Debra Messing Returns to TV With `The Mysteries of Laura’; Can `Will and Grace’ Star Revive Her NBC Career After `Smash’ Was Bashed?

Debra Messing is back on TV as a mom who solves crimes on "The Mysteries of Laura." The former "Will and Grace" star will launched new NBC series co-starring Josh Lucas this week. But after the low returns for Messing's last star turn turned sour on "Smash," the network is taking a gamble on the retelling of a Spanish-language soap opera.

In a video interview for TV Guide, Debra Messing says her Mysteries of Laura character is a "badass. I love that she is the top of her game at work, she doesn't care what she looks like, she is deeply in love with her sons [and] no matter what kind of torture they do on the school or the babysitter or whatever, she always has their back."

Debra Messing, 46, who played Grace Adker in "Will & Grace," stars as Laura Diamond, a New York homicide detective who is a dead-eye shot with a mind like Sherlock Holmes or Columbo, from whom she even borrows a fashionable trenchcoat. Diamond is also a mom. The new show hopes to mix comedy and drama into a prime time hit.

"The Mysteries of Laura" is an Americanized version of the Spanish television series "Los Misterios de Laura."

The first episode explains that show Laura Diamond and her police officer husband Jake, played by Josh Lucas, are on the verge of divorce. The papers haven't been signed yet, but the pen looms. Messing's twin sons have been expelled from preschool. Laura's life gets more hectic Lucas is named precinct chief.

Messing's partner Billy is played by Laz Alonso and the department assistant Max is played by Max Jenkins.

The Mysteries of Laura premieres tonight, Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 10/9c on NBC. The show  moves to its regular timeslot at 8/7c next week.