‘Will & Grace’ goes back in time with holiday episode’s production design

By Michael P. Hill December 8, 2017

Weekly insights on the technology, production and business decisions shaping media and broadcast. Free to access. Independent coverage. Unsubscribe anytime.

After returning to NBC this fall with updated sets, “Will & Grace” writers apparently decided to give the production design team yet another challenge — creating sets meant to represent 1912 New York City.

The revived show’s holiday episode that aired Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017, centered around a plot that was part flashback, part dream sequence and part imagination.

After having what was apparently a horrible holiday dinner, the gang slips into the “Immigrant Historical Society” so Grace can use the restroom — and, as a result, are forced to take a tour of the museum, which centers around a recreation of a 1912 tenement house.

From this point, cast members Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally switch characters, becoming part of the museum exhibit’s story.