Megan Mullally Movies

Will and Grace was supposed to have been cancelled at the end of its seventh season, but somehow managed to hang on for an eighth and final year. To improve its flagging ratings (the series had dropped from ninth place in 2001 to a miserable 61 five years later), NBC moved the show to a new timeslot, sequestered among the network's most successful sitcom offerings. As a ratings gimmick, two of the episodes--including the season opener--were telecast "live", a ploy that had worked wonders for such previous offerings as ER and Drew Carey. The festivities begin as gay attorney Will (Eric McCormack) tries to keep the snobbish but emotionally fragile Karen (Megan Mullally) from finding out that her wealthy ex-husband Stan, believed dead, is actually still among the living. At the same time, Will's erstwhile straight roommate Grace (Debra Messing) toys with the possibility of compromising her values by beginning an affair with her old flame Tom (Eric Stolz), who happens to be married. Also, Will's flamboyantly gay pal Jack (Sean Hayes) launches the latest phase of his checkered showbiz career as host of his own TV series, "Jack Talk". This last-mentioned device seems to have been contrived purely for the purpose of spotlighting Season Eight's most highly publicized celebrity guest star Britney Spears, gloriously miscast as an ultra-right-winger with whom Jack is forcibly teamed on the air. Other well-known actors passing through during this season are Andy Richter as one of Grace's blind dates, Richard Chamberlain as an elderly homosexual whom an altruistic Will "adopts", and Debbie Reynolds, who after a long absence returns as Grace's overbearing mother. This is also the year in which Will enters into a new romance with James Hanson (Taye Diggs), whom he meets at a Sound of Music singalong, and with whom he shares his first serious onscreen kiss (a piquant moment which, like the Britney Spears appearance, was noisily overhyped by the NBC publicity department). Though Will eventually returns to his police-officer boyfriend Vince (Bobby Cannavelle), Grace generously offers to marry the foreign-born James so he won't be deported--only to discover on the eve of the wedding that she is pregnant, the result of a one-night stand with her ex-husband Leo (Harry Connick Jr.)! Likewise receiving a visit from Mr. Stork are Will and Vince, the proud parents of baby Ben--actually the issue of a most surprising sperm donor. Season Eight's various and sundry loose plot strands are neatly wrapped up in the series' now-famous final episode, set twenty years in the future. Though Will & Grace was clearly on its last legs, the series still managed win two more Emmy awards, making a total of sixteen. The lucky recipients this year were supporting actors Megan Mullally and Leslie Jordan, the latter cast as Karen's perennial adversary, closeted Republican Beverly Leslie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Seven of Will & Grace begins by tying up several loose ends from Season Six, notably the almost instantaneous breakup of nearly-weds Karen Walker (Megan Mullally) and Lyle Finster (John Cleese), while wedding singer Jennifer Lopez (as herself) hires--and fires--Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes) as her backup dancer. Fortunately for Jack, he quickly lands a job as executive at a new all-gay TV network, OutTV. Meanwhile, Grace Adler (Debra Messing) now knows full well that her doctor husband Leo (Harry Connick Jr.) has been cheating on her while doing charity work in Africa. Before long, the newly divorced Grace has inadvertently driven a wedge between her gay roommate Will Truman (Eric McCormack) and his police-officer boyfriend Vince D'Angelo (Bobby Cannavale, who would win one of the series' two Emmies this season). Amidst a seemingly endless parade of gratuitous celebrity cameos this season, Jeff Goldblum actually contributes something to the proceedings in the role of Karen's old high school enemy Scott Woolley, who spends half of the season vengefully sabotaging her designing career, and the other half trying to win her love! Likewise seen to good advantage are Lili Tomlin as Will's new law-firm boss Margot; Edward Burns as Nick, a handsome greeting-card writer who briefly dates Grace; Luke Perry as bird fancier Aaron, with whom Jack is fixed up in a double date; Sharon Stone as Will's therapist Georgia Keller; Seth Green as a nasty child actor who causes Jack to lose his TV job; and Alan Arkin as Grace's aloof father Martin Adler. As the season rushes to a conclusion Will experiences an epiphany and quits the legal world to become a writer, linking up with a well-connected gentleman named Malcolm (Alec Baldwin) who turns out to be a covert government agent; Grace rekindles an old flame in the form of Tom (Eric Stolz), who happens to be married; and Karen must publicly humiliate herself to avoid a lawsuit from her longtime adversary, closeted ultraconservative Beverly Leslie Leslie Jordan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Organized by New York's Museum of Television and Radio, this impressively assembled tribute to the funny women boasts a stellar all-female cast, drawn from half a century's worth of video entertainment. Hosted by Megan Mullally (Will & Grace), the special uses rare film clips and interviews to pay homage to such iconic figures as Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Burnett, Bea Arthur, and especially the woman who started it all, Lucille Ball. A number of veteran comediennes are in attendance, along with the newer crop of "girls." Amidst the hilarity, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss (Seinfeld) offers a poignant paean to the late Gilda Radner. Great Women of Television and Comedy was originally broadcast by NBC -- which may explain the preponderance of guest stars from that network's then-current sitcom manifest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Harry Connick Jr. guest stars as a charming MD drawn to Grace, who's still intent on having a child with Will. ~ TV Guide, All Movie Guide

Fans of Will & Grace were taken aback by the series' fifth season, in which plotlines bordered on the ludicrous and the main characters became more wildly inconsistant--and much, much, more abrasive. For starters, longtime friends and roommates Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace (Debra Messing) (he's the gay lawyer, she's the straight interior designer) have a bitter falling out when she decides not to bear his child by artificial insemination, choosing instead to impulsively marry a handsome Jewish doctor named Leo Markus, played by singer-composer Harry Connick Jr.) (the fact that TV journalist Katie Couric is present at the ceremony would seem to prove beyond doubt that the marriage was preplanned as a fall-sweeps ratings stunt, rather than a logical outgrowth of Grace's character). At the same time, Grace's business partner Karen (Megan Mullaly) goes into full harpie mode when her wealthy incarcerated husband Stan throws her over for prison cafeteria worker Lorraine Finster (Minnie Driver), reducing Karen to homeless destitution (for a while, she lives in the family limo!) And Stan's flamboyantly gay buddy Jack (Will Hayes) morphs from harmless eccentric to menacing stalker when he spots Kevin Bacon (one of several celebrities playing themselves) strolling down the avenue. Guest actors this season include Gene Wilder, whose performance as Mr. Stein, the long-missing, hyperneurotic senior partner of Will's law firm won the actor one of the series' four Emmy awards for 2002-2003 (another Emmy went to star Debra Messing, and about time!); Rosanna Arquette as a masseuse who evidently has the "hots" for Grace; Dan Futterman as Grace's gay cousin Barry, only recently and very awkwardly "outed", who briefly becomes the object of affection for both Will and Jack; and Madonna as Karen's new, high-maintenance roommate. As the season winds down, Stan starts divorce proceedings against Karen, who is incensed to find that Will is representing her husband (HER attorney is a greenhorn played by Macauley Culkin)--but the courtroom proceedings are interrupted by some shocking news about Stan. Everything comes to a head in the season's cliffhanger finale, which takes place during an ocean voyage, wherein Grace weighs the possibility of moving to Guatemala to be closer to husband Leo. . .until she finds out about Leo's sexy coworker (Nicollette Sheridan). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Three of Will & Grace finds gay lawyer Will Truman (Eric McCormack) returning from his annual vacation to find that his straight roommate Grace Adler (Debra Messing) is torn between two lovers, Josh (Corey Parker) and Ben (Gregory Hines), the latter gentleman happening to be Will's law partner. Meanwhile, Will's flamboyantly gay buddy Jack (Sean Hayes) has a falling out with Grace's wealthy, self-centered business partner Karen (Megan Mullally) when he divorced Karen's illegal-immigrant maid Rosario (Shelley Morrison). This season marks the first appearance of diminutive character actor Leslie Jordan as Karen's bete noire Beverly Leslie, a noxious right-winger who covers up his obvious gayness by spouting homophobic drivel; Beverly is introduced in the controversial episode wherein gay actress Ellen DeGeneres shows up as a nun. We also meet Tina (Lesley Ann Warren), the manipulative mistress of Will's father George (Sidney Pollack); Will's athletically inclined boyfriend Matt, played by future Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey); and most significantly, Grace's loser-lout neighbor Nathan (Woody Harrelson), with who she inexplcably falls in love. Season Three also marks the first of the series' several celebrity cameos, as Jack unexpectedly confronts his idol Cher, in an episode which also features a pre-Boston Public Camryn Manheim as a psychic. Topping off the year is Jack's astonished reaction to the fact that he's a father--and in fact has been one for nearly a dozen years! Ranked as the 14th most popular series in America during the 2000-2001 season, Will & Grace also won three more Emmy winners, one of them picked up by leading man Eric McCormack. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first season of Will & Grace begins as scatterbrained interior designer Grace Adler (Debra Messing), having broken up with the latest in a long line of boyfriends, moves in with her best friend, level-headed attorney Will Truman (Eric McCormack). The set-up is a bit unorthodox, but there can be no question (at least for now!) that the relationship is anything but platonic, if for no other reason than Will is gay and Grace is straight. At the same time, a slightly bizarre friendship develops between Will's flamboyantly gay pal Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes), an aspiring actor, and Grace's business partner Karen Walker (Megan Mullally), a supercilious, self-centered socialite. Also seen in the earliest episodes are Grace's yuppie ex-sweetheart Rob (Tom Gallop) and his fiancee Ellen (Leigh Allyn Barker). Throughout Season One, the perennialy unemployed Jack flounces through a variety of jobs, at one point becoming Karen's personal assistant. Also, we meet such eccentric recurring characters as Grace's insufferable mom Bobbie (Debbie Reynolds), Will's estranged older brother (and Grace's temporary main squeeze) Sam (John Slattery) and Grace's boozy, combustible neighbor Val Bassett (Molly Shannon). Two of these peripheral characters were planned as regulars, but only one made the grade. Gary Grubbs, briefly seen as Will's client Harry Polk, never quite caught on with viewers, though it is he who first makes the sage observation that, despite their polar-opposite sexual preferences, Will and Grace are clearly more than just good friends. As for Shelley Morrison as Karen's middle-aged Latino maid Rosario Salazar, she is destined to skyrocket to prominence at the end of Season One when, in order to save Rosario from deportation, Jack impulsively marries her! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Although she remains unseen, Niles' estranged wife Maris is definitely a "player" in this episode. The fun begins when Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) seeks out a way to get Niles (David Hyde Pierce) out of his funk over his shattered marriage. The solution: Frasier and Niles decide to spend a compassionate weekend in a tiny mountain cabin with a pair of sexy ladies (Megan Mullally, Lisa Darr) who seem willing to do anything to make the boys happy! ~ All Movie Guide

In this made-for-cable adaptation of Roderick Thorp's crime thriller, Peter Weller stars as a Hollywood cop whose murder investigation runs into a wall of police corruption. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

A pre-Will and Grace Megan Mullally guest stars in this episode as Molly Connors, the feisty daughter of West Virginia coal miner Eben Connors (Denver Pyle). When Eben dies in a suspicious mining accident, Molly sweeps into town to accuse the mine's owner of being responsible for her dad's death. Shortly thereafter, the owner is found murdered--and the murder weapon, a rifle, is located in Molly's car. All that is preventing Molly from being torn to pieces by the hostile local citizens is the presence of the girl's former creative-writing teacher Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), who as usual suspects that someone else has perpetrated the foul deed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frederic Lehne stars as the real-life Tom Butterfield, a college student distressed by the plight of homeless children. He'd like to adopt a few of these kids, but Missouri law prohibits such a circumstance for an unmarried man. At great personal cost to himself both financially and emotionally, the 21-year-old Butterfield becomes the youngest single adult ever to be granted a foster-parent license, using this privilege to set up a Boy's Town-like home for unwanted youngsters. Lehne's costar is Michelle Pfeiffer, on the threshold of bigger things. Tom Butterfield, the subject of The Children Nobody Wanted, died less than a year after this TV movie's debut. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide