"Will & Grace" is a bit like that old drag queen who has been at the bar for ages. She used to be young and spry, but became feeble and less popular over the years as she called in more and more guest performers.

She doesn’t quite draw the crowd she used to, but she’s dependable and it’s nice to know she’s there in case you want to visit. Well, one day, she won’t be around to be taken for granted anymore.

Such is the case with the NBC sitcom and Thursday night staple. After eight years, 73 Emmy nominations, countless guest stars and tons of chuckles, "Will & Grace" airs its final episode on May 18.

Co-creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick wrote the one-hour final episode. It is preceded by a one-hour special with cast and crew interviews and highlights from season’s past.

Following the antics of gay lawyer Will Truman (Eric McCormack), his best female friend Grace Adler (Debra Messing), his flamboyant gay sidekick Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes) and Grace’s boozy socialite assistant Karen Walker (Megan Mullally), "Will & Grace" was definitely revolutionary when it debuted in 1998.

"It was doing a lot of things rather than just being a sitcom and in that case I think it was very important," says Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University in New York. "There were all these shows, especially ‘Ellen,’ that were starting to move into [gay] territory but didn’t go anywhere. The thing about [‘W&G’] was that it was a big hit."

The show proved that if program quality is high enough, a mainstream audience would tune into a show with gay characters.

What was especially appealing was that "W&G" was possibly the first show to really capture the gay sense of humor, with equal parts bitchiness, witticism, slapstick, double entendre and flamboyance.

The show won the Emmy for best comedy in 2000 and each of the four lead actors took home a trophy for their work during the show’s run.

Leslie Jordan, the gay actor who plays recurring character Beverly Leslie, attributes the show’s gay sensibility to the collaboration between Mutchnick and Kohan.

"They’re like an old married couple going back and forth, and David would say it was getting too gay and Max would say it was getting too Republican," he says. "It would have been a mess if it was all gay writers. There’s a really nice balance there."

SOME GAY AUDIENCES thought that Will and Jack were always a little too over the top.

"I’ve heard that a lot, that Jack was too stereotypical and the reality is that there are Jacks in our community, and there are Wills and Graces, too," says Neil Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Thompson says the perception of the gay characters may be worse for straight audiences than gay.

"I think with [‘W&G’] … the idea is that if you didn’t know any gay people, you might take more of your idea of what gay Americans at the turn of the century might be from a TV show," he says.

In fact, some audiences may not be ready to admit they watch a "gay show." Jordan says he gets recognized more from his small role on "W&G" than any of his numerous other roles. He adds that when straight men approach him, they always say, "My wife watches your show."

Gay audiences may not be as fervent about the show as they once were, but it will be sad when the old workhorse is gone. Now’s the time to hold a memorial for that old drag queen, "W&G," and show her we appreciate all she did. We’ll miss her dearly.