document_title: Supporting characters on Will & Grace

question_text: who played bobbi adler on will and grace

text: Supporting characters on Will & Grace

text: Supporting characters[edit]

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Actor
Character
Seasons

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Leigh-Allyn Baker
Ellen

Tom Gallop
Rob

Molly Shannon
Val Bassett

Debbie Reynolds
Bobbi Adler

Steve Paymer
Steve

Gregory Hines
Ben Doucette

Marshall Manesh
Mr. Zamir

Laura Kightlinger
Nurse Sheila

Sydney Pollack
George Truman

Tim Bagley
Larry

Jerry Levine
Joe

Sara Rue
Joyce Adler

Lesley Ann Warren
Tina

Woody Harrelson
Nathan

Leslie Jordan
Beverley Leslie

Blythe Danner
Marilyn Truman

Eileen Brennan
Zandra

Charles C. Stevenson Jr.
Smitty

Rip Torn
Lionel Banks

Harry Connick, Jr.
Dr. Marvin 'Leo' Markus

Minnie Driver
Lorraine Finster

Jamie Kaler
Gary

Emily Rutherfurd
Joanne

Jon Fleming
Russell

Bobby Cannavale
Vince D'Angelo

Alec Baldwin
Malcolm Widmark

Mathew Botuchis
Dave

Bernadette Peters
Gin

text: Family members[edit]

text: Grace's family[edit]

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Dr. Marvin "Leo" Markus, portrayed by actor and singer Harry Connick, Jr., is a Jewish doctor and Grace's husband from the fifth season. Leo meets Grace Adler in Central Park while she is on her way to be artificially inseminated with gay best friend Will's baby. After Will finds out that Leo and Grace are dating, they have their biggest fight of the entire series, in which Will tells Grace to move out. Thanks to Jack and Karen's meddling, they forgive each other and Will accepts Grace's relationship. In November, 2002, Grace and Leo are married at a spontaneous group ceremony in Central Park, which was supposed to be broadcast on The Today Show. It was later revealed in the storyline that the ceremony was not legal, but the two officially marry at a ceremony soon after. Leo and Grace's relationship was a constant source of tension between Will and Grace, although they eventually achieved a certain accord with each other – Leo even commenting to Will at one point that he considered himself essentially married to both of them due to his ability to accept their close relationship. Leo's true first name is Marvin, as revealed by his mother at their wedding reception. According to The Nation Magazine, this was the first time in television history that a Jewish protagonist character had married inside the faith.[1] Grace immediately realizes she does not know as much about Leo as she expected. Their marriage fails after less than two years, when Leo reveals that he had a one-night stand while working in Cambodia for Doctors Without Borders. Leo admits his affair to Will first. Will then refuses to help Leo break the news to Grace. After Leo comes clean about his affair, Grace briefly considers continuing their marriage, but quickly decides she wants a divorce. Leo reappears during season eight, a little over a year after the divorce in the storyline, in the episode "Love Is in the Airplane." In the episode, he and Grace have a sexual encounter on an airplane after coincidentally ending up on the same flight to London, though Leo was to continue to Thailand. The result is Grace's pregnancy, as discovered in the season eight episode "The Definition of Marriage". A couple of months later Grace meets Leo, with the intention of telling him that she is pregnant with his baby, but he informs her that he is engaged to another woman, Kate. Consequently, Grace decides not to tell Leo about the pregnancy. In the series finale (May 2006) Leo tells a heavily pregnant Grace that he loves her. Leo has a job as a hospital researcher in Rome, Italy, and this is where Grace gives birth. After one year in Rome, Leo and Grace move back to Brooklyn, New York, where they raise their daughter, Laila, together. 11 years later in season 9 it was revealed that this was part of Karen’s dream.
Bobbi Adler, Grace's mother, was played by Debbie Reynolds. Bobbi is an actress and singer, although her performances are generally with the Schenectady Players and involve gender changing roles, in plays such as "Death of a Salesperson", "The Music Person" and "Queen Lear". She has a constant desire to meddle in the love lives of her daughters, is the creator of the Adler family "Told you so" dance, and can always be relied upon to have a song for every occasion. She has, in the past, shown a perfect willingness for Will and Grace to get married. It is mentioned in Season 9 episode "Rosario's Quinceañera" that she died.
Martin Adler, Grace's father, played by Alan Arkin and Robert Klein in Season 9[2]. Portrayed by his family as the stereotypical Jewish patriarch, Martin shows genuine affection for Grace, although remarks he has made suggest Joyce is his favorite. He has been known to pinpoint Grace's flaws without looking up from his Kojak and Baretta reruns.
Janet Adler, Grace's older sister, is played by Geena Davis and Mary McCormack in Season 9. Janet lives in a van and designs jewelry. Her nickname for Grace is "Smudge". It is once implied that she has difficulties with her mother. In the episode "Lows in the Mid-Eighties", Will asks if Grace has another sister named Janet, to which Bobbi, Joyce, and Grace quickly answer "No!"
Joyce Adler, Grace's younger sister, is played by Sara Rue. It is suggested that Grace and Joyce had a not too friendly relationship growing up, and that Joyce was formerly a binge eater. She is often hostile to Grace, but one word from Will and she tends to giggle and act girlishly; it appears that she, like Grace before her, has a crush on Will.
Laila Markus, Grace and Leo's daughter, is played by Maria Thayer. Laila was conceived by Leo and Grace on an aircraft, during a period where her parents were divorced. She was going to be raised by Will and Grace, but her parents remarried shortly before her birth. She appears on screen only during the series finale.
Warren, played by Jesse Fremont Allis, is the imaginary son of Grace and Leo in a dream that Grace has during the last episode of season 8. Grace and Will raise 'their' son together.

text: Will's family[edit]

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Vince D'Angelo, played by Bobby Cannavale. An Italian-American police officer, Vince first met Will after giving Karen a ticket for speeding and they started dating after the subsequent hearing. Vince was friends with Joe and Larry and began Will's first long-term relationship in the series' run. Vince broke up with Will, requesting time alone after repeatedly losing his job. He re-encountered Will in season 8 and, during the funeral of Will's father, they acknowledged their mutual feelings, thus rekindling their romance. In the finale, Will and Vince are shown to raise a son, Ben, together. 11 years later in season 9 it was revealed that this was part of Karen’s dream.
Marilyn Truman, Will's mother, is played by Blythe Danner. A typical WASP, Marilyn regularly drinks, collects Lladró statues and treats them as if they were her children, and put up with her husband's regular affairs until their ultimate separation. She is not a fan of musical theater – once claiming that Les Misérables was unrealistic because "poor people don't sing that much" – but was impressed with Mamma Mia!. She does not like the jokes Grace and Karen make about Will's sexuality, saying, "Is that a gay joke? I don't like that."
George Truman, Will's father, is played by Sydney Pollack. While he and Will have a close loving relationship, of which both Jack and Grace are envious, it is eventually revealed that he had trouble dealing with telling others of his son's sexuality, initially telling his friends Will was married to Grace. He dies in season 8, only days after having a fight with Will in which he admitted he would rather that Will was not gay.
Sam Truman, Will's brother, is played by John Slattery in season one and Steven Weber in season 8. He had a falling-out with Will over comments Will made about his wife, but reconciled after he had a one-night stand with Grace. He eventually divorced his wife and gained full custody of their two children.
Paul Truman, Will's brother, is played by Jon Tenney. Paul never really came to terms with his brother's sexuality and often behaved like a childish bully, belittling and insulting Will.
Peggy Truman, Paul's wife and Will's sister-in-law, is played by Helen Slater. She was only shown in one episode and came off as waspish and suspicious of Grace's friendly behavior towards her own husband.
Tina, George's mistress, is played by Lesley Ann Warren. She began a relationship with George while he was still married to Marilyn, but was dismayed to learn that George was then seeing his ex-wife behind her back. Ultimately she and Marilyn come to an understanding, that they will share George between them without him knowing what is going on. This arrangement apparently ended not long before George's death.
Jordy Truman, Sam's son and Will's nephew, is played by Reed Alexander. Flamboyant Jordan incenses Will, since Marilyn is incredibly accepting of him even though she was not at first accepting of Will. His nickname is Jordy. He is perceived to be gay by the other characters, although he is still a child, because of his flamboyant nature, love of show tunes and musicals, along with his general disposition.
Casey Truman, Sam's daughter and Will's niece, is played by Kyla Dang. Casey was adopted by Sam and his ex-wife.
Ben Truman, Will and Vince's son, is played by Ben Newmark. Appearing only during the series finale, Ben was apparently born from a surrogate mother using Will's sperm.[3] Upon going to college, he meets and later marries Grace's daughter, Laila.

text: Karen's family[edit]

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Stanley "Stan" Walker, Karen's third husband (little is known about her first two), is a mostly unseen character. He is an obese man, and has worn a toupee since his teens. Stan has two children from a previous marriage to a woman named Kathy. Karen fell in love with him in the 1980s but they didn't marry until 1995. Stan was jailed for tax evasion in season four, and began an affair with a cafeteria worker named Lorraine (played by Minnie Driver), and – after his release in season five – continued the affair, ultimately separating from Karen because of it. He is reported to have died at the end of season five but, at the end of season seven, he reveals to Will that he had faked his own death and is hiding out with the aid of the government. He and Karen reconcile in season 8, but subsequently faced marital difficulties and divorce. Stan's popularity with fast food establishments leads to Pizza Hut taking out a full-page ad in the New York Times to congratulate him on his release from prison; Taco Bell also organize a flyover at his funeral. It is revealed in the series finale that Stan's riches were actually borrowed and that he had no real money of his own.
Mason Walker, Stan's son, is another unseen character. He is known to Karen as "the fat one". During one episode, Karen visits Mason during a swim try-out. She cheers and applauds and has a conversation with him until, at the end, she realizes she has been conversing with the wrong boy and not Mason after all.
Olivia Walker, Stan's daughter, is played by Hallee Hirsh. Although she has had fun times with Karen, such as sticking food to the floor to see how long Mason will spend trying to eat it, she also has problems with her stepmother.
Lois Whitley, Karen's mother, played by Suzanne Pleshette. A con artist who used Karen in her early schemes. They had been estranged for several years when they reconciled in season 4, with the help of Jack.
Virginia "Ginny" Delaney, Karen's sister, played by Bernadette Peters. In 1963, as a child, she was injured in a brutal game of Twister played with Karen.
Barry, Karen's cousin, is played by Dan Futterman. Originally a gay bookish homebody, Karen had Will and Jack bring him out of his shell to become an attractive person whom both Will and Jack fall for.
Sylvia Walker, Karen's mother-in-law, is played by Ellen Albertini Dow. She is a woman that 'strikes fear in her heart-facsimile'. A seemingly kind, but homophobic old woman, Sylvia appears in one episode to accompany Will and Jack to a club. In the beginning neither Will nor Jack wanted to babysit Sylvia, known as "Syl". She had been dumped on them by Karen, who then ditched her. Karen and Syl have a caustic relationship.
Sumner, Karen's nephew, is played by Paul Satterfield. Karen tries to keep him from dating Grace in season 3.

text: Rosario Inez Consuela Yolanda Salazar[edit]

text: Karen Walker's put-upon but faithful maid portrayed by actress Shelley Morrison. In 1985, Rosario met Karen Walker at a club, while working as a cigarette lady, and went to work for her as a maid, which was where she was working when the series began in 1998. Rosario and Karen are very close, but their relationship is love-hate. They are notorious for swapping insults. Rosario is just as feisty as Karen, and is one of the few people who manage to go head-to-head with her. A native of El Salvador, Rosario was a school teacher who received a bachelor's degree in clinical psychology from the University of Texas and who almost got a master's degree. She also attended business school. At some point, she moved to the Bronx, presumably while studying business; however, Karen makes a comment that she bought Rosario from Rosario's parents. While there, she also performed with a then-unknown Jennifer Lopez, including a production of "Tea for Two" at the Shalom Retirement Center. At one point, she was also paid to tape pornographic videos for Tommy Lee. Although she had been mentioned by Karen since the pilot episode, Rosario's first appearance was in the season 1 finale. Due to Karen's patronizing tone, we're made to think that Rosario doesn't speak English well. Rosario actually speaks English fluently, albeit with a thick accent, but is an illegal alien. To keep her in the country, Karen has her marry Jack McFarland, her gay friend, to get a green card. The marriage was later terminated at the end of season 2 when Rosario asked for a divorce in order to pursue other romantic interests. However, she maintained a close relationship with Jack (often echoing hers with Karen) and claimed to still think of him as family. In the series finale, Rosario was shown to have lived with Karen and Jack in the years after the show ended, growing older with them and possibly still working for them despite being in a wheelchair (though she states that she is only in the wheelchair due to a sprained ankle).

text: Jack's family[edit]

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Judith McFarland, Jack's mother, is played by Veronica Cartwright. Despite the obvious clues, Judith did not learn about Jack's sexuality until he was 30. She was impregnated with Jack while at a swinger's costume and pool party.
Daniel McFarland, Jack's stepfather, is played by Beau Bridges. Daniel always had trouble relating to Jack, due to his own athleticism and Jack's lack thereof. Despite Jack's statements to the contrary, Daniel is shown to be a caring man who is at least recently trying to reconnect with Jack.
Joe Black, Jack's biological father. Never portrayed on screen, Joe was revealed to have attended a swingers costumed pool party during the 60s, where he was dressed as Richard Nixon. During the party he impregnated Judith, who was dressed as the rear end of a horse. He dies several years before Jack discovers that Daniel McFarland is not his biological father.
Elliott, Jack's son, is played by Michael Angarano. Shortly after learning of his biological father's death, Jack meets Elliott – his biological son created from sperm Jack donated at the age of 17. He is described by Will as, "Polite, sweet, and kind" which, he says, is the reason Karen initially dislikes him. His relationship with Jack is shown to be very close – Jack noting in one episode that he wants to avoid being the kind of father he had as he always regretted the fact that they never really connected. However, they have a brief rift when Elliott prepares to leave for college during the last season.
Bonnie, Elliott's mother, is played by Rosie O'Donnell. Initially, Bonnie did not want Jack to be included in Elliott's life. Bonnie was a lesbian, but was not open about her sexuality to Elliott. She felt jealous that Jack found it easy to be open with Elliott about his sexuality when she did not feel she could be.

text: Friends[edit]

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Rob and Ellen, Will and Grace's close friends, are played by Tom Gallop and Leigh-Allyn Baker. Ellen and Grace were best friends since college, as were Rob and Will, and the two couples regularly played charades and other games during dinner parties. Grace also sleeps with Rob in season one when they were both going through break-ups and felt emotionally vulnerable, a fact that didn't come up until Rob and Ellen's wedding some years later. The couple did get married, however, and have since had three children, the youngest named Roman (which is the name of Debra Messing's real-life son, born in 2004). Rob and Ellen want to separate, so that they could begin dating other people, and they announce their separation at a dinner date with Will and Grace. Grace makes them realize that they had worked at their marriage and they should remain together; and also keenly reminded them that no one else would have them. Rob and Ellen decided to give their marriage another chance.
Joe and Larry are Will, Jack and Grace's close friends, and are played by Jerry Levine and Tim Bagley. A gay couple, once party animals, Joe and Larry adopted a baby girl called Hannah in season three. Karen occasionally refers to them as "Mo and Mary", with "Mo" being a play on the word "Homo".
Val Bassett, a neighbor of Will and Grace, is played by Molly Shannon. Slightly unstable, and alcoholic, Val originally befriends only Will, until Grace eventually discovers some common interests with her. Both of them still consider her unstable, as does Jack, who found her as an uninvited guest in his bedroom. When Grace accidentally attends an AA meeting, she is seen there by Val, who coerces her to stay. Grace pretends to be an alcoholic for the "free food and therapy".
Beverley Leslie, played by Leslie Jordan, is an effeminate and very short "frenemy" of Karen's. Having a wealthy spouse, as Karen does, Karen and Beverley routinely find themselves traveling in the same society circle of the wealthy and elite. Their relationship is that of friends and enemies. Beverley's wife's name is Crystal and is considerably older than he is. His marriage seems to be held together purely out of his love of Crystal's money. Karen, Will, Grace, and Jack see Beverley as a closeted gay man. He is often seen with a younger attractive man named Benji who appears to be his lover, but Beverley tries to pass him off as a "business associate". When Beverley appears on screen he often catches the other characters by surprise. Sometimes his appearance comes after a character says something that could be comically associated with him. For instance, whilst discussing a dessert, Jack says, "I want something small and fruity, with ladyfingers," and Beverley enters. Beverley and Karen often trade insults, as Karen enjoys ridiculing him for his height. Whenever he appears on screen he can usually be heard saying 'Well, Well, Well' in an effeminate way. Crystal later dies and Beverley inherits the fortune. Some years later Karen's husband Stan loses his fortune, putting Karen's extravagant lifestyle in jeopardy. Beverley presumably spends several more years with Benji after Crystal's death, and then begins seeing a reluctant Jack, who only dated Beverley to support Karen's excessive spending habits, as she had done for him for so many years. During the series finale Beverley is swept off a balcony by a strong gust of wind and dies, leaving his estate in his will to Jack.
Rory, Toby, and Josh are friends of Jack who are never seen, but mentioned in various episodes. Early in Season 3 Rory is mentioned as being into Asian men. In Season 4 Josh, Toby and Jack watch a video of Will freezing up on camera talking about Stanley Walker, but Josh and Toby leave before Will gets home.

text: Love interests[edit]

text: Grace[edit]

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Nathan, played by Woody Harrelson. Nathan is Grace's neighbor in season 3, who becomes her boyfriend. They appear to be a good match, but early in Season 4 he abruptly proposes to her during sex and she becomes distraught at the unromantic nature of his proposal, forcing him to take it back and ask again in a more romantic way. For several days they are awkward around each other and, fearing that their relationship is over, Grace proposes to Nathan who reluctantly refuses and breaks up with her.
Ben Doucette, played by Gregory Hines, is introduced in mid-season 2. Grace sues him after he violates her contract of employment, firing her without reimbursement for expenses she incurred while decorating his house. Although at first he played Grace and Will, who was representing her, he eventually gave her the money voluntarily and hired Will to work at his renowned law firm. Grace and he disliked each other for the rest of the season, until the season finale when Ben showed her his more humane face, when Will invited him to dine with them. They then started a happy, semi-monogamous relationship that lasted for roughly six months, until they broke up early in Season 3 when they realized that they were not in love.
Josh, played by Corey Parker. A sweet, romantic New Age-y man whom Grace dates in season 2. Grace often has issues with him being far too affectionate and nice, to the point of being obnoxious. The two broke up because Jack confessed that he had slept with him.
Nick, played by Edward Burns. A greetings-card writer who falls for Grace when he meets her one Valentine's Day in season 7, after her divorce from Leo. Nick is the first guy Grace starts dating after her divorce with Leo. They decide to break up when he has to go out of the country to work on a screenplay he wrote.
Tom Cassidy, played by Eric Stoltz. An old friend of Grace's, now married, with whom she reunited briefly at the end of season 7. He asks her to help design his and his wife's hotel, yet she still feels chemistry with him and kisses him. She nearly takes it further, but feels guilty and breaks it off with him at the beginning of season 8.
Danny, played by Tom Verica, Grace's long-term boyfriend from roughly 1995–1998, whom she nearly marries in the pilot episode. She realizes, after Will advised her against the marriage, that Danny was too immature for her, and practically leaves him at the altar. They reunite at the end of season 1, much to Will's dismay. Yet again Grace decides that she does not love him and, after roughly a week (one episode), Grace breaks up with him off-screen.
Mark, played by Ken Marino, is another of Grace's partners in Season 3, "Three's a Crowd, Six is a Freakshow". She dumps him because he has 6 toes, although the actual 6th toe was not seen in the episode.

text: Will[edit]

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Barry, played by Dan Futterman. Karen sets up her hopeless cousin Barry with Will, shortly after he comes out. Will and Jack soon undertake a Pygmalion-esque attempt at turning Barry into a more confident gay man, ending when Will falls for Barry though Barry wants to play around before settling down.
James Hanson, played by Taye Diggs. Will meets James at a Manhattan theater and the two have an immediate connection. He later runs into James while on a trip to Los Angeles. James has recently discovered he is going to be deported back to Canada. Grace agreed to marry James so that he can acquire a green card in order to remain in the United States, thus giving James and Will's relationship a chance. However, Will soon discovers James was not who he thought he was, as James began showing himself to be self-centered. Will requests that Grace annul their marriage.
Matthew, played by Patrick Dempsey, is a sports reporter Will meets at a Banana Republic store while trying to help Jack woo him. Jack and Matt have little in common and Will instead finds himself in a relationship with him. They date for a while but Matt's refusal to come out leads to their break-up.
Scott, played by Branden Williams, is Will's 23-year-old date in two episodes in season 3, and works at a local video rental shop. Although they get along well together, Will feels self-conscious about dating Scott, who is quite a bit younger than he is. Will agrees to break it off with Scott if Grace agrees to dump Nathan. Grace agrees and Will breaks up with Scott, though Grace keeps on seeing Nathan.
Diane, played by Mira Sorvino & Lisa Borgnes, is a woman with whom Will has a drunken one-night stand in order to convince himself he was a 100% gay after leaving Grace. She is also one of Leo's exes. Both of these facts make Grace very jealous. Diane states that Will is much better in bed than Leo. Diane was shown briefly (though she had no lines) in the season 3 episode titled "Lows In the Mid-Eighties", but was played by a writer's assistant, Lisa Borgnes.
Claire, played by Megyn Price, is Will's high school friend and girlfriend, the first of the only two women Will has ever dated, the second being Grace. She lives in Paris and asks Will to donate sperm so that she can have a baby, but Will realizes that if he was going to donate sperm he wanted to donate it to Grace.
Michael, played by Chris Potter in season 2 and Cheyenne Jackson in season 9, is a mostly unseen character and is Will's lover of seven years. When the sitcom first appeared, he and Michael had recently broken up. Michael appears in the episode "Hey La, Hey La, My Ex-Boyfriend's Back", which aired on March 14, 2000. He is mentioned occasionally by Will and Grace, and more than once Will refers to him as the love of his life. In the early seasons of the show Will has a hard time letting him go. He and Will begin dating again in season 9, but Will ends ti when Michael asks for money.

text: Karen[edit]

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Lyle Finster, played by John Cleese. Lyle is the father of Stan's mistress, Lorraine. He becomes Karen's fourth husband for about 20 minutes until the couple realize how little they had in common outside of the bedroom.
Scott Woolley, played by Jeff Goldblum. Wooley is the man who lost to Karen for Student Body President and has spent his life hatching schemes to ruin her. Sadly, his schemes are often poorly thought out and eventually Grace realises that he doesn't hate Karen, he loves her. However, his attempts to woo her are as misguided as his previous ones. Woolley also has a dreadful sense of word-play (i.e. "The Scotty Mammoth", "Beam me up, Woolley"). He also changes his first name when using an alias, whereas most people change their last names.
Lionel Banks, played by Rip Torn. Banks is a bachelor who falls for Karen, under her alias Anastasia Beaverhausen, while Stan is in jail and tempts her into having an affair.
Malcolm Widmark, played by Alec Baldwin. Widmark is a government agent who helps Stan fake his death. He has a brief relationship with Karen before she reconciles with Stan, and Widmark goes on a government mission to Sri Lanka. Malcolm reappears in the final two episodes of season 9, where it is revealed that he and Karen go on a rendezvous trip every year. However, Malcolm is very tired of having to hide from Stan and pressures Karen into deciding between him and Stan. Though she is reluctant to change their situation and despite both of them being tempted to give in to each other, Karen decides to stay with Stan and she and Malcolm share an awkward goodbye.

text: Jack[edit]

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Stuart Lamarack, played by Dave Foley, is a client of Will's who becomes Jack's longest relationship, until Jack cheats on him.
Drew, played by Ryan Pinkston, is a police officer, Vince’s co-worker and Jack’s boyfriend for the second half of season 9. Jack meets him at Vince D’Angelo’s wedding in “The Wedding”. As Drew is the only cop at the wedding whose favourite show is “This is Us”, Jack concludes he must be gay and sleeps with him. This turns out to be the first gay experience for the formerly straight Drew, who reveals he is married, tells Jack he loves him and then introduces him to his wife Angela. Jack is annoyed at that revelation, but later comes to relish it and he and Drew go at it in the bathroom. In the next episode, Jack and Drew start seeing each other secretly and Jack, nervous about screwing things up too soon, advises a reluctant Drew to hold off on coming out to Angela for the time being. He even supports the alibi of them being just guy friends by having Karen pose as his wife. However, Karen, reminded of her mother’s unhappiness in her marriage, outs both Jack and Drew in front of Angela, who is surprisingly supportive and arranges a coming out party for Drew, much to Jack’s distress. Jack admits to Drew that he fears missing out on other great men in his life, but when Karen reminds him of his fear of being old and lonely, which is even worse, he decides to give Drew another chance. In “One Job”, after two months of dating, Drew breaks up with Jack, admitting he is not ready for a serious commitment at the moment and wants to see other people. Jack is devastated at the breakup, as he realises that he is now ready to settle down with someone.
Jack has countless short-term lovers over the course of the series (and presumably long before and after), although most are never mentioned by name, or mentioned at all; it is constantly assumed, and not always stated, that he has multiple boyfriends in every episode. Due to Jack's promiscuity, and his habit of forgetting his boyfriends' names, it would be literally impossible to list all of his love interests over the course of the show. Will jokes that if he was to avoid every man that Jack has ever slept with, "that would leave [him] with women." Grace jokes that if everyone stopped working for every man that broke his heart "the city would shut down." Jack also comments that he goes on thousands of dates a year.

text: Other supporting characters[edit]

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Lorraine Finster, played by Minnie Driver, is Stan's mistress. She is a slutty prison cafeteria worker (and, it is implied, prostitute) who instantly forms a hatred of Karen. She was Karen's stepdaughter very briefly (for about 20 minutes) when Lyle, her father, marries Karen. Lorraine was unable to attend the wedding due to an aggressive strain of herpes that kept her from flying. According to the episode "The Accidental Tsuris" she was raised as a girl, despite being genetically male or perhaps a hermaphrodite. It is implied she was estranged from her father for several years and may have been born out of wedlock.
Harlin Polk, played by Gary Grubbs, is a major client of Will's in season one who ultimately fires him.
Mrs. Freeman, played by Jo Marie Payton, is an executive assistant at Doucette & Stein, her most commonly uttered phrase is "Mm-hmm" which is often said with sass.
Zandra Zoggin, played by Eileen Brennan, is Jack's crusty acting coach and a chain-smoking former Hollywood star. After Jack takes over her class, Zandra loses her interest in life and ends up in an actor's retirement village.
Dr. Jay Markus, played by Tom Skerritt, is Leo's father and Grace's eventual father-in-law. She meets him during brunch, thinking he is one of Leo's "old friends".
Eleanor Markus, played by Judith Ivey, is Leo's mother and a noted author of three books on theatre; she meets Grace during brunch alongside her husband. She also is the first to tell her new daughter-in-law her son's actual name, Marvin.
Mr. Stein, played by Gene Wilder, is the senior partner at Will's firm, an eccentric man who takes a liking to Will. He refers to Will as "Gay Will," but without at first realising that Will is actually gay. He and Karen are attracted to each other, but nothing comes of it. He is away from the office for some time prior to season 5 due to a mental breakdown and subsequent incarceration in a mental facility; having been referred to in the company letter-head as running "The London Office" in his absence.
Margot, played by Lily Tomlin, is a senior partner at Will's firm, who apparently takes over after Mr. Stein. She is also quite eccentric and sarcastic. She promotes Will to partner.
Dorleen, played by Parker Posey, is Jack's bitchy, chain-smoking boss during his brief tenure at Barneys New York.
Mr. Zamir, played by Marshall Manesh, is an obnoxious tenant in Will and Grace's building, with a tendency to take off his shirt and to steal Will and Grace's newspapers.
Benji, played by Brian A. Setzer, is Beverley Leslie's "business associate" and boytoy.
Joanne, played by Emily Rutherfurd, is a student of Zandra's acting class who becomes a devoted follower of Jack and his "McFarland method".
Russell, played by Jon Fleming, is a handsome, muscular student of Zandra's acting class who is often asked by Jack to take his shirt off when Jack is teaching the "McFarland method".
Julius, played by Neil Vipond, is Bobbi Adler's close friend and a pianist.
Gary, played by Jamie Kaler, is Will's coworker at Doucette and Stein.
Nurse Sheila, played by Laura Kightlinger, is a rather creepy nurse who works at the sperm bank (where Will visits, intending to donate sperm to his high-school friend Claire). She openly admits she is a whore in season 4 (when Will and Grace are planning to have a baby together), and thereafter seems to appear whenever Will goes into a hospital. She is pregnant in season 8 and attends birth-classes alongside Grace. Her brother, a doctor played by guest-star Jack Black (Kightlinger's real-life former boyfriend), claims he would be "tappin' that big time" if they weren't related.
Dave, played by Mathew Botuchis, is the only openly straight worker at OutTV, the gay network where Jack works in the last seasons. Jack is unimpressed with his heterosexuality and instead refers to him as Elizabeth.
Jamie, played by John Ducey, is the station manager at OutTV.
Tim, played by Mark Harelik, is a member of Senior Management at OutTV.
Jimmy, played by Sam Pancake, is a colleague of Jack's at OutTV.
Smitty, played by Charles C. Stevenson Jr, is a bartender who regularly serves Karen at different establishments. She has been known to call other bartenders "Smitty", even when they tell her it isn't their name. If Karen is depressed Smitty will tell her a tragic story about his own life, which she will laugh at thinking it is a joke.

text: Guest stars playing one-time characters[edit]

text:
Shohreh Aghdashloo, as Pam, an incompetent Iranian hired by Grace who she then fires upon realizing Pam is Jewish and thus she 'doesn't owe (her) anything'.
Rosanna Arquette, as Julie, a masseuse who lives in the same building as Leo and Grace.
Orson Bean, as Professor Joseph Dudley, a gay former literature professor of Will and Grace.
Jason Biggs, as Baby Glenn, a former local celebrity and a guest at Will's auction.
Roscoe Lee Browne, as Linus, owner of a landmark gay bookstore about to be turned into a gym.
Jack Black (uncredited), as Dr. Isaac Hershberg. He examines Karen and is also the brother of the occasionally seen nurse Sheila, played by show writer and Black's girlfriend at the time, Laura Kightlinger.
Richard Chamberlain, as Clyde, an elderly man who Will brings to game night, much to Grace's chagrin
Glenn Close, as Fannie Lieber (a play on celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz), a noted photographer who takes Will and Grace's picture.
Joan Collins, as Helena Barnes, a designer with whom Grace competes for a job, and a nemesis of Karen's.
Macaulay Culkin, as Jason Towne, a lawyer representing Karen in her divorce from Stan.
Tim Curry, as Marion Finster, Lyle Finster's brother.
Matt Damon, as Owen, Jack's heterosexual rival, pretending to be gay to vie for a spot in the Manhattan Gay Men's Chorus.
Kristin Davis, as Nadine, Vince's straight female friend – the same as Grace is to Will.
Ellen DeGeneres, as Sister Louise, a nun to whom Will sells Grace's uncle's old car.
Michael Douglas, as Gavin Hatch, a somewhat closeted gay police detective who becomes attracted to Will and has issues with seeing food stuck in people's teeth.
Christine Ebersole, as Candy Pruitt, another of Karen's rivals.
Edie Falco, as Deirdre, one of a pair of lesbian real-estate "flippers".
Victor Garber, as Peter Bovington, a former actor now working as a doorman.
Andy García, as Milo, a restaurateur, and lover of Karen's, who fails to phone Karen after their date and is confronted by Grace.
Sara Gilbert, as Cheryl who, like Will, is a Barry Manilow fanatic, a.k.a. "fanilow".
Seth Green, as Randall Finn, a former child star.
Clark Gregg, as Cameron, Jack's wealthy boyfriend who becomes Grace's client.
Neil Patrick Harris, as Bill, the leader of a group of so-called "former" lesbians and gays.
Alex Kapp Horner, as Alice Robinson, one of Grace's former classmates.
Peter Jacobson, as Paul Budnik, an overbearing guy who Will dates but is more fond of his dog.
Kathryn Joosten, as the owner to a cabin Grace finds money in.
Stacy Keach, as Wendell Schacter, a former colleague of Jack's who usurps his acting class.

Piper Laurie, as Sharon Timmers, the best friend of Professor Joseph Dudley.
Michele Lee, as Lucille, one of the lesbians who ended up dancing with both Will & Jack.
Hal Linden, as Alan Mills, an elderly gay man who befriends Will and bestows expensive gifts upon him.
Natasha Lyonne, as Gillian, Grace's intern who decides to turn into the spitting image of Karen.
Madonna, as Liz, Karen's roommate.
Lee Majors, as Burt Wolfe, a friend of Grace's father.
Camryn Manheim, as Psychic Sue.
Jason Marsden, as Kim, a friend of Leo's.
Dylan McDermott, as Tom, a boyfriend of Will's who is very closely attached to his elderly mother.
Michael McDonald, as a Don, a student in a cooking class Will takes and dates his brother.
Julian McMahon, guy in an elevator who Grace flirts with.
Demi Moore, as Sissy, Jack's former babysitter.
Nick Offerman, as a plumber that Karen has sex with on Thanksgiving when Stan asks her to be sexually active while he is still in jail.
Offerman appeared in season 9 as Jackson Boudreaux, a celebrity chef who meets Will and Grace at a cooking class, and begins a sexual relationship with both of them.
Sharon Osbourne, as a bartender in No Sex N' in the City.
Peter Paige, as a gay Immigration and Naturalization Service officer whom Jack tries to convince his marriage with Rosario is real.
Scott Patterson, as Grace's former high school crush in "Das Boob".
Sara Paxton, as Melanie, the head cheerleader at Elliot's school.
Luke Perry, as Aaron, a "hot gay nerd" bird-watcher on whom Jack develops a crush.
Jeremy Piven, as Nicholas, Grace's ex. who asks Grace if she wants to join him in a threesome with his current lover.
Chita Rivera, as Lenore, one of the lesbians who ended up dancing with Will & Jack.
Brandon Routh, as Sebastian, a stud whom Alan Mills replaces Will with, after the two have a falling out over Will's misinterpretation of their relationship.
Chloë Sevigny, as Monet, a wealthy bisexual real-estate agent who falls for Will.
Nicollette Sheridan, as Dr. Danielle Morty, a fellow doctor who wanted Leo sexually.
Jamie-Lynn Sigler, as Ro, Vince's lesbian sister.
Britney Spears, as Amber Louise, a conservative Christian and a "hardcore lesbian" as she describes herself, and a co-host to Jack on his talk show.
Wendie Jo Sperber, as April, Grace's short-lived housekeeper.
Sharon Stone, as Georgia Keller, Will and Grace's therapist.
Larry Sullivan, as Robert, Will's ballet dancing boyfriend on the holiday episode "Jingle Balls".
Wanda Sykes, as Cricket, a woman Karen offers to pay to deliver a child for her.
Tamlyn Tomita, as Naomi, half of the couple that takes Will and Grace out all night.
Rip Torn, as Lionel Banks, a man with whom Karen almost cheats on Stan with during his incarceration.
Stuart Townsend, as Edward, Karen's pansexual pastry chef, who ends up "sexing" Will, Karen, and Rosario.
Tracey Ullman, as Anne, the instructor of a couples cooking class that Will, Jack, and Jack's boyfriend Stuart attend.
Steve Valentine, as Kai, half of the couple that takes Will and Grace out all night.
Steven Weber, as Will's brother Sam.

text: Guest stars playing themselves[edit]

text:
Kevin Bacon
Candice Bergen
Sandra Bernhard
Cher
Katie Couric
John Edward
Jennifer Lopez

Rudy Galindo
Hall & Oates
Deborah Harry
Janet Jackson
Elton John
James Earl Jones

Matt Lauer
Stone Phillips
Josh Lucas
Patti LuPone
Barry Manilow
Martina Navratilova

Bebe Neuwirth
Al Roker
George Takei
Rip Taylor


document_title: Discretion

question_text: who has the most discretion in the criminal justice system

root

text: Discretion

text: In law[edit]

text: This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text: In the legal system, discretion is often defined as the ability of a judge to choose where, how and with what severity to sentence a person who has been convicted. A person chooses to utilize his or her options and decides which to use, whether this is a police officer arresting a person on the street (criminal) or evicting someone from an apartment (civil) or anywhere in between.[2] There are some arguments that implementing discretion overrules or weakens the rule of law. However, laws cannot be written without using discretion and therefore the rule of law serves to guide discretion towards societal expectations, norms and, at least in part, public interest[3]

tag: p

text: Criminal[edit]

text: The term "Crime is defined as an action that is by law, banned or restricted and enforced via Punishment.[4] But, where law ends and discretion begins lies in implementing those laws. The enforcers, police officers, are tasked with enforcing these regulations, but they often have the discretion of when to file charges and arrest. For example, a traffic violation, the police officer may simply issue a warning. In fact discretion can be found in all stages of the criminal justice system.[5] The victim, has the discretion to use self defense and to report the crime given the opportunity. The Dispatch officer decides the priority of the call, an officer responding has discretion to take statements from witnesses as well as detain potential suspects. The suspect/the accused has the discretion to obtain a lawyer, how they will plead and to accept a plea bargain. The prosecutor has the choice to prosecute a case or drop the charges as well as suggesting plea bargains. The judge has discretion every time an objection is raised or evidence is given. The jury has discretion over the final verdict. These examples are only a small cross section of the chain of choices that is criminal law.

text: Environmental[edit]

text: One article shows that when officers respond to a call for service, if an area has a high rate of Black or wealthy citizens then it significantly affects the officers' decision to downgrade a crime or incident reported. Officers' experience in different surroundings affect the way they react to service calls. The economic status, poverty level, race and ethnicity influence the officer and how he sees and reacts to his surroundings. Scholar Michael Banton stated that "In different neighborhoods police provide different services". This is a good example of how and why police are able to use discretion in the performance of their duties. Different environments and neighborhoods provide different levels of dangers and greater levels of crime taking place than others. Which is why an officer might choose to downgrade a crime in a wealthy neighborhood compared to an economically unstable one. The article also states that merely being in a different environment from the one the officer lives in or is accustomed to forces the officer to treat it differently.

text: Thus, the officer would then treat the individuals differently. This can be an argument either for or against police using discretion. On the one hand, all people should be treated equally regardless of race or economic status. On the other hand, officer and public safety are the most important duties for an officer. If an officer can recognize that a certain area requires a different approach in order to keep that safety, they should use that discretion appropriately.[6]

text: Civil[edit]

text: In civil actions, judges and juries are also deemed to have discretion in the matter of damages. Judges also have discretion in the grant or denial of certain motions, e.g. a motion for a continuance. Prosecutors have a huge discretional role in the criminal justice process. They have the ability to initiate and terminate all criminal prosecutions. They have to use discretion to weigh the rights of the accused, the feelings of the victim, and the capacity of prisons when determining a proper punishment. Prosecutors control plea bargains and thus have possibly the most discretion-based role in the criminal justice process. If they believe a person deserves to be in prison, they will pursue that route, knowing that the prisons are very full and would then lead to a person being released early without serving his full sentence.[7]

text: Abuse[edit]

text: It is often hard to control officers' use of discretion because of the way it is applied to situations. "Policing the police" is a very important part in maintaining a balance of police discretion and controlling it so the power of discretion is not abused. Unfortunately, the police have an ability to perform an abuse of discretion without being noticed or regulated by the judicial or legislative community in what is referred to as the "legal shadow". In this place questionable police tactics are being performed and, in a sense, covered up with police privilege backed by government support. Although there has been some effort by the federal government to regulate police discretion, unless there is a conflict including the Constitution, it is difficult for them to involve themselves. Most of the time police misconduct doesn't draw enough attention to include federal intervention.[8]

text: The exercise of discretion by judges is an inherent aspect of judicial independence under the doctrine of the separation of powers. The standard of review applied to appeals from decisions involving the exercise of judicial discretion is "abuse of discretion."

text: "An abuse of discretion is a failure to take into proper consideration the facts and law relating to a particular matter; an arbitrary or unreasonable departure from precedent and settled judicial custom."[9] On appeal of an exercise of judicial discretion, "abuse of discretion" is a standard of review requiring the appellate court to find that the lower court's decision would "shock the conscience" of a reasonable person in order to reverse the decision below.

text: Positive use[edit]

text: Studies show that police officers use discretion to simplify their very complex job requirements and also to identify certain individual priorities that each officer has to eliminate the very broad and often contradictory laws put into place by statutes and policymakers. If officers had to cite or make an arrest on every law being broken, we would need a police officer for every 2-3 citizens. We leave it up to the individual officer to use discretion in cases where a gray area resides. Should an officer ticket every person that speeds? Where do they draw the line? This is one of many situations where discretion comes into place. There are other things that contribute to the individual officer's use of their discretion. Often the sex or minority status of an officer would lead them to act in different ways and use discretion in different ways than that of the opposite. Where an officer was raised or what they have experienced would lead them to react to scenarios differently.

text: Not all discretionary usage by law enforcement is negative. They often use it so that they can simplify and weed out the true criminals from the average citizen.[10]

text: Other contexts[edit]

text: The term often comes as part of "Viewer Discretion Is Advised" warning on TV shows before the show begins. In this context, VDA implies the show's content may not be suitable for younger viewers; that is, too explicit in terms of nudity, violence, sexual content, or language. From the book of Proverbs "like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion."


document_title: Oh, the Places You'll Go!

question_text: what is the theme of oh the places you ll go

text: Oh, the Places You'll Go!

text:
Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Author
Dr. Seuss

Country
United States

Language
English

Genre
Children's literature

Publisher
Random House

Publication date

January 22, 1990

Media type
Print (Hardcover and paperback)

ISBN
0-679-80527-3

OCLC
20169007

Dewey Decimal

[E] 20

LC Class
PZ8.3.G276 Og 1990

Preceded by
I Am Not Going to Get Up Today!

Followed by
Daisy-Head Mayzie

text: Oh, the Places You'll Go! is a book written and illustrated by children's author Dr. Seuss. It was first published by Random House on January 22, 1990, making it his last book published in his lifetime. The book concerns the journey of life and its challenges.

text: Though written in the style of classics such as Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! has many specific characters including a narrator and the reader. A young boy, referred to simply as "you", initiates the action of the story. However, the presence of a main character helps readers to identify with the book. It is written in second person and uses future tense.

text: Plot[edit]

text: The story begins with the narrator, relating the decision of the unnamed protagonist (who represents the reader) to leave town. The protagonist travels through several geometrical and polychromatic landscapes and places, eventually encountering a place simply called "The Waiting Place", which is ominously addressed as being a place where everyone is always waiting for something to happen. As the protagonist continues to explore, spurred on by the thoughts of places he will visit and things he will discover, the book cheerfully concludes with an open end.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Upon its original release in 1990, Oh, the Places You'll Go! reached number one on The New York Times Best-Selling Fiction Hardcover list. That made Dr. Seuss one of the handful of authors to have number one Hardcover Fiction and Nonfiction books on the list; among them are John Steinbeck, Jimmy Buffett and Mitch Albom; his You're Only Old Once hit number one on the Nonfiction list in 1986.

text: In the United States and Canada, Oh, the Places You'll Go! is a popular gift for students graduating from high school and college, spiking in sales every spring.[1] It reached number one on USA Today's Best Selling Book list in 1997, and reached #2 in 2015 and 2017.[2] Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association named the book one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children."[3]


document_title: The Flash (2014 TV series)

question_text: where does the show the flash take place

text: The Flash (2014 TV series)

text: Series overview

text: After witnessing his mother's supernatural murder, Barry Allen is taken in by Detective Joe West and his family. Barry becomes a brilliant but socially awkward crime scene investigator for the Central City Police Department. A particle accelerator malfunctions, bathing the city center with a radiation during a thunderstorm, and Barry is struck by lightning. Awakening after a coma, he discovers he can move at superhuman speeds. Harrison Wells, the accelerator's designer, describes Barry's nature as "metahuman". Barry vows to use his gifts to protect Central City. As the Flash, Barry also pursues his mother's murderer, the Reverse-Flash.[4]

text: In the second season, after a singularity event, the Flash is recognized as Central City's hero. However, the event brings a new threat from a parallel earth: Zoom, a demonic speedster who seeks to eliminate all speedsters throughout the multiverse. Harrison Wells' parallel universe counterpart nicknamed "Harry", and his daughter Jesse, work to help Barry stop Zoom and explore the multiverse. Joe and his daughter, Iris, struggle with the arrival of Iris's brother Wally West. After Zoom kills Barry's father, Barry travels back in time to save his mother's life.

text: By changing his past, Barry alters the timeline, resulting in "Flashpoint". Though he is somewhat able to restore the timeline, this creates new threats, including Savitar. After Harry and Jesse return to Earth-2, another Wells doppelgänger is recruited: the novelist "H.R." Wells. Both Wally and Caitlin Snow begin to manifest metahuman abilities; Wally suits up as the speedster Kid Flash, while Caitlin is forced to suppress her ice-powers to prevent becoming Killer Frost. When Barry accidentally travels to the future and sees Iris killed by Savitar, he is desperate to change the future to prevent that from happening. After saving Iris and defeating Savitar, Barry takes his place in the Speed Force.

text: In the months since Barry left, Wally and Cisco have barely been able to protect Central City. When a new foe defeats them easily, requesting a battle against the Flash, the team decides to bring Barry back. While they manage to do so, Barry's return releases dark matter, turning a dozen people on a city bus into metahumans. One of these metahumans is private detective Ralph Dibny, who joins the Flash's team. While Barry and Iris prepare for their wedding, the team realize that Barry's arrival and the creation of the bus metahumans were orchestrated by the Thinker.

text:
Season
Episodes
Originally aired
Nielsen ratings

First aired
Last aired
Rank
Average viewership
(in millions)

1
23
October 7, 2014 (2014-10-07)
May 19, 2015 (2015-05-19)
118
4.62[5]

2
23
October 6, 2015 (2015-10-06)
May 24, 2016 (2016-05-24)
112
4.25[6]

3
23
October 4, 2016 (2016-10-04)
May 23, 2017 (2017-05-23)
120
3.50[7]

4
23
October 10, 2017 (2017-10-10)
May 22, 2018 (2018-05-22)
151
3.04[8]

text: Cast and characters

text:
Grant Gustin as Barry Allen / The Flash:
A Central City assistant police forensic investigator. Moments after an explosion at the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator, Barry is struck by lightning in his laboratory and doused by chemicals affected by the accident. When he awakens from a nine-month coma, he has superhuman speed.[9] In September 2013, Grant Gustin was cast in the titular role.[9] Andy Mientus, who would eventually be cast as Hartley Rathaway, also auditioned for the role.[10] Gustin began researching the character during the audition process, and reading as many comics as possible. Gustin primarily focused on The New 52 series of comics, because he knew it would be difficult to read everything and he felt the New 52 was the closest to the show's "look and feel".[11]
Candice Patton as Iris West: The daughter of Joe West, sister to Wally West, and Barry Allen's wife.[12] She works at Central City Picture News as a journalist.[13]
Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Snow / Killer Frost:[14]
A highly intelligent bioengineering expert, Caitlin believed her fiancé, Ronnie Raymond,[14] was killed during the particle accelerator explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs,[15] until he returned part way through first season. Ronnie and Caitlin get married in the first season finale, "Fast Enough".[16]
Rick Cosnett as Eddie Thawne: A recent transfer to the Central City Police Department, Eddie's past is a mystery and he harbored a dark secret.[15] He was partner to Detective Joe West and Iris West's love interest. Cosnett left the series after the first season, following his character's sacrifice to wipe Eobard Thawne, his distant descendant, from history.[16]
Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon / Vibe: A mechanical engineering genius, Cisco is the youngest member of the team of scientists at S.T.A.R. Labs and a metahuman.[17]
Tom Cavanagh as Harrison Wells:
The mind and money behind Central City's S.T.A.R. Labs Particle Accelerator, Wells becomes a pariah after the lab explodes.[18] Mentoring Barry to get faster, he is eventually revealed to be the Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne (Matt Letscher), a descendant of Eddie from the future with a grudge against the Flash. Thawne killed the real Wells and stole his identity.[19] In subsequent seasons, Cavanagh portrays various alternate reality doppelgängers of Wells. These include the sarcastic but brilliant "Harry", who along with his daughter Jesse hails from Earth-2, and his Earth-19 counterpart, the sci-fi novelist "H.R.".
Jesse L. Martin as Joe West: A police detective who acts as a surrogate father to Barry, after his mother's death and father's imprisonment, and who is the father of Iris[4][20] and Wally.[21]
Keiynan Lonsdale as Wally West / Kid Flash:
The son of Joe and brother of Iris, born without their knowledge after his mother left Central City.[21] The producers disliked the introduction of relatives of characters that were never previously mentioned, feeling it was "weird", and opted instead to introduce Wally as unknown even to his relatives. They also chose to make him Iris' brother, a departure from the comics where he was her nephew.[21] Speaking on Lonsdale's casting, Kreisberg explained that "Just like when we met Grant [Gustin] for the first time, we instantly knew Keiynan embodied all the heart and courage of a hero."[22] After Flashpoint, Wally eventually gets speed powers from Doctor Alchemy and becomes Kid Flash.[23]
Neil Sandilands as Clifford DeVoe / The Thinker: A metahuman with a genius-level intellect, who looks to fix all that he deems wrong with humanity.[24]

tag: ul

text: Production

text: Development

text: On July 30, 2013, it was announced that Arrow co-creators Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, Arrow pilot director David Nutter, and DC Comics CCO Geoff Johns would develop a television series based on the Flash for The CW, and it would detail Barry Allen's origin.[25] Kreisberg revealed after the announcement that Allen would first appear as a recurring character on Arrow in three episodes of season two—all written by Berlanti, Kreisberg and Johns—and the last of the episodes would act as a backdoor pilot for the new show. Kreisberg added that Allen would be a forensic scientist and the introduction of his superpowers, as well as the reactions to this, will be very human and grounded. Johns stated that the character of the Flash in the show would resemble his comic book counterpart, complete with his trademark red costume, and not be a poor imitation. Kreisberg elaborated: "No sweat suits or strange code names; he will be The Flash." While researching the best way to depict the Flash's lightning speed, Johns stated it would not just be the standard "blurring around".[26]

text: Barry ultimately appeared twice in Arrow's second season, with the planned backdoor pilot cancelled in favor of a traditional pilot by The CW executives, who had been impressed by early cuts of Barry's first two episodes on Arrow. This allowed the creative team to flesh out Barry's story and his world on a bigger budget, as opposed to a backdoor pilot's constraint of incorporating characters from the parent show. The pilot was officially ordered on January 29, 2014, and was written by Berlanti, Kreisberg, and Johns, and directed by Nutter.[27][28] On May 8, 2014, The Flash was officially picked up as a series, with an initial order of 13 episodes.[29] Three more scripts were ordered in September 2014 following a positive response to newly completed episodes by executives,[30] while a back ten was ordered the next month for a full 23-episode season.[31]

text: With the commencement of production on the series' second season, former Arrow and Ugly Betty writer Gabrielle Stanton was promoted to executive producer and showrunner; after having served as consulting producer and writer on the first season's finale "Fast Enough".[32] However, it was later reported that Kreisberg would be returning to sole showrunner duties at an unspecified time.[33] That time was later proved to be at the start of 2016, "Potential Energy", when Stanton was no longer credited as being involved with the show. In May 2017, it was reported that Aaron Helbing would be departing the series. Helbing had served as a writer since the first season, and as co-showrunner, along with his brother Todd and Kreisberg, since the second.[34]

text: Design

text: The costume was designed by Colleen Atwood, who also designed the costumes for Arrow.[35] It features a burgundy color scheme, a masked helmet, and gold accents throughout,[36] and went through multiple adjustments from the moment it was placed in computer renderings to the day of filming the pilot.[11] Primarily made of leather, the suit contains areas with a stretchable material to allow Gustin room to bend. According to Atwood "It was all about a costume that could sell speed, Grant [Gustin] was continually moving in the suit, so it had to be designed to make that all happen visually and functionally."[37] It initially took Gustin approximately 40 minutes to get into his costume, as the first cowl was prosthetic and had to be zipped and glued to his face. This was cut down to approximately 15 minutes by episode eight, when designers were able to develop a new cowl that easily slid over Gustin's face and locked into place.[11] Maya Mani replaced Atwood as the costume designer for the second season and made slight changes to the Flash costume, such as changing the color of his crest from yellow to white, being faithful to the Flash costume from the comics.[38]

text: Filming

text: Production on the pilot began in March 2014, with filming taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia;[39] additional filming for the series takes place in Portland, Oregon.[40] On how action sequences are shot for the series, compared to Arrow, Gustin said, "When [Arrow] shoot[s] action sequences, pretty much what you see is what you get and they're really doing everything. We do a lot of plate shots that are empty shots of the area we’re going to be in and then they’re putting us in later in post. I do a lot of the fighting. I don’t have to do it full speed and then they ramp it up and a lot of people have to freeze and I keep moving. Then I have to clear frame and step back into frame. It’s really tedious stuff that we have to do. On theirs, they learn fight choreography and they shoot it from the perfect angles and what you see is what you get."[41] Production on the third season began in early July 2016.[42]

text: Music

text: Arrow composer Blake Neely is the primary composer of the series, and was first hired in April 2014 to score the pilot.[43][44] He had previously composed a theme for Barry Allen which was featured in Arrow's season two episodes "The Scientist" and "Three Ghosts". The theme was titled "The Scientist" when it was released on the Arrow: Season 2 soundtrack. According to Neely, "It had to be different [from Arrow] ... but it also couldn't be so different that it couldn't fit in the Arrow universe, ... it had to be in a style that could hold hands with Arrow."[45] On December 18, 2014, WaterTower Music released a selection of music from The Flash/Arrow crossover episodes, as well as two bonus tracks from their respective 2014 midseason finales.[46] The first season, two-disc soundtrack was released on October 16, 2015.[47] The second season's soundtrack was released digitally on July 22, 2016,[48] and in CD format on July 26, 2016.[49]

text: Sound design

text: The sound design for the show is handled by Mark Camperell. The sound effect for Barry is made up of elements of thunder, electricity, jets, fireballs, and various custom whooshes and impacts. Speaking about designing the sound for The Flash's ability, Mark says: "My approach for the sounds of The Flash’s ability was to editorially treat him like a really aggressively driven hot rod. This doesn’t mean that I used car sounds for him, though. What I mean is that when thinking about how to edit his sounds, I thought about it like cutting a car chase."[50]

text: Broadcast

text: The Flash was screened at the Warner Bros. Television and DC Entertainment panel at San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2014.[51] The series officially premiered on The CW on October 7, 2014, during the 2014–15 television season[52] and also premiered in Canada on the same night.[53] The second episode was screened at New York Comic Con on October 9, 2014, as a way to repay the viewers that watched the series' premiere episode.[54] The series premiered in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 28, 2014,[55] and in Australia on December 3, 2014.[56]

text: Reception

text: Critical response

text:
Season
Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes
Metacritic

1
97% (58 reviews)[57]
73 (27 reviews)[58]

2
100% (20 reviews)[59]
81 (4 reviews)[60]

3
83% (17 reviews)[61]
80 (4 reviews)[62]

4
100% (13 reviews)[63]
N/A

text: Regarding Gustin's debut as Barry Allen in Arrow and the potential for a series, IGN's Jesse Schedeen stated his concern: "Gustin doesn't come across as leading man material. His awkward bumbling intertwining with Felicity's was cute, but rarely did I get the impression that this character could or should be given his own spinoff series."[64] Schedeen eventually warmed up to the character, however, once the "dorkiness and social awkwardness" were downplayed a bit and the emphasis was placed on "his keen scientific mind".[65]

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 97% approval rating with an average rating of 7.5/10 based on 58 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "The Flash benefits from its purposefully light atmosphere, making it a superhero show uniquely geared toward genre fans as well as novices."[57] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 73 out of 100, based on 27 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[58] IGN's Eric Goldman and Joshua Yehl praised the show's premise and cast after viewing a press screening copy of the pilot. Goldman and Yehl favorably compared it to Arrow, stating that The Flash progresses with a confidence that Arrow did not get until later in the series.[66] Reviews for the series became increasingly positive as the season progressed, with the finale receiving critical acclaim. Noel Murray of The A.V. Club gave the season a B+ overall, giving praise to the pacing of the plot, the performances of the cast and the special effects, and also pointing out the series' boldness to embrace its comic book influences, something that conventional superhero shows tend not to do.[67] Weekly episode reviewer Scott Von Doviak gave consistently high ratings to the season and awarded the season finale a perfect A grade, calling the episode "richly satisfying" and also commending the show for "[capturing] the essence of its source material in a fun, light-on-its-feet way that few other comic book adaptations have managed." He also gave high praise to the emotional value and performances of the cast, as well as the cliffhanger and multiple easter eggs found in the episode.[68] The second season of The Flash scored a Metacritic rating of 81 out of 100 indicating "universal acclaim".[60]

text: In 2016, Rolling Stone ranked the show #23 on its list of the "40 Best Science Fiction TV Shows of All Time".[69]

text: Critics' top ten lists

text:
[show]2014[70]

No. 7 NPR
No. 7 Omaha World-Herald
No. 10 Film School Rejects

text:
[show]2015[71]

No. 4 The Salt Lake Tribune
No. 7 Omaha World-Herald
No. 10 Indiewire
 – Criticwire
 – Variety

text:
[show]2016[72]

No. 8 The Salt Lake Tribune

text: Ratings

text: The first episode of The Flash was watched by 4.8 million viewers and had a 1.9 18–49 demographic rating, making it The CW's most watched and highest rated series premiere since The Vampire Diaries in 2009. It also became The CW's second-most watched series premiere ever, behind 90210, and the third-highest rated in the 18–49 demographic.[73] Factoring Live + 7 day ratings, the pilot was watched by a total of 6.8 million viewers, becoming The CW's most-watched telecast and the highest-rated premiere among men 18–34 (2.5 rating). It broke the previous record for the most-watched telecast held by the cycle 8 finale of America's Next Top Model in 2007 (6.69 million). Additionally, across all platforms, including initiated streams on digital platforms and total unduplicated viewers on-air over two airings the week of October 7, 2014, the premiere was seen more than 13 million times.[74]

text: The Canadian premiere was watched by 3.11 million viewers, making it the most-watched broadcast that night and the second for that week.[75] In the United Kingdom, the premiere was the fourth highest-rated broadcast of the week and the eleventh of that month, with 1.53 million viewers.[76][77] The timeshifted version got 82,000 viewers.[78] The premiere in Australia was the most-watched broadcast on pay television, with 129,000 viewers tuning in.[79]

text: In 2016, according to an analysis from Parrot Analytics, which used ratings data (where available), peer-to-peer sharing, social media chatter, and other factors to estimate viewer demand for various shows, The Flash was the 5th most popular show in the world with 3.1 million demand expressions per day, behind Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Pretty Little Liars, and Westworld.[80] TorrentFreak also gauged The Flash as the fourth most-torrented television show of 2016.[81]

text:
Season
Timeslot (ET)
Episodes
First aired
Last aired
TV season
Rank
Avg. viewers
(millions)
18–49 rating
(average)

Date
Viewers
(millions)
Date
Viewers
(millions)

1
Tuesday 8:00 pm
23
October 7, 2014
4.83[82]
May 19, 2015
3.87[83]
2014–15
118
4.62
1.7[5]

2
23
October 6, 2015
3.58[84]
May 24, 2016
3.35[85]
2015–16
112
4.25
1.7[6]

3
23
October 4, 2016 (2016-10-04)
3.17[86]
May 23, 2017 (2017-05-23)
3.04[87]
2016–17
120
3.50
1.4[7]

4
23
October 10, 2017 (2017-10-10)
2.84[88]
May 22, 2018 (2018-05-22)
2.16[89]
2017–18
151
3.05
1.1[90]

text: Awards and nominations

text:
Year
Award
Category
Nominee(s)
Result
Ref.

2014
Behind the Voice Actors Awards
Best Female Vocal Performance in a Television Series in a Guest Role – Action/Drama
Morena Baccarin
Nominated
[95]

TV Guide Award
Favorite New Show
The Flash
Won
[96]

Visual Effects Society Awards
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Broadcast Program
Armen V. Kevorkian, James Baldanzi, Jeremy Jozwick, Andranik Taranyan
Nominated
[97]

2015
Hugo Awards
Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form
"Pilot"
Nominated
[98]

IGN Awards
Best Comic Book Adaptation TV
The Flash
Won
[99]

Best TV Series
The Flash
Nominated
[100]

The Joey Awards
Best Actor in a TV Drama Recurring Role 8–12 Years
Logan Williams
Won
[101]

Best Actress in a TV Drama Featured Role 4–9 Years
Laiken Laverock
Nominated

Kids' Choice Awards
Favorite Family TV Show
The Flash
Nominated
[102]

Favorite TV Actor
Grant Gustin
Nominated

Leo Awards
Best Cinematography in a Dramatic Series
C. Kim Miles
Nominated
[103]

Best Direction in a Dramatic Series
Glen Winter
Nominated

Best Dramatic Series
The Flash
Nominated

Best Guest Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series
Emily Bett Rickards
Nominated

Best Hairstyling in a Dramatic Series
Sarah Koppes
Nominated

Best Make-Up in a Dramatic Series
Tina Louise Teoli
Nominated

Best Production Design in a Dramatic Series
Tyler Bishop Harron
Nominated

Best Visual Effects in a Dramatic Series
"Going Rogue"
Won

Online Film & Television Association Award
Best New Theme Song In a Series
The Flash
Nominated
[104]

Best Visual Effects In a Series
The Flash
Nominated

People's Choice Awards
Favorite New TV Drama
The Flash
Won
[105]

Poppy Awards
Best Actor, Drama
Grant Gustin
Nominated
[106]

Primetime Emmy Award
Outstanding Special Visual Effects
"Grodd Lives"
Nominated
[107]

Publicists Awards
Maxwell Weinberg Award – Television
Bonanza Productions, Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television
Nominated
[108]

Saturn Awards
Best Actor on Television
Grant Gustin
Nominated
[109][110]

Best Guest Star on Television
Wentworth Miller
Won

Best Superhero Adaption Television Series
The Flash
Won

Breakthrough Performance
Grant Gustin
Won

TCA Awards
Outstanding New Program
The Flash
Nominated
[111]

Teen Choice Awards
Choice TV – Breakout Star
Grant Gustin
Won
[112]

Candice Patton
Nominated

Choice TV – Chemistry
Grant Gustin and Candice Patton
Nominated

Choice TV – Liplock
Grant Gustin and Candice Patton
Nominated

Choice TV – Villain
Tom Cavanagh
Nominated

Choice TV Actress – Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Danielle Panabaker
Nominated
[113]

2016
IGN Awards
Best Comic Book TV Series
The Flash
Nominated
[114]

Best TV Hero
Grant Gustin
Nominated
[115]

Best TV Villain
Tom Cavanagh
Nominated
[116]

People's Choice Best TV Hero
Grant Gustin
Won
[115]

The Joey Awards
Young Actor in a TV Series Featured Role 11–16 Years
Octavian Kaul
Won
[117]

Kids' Choice Awards
Favorite Family TV Show
The Flash
Nominated
[118]

Favorite Male TV Star – Family Show
Grant Gustin
Nominated

Leo Awards
Best Direction in a Dramatic Series
J. J. Makaro ("Enter Zoom")
Nominated
[119][120]

Best Stunt Coordination in a Dramatic Series
J. J. Makaro, Jon Kralt ("Legends Of Today")
Nominated

Best Visual Effects in a Dramatic Series
"Gorilla Warfare"
Won

Poppy Awards
Best Supporting Actor, Drama
Jesse L. Martin
Nominated
[121]

Saturn Awards
Best Actor on Television
Grant Gustin
Nominated
[122]

Best Guest Star on Television
Victor Garber
Nominated

Best Superhero Adaption Television Series
The Flash
Won

Teen Choice Awards
Choice TV: Chemistry
Candice Patton and Grant Gustin
Nominated
[123][124]

Choice TV: Liplock
Candice Patton and Grant Gustin
Nominated

Choice TV: Villain
Teddy Sears
Nominated

Choice TV Actor: Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Grant Gustin
Won

Choice TV Actress: Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Danielle Panabaker
Nominated

Choice TV Show: Fantasy/Sci-Fi
The Flash
Nominated

2017
IGN Awards
Best Action Series
The Flash
Nominated
[125]

Kids' Choice Awards
Favorite TV Show – Family Show
The Flash
Nominated
[126]

MTV Movie & TV Awards
Best Hero
Grant Gustin
Nominated
[127]

People's Choice Awards
Favorite Network TV Sci-Fi/Fantasy
The Flash
Nominated
[128]

Saturn Awards
Best Actor on Television
Grant Gustin
Nominated
[129]

Best Superhero Adaption Television Series
The Flash
Nominated

Best Supporting Actress on Television
Candice Patton
Won

Teen Choice Awards
Choice Action TV Actor
Grant Gustin
Won
[130]
[131]
[132]

Choice Action TV Actress
Danielle Panabaker
Nominated

Candice Patton
Nominated

Choice Action TV Show
The Flash
Won

Choice TV Villain
Grant Gustin
Nominated

Leo Awards
Best Visual Effects
Armen V. Kevorkian, James Baldanzi, Thomas Connors, Gevork Babityan, Marc Lougee ("King Shark")
Won
[133]

2018
Kids' Choice Awards
Favorite TV Actor
Grant Gustin
Nominated
[134]

Favorite TV Show
The Flash
Nominated

Saturn Awards
Best Guest Performance in a Television Series
Hartley Sawyer
Pending
[135]

Best Supporting Actress on Television
Candice Patton
Pending

Best Superhero Adaptation Television Series
The Flash
Pending

MTV Movie & TV Awards
Best Hero
Grant Gustin
Pending
[136]

text: Other media

text: Digital comic

text: The Flash: Season Zero, written by Kreisberg, Brooke Eikmeier and Katherine Walczak, with art by Phil Hester and Eric Gapstur, is intended to take place between the pilot episode and episode 2. Kreisberg stated, "Barry will [already] be the Flash, he will have his team, everyone will be in that world, and we'll [sic] introducing a new set of villains that we won't be seeing on the TV show. It'll feel like the same heart, humor and spectacle that you get watching Flash." The comic will showcase the entire TV cast, plus new rogues, a group of circus performers who gained super powers as a result of the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator explosion. The group is led by Mr. Bliss, a character who first appeared in Starman. The comic launched digitally biweekly on September 8, 2014, with its first physical release featuring a collection of the digital releases, releasing on October 1.[137]

text: Chronicles of Cisco

text: On April 19, 2016, a four-episode series of shorts, titled Chronicles of Cisco, premiered. The series, which was presented by AT&T, features Valdes and Britne Oldford reprise their role as Cisco Ramon and Shawna Baez / Peek-a-Boo, respectively. Set in the second season of the television series, the series sees Cisco attempting to make the Flash suit bulletproof and body-odor proof. While working on these, he receives a late-night Meta-Human Alert within S.T.A.R. Labs,[138] and learns that Peek-a-Boo triggered the alert.[139] She has come to S.T.A.R. Labs to make Cisco create a weapon for her, as he did for Golden Glider, Captain Cold, and Heatwave. When he does not cooperate, she shoots him.[140] Cisco survives being shot, realizing that the orange soda he spilt on his shirt was the missing catalyst to his bulletproof formula. Cisco tries to bring Peek-a-Boo back to the pipeline, but she locks him in the cell instead. Cisco is then seen being woken up due to a call from Barry. He believes he dreamt the whole experience, until he finds the bullet that shot him on the ground.[141]

text: Video games

text: The series has also been featured in other video games based off DC Comics property. In the mobile version of Injustice: Gods Among Us, the show's versions of the Flash and Reverse-Flash appear as alternate costumes for the Flash.[142] The show's version of S.T.A.R. Labs also appears as a hidden area in Lego Dimensions.[143]

text: Books

text: Novels

text: On November 29, 2016, Titan Books released Flash: The Haunting of Barry Allen, a tie-in novelization written by Susan and Clay Griffith, set during the course of the second season, after Barry has closed the temporal anomaly that nearly destroyed Central City. Barry must seek help from Oliver Queen, due to his own abilities beginning to break down, in order to deal with five members of his Rogues Gallery—including Pied Piper, Weather Wizard, and Peekaboo.[144] The story continued in Arrow — A Generation of Vipers, released on March 28, 2017.[145] A subsequent novel, following the villain Weather Wizard in his attempts at revenge, is due to be released in May 2018. Written by Richard A. Knaak, it will be titled The Flash: Climate Changeling.[146]

text: Behind-the-scenes

text: On October 21, 2016, "The Art and Making of The Flash" by Abbie Bernstein was released. This is a 160-page behind-the-scenes book with production art and behind-the-scenes photography. The book also includes interviews with the cast and crew from the show.[147]

text: Home release

text:
Complete Season
DVD/Blu-ray Release dates
Additional info

Region 1/A
Region 2/B
Region 4/C

1
September 22, 2015[148]
September 21, 2015[149]
September 23, 2015[150]
The Blu-ray/DVD box-sets include featurettes, deleted scenes, gag reels and highlights from Comic-Con. Season 2 includes the Arrow crossover episode "Legends of Yesterday".

2
September 6, 2016[151]
September 12, 2016[152]
September 7, 2016[153][154]

3
September 5, 2017[155]
September 11, 2017[156]
September 6, 2017[157]

text: Arrowverse and the DC multiverse

text: In January 2015, The CW president Mark Pedowitz announced the intention to do a Flash/Arrow crossover every season,[158] and The CW announced that an animated web-series, Vixen, featuring the DC heroine of the same name and set in the universe of Arrow and The Flash, would be debuting on CW Seed in late 2015.[159] The character is expected to make a live-action appearance on Arrow and/or The Flash as well.[160] The next month, it was reported that a spin-off series, which is described as a superhero team-up show, was in discussion by The CW for a possible 2015–16 midseason release. Berlanti and Kreisberg would executive produce alongside Guggenheim and Sarah Schechter. The potential series would be headlined by several recurring characters from both Arrow and The Flash, with the potential for other Arrow/Flash characters to cross over to the new series as well.[161][162] In May 2015, The CW officially picked up the series, titled DC's Legends of Tomorrow.[163]

text: The second season begins to explore the concept of the multiverse, by introducing Earth-2, which features doppelgängers of the inhabitants in the Arrowverse (or Earth-1), along with Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth-2, and Zoom.[164] In the episode "Welcome to Earth-2", as Barry, Cisco and Harrison Wells of Earth-2 travel to Earth-2, glimpses of the multiverse are seen, including an image of Supergirl star Melissa Benoist as Supergirl and an image of John Wesley Shipp as the Flash from the 1990 television series, implying the two characters and their respective television series exist on alternate Earths to the Arrowverse;[165][166] Supergirl's world is later designated Earth-38 in the Arrowverse multiverse.[167] Gustin as Barry appeared on the eighteenth episode of Supergirl, "Worlds Finest", which aired on CBS on March 28, 2016. Intersecting with the events of the eighteenth episode of The Flash, which aired on April 19, 2016, Barry accidentally arrives on Earth-38 and helps Kara battle two of her enemies, Silver Banshee (Italia Ricci) and Livewire (Brit Morgan), before returning home.[168][169]