I heard Madonna was their most difficult guest during taping.

*ducks for cover*

I don't care how comfortable one actor is with another, I still think that breaking character is the worst thing one can do, especially stage-trained actors like on W&G.
Even worse, the fact that they did it again on the west coast version shows that it was intentional. That's not only unprofessional, but also phony. Bah!

Debra Messing always looks like she's ABOUT to crack up, so I wondered how much she really does. I was surprised to hear them all say on "The Tonight Show" that Sean Hayes is the major culprit for breaking character. So put them together in a scene, just the two of them, and ... yep. There they go.

(I have to say, though, as unprofessional as it may be, I do enjoy watching actors lose it on live TV. Yeah, it got old when Jimmy Fallon did it in every single "SNL" sketch he appeared in, but in general I still find it entertaining.)

The fact that they broke up during the same parts in both performances doesn't necessarily mean they did it intentionally. Anyone who's ever done live theater knows that sometimes, something just hits you as "funny," no matter how much you rehearse it, and you feel powerless to stop it. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the things that got them during the first performance were the same ones to send them over the edge the second time. If nothing else, the back-of-your-mind memory of what happened last time might give you the giggles when you come to that part of the show again.

Besides, what got them started laughing on the West Coast performance was Sean Hayes fumbling over a line, and it certainly didn't seem like he fumbled it on purpose....

One other thing about the live show: It was SO NICE to hear real studio audience laughter for a change, not laughter that's been "sweetened" by pre-recorded guffaws. Of course the audience is told to laugh more freely and openly than they would if they were sitting at home, but still. Real people laughing is a wonderful sound, even if they're kinda forcing it sometimes. Pre-recorded people laughing is soulless and annoying.

I really enjoyed the "live" broadcast, I thought it was well done. I would love to see an actual sitcom that is done like this all the time, I think it would be great fun for a few seasons.

Was Grace the first one to messup/start to giggle? I watched the east coast feed and she was the first major slip up I noticed. I liked it more when they messed up. But, I agree with the above posting about Megan and Alec being the best live with not breaking character.

In the West Coast performance, it was Sean Hayes who went first. He fumbled over the line "It's like me asking you if you rely too much on your hair," and that started him off. Debra Messing followed.

Wait, they did a different west coast feed? That seems odd.

Why? They did a live performance for all time zones. Nothing odd about that.

Not all.

2.

Guess they didn't teach you that at all those tapings.

Well, actually 3... Central takes the Eastern feed.

They only did two performances. One for the Eastern Time Zone (which simultaneously went to the Central TZ), and one for the Pacific TZ. The people in the Mountain TZ got the East Coast version on tape-delay.

It's great to have satellite (Dish) DVR'd both East coast and West coast shows

You wouldn't happen to have that west coast feed in HD would you?

I'm getting a 4x3 copy of it but...you know, I am the digitalfreak and all.

Sorry, Only have it in SD

"WILL AND GRACE" - GOING LIVE AGAIN
BURBANK, Calif. (AP) -- "Will and Grace" are going live again. N-B-C says their live shows back in September were such a hit they'll do it again on January 12th. Here's the storyline. The cast will go live twice that night -- first to the East Coast and then to the West Coast. And, N-B-C says there'll be different jokes in each broadcast.

Hmm, I don't think I've ever heard of two live broadcasts of the same show in a night like this. I wonder if both the east and west shows will be included in the box set whenever that comes and how these episodes will be referred to. Very, very interesting.

+Danny

W&G did two live shows when they did it back in September.

When ER did its live show back in 1994(?), they did two performances. One for the East coast and one for the West coast.

The joys of Dish Network
Having east and west coast feeds to DVR!

Wow. That was quite possibly the worst writing I've ever seen on television. So embarrassing. I haven't seen this show in a long long time. Has it been this bad lately?

And what happened to "Joey" in this time slot? Oh well, waiting for "Earl" and "The Office".

You thought that was bad?!? Please don't tell me you stayed around after to catch Four Kings. FK made W&G look like comedic genius

Unfortunately I did see "FK". I agree, what a trainwreck. THIS was the pilot that sold the show!??

Must SEE TV...NOT!

As much as I loved this show and the characters, they made a good decision ending the series with this season. Decline in the quality of the show is sad.

Awful episode. 22 minutes of four characters doing absolutely nothing. I'd say it was like a Seinfeld episode except the W&G writers don't get the joke.

Hmmm, I actually enjoyed this episode, quite a bit. I probably would have enjoyed it even more, but I've never seen The Sound of Music all the way through, so I didn't get some of the references. Since you haven't seen the show in a long long time, you probably haven't been witnessing its slow and often painful descent into mediocrity, as I have these past couple of seasons. Sure, the show is a pathetic shell of what it once was, but it still has its moments, and as pathetic shells go, it could certainly be worse.

I did like this episode though, a lot more than I thought I would. We even got one of Karen's classic omg-did-she-just-say-what-I-think-she-said lines. Had to rewind the DVR for that one...

Rob