In a perfect television world, the dearly departed comedies we love would neither be "reinvented" nor "rebooted" – with endless tinkering, curveballs and new characters that mean nothing to us. They would simply pick up where they left off, just like we remember them.
That's why the "revival" of Will & Grace appears destined to be a hit all over again with its return on OSN Series Comedy HD, more than a decade after its fabulous foursome said b'bye after eight seasons, 194 episodes and 16 Emmys.
Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally are back as lawyer Will, interior designer Grace, struggling actor Jack and wealthy socialite Karen, respectively, to squabble like idiots and revel in their sterling friendships. As well, legendary director James Burrows, who lensed every episode then, is back behind the camera now.
To drive home how little has changed, and to woo fans both old and new, the four stars even link hands in a promotional video to sing: “We’ve come home at last .... Yes, everything’s as if we’ve never said goodbye.”
They're true to their word – Will and Grace are living together; Jack is across the hall; Karen is still rich – just as they did for eight seasons from 1998 to 2006.
"We just get back to business," McCormack says.
So where are the characters now? Has anything changed? The answer is a qualified yes, with minor tweaks.
“Jack will be teaching a class, and he has branded a new style of acting called ‘Jack-ting’. So you’ll see that,” says Hayes, at 47, the youngest of the four. “It’s a gift that we get to embody these characters again.”
"Grace is doing incredibly well in her professional life," Messing, 49, adds. "She really has advanced a lot, and she is single. And for reasons that will be explained, Will and Grace are living together once again."
Critically praised for their sitcom, which pushed the societal envelope in its first incarnation, original creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan are also back with rapid-fire wit and insults honed to a razor sheen, joined by Hayes, who has also stepped up behind the scenes as an executive producer.
"The society we live in is never-ending with social issues and problems that we will tackle now," Hayes says. "So these characters will exist in 2017 – and deal with the issues everybody's talking about."
With an approval rating of 84 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, the first new half-hour takes on the controversial presidency of Donald Trump, when Grace ponders a gig renovating the White House. After all, the First Couple are pals of Karen's.
The genesis for this ninth season traces back to September last year, when the cast reunited for a 10-minute online special urging Americans to vote in the presidential election. It made quite a splash, which spurred NBC to explore the notion of putting Will & Grace back into production, a decision it announced in January.
Since then, NBC's confidence has only grown; what began as a 10-episode order was upped to 12, then 16. Then the network doubled down by renewing the show for a 10th season of 13 episodes for 2018 – even before the first new episode aired last Thursday in the United States.
Putting the genie back in the bottle – especially for a series that drew more than 17 million viewers in its prime – can be tricky. One can scarcely afford to stray from the original winning formula. Yet to recapture the magic of yesteryear in its purest form, some baggage had to be shed before the revival could truly get underway.
In the original series finale in May 2006, the story flashed forward two decades to reveal Jack and Karen living together comfortably. Meanwhile, Will had raised a son, Ben, while Grace had raised a daughter, Laila, after remarrying her ex, Leo (Harry Connick Jr). Their children, who met at college, were planning to marry. This uplifting news served as a catalyst for Will and Grace to reminisce about the good times and gather at a bar with Jack and Karen to toast their friendship, in the concluding reunion.
________________
Read more:
Fox Network Group’s Sanjay Raina on the new eLife channels
Game of Thrones stars Kit Harington and Rose Leslie set to marry
How much Stephen King can our quivering hearts take?
________________
Well, apparently those children and that marriage never happened.
Giving a hint of clarification, Mullally, 58, pipes up: “Well, all I can say is, my first line is: ‘I had the craziest dream.’”
"We did a lot of age make-up (for the 2006 finale)," McCormack says. "When they realised that that's not how we look now, that we aged a little better than our make-up, we thought: 'We don't have to do that. We don't have to jump so far and make such bold decisions.'
“I think we realised we were at our funniest and our loosest before all those commitments. So we’re creating a very quick reason – that none of those exist.”
Of stepping back into Will’s shoes, McCormack, 54, says: “The most challenging part at my age is sitcom lighting. I’m scared about that. But the easiest part is always the four of us together.”
Will & Grace airs on October 4 at 9.30pm on OSN Series Comedy HD
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E77kWh%202%20motors%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E178bhp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E410Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERange%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E402km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDh%2C150%2C000%20(estimate)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETBC%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Sheer grandeur
The Owo building is 14 storeys high, seven of which are below ground, with the 30,000 square feet of amenities located subterranean, including a 16-seat private cinema, seven lounges, a gym, games room, treatment suites and bicycle storage.
A clear distinction between the residences and the Raffles hotel with the amenities operated separately.
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
'Laal Kaptaan'
Director: Navdeep Singh
Stars: Saif Ali Khan, Manav Vij, Deepak Dobriyal, Zoya Hussain
Rating: 2/5
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
On racial profiling at airports
Results
6.30pm: Baniyas (PA) Group 2 Dh195,000 1,400m | Winner: ES Ajeeb, Sam Hitchcock (jockey), Ibrahim Aseel (trainer)
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 1,400m | Winner: Al Shamkhah, Royston Ffrench, Sandeep Jadhav
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 1,200m | Winner: Lavaspin, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
8.15pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 1,200m | Winner: Kawasir, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi
8.50pm: Rated Conditions (TB) Dh240,000 1,600m | Winner: Cosmo Charlie, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
9.20pm: Handicap (TB) Dh165,000 1,400m | Winner: Bochart, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
10pm: Handicap (TB) Dh175,000 2,000m | Winner: Quartier Francais, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
'Brazen'
Director: Monika Mitchell
Starring: Alyssa Milano, Sam Page, Colleen Wheeler
Rating: 3/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 178hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 280Nm at 1,350-4,200rpm
Transmission: seven-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh209,000
On sale: now
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Napoleon
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Ridley%20Scott%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Joaquin%20Phoenix%2C%20Vanessa%20Kirby%2C%20Tahar%20Rahim%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%202%2F5%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
