Will & Grace to Bow Next Month

TVNZ 2 will premiere the Will & Grace revival on October 2.

It will air 8.30 Mondays after My Kitchen Rules NZ, which starts on September 25.

As a curtain-raiser to season nine of Will & Grace, the first in 12 years, TVNZ 2 will re-run the first episode of the original series after the return of MKRNZ, at 9.05.

“Despite updating for the modern era with a few jokes and a refurbished kitchen, Will & Grace still feels comfortably the same — and that’s good,” reckons Slash Film.

“Though it may also be a case of lightning in a bottle, as Will & Grace feels much more adaptable to today’s climate than Arrested Development’s awkward revival ever did.”

Will & Grace first resurfaced last September in a surprise mini-episode on YouTube when the gang reunited to discuss the US election, The Guardian recalls in an article about a pending season of comedy revivals that includes Roseanne and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

What a difference a year makes: it seemed much funnier in September 2016 than it does in September 2017, where it seems more documentary than sitcom. Nevertheless, it was the preamble to a reboot, with the cast returning for a full season this fall. (Whether it will address the original season finale, which made it clear that Will and Grace had not spoken in 18 years, is yet to be seen.)

The season nine episodes will air here within four days of Will & Grace’s US broadcast (where NBC also is mulling over resurrecting The West Wing, The Office, 30 Rock and ER).

Will & Grace’s fast-track scheduling will be similar to The Big Bang Theory’s and coincides with Three picking up the right to Modern Family and screening it much closer to the US.

Season nine of Modern Family starts later this month on Fox and is likely to debut here mid-October, on a double-bill with a new Hamish & Andy replacement for Jono and Ben.

According to the blurb, True Story With Hamish & Andy has the duo sitting down with “everyday Aussies who recount their hilarious true stories” — which they try to recreate using popular TV personalities.

The Daily Telegraph reports a second series has been ordered after the first five episodes “were a huge hit with the launch averaging more than 1.4 million viewers”.