It was announced today that a comedy pilot from Will & Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick has been greenlit by ABC. The as-yet-untitled show tells the story of two friends and writing partners - one straight, one gay - who navigate love and work with one another's help and support. We reported on a similar (but apparently unrelated) pilot that the duo had developed last year, but there aren't many details out yet about this one. (90210 vet Brian Austin Green played the gay character in the previous project, which was ordered by CBS.)

In a stroke of serendipity, AfterElton.com contributor James Hillis recently interviewed Max Mutchnick for a piece he's doing on gay television characters, and asked him a few questions about the project.

The two chatted before the strike was resolved and the pilot was ordered, but here's what Mutchnick had to say at the time:

Max Mutchnick: I'm happy to say that I have another pilot in the pipeline at Warner Bros right now that hopefully we will take out and sell to one of the networks when the strike is over, and it is another gay story. And I'm very excited about it. 

AfterElton: What would you do differently with the gay characters now almost ten years later, then you did starting out on Will & Grace?

MM: I want to be past the story.

AE: You don't want it to be about that? You don't want it to be about the gay jokes?

MM: I'll make as many gay jokes as I make in a given night. That's the barometer that I'll use. I don't want to make it the drive. ... In this show with the gay characters that are on ... I want to believe that we are past it. That the gay angle is not the hook.  The relationship is the hook. And it happens to be a gay man and a straight man who are best friends. And I want the relationship to be more interesting to people than I want the fact that one of them is gay. But by the way, I think that the thing that people were interested in with Will & Grace was that relationship also. ...

AE: Will the gay guy have as fully-developed a romantic life as the straight guy?

MM: Yes. (The gay character) is in the thick of a very serious relationship in the pilot.

We'll be all over this one, needless to say.

Please excuse the pun, but the three month trial over $65 million for the licensing of Will & Grace has left many puzzled. The sitcom creators, Max Mutchnick and David Kohan sued NBC Studios for failing to properly negotiate licensing fees with the NBC network as well as representing less revenue than actually accrued.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that members of the jury confirmed that they had granted Mutchnick and Kohan $48.5 million before hearing of the settlement (that pays for a mighty fine brunch!). The settlement was announced on Friday moments before the judge was to decide on a mistrial. NBC had discovered that the jury foreman Dean Hartwell had a website that spoke negatively of large corporations including NBC. He was kicked off the jury because you know, most people don’t have a distaste for large corporations and they thought this was unfair.

Hartwell's online article in question was simply stating how the media concentrates on general interest pieces and misses out on more important issues. The precise quote which states NBC is at follows:

"How can the corporate media [...]miss all of these stories and annoy us with phony ones? Consider the sources: (The Walt Disney Company owns ABC, Viacom owns CBS, General Electric owns NBC and News Corporation owns Fox). The executives who make the decisions on what to air receive huge tax cuts..."