TODAY IN GAY HISTORY: Will And Grace makes TV History, by becoming the longest-running mainstream sitcom in which storylines revolved around gay principal characters.
Airing on the 21st September 1998, Will And Grace made TV History. Over the course of 194 episodes over 8 seasons, American audiences began to love and accept openly gay storylines and characters.
It gave birth to characters such as Karen Walker and Jack McFarland.
Although the show opened to a certain amount of criticism the show became a staple on the NBC network and enjoyed a peak of 17.3 million viewers in the US. The first episode aired on the 18th May 2006.
The show’s popularity and reach were credited to opening the door to a wave of gay-themed programming such as Queer As Folk.
Former US Vice President Joe Biden said that the series had had a profound impact on how LGBT rights and how Americans viewed gay people. He said, “I think Will & Grace did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody has ever done. People fear that which is different. Now they’re beginning to understand”, in an interview during Meet The Press.
