NBC Universal Television Group President Jeff Zucker likes to call "The Apprentice" the show that changed his network and reassured advertisers that even without "Friends" and "Frasier," NBC is still capable of staying afloat. While the Trump-fest remains anchored on Thursday nights this fall, it's clear that perhaps no show on NBC is under more pressure than "Will & Grace."

After years of drafting off of the "Friends" juggernaut, "Will & Grace" has become the senior comedy on a network that doesn't seem to care much about making viewers laugh. The show enters its seventh season as one of only three scripted, live-action comedies on NBC's schedule (along with "Scrubs" and spin-off "Joey"), and even though every member of the core cast has won an Emmy, the show will have to prove itself once again.

Meeting with reporters last month at the semiannual Television Critics Association, the cast and creative team on "Will & Grace" could only answer a few softball questions about favorite guest stars and Debra Messing's new baby before talk turned to the challenges of the new season.

"I don't feel any pressure," insists co-star Sean Hayes. "I think a lot of pressure is on 'Joey,' fortunately and unfortunately. But I think because of our consistent quality, we have don't to worry about it, if I do say so myself."

With fewer and fewer traditional multi-camera comedies on the network rosters, "Will & Grace" is beginning to look like an anachronism, a strange luddite comedy when the landscape seems to demand narrative innovation like "Arrested Development" or the FX-style hybridization of "Nip/Tuck" or "Rescue Me."

"From day one, we've had an old-fashioned sitcom in terms of its structure, in terms of James Burrows directing every episode with four cameras, four characters," explains Eric McCormack. "But what we do in the midst of that is not old-fashioned. I think it's surprising and new."

What viewers can expect from the upcoming season is both a maturation and also a return to the core values that drew fans in the first place. After a year in which Messing's Grace had to be marginalized because of the actress' pregnancy and which found the character stuck in an ill-conceived marriage, there's the promise that stories will return to the Will-and-Grace basics.

"It will still be the same funny show, but I think we've been mostly successful when we deal with the emotional reality of the characters, and we're going to continue to do that," says Alex Herschlag, showrunner along with Dave Felbotte.

Although the season will be back to basics, even the original dynamics will be thrown for a loop because, for the first time, McCormack's Will is entering into the kind of long-term relationship that many fans have been hoping for for years. Bobby Cannavale's Vince will return for multiple episodes, continuing an arc that McCormack describes as emotional because the character has earned it.

Other less emotionally rigorous early plotlines will involve Hayes' Jack becoming an executive for a LOGO-esque gay television network and Megan Mullally's Karen and Grace enjoying the perks of being single at the same time.

"[The writers] seem to be one step ahead of me all the time thinking of interesting ways to shake up the character or new obstacles or new dynamics," Messing gushes, perhaps just relieved not to have to hide behind plants and pillows this season. "This year is going to be a really fun, new dynamic that we're all looking forward to."