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'Will & Grace' may return to NBC following success of election video

A video in which 'Will & Grace' stars appear in character to urge viewers to vote has drawn more than 6 million views. Now NBC is reportedly working to bring back the show.

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Reed Saxon/AP/File
'Will & Grace' stars (from l.) Eric McCormack, Sean Hayes, Debra Messing, and Megan Mullally pose backstage after making an award presentation at the Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. in 2006.

Are Will and Grace returning to television? 

NBC is reportedly involved in talks to bring back the comedy “Will & Grace,” which stars Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Megan Mullally, and Sean Hayes. The original show aired from 1998 to 2006 and was a perennial Emmy nominee and winner.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the plan would bring back the series for 10 episodes.

The plan follows a recent video that brought Ms. Messing, Mr. McCormack, Ms. Mullally, and Mr. Hayes back together as their characters for a sketch that urged viewers to vote in the coming election. The video has gotten more than 6 million views so far.

If “Will & Grace” does return, this will be the newest case of a TV company or movie studio testing for interest in a property before deciding to go ahead with a more extensive revival. 

In 2014, Netflix obtained the streaming rights to the WB series “Gilmore Girls.” While Netflix doesn’t release information about how many viewers tune in to its programs, enough people watched the old episodes of “Gilmore” to prompt Netflix to bring the show back for four 90-minute episodes. The new “Gilmore” installments will return next month. 

And while the characters on “Will & Grace” and superhero Deadpool may appear to have little in common, movie studio 20th Century Fox also received an indication of interest in the superhero that may have convinced those at the studio to move forward with a film about him.

In 2014, footage that showed actor Ryan Reynolds as the character appeared online. Fan reaction to it was very positive and earlier this year, Mr. Reynolds credited the fan response to the film moving forward.

“The 'Deadpool' fans freaked out and overwhelmed Fox and Fox basically had to greenlight the movie,” he said.

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