Into the Long Arms of the Law
Wouldn’t it be fun if sitcom stunt casting meant that the celebrity guests actually performed stunts, like on the old “Circus of the Stars”?
Well, maybe they do. Watching Michael Douglas’ guest appearance on tonight’s “Will & Grace” (9 p.m., NBC) is sort of like witnessing a clown act performed on the high wire. He’s a bit stiff in this comic turn, but he attacks it gamely, and his earnest goofiness wins out in the end.
The episode--written by Jenji Kohan, directed by James Burrows and titled “Fagel Attraction”--casts Douglas as a police detective who investigates the theft of a laptop computer belonging to Eric McCormack’s Will. Playing off of his old “Streets of San Francisco” character, Douglas is no-nonsense on the surface, but his secret attraction to Will leads to a decidedly unorthodox stakeout.
The scene that will be the subject of Friday’s water-cooler conversations: a slow dance that puts McCormack in Douglas’ arms, uttering a line that is pure Mae West.
It’s this under-the-radar naughtiness that makes “Will & Grace” so slyly subversive week after week--and helps to whisk away the bad taste left by the one-note stereotypes foisted upon supporting players Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally.
