ABSTRACT
In a culture suffused with such blatantly homophobic discourse as the harangues of Eminem, NBC’s Emmy-award-winning1 prime-time show Will & Grace appears socially progressive. Until recently, for instance, it was the only first-run network situation comedy to feature a gay male as its lead character. It was also the only network show to depart from a heterocentric narrative that merely includes one gay character among many straight characters. Two of the show’s four main characters are gay (Will, played by Eric McCormack, and Jack, played by Sean Hayes), and one of the female characters (Karen, played by Megan Mullally) is tenuously heterosexual at best. Moreover, the narrative includes gay bars, inside jokes, and blatant references to same-sex intimacy that abandon heterosexuality as the narrative default. With Max Mutchnick at the helm, then, the co-creator and executive producer who says that he feels a responsibility to the gay community to present realistic and positive images of cultural difference (Kaye), Will & Grace is a far cry from a hateful homophobic harangue. Rather, it is a business venture2 and a public relations vehicle through which Mutchnick attempts to challenge a heteronormative television industry and alter unfavorable cultural understandings of sexual difference, thereby effecting social change.
