Michael J. Fox breaks silence, says not embittered by ailment
LOS ANGELES: Michael J. Fox has fi nally opened up about his travails by saying that he is not embittered by what he has experienced.
Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991, returned to NBC last year, which guaranteed him 22 episodes of his comedy.
But it was taken off after 15 episodes. Now fi ghting for his show’s survival, he told The Hollywood Reporter: “I don’t think this journey is fi nished.”
Back in 2012, NBC made him an offer of 22 episodes, guaranteed on the air. In the months that followed, the media hype surrounding “The Michael J. Fox Show” was accompanied by concerns: Was Fox up for the gruelling schedule? Would viewers feel comfortable laughing at a TV icon with a degenerative disease?
“I don’t know if Mike knew he could do the whole thing, but he thought he probably could,” producer Will Gluck recalls of Fox, who has been Emmynominated for guest stints on such shows as “The Good Wife”, “Rescue Me” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” since leaving “Spin City” in 2001.
“This is a guy who doesn’t need to work,” says Gluck. “No matter what he does, he still has his legacy intact, and everything
I never felt like we were laughing at the (disease); I felt we were laughing at the reaction to it. I can’t sneak up on people, so I had to lead with it. I thought what would happen, which is what had happened in my life, is that people would just accept it and know that if I was laughing at it, then on some level it was OK for them to laugh.
Michael J. Fox, actor
he’s doing with his foundation (for Parkinson’s) is more important than anything we’ll ever talk about.”
But come September, the bigger issues were a weak leadin (“Sean Saves the World”) and strong competition (“Two and a Half Men”).
By January, NBC entertainment chair Bob Greenblatt acknowledged the show’s ratings ( less than a one in the 18-to- 49 demographic) were “not anywhere near” where he’d like them.
Three weeks later, the comedy was pulled. The remaining seven episodes, including a guest spot from Fox’s “Back to the Future” co- star Christopher Lloyd, await a spring airdate.
Said Fox: “I never felt like we were laughing at the (disease); I felt we were laughing at the reaction to it. I can’t sneak up on people, so I had to lead with it. I thought what would happen, which is what had happened in my life, is that people would just accept it and know that if I was laughing at it, then on some level it was OK for them to laugh.”