relationship with Nathan, on the other hand, continues to blossom until talk turns to marriage in "The Rules of Engagement." Guest stars include Parker Posey as Jack's stylish supervisor ("Loose Lips Sinks Relationships," "Jingle Balls"), Matt Damon as a closeted choral singer ("A Chorus Lie"), Glenn Close as an eccentric photographer ("Hocus Focus"), and her former co-star Michael Douglas ("Fagel Attraction") as a "detective" with the hots for Will. There are also recurring guests, like Debbie Reynolds as Grace's drama queen mother ("Moveable Feast," a double-length episode), director Sydney Pollack as Will's wayward father ("Cheatin' Trouble Blues"), and Jack’s favorite diva, Cher, as herself ("A.I.: Artificial Insemination," the season finale). By the end of season four, Will and Grace will still be single, Karen’s husband will still be incarcerated (but at least she'll have maid Rosario to keep her company), and Jack will still be, as he used to say, "Just Jack!" As always, the year will end with a cliffhanger as Will and Grace decide to have a baby together. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Season Five

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