PRELUDE TO A KISS NBC BREAKS NEW GROUND VIA 'WILL & GRACE' SMOOCH.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

Sometimes a kiss really is just a kiss, even when it's between two men.

Tuesday's episode of NBC's ``Will & Grace'' delivers network prime time's first smooch between two gay male characters.

The liplock between two series regulars, Will (Eric McCormack) and Jack (Sean Hayes), is not intended to be titillating for either character, or even for the audience, but rather to make a point about the television industry's apparent phobia over such moments.

The comedy series centers on Will, an attorney who is gay, and Grace, a straight interior designer, and their friendship that is destined never to turn romantic. Jack is a gay buddy of Will's but not his lover.

The episode, titled ``Acting Out,'' deals with Jack's disappointment over the fact that a fictional NBC sitcom had promoted an on-air gay kiss but backed off showing it after all. He becomes passionate about what he believes is an insult to all gays, and he enlists Will's support in complaining to the top brass at NBC.

David Kohan, who created and executive produces the series with Max Mutchnick, said he applauds NBC not only for airing the episode during ratings sweeps but for allowing the program to suggest the network is prudish about such topics.

``It implies a discriminatory policy about its own network,'' Kohan said.

``The truth of the matter is that any problem NBC would have is allayed by the fact that they're (airing this episode).''

Kohan sees this first kiss as a gentle entree into a possible romantic story line for Will.

``I do think it's a gateway drug,'' he said, laughing. ``But beyond that, the main purpose of the show is to make people laugh and entertain them, so if were going to do a show with a kiss, we're thinking, `How can we have a kiss and make it entertaining?' ''

``The goal is to have an audience identify with Will to the point where, if romance and any kind of physical involvement with a guy is something that Will craves, the audience will want it for him,'' Kohan added. ``That's going to be tough, I think.''

Dorothy Swanson, president of Viewers for Quality Television in Fairfax, Va., had not yet seen the episode but, based on hearing a description, liked the idea.

``That sounds darling and very much in the spirit of the show that we know,'' she said. ``It's certainly being true to the characters, and that's really what quality television is about.''

Swanson said whenever Will is given a romantic relationship, ``that doesn't mean viewers have to see every kiss between him and another man. The show is about Will and Grace, not Will and Greg or whoever.

``Oh, there are people who will say, 'Look out, the whole gay agenda's being shoved down our throats,' '' she added. ``But that's based on fear.''

Scott Seomin, executive media director for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, praised ``Will & Grace'' for showing the kiss and said he was satisfied with its non-romantic context.

``Let's remember this is a sitcom, and it needs to be funny to keep the audience,'' Seomin said. ``If it didn't, it would be off the air . . . and then we wouldn't have that means of educating the public about gay people in general.

``We know (a romantic kiss) is coming, and again, GLAAD would rather have the show be on the air for seven years - and in order to do that, it needs to be funny, rather than doing a kiss in a bedroom scene that risks not being funny,'' Seomin said. ``It's coming when it makes sense. They don't want to force it.''

Kohan said even with this hurdle crossed, there is no danger of ``Will & Grace'' becoming another ``Ellen,'' Ellen DeGeneres' show that lost ratings and was canceled by ABC after DeGeneres and her character came out as lesbians. The main reason is the roles of Will and Jack were gay men from the onset.

``To me, the thing about 'Ellen' was not so much the gayness as that she started out as one thing and ended up something else,'' he said, noting that in its first seasons the title character dated men. ``I wonder what would have happened if the character, instead of realizing she was a lesbian, decided that her calling was to be a nun. I think it would have brought the death of the show just as quickly.''

The facts

--The show: ``Will & Grace.''

--What: Will and Jack kiss.

--The stars: Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally.

--Where: NBC (Channel 4).

--When: 9 p.m. Tuesday.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo: Will (Eric McCormack, left) and Jack (Sean Hayes) make their case for a TV kiss between men in front of ``Today'' weatherman Al Roker (playing himself) on Tuesday's ``Will & Grace.''