GECs
Will & Grace producers sue NBC
MUMBAI: The executive producers of the popular television sitcom Will & Grace have have filed a suit against NBC and NBC Studios.
The producers allege that NBC has been conspiring to keep the popular sitcom’s price down to reduce the producer’s share of profits. The sitcom’s creators allege that network has planned to sell the rights to the show at $ 10 million below fair value.
Trouble in Graceland?
According to media reports, the executive producers David Kohan and Jason Mutchnick filed a complaint on 11 December at the Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that the two companies breached their written contracts and fiduciary duties and acted in bad faith.
The lawsuit states that NBC Studios, a subsidiary of NBC and the producer of the show, sought to refrain from shopping the series to other networks to further its own financial interests and those of its parent, the General Electric company. NBC effectively sat on and controlled both sides of the bargaining table, states the suit.
Kohan and Mutchnick said the suit stems from the industry-wide trend of media conglomerates buying up independent production studios, inform the media reports.
Will & Grace, which centers on a New York City interior designer and her best friend, a gay lawyer, has won 12 Emmys since its creation in 1998. The show is currently being aired on Zee English.
According to the suit, despite its success, last year the network pressured NBC Studios not to increase the fee for licensing the rights to the show. During the show’s first four seasons, the studio licensed the rights for financial terms that were insufficient even to cover a reasonable percentage of the series’ production costs and which led to extraordinarily large production deficits.
While it is probably the first time that NBC has been embroiled in a suit, ABC and Fox have been caught in similar legal trouble early on. The producer and creator of Home Improvement , Matt Williams had filed suit against the Walt Disney Company in 1997, stating that Disney’s production arm shaped a deal with the Disney-owned ABC to keep the show on the network, even though it may not have been the best licensing deal. The suit was settled out of court.
While Steven Bochco sued Fox in 1999, stating that he was essentially deprived of as much as $50 million on the sale of NYPD Blue, to the FX cable network. The distributor of the show, 20th Century Fox Television is, like FX, owned by Fox. That suit was eventually resolved.
The reports indicate that the mergers of networks and production companies in the 1990’s have led to the “increasingly common case of negotiations between closely related or commonly owned parties. The result is that profit participants in hit television series, which can earn tens of millions of dollars, sometimes assert that negotiations are designed in large measure to benefit the parent company.”
GECs
Asianet Television Awards 2026 celebrates women power in Malayalam TV
“She is the Colour” theme honours icons as ceremony airs on March 14 and 15 at 7 PM.
MUMBAI: If television lights up living rooms, this year Asianet decided to let women provide the colour. The Asianet Television Awards 2026 turned the spotlight firmly on women empowerment with the theme “She is the Colour”, celebrating the strength, resilience and achievements of women who continue to shape society and the Malayalam entertainment industry.
The ceremony honoured several distinguished personalities whose journeys have left a lasting cultural imprint. Among them was legendary playback singer Vimala Varma, widely recognised as the first Malayalam playback singer. The evening also paid tribute to Padma Shri awardees Devaki Amma and Vimala Menon for their exceptional contributions in their respective fields.
Leading women from the Malayalam film industry were also recognised during the event, including actor Shweta Menon, who currently serves as president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists, and National Award winning actor Surabhi Lakshmi.
The awards ceremony brought together a glittering lineup of actors and industry figures, including Jayasurya, Vijay Babu, Asha Sarath, Lena, Esther Anil, Anumol, Akhila Bhargavan, Sarayu Mohan, Prajod Kalabhavan, Gayathri Suresh, Sabumon Abdusamad, Swasika, Tini Tom, Sijoy Varghese, Kailash, Veena Nandakumar, Sabareesh Varma, Ansiba Hassan and Dinesh Prabhakar. Kishan Kumar, executive vice president Malayalam at JioStar, was also present at the event.
Beyond individual recognitions, the awards celebrated excellence across Malayalam television, acknowledging artists and technicians whose work continues to drive the industry forward.
The evening also offered plenty of spectacle, with elaborate dance performances, stunt acts and comedy skits performed by popular television and film personalities, turning the ceremony into a full fledged entertainment showcase.
Viewers will get to watch the celebrations when the Asianet Television Awards 2026 air on Asianet on March 14 and 15, Saturday and Sunday, from 7 pm onwards, bringing the star studded tribute to homes across Kerala and beyond.
