Season Three of Will & Grace finds gay lawyer Will Truman (
Eric McCormack) returning from his annual vacation to find that his straight roommate Grace Adler (
Debra Messing) is torn between two lovers, Josh (Corey Parker) and Ben (
Gregory Hines), the latter gentleman happening to be Will's law partner. Meanwhile, Will's flamboyantly gay buddy Jack (
Sean Hayes) has a falling out with Grace's wealthy, self-centered business partner Karen (
Megan Mullally) when he divorced Karen's illegal-immigrant maid Rosario (Shelley Morrison). This season marks the first appearance of diminutive character actor Leslie Jordan as Karen's bete noire Beverly Leslie, a noxious right-winger who covers up his obvious gayness by spouting homophobic drivel; Beverly is introduced in the controversial episode wherein gay actress
Ellen DeGeneres shows up as a nun. We also meet Tina (
Lesley Ann Warren), the manipulative mistress of Will's father George (Sidney Pollack); Will's athletically inclined boyfriend Matt, played by future
Grey's Anatomy star
Patrick Dempsey); and most significantly, Grace's loser-lout neighbor Nathan (
Woody Harrelson), with who she inexplcably falls in love. Season Three also marks the first of the series' several celebrity cameos, as Jack unexpectedly confronts his idol
Cher, in an episode which also features a pre-
Boston Public Camryn Manheim as a psychic. Topping off the year is Jack's astonished reaction to the fact that he's a father--and in fact has been one for nearly a dozen years! Ranked as the 14th most popular series in America during the 2000-2001 season, Will & Grace also won three more Emmy winners, one of them picked up by leading man
Eric McCormack. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide