page_title: Gypsies, Tramps and Weed
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Gypsies, Tramps and Weed / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: Singer Cher with Representative James Bilbray and his wife
context_page_description: "Gypsies, Tramps and Weed" is the seventh episode of the third season of the American television series Will & Grace. It was written by Katie Palmer and directed by series producer James Burrows. The episode originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company in the United States on November 16, 2000. Guest stars in "Gypsies, Tramps and Weed" include Cher, Camryn Manheim, and Robert Romanus.
  In the episode, Will reluctantly decides to use a birthday gift certificate from Grace to consult a psychic about his future and encounters Sue, an absent-minded psychic whose prediction leaves him reeling. Meanwhile, pop singer-songwriter Cher encounters her biggest fan: Jack; and Karen frowns on Grace's new employee at the design firm.
  One of the aspects of the episode focused on Jack carrying a Cher doll, as his adoration for the singer. The result of the doll's appearance was a "collaboration" among the show's staff, NBC, Mattel, and the Ketchum Entertainment Marketing unit. Mattel lent the producers a $60,000 prototype of the doll. Will & Grace producer Tim Kaiser noted that the doll's appearance was not any kind of "forced" product placement.
context_section_description: "Gypsies, Tramps and Weed" was written by Katie Palmer and directed by series producer James Burrows. In October 2000, it was confirmed that singer-songwriter Cher would guest star on Will & Grace as herself. She filmed her appearance on October 17. Cher revealed, "We did two endings. I improvised one. I hope they show it as an outtake 'cause the audience loved that one more than the one they're gonna show. Instead of the thing I was supposed to do, I did something to Sean [Hayes] – something completely different and he just about passed out. I don't know what possessed me." It was also announced that actress Camryn Manheim would appear. Cher would later guest star on Will & Grace two years later.
  The result of the Cher doll appearing in the episode was a "collaboration" among the Will & Grace staff, NBC, Mattel, and the Ketchum Entertainment Marketing unit. The collaboration ranged from Mattel lending the producers a $60,000 prototype of the doll for filming the episode, to the scheduling of a Mattel Web site where viewers interested in buying the doll could register to purchase it. Following the airing of "Gypsies, Tramps and Weed", it was reported that 1,200 people logged on Mattel's website requesting e-mail updates on the Cher doll. Co-creator of the show, Max Mutchnick kept the prototype.
  Will & Grace producer, Tim Kaiser, in an interview with The New York Times, said that the doll's appearance was not any kind of "forced" product placement, as some speculated, explaining, "It was just a natural fit, because Jack's affection for Cher is a thread that is running through the show already." Kaiser continued saying that NBC "saw the strength" of the episode's storyline and understood that "if a Cher doll is in the show that much, it's an integral part of the episode." Kaiser said that "Gypsies, Tramps and Weed" writer Katie Palmer "originally didn't know" Mattel planned to market a Cher doll and learned about it after working on the script. Curt King, a spokesman for NBC, further commented that the doll's role in the episode was due to the producers thinking of "a lot of humor [that] would come out of it." Mark Malinowski, senior vice president and director at Ketchum Entertainment Marketing, revealed that Mattel was launching the Cher doll and in a "brainstorming meeting" they mentioned Will & Grace as the Jack character in love with Cher. "We thought it would be great to try to include the doll in a plot line of an episode because it would be organic, playing off something that already exists. I don't think any viewer will see this and think 'product placement.' [...] It's strategic for the product and relevant for the audience, particularly the gay men who watch the show because the characters of Jack and Will are gay." It was also noted that Mattel did not pay a fee to the show's producers or NBC to have the Cher doll appear in the episode.
  Television critic Scott D. Pierce revealed that NBC did not want television critics to give away too much detail about Jack and Cher's "time together". In a June 2004 interview, actress Megan Mullally, who plays Karen, in regards to Cher's appearance, said: "I wasn't sure about Cher's [appearance]. They flew her in. Like, she was sort of dropped in on a crescent moon, she did the scene, and was, like, airlifted back out. And when I met her she was in her full Cher Land drag, so I didn't get to experience her as a person."
caption: Cher guest starred in the episode. Her appearance was well received by critics.
exif: {"Image PhotometricInterpretation": "1", "Image ImageDescription": "http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.38842", "Image Make": "Kodak", "Image Model": "EverSmart Select", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "2400", "Image YResolution": "2400", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2015:03:19 14:20:32", "Image Artist": "Library of Congress; P&P", "Image ExifOffset": "314", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3490", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448"}