Creator: David Kohan, Max Mutchnik
Years: 1998-2006
I never really watched this during its initial run, despite the fact that I had seen Sean Hayes before he got famous and liked him all right and I had seen Debra Messing in Ned & Stacey and liked her all right. My wife watches it quite a bit and it’s grown on me.. Had I realized it was directed by James Burrows, I might have given it a chance long ago.
As far as situational comedies go, it’s pretty standard fare. If it weren’t for the gay characters, it would probably be indistinguishable from all your other generic New York apartment sitcoms. But it has Megan Mullaly, who is far and away the show’s greatest strength. Her character is for the most part one-note, but she’s just so damn good at that one note. She’s at least one guaranteed laugh out loud moment per episode, sometimes more.
Death By Troggles 
For a show that seemed so daring on the surface, I could never believe how formulaic this was. There was rarely anything wrong with it (though I’m not big on Hayes), but the show was just as scared as any other to have a gay relationship.