What do you get when you combine New York City Hall, Michael J. Fox, and a staff with a sense of humor; the 1996 ABC sitcom, SPIN CITY. This show was a hit on ABC during its first four seasons, but once the show reached its peak during seasons 5 and 6 it drastically went downhill. The reason for this was the departure of Michael J. Fox's character and the entrance of Charlie Sheen. Sheen is a man who single-handedly killed SPIN CITY, but might have had a little bit of help.
Spin City originally starred Michael J. Fox as Michael Flaherty, the deputy mayor of New York City. He is aided by Paul Lassiter (Richard Kind), the naïve yet simple press secretary, Carter Heywood (Michael Boatman), the head of Minority Affairs, Nikki Faber (Connie Britton) accountant for the Mayor, Janelle Cooper, (Victoria Dillard) Michael’s secretary and later the secretary of the Mayor, and Randall Winston (Barry Bostwick), the mayor of New York City.
The show was groundbreaking in the fact that the only gay character was black, unlike the stereotypical white gay guy. Also, the show had two black characters which is unusual for most shows today or even back then. Then by a few mysterious forces, it was brutally murdered.
It was murdered and the culprit was none other than Charlie Sheen. There were accomplices in this brutal murder such as executives of this show and the human mind when it comes to sitcoms. The real question that I couldn’t help but wonder was.
Why was Spin City murdered when it could have been saved?
Around the end of the second season, Michael J. Fox announced that he had Parkinson’s Disease. During Season 4, a new character was introduced. Caitlin, (Heather Locklear), was used as the campaign manager for the mayor's campaign for senator. Secretly this character was used to take a lot of the pressure off of Michael J. Fox because the symptoms of his Parkinson’s had worsened.
Then at the end of the fourth season, Fox left SPIN CITY and a new actor was found to take his place... Charlie Sheen. Sheen's performance as Charlie Crawford garnered him a Golden Globe Award, but what a performance it was. Think of it as watching Two and a Half Men except about politics.
Originally with the character of Michael Flaherty, SPIN CITY was at the perfect balance of work, romance, and personal comedy. Once the character of Charlie Crawford was introduced many of these jokes made on the show were about sex, Charlie's womanizing, and work.
In the great sitcom balance the show didn't even out because of the fact that many of the
playing the womanizer kept true to his acting talent and reprised this role for this show, Two and a Half Men, the show Anger Managment, and the film Machette Kills. jokes revolved around Charlie's womanizing. The new format doesn't work especially since the show established itself as a workplace comedy. Charlie Sheen who is known for
For example, let’s examine the NBC sitcom “Just Shoot Me!”, which is about the staff of the fictional staff of BLUSH magazine. The show was mainly centered about workplace comedy and some personal life, but seasons 3 through 7 changed the format of the show. Seasons 1 and 2 were centered around work and some elements of romance and personal life.
The other seasons of Just Shoot Me! centered on the romantic and personal lives of the characters; while the workplace wasn’t entirely abandoned it was reduced immensely. In the end, the show was cancelled after seven seasons with no one really remembering the show.
Alternative options should have been explored when Michael J. Fox left SPIN CITY. Rather than have the show continue on for two more seasons it should have been cancelled with its name still untarnished. The human mind was the last accomplice and this is where it comes into the plot.
Since the show was already a hit and gathered a large following it couldn't really be cancelled, but at the same time replacing Michael J. Fox wasn't the best option either. Since many people fell in love with Fox's character it was a difficult transition when the character left. But the way it was handled didn’t help much either.
SPIN CITY was a great show that finished with many plot lines and characters abandoned once Michael J. Fox left the show, but I guess it was for the best. Most actors that left SPIN CITY said that the show wasn’t going anywhere. I guess if we can live with the first four seasons, the fact that Charlie Sheen made womanizing work for him on Two and a Half Men, and that the greatest guest star was Christopher Lloyd, who played Doc in Back to the Future; SPIN CITY is indeed one of the greatest of the mediocre sitcoms.
