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14 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ENTERTAINMENT
WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2006
SEINFELD (CONTINUED FROM 12)
Forman. They produce the improvisational comedy series "Lovespring International" for Lifetime Television.
"One hit in a person's lifetime, whether you are a writer or an actor or anything else, is a little bit of a miracle," said Karl Lizer, co-executive producer for three seasons of "Will & Grace" and now the creator and executive producer of "The Old Adventures of New Christine."
In addition, McCormack appeared off-Broadway in the Neil LaBute play "Some Girls;" immediately after "Will & Grace" ended.
But the odds that Messing and the others will ever attain the same level of success they once had with "Will & Grace" are not necessarily in their favor.
Messing, Emmy winner in 2003 and a current nominee as well, for Grace, says she, too, has the itch to return to the stage. She feels her career has already diversified because she was "lucky enough" to star in several romantic comedies on the big screen while "Will & Grace" was still on the air.
Having a 2-year-old son has "reorganized priorities" for Messing, she said. She views herself mainly as "an actor for hire" now and is happy to leave the "hunting, gathering, and searching to the team I have around me."
Typecasting, one of the curse's big bugaboos, almost got in the way.
Lizer had come up with the concept for "Old Christine," loosely based on her own experiences, before Louis-Dreyfus was suggested as star.
"She was so Elaine to me. I didn't actually know if it would work," Lizer said. "But we decided to meet, and it was a match."
Producing and directing helped Winkler through a difficult transition period. Then in 1991 a dramatic role in the TV movie "Absolute Strangers" re-established his on-screen credentials, which have continued to flourish alongside his behind-the-scenes endeavors.
However, during "Happy Days" long run which ended in 1984, he had taken his lawyer's advice and created a production company. It's first success was ABC's hit spy adventure series "MacGyver."
Lizer added that stars coming off a major hit should never resent the affection fans have for a "beloved character," something Mullally is sure to take full advantage of as a talk-show host.
Henry Winkler, who became a cultural icon over 30 years ago as "The Fonz," in ABC's "Happy Days," knows too well what the "Will & Grace" actors are facing.
"You have to think if I'm good at what I do and they like me in this, then, hopefully, they will come along with me as I try out new stuff." Winkler says. "Trying to please the fans is probably one of the most lethal things you can do, because then you are cutting off who you are, what your instinct is, your imagination is, and you are playing it safe."
For a time, he said, he thought being The Fonz would "just lead me from mountain top to mountain top. And all of a sudden I looked down and I had tremendous grass stains on my pants as I slid into the valley."
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