As “Will &Grace” enters its finale season, star Eric McCormack is bracing for the big sendoff, which includes a live premiere that will be performed twice — once for the east coast and again for the west coast on Sept. 29.
I caught up with McCormack at an NBC party after its second day of presentations for the fall season at the TV Critics Association press tour in Los Angeles, where he talked about the eighth and final season.
“Mostly, I think it’s actually really joyful,” McCormack said. “It’s a decision that we made and we did it together, and so we’re going at this thing knowing that we’re not going to overstay our welcome and we’re going to take it out in a big way.”
He knows what’s going to happen in the end, but said, “I’m not telling you a damn thing.”
For a show known for its celebrity guest appearances, McCormack said the one person he’d still like to have pop in would be Woody Allen. “Will &Grace” co-star Debra Messing has been in two of Allen’s movies, “so if anyone could approach him, she could.”
McCormack said the show is still fresh and lively, despite declining ratings and less support from critics than in years past. He said the drop in viewers could be a result of the show’s success in syndication, when most people can watch an episode or two every night.
Also, “we’re up against Survivor and I really wish that we were not,” he said. “(But) people see us every night (in syndication). Everyone that comes up to me says, ‘I never miss you guys at 11 o’clock,’ and I always say, ‘Gee, could you try to watch us Thursdays at 8:30?’ And they say, oh, I always TiVo. So that’s the problem. If we were not in syndication, they’d only have Thursday nights at 8:30 and I think we’d be competitive.”
When McCormack was asked what might happen if the network tried to persuade the cast to return for yet another season, he hinted that the network isn’t all too supportive of the show as it is.
“First of all, we’d sit down and try to figure out where all the other NBC people went, and who are all these new people that are hugging us,” he said.
“I supposed if it was on the table, we would discuss it,” he added. “But part of the thrill right now is that this ending is an ending we decided on. We said, we think it’s our last one.”
As for other projects, McCormack recently started a production company and is pitching three dramas and four comedies right now. He also hopes to make a movie, which he wrote, that he’s been trying to get done for years.
It’s called “What You Wish For,” and it’s about the understanding that some couples have where there’s one celebrity they would allow each other to sleep with, and this actually happens to a couple from St. Paul, Minn.
So, does McCormack, who’s been married for eight years, have a list of his own?
“I’m not allowed to because I meet everyone I could ever mention,” he said.
Have fans ever told him he’s on their list?
“Yes,” he said. “A couple of guys have come up and said, ‘You’re on my wife’s list.’ And they didn’t say it in a nice way.”
And, finally, have any men told him he’s on their list?
“They say it with their eyes,” he said. “I know it’s what they’re thinking.”
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