Will's Grace Gets Woody

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/11/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Grace Elizabeth Adler is about to get a boyfriend. Woody Harrelson , 39, has been signed to appear in four episodes of the hit NBC sitcom "Will & Grace" that will air during the May sweeps, says the Hollywood Reporter. Harrelson will play a new neighbor in the New York apartment building of Will and Grace (Debra Messing and Eric McCormack) who keeps removing Grace's laundry from the building's dryer so he can free up the machine for his own clothes. What will begin as an antagonistic relationship will graduate into a romantic one. "The more friction there is, the more heat is generated," Kohan said. Harrelson, whose movies of late have generated little box office heat, is no stranger to Thursday night Must-See TV. His 1985-93 stint on "Cheers" as bartender Woody Boyd earned him five Emmy nominations and a win in 1989. Now, if only Will can find a boyfriend.