Pilot (Will & Grace)
| "Pilot" | |
|---|---|
| Will & Grace episode | |
Scene where Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace (Debra Messing) went out drinking to celebrate their friendship.
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 1 |
| Directed by | James Burrows |
| Written by |
David Kohan Max Mutchnick |
| Original air date | September 21, 1998 |
"Pilot" (also known as "Love and Marriage") is the first episode of Will & Grace's first season. It was written by David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, and directed by James Burrows. It originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in the United States on September 21, 1998. In the episode, Grace Adler receives an unexpected marriage proposal from her boyfriend. Her gay best friend Will Truman tries to support her, but finally tells her that she is making a big mistake, even though he risks losing their friendship. The situation gets complicated when Grace's socialite assistant, Karen Walker, and Will's flamboyantly gay friend, Jack McFarland, interfere.
Kohan and Mutchnick based the show on their own lives; for example, Mutchnick, who is openly gay, based the relationship between Will and Grace on his real-life relationship with a woman named Janet. When the pilot was pitched to NBC, the network was positive about the project. There was still some concern, however, that the homosexual subject matter would cause alarm, since the sitcom Ellen was canceled because ratings had plummeted after the show became "too gay". Since airing, the pilot episode of Will & Grace has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 8.6, equivalent to approximately 8.4 million viewing households.
The episode begins with gay lawyer Will Truman (Eric McCormack) talking on the phone with his best friend, heterosexual Jewish interior designer Grace Adler (Debra Messing), about their lives. The following day, Will hosts a poker game at his apartment with his friends, when Grace arrives and informs Will she just had an argument with her long-term boyfriend, Danny (Tom Verica). After the game is over, Will insists that Grace spend the night—much to the displeasure of Will's flamboyantly gay friend, Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes), who was planning to move in with Will temporarily.
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