Why Debra Messing Is Starring in The Mysteries of Laura

NBC's new cop dramedy finds Messing doing comedy and procedural work

By Chris Harnick Sep 17, 2014 7:30 PMTags
Mysteries of Laura, KeyartNBC

The Mysteries of Laura should be Debra Messing's triumphant return to TV.

The Will and Grace star earned much goodwill from her NBC sitcom and USA's Starter Wife, but then Smash happened. And hey, we loved Smash, but let's face it, it had its problems. Now Messing is back with the cop dramedy that can be boiled down to this: she's a mom, she's a cop and she's attempting to do it all.

So why is Debra Messing starring in The Mysteries of Laura?

"I loved that it was a dramedy, that there was a really smart murder-mystery that needed to be solved every week and that it was real in that you saw the messy personal lives," Messing told us. "It made me laugh out loud when I was reading it, and that combination—I never had the privilege of being on something that had that mixture."

Smash had a very high-profile launch and eventual crash and burn after only two seasons. Much attention was paid to Messing's character, including the scarves she wore. Did the Emmy winner have any hesitation about joining another new show so soon?

"Oh, I always hesitate. I'm always trying not to work. I have not gotten to retire yet," she said, perhaps joking? "But I always say no because I'm always scared of working too hard and being a part of something that becomes something that I don't want it to become, but I really just felt really great about this from the very first minute I read it. That was the same thing with reading the Will and Grace script. I read it and I felt like, ‘OK, these characters come right off the page and the voice of the show is clear.' To me, it was worth the risk."

The Mysteries of Laura has a special preview tonight at 10 p.m. on NBC and moves to its regular timeslot, Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on NBC on Sept. 24.

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)