NBC Drops "West Wing," "Will & Grace"

President Bartlet and Jack McFarland don't seem as if they exist in the same universe, but they share the same reality: They're canceled.

NBC has dropped the other shoe on The West Wing and Will & Grace, formally announcing Sunday that both long-running shows would run no more after this season.

West Wing, the 25-time Emmy-winning Oval Office drama, will depart May 14 after seven seasons. Will & Grace, the 14-time Emmy-winning gay old time comedy, will sign off on May 18 after eight seasons. Each finale will be preceded by an hourlong retrospective; Will & Grace's last episode will run a super-sized 60 minutes.

The cancellations were not unexpected, or as NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly said of the West Wing move: "I don't think it was a news flash to anybody.

Both shows were aged, and both shows were shadows of their former Nielsen selves, although Will & Grace has perked up of late since moving to Thursdays at 8 p.m.

So far this season, West Wing is averaging a worst ever 8 million viewers; Will & Grace, a worst ever 8.4 million. Even on NBC, a struggling network likely headed for a dismal fourth place, those ratings are below average.

Reilly called the decision to end Will & Grace "bittersweet." Of West Wing, he sounded a similar melancholy note, telling reporters at the Television Critics Association tour in Pasadena that "there's a point where you want to send a show off with dignity and with some semblance of success."

Reilly said talks about ending The West Wing were underway prior to the death of John Spencer, the Emmy-winning actor who played chief of staff-turned-vice presidential candidate Leo McGarry. Spencer died unexpectedly of a heart attack Dec. 16. His character, so integral to this season's election story line, will succumb to the same sad fate in the episode to air Apr. 2, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The West Wing cast was officially notified of its cancellation "very recently," Reilly said.

The Will & Grace cast, meanwhile, sounded as if it knew for a while that its time was up.

"I think we're in denial a little bit in terms of we kept thinking, 'Oh, we've got 12 [episodes] left,' " star Eric McCormack said at a TCA press conference. "And the next thing you know, you've got seven left."

The West Wing debuted on NBC on Sept. 22, 1999. Revolving around the professional and personal lives of members of the Barlet administration, it made Emmy winners of Spencer, Stockard Channing, as first lady Abbey Barlet, Allison Janney, as no-nonsense CJ Cregg, and Bradley Whitford, as beleaguered deputy chief of staff Josh Lyman. To date, Janney alone has won four Emmys--the same number that the series has claimed as Outstanding Drama.

Originally viewed as a comeback vehicle for Rob Lowe, the former Brat Pack star departed the series in 2003 amid money and camera-time issues. As Lowe learned, The West Wing wasn't about spin doctor Sam Seaborn; it was indeed about the west wing.

As a ratings producer, West Wing peaked even before Lowe's departure. Its highpoint was the 2001-02 TV year, when episodes averaged 17.2 million viewers. Subsequently, it suffered opposite ABC's once-frisky Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise on Wednesday nights, and died of loneliness after being moved to Sunday nights last September.

The show's run ends as the second term of President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) is ending. This season's action has revolved around who will be succeed Barlet in the White House: Democratic candidate Matthew Santos (Jimmy Smits) or Republican contender Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda).

"[Executive producer John Wells has] walked us through everything that's happening [in the final episodes]," Reilly told reporters. "And I don't use the word extraordinary lightly, [but] I just think it's truly incredible and will include, again, a great send-off to John Spencer."

Will & Grace creator/executive producer Max Mutchnick joked at a press conference that his show was going to end with Karen (Megan Mullaly) biting everyone else on the neck. "And then she folds her arms over her chest, fall out the window, turns into a bat, and flies away," he said.

The sitcom premiered on Sept. 21, 1998. Then as now, it told the story of a girl (Debra Messing), a boy (McCormack), and their respective men troubles. If it wasn't the first network series to feature gay characters, then it was the first network series to feature a character (Sean Hayes' Jack McFarland) unabashed in his love for a Cher doll.

All four stars--McCormack, Messing, Mullaly and Hayes--won Emmys. The series won the trophy for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2000.

Like The West Wing, Will & Grace had its best year in the Nielsens in 2001-02, averaging 17.3 million viewers. Like its network, its ratings tumbled after Friends went off the air--and off Thursday nights--in May 2004.