Alive and Schticking

"Alive and Schticking" is the eighth-season opener of NBC's "Will & Grace" that aired live on September 29, 2005. The episode was performed twice that evening: once for the East Coast and once for the West Coast.

As the episode opens, Will and Grace are both discussing their problems; Will's problem, being that Stan is still alive, while Grace is trying to decide whether to have an affair with a married man. Will forces Grace to promise that she would not tell anyone about Stan, but when Jack walks in with an eye patch (caused by a fire on the set of "Jack Talk", his new talk show), it all goes out of the window as Grace needs a way to take the heat off of herself.

The episode continues in this fashion, with Malcolm making an appearance after a few minutes, apparently with ice cream sandwiches (a good guest always brings something, as his mother had taught him). Malcolm quickly tells Will that he might "accidentally" be assassinated if he keeps on blabbing about Stan.

Karen and Rosario then enter, with Karen on a powerchair because she just had a toe surgery (to get rid of some extra skin, which apparently allowed her to swim very well before the surgery). Malcolm and Karen hit it off instantly, and already have date plans, which freaks Will out.

Meanwhile, Grace and Jack are discussing their own problems, especially Grace, who uses Jack's promiscuous history with married men as a legitimate reason to have her own affair, but when Jack realizes that Grace was talking about herself, he recalls his advice, and tells her to forget about it as both of them are the moral role models to their friends.

Jack also reveals the truth about his eye, which is that he literally "singed" his eyebrow off, by refusing to stop singing despite the fact that the entire set was burning around him, causing sparks of glitter to enter his eye.

Will reenters the apartment, and asks Grace and Jack if they think it is right to tell Karen that Stan is alive. They all decide that it would be the best thing to do, and when Karen enters, they break the news to her. Karen, however, reacts as if Will is lying. When Rosario tells Karen that she has been giving "Mr. Stan" reports, Karen promptly fires Rosario, and leaves with Malcolm. The stage then closes, with the fate of Karen, hanging in the balance.

Trivia

* Megan Mullally, who plays Karen, hurt her ankle while dancing at home, so Karen's part had to be re-written to accommodate Megan's inability to walk without crutches. [http://www.durfee.net/will/0801.htm] [http://www.tv.com/will-and-grace/alive-and-schticking/episode/457872/summary.html]