It isn't hard to understand why a show with a popular supporting actor from one hit sitcom (Thomas Haden Church, Lowell on WINGS) and the soon to be co-lead on another (Debra Messing who would be Grace on WILL & GRACE - the gay community's AMOS 'N ANDY) could tank in just two seasons: total lack of chemistry between the leads and an unpleasant foolish concept with writing which could never rise above either.
Ned (Church) is a shallow, irritating, grossly sexist ad executive who cares about nothing but himself and is told he must be married for promotion purposes. Stacey (Messing) is a shallow, irritating woman - theoretically a writer, but we seldom see any evidence of an actual working life - who wants to find a place of her own (so do the bland Jewish parents she's still living with after a hypothetical fiancée has dumped her). After they agree to a marriage of convenience and begin to cohabitate, NONE of these essential character traits change. Contrary to age-old convention, no attraction or vestigial romance percolates (occasional bitchily jealous comments but no real warmth or romance), just deeper layers of self centered juggling and attempted "one-upping." One of the worst lapses of concept the writers imposed on the show was the ridiculous idea that Ned and Stacey could play around all they wanted outside their fake marriage because no one in Ned's ad world saw or heard anything outside their own insular world. Technically it freed them for "wilder" story lines, but it didn't help the "likability" factor of the characters or show an iota.
The only thing which almost made the show palatable on occasion was the insecure charm of Greg Germann (Eric "Ricco" Moyer, Stacey's brother in law accountant at Ned's advertising firm) and the frustrated wit of Nadia Dajani (Amanda, Stacey's sister). As the *only* appealing characters in the farce, the writers tried to expand their roles as the show wore on (and my, how it wore), but they were stuck with their basic concept of a non-communicating pseudo-marriage (technically the concept of WILL AND GRACE came from its creators' lives, but it's easy to understand why they thought of Messing to reprise a role she'd already played) constantly spring inconvenient surprises on each other. John Getz as an even shallower ad executive tried hard to add color in six episodes, but it was a case of trying to polish rotting fruit (to avoid the cruder advertising term) - especially in one of the better episodes when the writers try to warm up Ned and Stacey by showing all the real marriages in Ned's ad firm as even worse than their "fake" one.
Church's limited acting ability - he seems physically incapable of making eye contact with a person he's sharing a scene with - was disguised in WINGS by his character supposedly being "dim." It was a serious problem in this show where his character is supposed to be not only intelligent but self assured and successful. Given the level of farce writing on this, WILL AND GRACE and a made-for TV movie I've seen, one cannot draw many conclusions as to Ms. Messing's thespian ability, but they never seemed to rise much above the level of smiling and shaking her nicely coiffed red hair or trying to look intense or pouting and shouting.
For lack of serious competition during its original run and the all too brief appearances of Germann, I watched NED AND STACEY fairly regularly but could never find the charm. I recently picked up the DVDs of the first season that a local video store was selling off cheap because it never rented. Curiosity trumped memory. Unfortunately, the show was no better fifteen years later. It is best viewed as a textbook example of structurally sound situation comedy writing which fails completely without a credible concept, characters to care about or actors with any chemistry or warmth. Technically funny can't compensate for basic unpleasantness.
Ned (Church) is a shallow, irritating, grossly sexist ad executive who cares about nothing but himself and is told he must be married for promotion purposes. Stacey (Messing) is a shallow, irritating woman - theoretically a writer, but we seldom see any evidence of an actual working life - who wants to find a place of her own (so do the bland Jewish parents she's still living with after a hypothetical fiancée has dumped her). After they agree to a marriage of convenience and begin to cohabitate, NONE of these essential character traits change. Contrary to age-old convention, no attraction or vestigial romance percolates (occasional bitchily jealous comments but no real warmth or romance), just deeper layers of self centered juggling and attempted "one-upping." One of the worst lapses of concept the writers imposed on the show was the ridiculous idea that Ned and Stacey could play around all they wanted outside their fake marriage because no one in Ned's ad world saw or heard anything outside their own insular world. Technically it freed them for "wilder" story lines, but it didn't help the "likability" factor of the characters or show an iota.
The only thing which almost made the show palatable on occasion was the insecure charm of Greg Germann (Eric "Ricco" Moyer, Stacey's brother in law accountant at Ned's advertising firm) and the frustrated wit of Nadia Dajani (Amanda, Stacey's sister). As the *only* appealing characters in the farce, the writers tried to expand their roles as the show wore on (and my, how it wore), but they were stuck with their basic concept of a non-communicating pseudo-marriage (technically the concept of WILL AND GRACE came from its creators' lives, but it's easy to understand why they thought of Messing to reprise a role she'd already played) constantly spring inconvenient surprises on each other. John Getz as an even shallower ad executive tried hard to add color in six episodes, but it was a case of trying to polish rotting fruit (to avoid the cruder advertising term) - especially in one of the better episodes when the writers try to warm up Ned and Stacey by showing all the real marriages in Ned's ad firm as even worse than their "fake" one.
Church's limited acting ability - he seems physically incapable of making eye contact with a person he's sharing a scene with - was disguised in WINGS by his character supposedly being "dim." It was a serious problem in this show where his character is supposed to be not only intelligent but self assured and successful. Given the level of farce writing on this, WILL AND GRACE and a made-for TV movie I've seen, one cannot draw many conclusions as to Ms. Messing's thespian ability, but they never seemed to rise much above the level of smiling and shaking her nicely coiffed red hair or trying to look intense or pouting and shouting.
For lack of serious competition during its original run and the all too brief appearances of Germann, I watched NED AND STACEY fairly regularly but could never find the charm. I recently picked up the DVDs of the first season that a local video store was selling off cheap because it never rented. Curiosity trumped memory. Unfortunately, the show was no better fifteen years later. It is best viewed as a textbook example of structurally sound situation comedy writing which fails completely without a credible concept, characters to care about or actors with any chemistry or warmth. Technically funny can't compensate for basic unpleasantness.