'Will & Grace' Foursome Set Until '04-'05

[Brett Ferino]

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The four stars of "Will & Grace" will keep up their zany sitcom antics through at least the 2004-05 season, the show's seventh year on NBC.

Under a new salary pact that is close to being finalized at the network's inhouse producer, NBC Studios, Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes are due for hefty salary bumps. NBC declined comment on the matter, as did representatives for the four actors.

Sources said the new deal includes a retroactive component that will boost the paychecks of titular stars McCormack and Messing for the current season to $250,000-$275,000 per episode, while co-stars Mullally and Hayes are said to receive only slightly less than the two leads under their revised deals. Shows usually shoot 22 episodes per season.

By the seventh season, sources said McCormack and Messing will pocket about $400,000 per episode, while the two co-stars will climb into nearly as high a tax bracket. All four actors are also said to have a small stake in the backend profits of the show, which bowed in syndication in the fall.

"Will & Grace," created and executive produced by David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, ranks among TV's most-watched and most-honored comedy series. Mullally and Hayes won Emmy Awards in 2000 in the supporting acting categories, while McCormack won in 2001 as a lead actor in a comedy series. The series earned the Emmy for best comedy in 2000.

Elsewhere in the sitcom salary stakes, the six cast members of "Friends" each make $1 million per episode, while "Frasier" star Kelsey Grammer takes home about $1.6 million.

[*Pleasant Tomorrow*]

Originally posted by Brett Ferino
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The four stars of "Will & Grace" will keep up their zany sitcom antics through at least the 2004-05 season, the show's seventh year on NBC.

"Will & Grace," created and executive produced by David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, ranks among TV's most-watched and most-honored comedy series. Mullally and Hayes won Emmy Awards in 2000 in the supporting acting categories, while McCormack won in 2001 as a lead actor in a comedy series. The series earned the Emmy for best comedy in 2000.