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Debbie Reynolds And Carrie Fisher: TV Networks Plan Special Airings Of Past Programs Featuring Pair

By Jonathan Brown
Published on: 08:29 PST, Dec 29, 2016

As Hollywood and the world continues to mourn the back-to-back losses of actresses Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds on December 27 and 28 (from a heart attack and a stroke, respectively), several TV networks are planning to memorialize the mother and her daughter in their own way.

For starters, on Friday, December 30, LGBT-entertainment channel LOGO will consecutively run all 10 Will & Grace episodes that featured Reynolds, so says TV Line. Initially running from 1998 to 2006, the Singin’ In The Rain icon hilariously recurred on the NBC sitcom as Bobbi Adler, the exuberant, theater-loving mother of Grace Adler, portrayed by Debra Messing:

  • “The Unsinkable Mommy Adler” (season 1, episode 13)
  • “Whose Mom Is It, Anyway?” (season 2, episode 4)
  • “Lows In The Mid-Eighties” (season 3, episode 8)
  • “Movable Feast” (season 4, episode 9)
  • “Marry Me A Little”/”Marry Me A Little More” (two-parter; season 5, episodes 8-9)
  • “Fanilow” (season 6, episode 10)
  • “It’s A Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad World” (season 7, episode 21)
  • “Swish Out of Water” (season 8, episode 8)
  • “The Definition of Marriage” (season 8, episode 15)

One of those episodes, “Whose Mom Is It, Anyway?,” garnered Reynolds a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2000 (the win ultimately went to Jean Smart of Designing Women fame).

Speaking on her Instagram, Messing relayed her sadness over the sudden loss of her sitcom mom.

“My heart is literally broken,” Messing wrote. “For eight years she was my mom. She was pure energy and light when she came on stage. She was a consummate pro; old-school and yet, had the work ethic and investment in her craft of a new fiery up-and-comer.”

“I lost my [own] mom a few years ago,” she continued, “[and] she loved that Debbie was my TV mom. I hope they find each other and hug and kiss and my mom says, ‘I got you, Debbie. Carrie’s waiting for you.’ RIP Bobbi Adler.”

Following the Will and Grace mini-marathon, LOGO will then air Reynolds’ stint as a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race from 2010. In the season 2 episode, titled “Golden Gals,” the remaining contestants must rely on their charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent to makeover older, rugged men into fierce “drag mothers.” Fellow famed Hollywood legend Cloris Leachman also appears in the episode as a judge on the final panel.

An episode of Roseanne, the popular 90’s ABC comedy, follows after Drag Race; specifically, the season 8 episode, “Arsenic and Old Moms,” where Reynolds takes over the role of Audrey Conner, Dan Connor’s (John Goodman) mother, from actress Ann Wedgeworth. And then, Reynolds’ one-off appearance on NBC mainstay, The Golden Girls, during its sixth season (“There Goes The Bride: Part II” from 1991) will play.

The run of Debbie’s television work is set to begin at 5 pm/ET on Friday and will repeat in its entirety on Saturday afternoon on LOGO TV.

[Image by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images]

As for Debbie Reynolds’ daughter, Carrie Fisher, the Star Wars mainstay will have her one-woman comedy show, Wishful Drinking, re-aired by HBO on New Year’s Day. Titled after her 2009 memoir of the same name, the special, which sees Fisher taking to the stage to recall “the intoxicating tale of her life” with assistance from “interviews with family and friends, and archival footage,” earned two Primetime Emmy Award nominations in 2011, including one for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special.

While Reynolds herself was not directly involved in Wishful Drinking, she did appear on an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show with Carrie in 2011 to help promote it. In a clip from the sit-down that fans of both entertainers have been spreading online, Debbie can’t help but to react to the retelling of the decades-old scandal that broke up her marriage to former husband and father of Carrie, Eddie Fisher (Fisher was said to have had an affair with Reynolds’ then-close friend, Elizabeth Taylor).

Fisher’s Wishful Drinking airs this Sunday at 9/8c. on HBO. All of us here at the Inquisitr continue to send our thoughts to the family of Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher during this time.

[Featured Image by Noel Vasquez/Stringer/Getty Images]

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