David Kohan and Max Mutchnick on 'Will & Grace'

It doesn't seem so long ago that the sitcom Will & Grace was a staple of NBC's Thursday night must-see-TV lineup. But the fact is, people born the year the series premiered -- in 1998 -- are now old enough to vote.

For those too young to remember, Will & Grace revolved around best friends and roommates, played by Eric McCormack and Debra Messing. He was gay, she was straight, and they supported each other through lots of drama--dating, jobs, family. They were supported--or annoyed--by Grace's assistant Karen, played by Megan Mullally, and their friend Jack, played by Sean Hayes.

After eight seasons, in the original series finale, Will & Grace had drifted apart and lost touch. But the revival -- returning to NBC for a ninth season after an 11 year hiatus -- ignores that storyline, though it does acknowledge that time has passed.

Bringing Will & Grace back to NBC are the series creators, Max Mutchnick and David Kohan.

We recently sat down with them in the office they share on the NBC-Universal lot and started by looking back to the very beginning of the series, when the idea of an openly gay character as the lead on a sitcom was still considered to be a big gamble. They remember there was some pressure from the network to keep the relationship between gay Will & straight Grace ambiguous.

Kohan and Mutchnick tell us about the struggle of getting cast members on board originally, returning to NBC years after a big legal fight with the network, and how the 2016 presidential election influenced the show's return.