Reviews: The Michael J. Fox Show

Keepin' It Reel With:

Spencer Flynn

 

Keepin' it Reel is proud to introduce one of DePaul's biggest powerhouses. Articulate, suave, and a beast on the dodgeball courts, Spencer is a true lover of media who will tell it like it is.  "I like to think things in life aren't over until the happy ending shows up."

Reviewing:

 

"The Michael J. Fox Show"

I wanted to like it, I really did, but after finishing the two premiere episodes of “The Michael J. Fox Show” on Thursday night, I’m disappointed.

Let me start off by saying that I admire the show’s namesake quite a bit as a person and as an actor. How good was Back to the Future? And “Spin City”? Both classics. However, his history wasn’t enough to make up for all the mistakes made when creating “The Michael J. Fox Show.”

There’s no ignoring the fact that Fox has Parkinson’s disease, and the producers could have gone a few different ways with it. Play it up for laughs, look at is as a heartfelt struggle, or show how the family has grown to deal with it. Instead what viewers ended up watching was an awkward mix of self-deprecating humor and genuine moments of sadness. This did not lead to a comfortable viewing experience. 

                                      
I could have gotten over that with some great characters making up Mike Henry’s (played by Fox) family. Sadly, what was written is a group of the same stock characters in virtually every single sitcom about families. There is the slutty aunt who is always worried about how she looks and people thinking she is old. The socially active daughter, always trying to change the world. A dropout college age kid who has big plans for his future. And the youngest sibling who gets lost in the shuffle.

The plots continue this trend of predictability, in the second episode, Mike goes upstairs to tell his neighbor to turn down the television. Surprise, surprise, his neighbor is a hot, divorced, 30-something who is just trying to bake some cookies because her ex husband never let her. She then feeds Mike some cookie dough, and turns to the oven, bending over so the entire screen can be filled by a close up of her ass.                                                 
As Mike Henry always says, “If a lady can have a baby in a tree,” maybe this show can survive. Based on the first two episodes? I’ll be surprised if it lasts a season.

P.S. If you don’t get the baby in a tree thing, it’s a joke from the show, and not any funnier in context.

Reporting by: Spencer Flynn

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