Will Grace Television Program

After a nearly three-month trial and a bizarre week capped by the disqualification of the jury foreman, NBC Universal on Friday settled a lawsuit with the creators of NBC's former hit sitcom "Will & Grace." Strangely, the settlement came after the Los Angeles jury had reached a $49-million verdict against NBC, which is owned by General Electric Co.

After a nearly three-month trial and a bizarre week capped by the disqualification of the jury foreman, NBC Universal on Friday settled a lawsuit with the creators of NBC's former hit sitcom "Will & Grace." Strangely, the settlement came after the Los Angeles jury had reached a $49-million verdict against NBC, which is owned by General Electric Co.

Center Theatre Group artistic director/producer Gordon Davidson will appear on NBC's "Will & Grace" Thursday. He plays a theater director who admonishes James Earl Jones about his performance and singles out a fellow cast member, played by Jack (Sean Hayes), as an actor to emulate. Jones, playing himself, subsequently attends Jack's acting class.

On the death of "Will & Grace," which will end its eight-season run Thursday night on NBC, the mind seems to have erased most of the clip reel. The gayest among us now profess to have shirked duty and stopped watching a couple of seasons ago. Whether one needed him to be the gay Rob Petrie or the gay George Jefferson, there is very little about Will Truman (played by Eric McCormack) to recall, and even less about Debra Messing's Grace Adler.

Jennifer Lopez won't say whether she got married to singer Marc Anthony last June, but she has said yes to making her second appearance on NBC's "Will & Grace" in the comedy's season premiere Sept. 16. Lopez, whose movie "Shall We Dance" is due to open this fall, will again play herself, reprising her role in the show's season finale last April as the wedding entertainment when Megan Mullally's character Karen married John Cleese's Lyle in Las Vegas.

With "Friends" and "Frasier" ending their long runs this spring, the beleaguered sitcom genre -- a TV bulwark since "I Love Lucy" -- will suffer a double blow. Now uncertainty is clouding two more hit comedies, CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond" and NBC's "Will & Grace." "Raymond" star Ray Romano said Friday that there would be "no quick resolution" to the question of whether he and executive producer Phil Rosenthal would return to the series for a ninth and final season, or call it quits in May.

Debra Messing, star of the NBC hit comedy "Will & Grace," has been ordered to stay off her feet for the rest of her pregnancy, forcing her to miss the show's final four episodes of the season, the network said Tuesday. An NBC spokesperson said production of the Thursday night sitcom has been quietly proceeding for the past three weeks without Messing, 35, who is eight months pregnant and expecting her first child with screenwriter-husband Daniel Zelman at the end of April.

Jackson in prime time: Janet Jackson will guest star as herself in an upcoming episode of NBC's "Will & Grace." The episode will air Sept. 23, Jackson told syndicated entertainment TV show "Access Hollywood" in an interview that aired Monday.

A sweeps-timed wedding on NBC's "Will & Grace" generated the program's second-largest audience ever, according to Nielsen Media Research estimates, with the show attracting 24.3 million viewers Thursday -- dropping time-slot competitor "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" to its smallest audience this season. The only "Will & Grace" to draw a bigger audience was broadcast in February and also featured a major guest star, Matt Damon.

It's been more than 16 months since Ellen DeGeneres and her alter ego, Ellen Morgan, came out of the closet and into our living rooms. As Ellen became the first TV show to feature an openly gay leading character, gay Americans were hopeful at the prospect of a newfound visibility for the next millennium. But the show was decreed by many viewers and critics to be "too gay," the ratings declined and it was canceled.

Jennifer Lopez won't say whether she got married to singer Marc Anthony last June, but she has said yes to making her second appearance on NBC's "Will & Grace" in the comedy's season premiere Sept. 16. Lopez, whose movie "Shall We Dance" is due to open this fall, will again play herself, reprising her role in the show's season finale last April as the wedding entertainment when Megan Mullally's character Karen married John Cleese's Lyle in Las Vegas.

Jackson in prime time: Janet Jackson will guest star as herself in an upcoming episode of NBC's "Will & Grace." The episode will air Sept. 23, Jackson told syndicated entertainment TV show "Access Hollywood" in an interview that aired Monday.

The Federal Communications Commission has cleared "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Will & Grace" of indecency following complaints about episodes of the shows from two groups, the Parents Television Council and Americans for Decency. Since commissioners overruled their enforcement bureau this year in the controversial Bono decision, they have been taking on more of the rulings themselves, legal advisors said.

Debra Messing, star of the NBC hit comedy "Will & Grace," has been ordered to stay off her feet for the rest of her pregnancy, forcing her to miss the show's final four episodes of the season, the network said Tuesday. An NBC spokesperson said production of the Thursday night sitcom has been quietly proceeding for the past three weeks without Messing, 35, who is eight months pregnant and expecting her first child with screenwriter-husband Daniel Zelman at the end of April.

With "Friends" and "Frasier" ending their long runs this spring, the beleaguered sitcom genre -- a TV bulwark since "I Love Lucy" -- will suffer a double blow. Now uncertainty is clouding two more hit comedies, CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond" and NBC's "Will & Grace." "Raymond" star Ray Romano said Friday that there would be "no quick resolution" to the question of whether he and executive producer Phil Rosenthal would return to the series for a ninth and final season, or call it quits in May.

General Electric Co.'s NBC Studios was sued by the creators of the TV show "Will & Grace," who claim that the studio negotiated unfavorable terms for broadcasting rights to the series. David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, creators of the show about a gay lawyer and his straight interior designer roommate, allege that the studio failed to seek the highest price for the rights to broadcast the show when it gave the rights to its own network.

The Federal Communications Commission has cleared "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Will & Grace" of indecency following complaints about episodes of the shows from two groups, the Parents Television Council and Americans for Decency. Since commissioners overruled their enforcement bureau this year in the controversial Bono decision, they have been taking on more of the rulings themselves, legal advisors said.

In tonight's episode of "Will & Grace," Will Truman, the confident and elegant attorney played by Eric McCormack, is at odds with his best friend and roommate, the charmingly emotional Grace (Debra Messing), over the prospect of adding a puppy to their already chaotic household. Grace, as usual, prevails and Will soon finds himself hopelessly in puppy love.

Center Theatre Group artistic director/producer Gordon Davidson will appear on NBC's "Will & Grace" Thursday. He plays a theater director who admonishes James Earl Jones about his performance and singles out a fellow cast member, played by Jack (Sean Hayes), as an actor to emulate. Jones, playing himself, subsequently attends Jack's acting class.

A sweeps-timed wedding on NBC's "Will & Grace" generated the program's second-largest audience ever, according to Nielsen Media Research estimates, with the show attracting 24.3 million viewers Thursday -- dropping time-slot competitor "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" to its smallest audience this season. The only "Will & Grace" to draw a bigger audience was broadcast in February and also featured a major guest star, Matt Damon.