Spin City
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Spin City was a TV series that ran from 1996 to 2002, based on a fictional local government running New York City, originally starring Michael J. Fox as Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty. The show was cancelled along with Dharma & Greg and Once and Again in 2002 due to low ratings from the 2001–2002 season and a change in target demographics. Altogether 145 episodes were made (see list of episodes).
Premise
The series focused on the Mayor of New York City, Randall Winston (Barry Bostwick), and his staff as they ran the city — although the main person in charge was Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty (Fox). Mike was excellent at his job, dealing with spin and lies, but not so good with his personal life, which he often neglected. Other members of staff at City Hall included press secretary Paul Lassiter (Richard Kind), the office cheapskate and noted coward, who had a habit of being a loudmouth and was often kept in the dark about things; chief of staff Stuart Bondek (Alan Ruck), who loves the ladies and is often very sexist; head of minority affairs Carter Heywood (Michael Boatman), who is a gay black man who owns a suicidal dog named Rags; speech writer James Hobert (Alexander Chaplin), who is easily led and quite naive; the Mayor's secretary Janelle Cooper (Victoria Dillard); Mike's secretary Stacy Paterno (Jennifer Esposito); and his assistant Nikki Faber (Connie Britton). Each of them had to help run City Hall, covering for the Mayor's frequent gaffes, improving his image, while sorting out their personal lives.
At the start of the series, Mike was dating reporter Ashley Schaffer (Carla Gugino). However, just a few episodes into the series, Gugino decided to leave. Rumours were around saying that Fox's wife Tracy Pollan was not happy with the love scenes between Fox and Gugino's characters (some say that their chemistry was "too good"), and indeed one episode ("A Star Is Born") was re-edited for syndication, with all scenes featuring Ashley removed and replaced by other scenes.
The Later Years
In 1998 Michael J. Fox announced that he had Parkinson's Disease. As a result, a new character, Caitlin Moore (Heather Locklear) was introduced at the start of the 1999–2000 season to help share Mike's workload. Caitlin was Mayor Winston's campaign manager as he decided to run for Senator, and there was much friction between Mike and Caitlin about who was in charge of the Mayor. Their relationship, however, was more complex than a simple rivalry and there were hints that it would become more than platonic.
In 2000 Fox announced that he was leaving the show at the end of the season to spend more time with his family and to raise money for research into Parkinson's. Fox's symptoms were getting worse by this point. The producers decided to carry on with the series with a new lead, and Mike Flaherty left City Hall at the end of the show's 4th season as he took the blame for an alleged Mafia link that the Mayor unknowingly had.
Production of the show then moved from New York to Los Angeles for the 5th season, and Charlie Sheen joined the show as new Deputy Mayor Charlie Crawford. Nikki, Janelle and James also disappeared between the 4th and 5th seasons (the absences of the characters were never explained, making them three examples of Chuck Cunningham syndrome) and the 5th season began with Charlie settling into his role of Deputy Mayor, along with Caitlin, Paul, Stuart, Carter and assistant Angie Ordonez (Lana Parrilla), and of course the Mayor himself. Angie left at the end of the 5th season, Parrilla feeling the character was underused, and she was never mentioned again.
Cast
- Michael J. Fox as Deputy Mayor Michael Patrick Flaherty (1996–2000)
- Barry Bostwick as Mayor Randall Winston
- Alan Ruck as Chief of Staff/Assistant Deputy Mayor Stuart Bondek
- Richard Kind as Press Secretary Paul Lassiter
- Michael Boatman as Head of Minority Affairs Carter Heywood
- Alexander Chaplin as Speech Writer James Hobert (1996–2000)
- Connie Britton as Assistant Nikki Faber (1996–2000)
- Victoria Dillard as Secretary Janelle Cooper (1996–2000)
- Carla Gugino as Journalist Ashley Schaeffer (1996)
- Jennifer Esposito as Secretary Stacy Paterno (1997–1999)
- Heather Locklear as Campaign Manager/Communications Director Caitlin Moore (1999–2002)
- Charlie Sheen as Deputy Mayor Charlie Crawford (2000–2002)
- Lana Parrilla as Secretary Angie Ordonez (2000–2001)
Trivia
- The show was called Chaos City on German TV.
- The show's first 4 seasons were filmed at Chelsea Piers' Stage D in New York.
- One of the most memorable (and most popular) scenes in Spin City was the "goofy" love scene that featured Heidi Klum wearing lingerie and Michael imagining himself wearing an astronaut suit, illustrating the significance he attached to the event (Episode 3.03, "Gone With The Wind"). This was a parody on a movie cliché where the person enters the room very slowly in love scenes of movies as well as to display the "achievement" in sleeping with Heidi Klum.
- The show was visited by numerous guest stars, such as supermodel Heidi Klum and actress Courtney Thorne-Smith.
- Many guest stars were connected to Fox and later Sheen. For instance, Mike Flaherty's mother was played by Meredith Baxter, who played his mother on Family Ties; and Charlie's father was played by Charlie Sheen's real-life father Martin Sheen.
- The mayor was named after associate producer Randall Winston.
- The original theme was composed by Shelly Palmer, who also composed the underscore.
- The theme tune for Seasons 2 and 3 was composed by the Spin Doctors.
- Carter and Paul are the only two characters to appear in every episode.
- Charlie Sheen was playing the Deputy Mayor of New York City in Spin City at the same time as his father Martin Sheen was playing the President of the United States in The West Wing.
- Many of Spin City's main cast members have guest-starred on Scrubs, which was created by Spin City co-creator Bill Lawrence. Cast members who have appeared in Scrubs include Barry Bostwick, Richard Kind, Heather Locklear, Alan Ruck, Alexander Chaplin, Michael Boatman and Michael J. Fox.
- For a time, the show aired at Tuesdays at 9:30pm, opposite the NBC sitcom Caroline in the City, which starred Lea Thompson, who played Fox's mother in the Back to the Future trilogy (1985, 1989, 1990).
- In the last episode with Fox as a regular cast member, he becomes an Environmental Lobbyist. While telling Caitlin about Washington, D.C., he mentions a junior senator from Ohio named Alex P. Keaton (Fox's character on Family Ties).
- Christopher Lloyd, Fox's counterpart from the Back to the Future trilogy, guest starred in an episode entitled ''Back to the Future IV: Judgement Day. In the episode, he plays Mikes old political mentor who claimed to be the son of God. This episode had several references to Time, and the film for which both of them are remembered for; for instance, when they greet at the start of the show (to a wonderful applause), Fox remarks "It's like I've traveled back in time." Lloyd then tells Fox: "The past is prolonged, Men like us have got to keep looking to the future".
- On some episodes, the mayor (Barry Bostwick) can be seen wearing a button that says "I survived Rocky Horror". Bostwick himself is best known for his role as Brad Majors in the 1975 cult film The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
International
Spin City is also available in other countries around the world.- Australia: Fox Classics broadcasts the show.
- Austria: ORF2 on weekdays at 00:40
- Denmark: Kanal 5 broadcasts this show on weekdays.
- Germany: Kabel1: every weekday
- Japan: The show was shown on TBS and Super Channel.
- Poland: Canal+ airs Spin City on Thursdays.
- Turkey: ComedyMax broadcasts this show everyday.
- UK: ITV2c broadcast this show every weekday at 7.30pm.
See also
External links
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