From Will Truman to Pray Tell: The Evolution of TV’s Queer Leading Male Characters
Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticIn 2001, Eric McCormack made history by winning the lead comedy actor Emmy for portraying a gay man on “Will & Grace.” Back then, the challenge was reflecting the gay experience as accurately as his co-star Debra Messing’s plotlines as a straight character in the NBC sitcom about two best friends.“We needed to show that the most accurate way to represent those two relationships was that they were always equal — which, probably, they weren’t in the old days,” McCormack says. “It was easier to have handsome guys come on and date Deb Messing.