NBCThe Will & Grace revival has just nine episodes under its belt. And aside from the fact that the show's returned in surprisingly fighting form—something that can't be said for all revivals these days—we're stunned they've managed to bring back as many guest stars from the original run as there are new episodes for a victory lap.
There are still more returns to come—Bobby Cannavale, we're waiting on you!—but it's time to reflect on what they've delivered thus far. And let us just say, not all returns are created equal. They can't all be Molly Shannon, can they?
So, you know what that means, honey. It's time for a ranking!
No offense to all the Leo fans out there, but we didn't find this walk down uncomfortable doomed romance memory lane all that necessary. Grace's tortured marriage to Leo nearly sunk Will & Grace the first time around, and frankly, we could've done with a mere mention of why their marriage fell apart. Sorry, Harry!
All we got out of this was one quick scene with poor Joe and another convoluted sex farce for Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace (Debra Messing) courtesy of Larry. In an episode that also included Molly Shannon's luminous Val, this just paled in comparison.
Was Minnie Driver funny as hell in her two brief scenes during the emotional "Rosario's Quinceanera" episode? You betcha. The way she made off with everyone's jewelry had us in stitches. But she didn't feel entirely necessary in the heartfelt episode. We get that Driver's commitments to ABC's Speechless meant she was probably only available for that precise day of shooting, but we'd have preferred to have seen her in a different episode altogether.
Now Smitty's presence in "Rosario's Quinceanera" made much, much more sense. Who could forget Karen Walker's favorite barkeep with the sad stories that always cheered her up when she was down? It would've been stranger if she wasn't drowning her sorrows with him as she hid out from attending Rosario's wake.
There was nothing funnier than when Nurse Sheila (played by Laura Kightlinger, who's also a consulting producer and writer) would pop up yet again as someone's nurse during Will & Grace's original run. (She appeared seven times.) So of course, we guffawed when she walked through the door of Grace's examining room at the gyno during "Emergency Contact."
We were sad to hear that Jack (Sean Hayes) and his son Elliot were estranged by the time the revival began, and even sadder to hear that he would be sending his own son Skip (Jet Jurgensmeyer) to a gay conversion therapy camp. But Michael Arangano's appearance gave Hayes the opportunity to do some real emotional work, and that's always a good thing.
When Will & Grace was originally on, we could've watch Karen Walker spar with her diminutive nemesis Beverly Leslie 24-7. Those feelings didn't change when he popped up to finally, while hopped up on enough morphine to kill a dog, admit that he was, indeed, a homosexual. More Leslie Jordan, please and thank you.
While we're a bit disappointed that we didn't get a moment between Molly Shannon's deliriously funny Val and her arch-nemesis Grace (Debra Messing), seeing the SNL vet mix it up with Jack (Sean Hayes) and Karen (Megan Mullally) was an absolute blast. Watching those two watch Val in that elevator as she recovered from throwing herself onto Jack's car was possibly the funniest thing this revival has done yet.
Whose return was your favorite? Sound off in the comments below!
Will & Grace airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
This story was originally published on November 3, 2017 at 9:34 a.m.