The Michael J. Fox Show series premiere review: Needs time to develop

If it wasn’t for Michael J. Fox openly addressing his Parkinson’s disease, The Michael J. Fox Show could have easily be made in the era of The Cosby Show. That’s not a bad thing, but it will take some time to adjust to the fact that the era of comedies like Community and 30 Rock may be over for now.

Last night, NBC aired two episodes back to back. The first episode was the pilot, which played up Fox’s Parkinson’s disease a little to much. Although, it’s probably because the premise required it. For those who haven’t seen NBC’s endless commercials, Fox plays Mike Henry. In the show, Mike Henry is the most loved news anchor in New York City, but he decided to retire because his Parkinson’s disease progressed to the point where he couldn’t stay still. This led to the embarrassing “rolling chair incident,” where Mike was trying to anchor a live newscast, but the chair kept rolling because he couldn’t control his tremors. After spending sometime at home, both Henry’s family and his former boss wants him to go back to work. With a little coaxing, he does.

The settings in the pilot episode may be a little distracting for New Yorkers. While shooting in Rockefeller center isn’t uncommon, the use of WNBC’s (known locally as channel 4) actual equipment and studios is odd, especially since there are more important things they could be doing with those news trucks. When they say Mike Henry is New York’s favorite anchor, things get even stranger. This is a universe where The Today Show exists, but where  Chuck Scarborough, who is practically the face of channel 4 in New York, isn’t even a colleague.

Once New Yorkers get past the bizarre blurring of reality and fiction when it comes to their news, they will appreciate the joke about Mike accidentally calling 911 and the police taking 45 minutes to respond because of the 2 billion dollar upgrade. Mike points out that if it was a real emergency someone could have died. When Mike goes back to work, he turns the situation into the first story he covers. For some reason, the New York 911 story goes national simply because it’s Mike’s first story back. Although, Matt Lauer makes sure to cut the story before Henry can get a word out.

As with all sitcoms, some jokes don’t work. In one scene, Mike’s two oldest children, Ian and Eve throw condoms from the roof on to passersby, but unlike balloons, they don’t pop. Ian also thinks he’ll be the next Mark Zuckerberg because he dropped out of college to create a search engine that you have to find with Google. It would be funny if you didn’t see that joke coming a mile away. Then, there’s the cop thinking that Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s are the same thing, which might have worked had it not been in every commercial for the show.

The Michael J. Fox Show‘s second episode, “Neighbor,” was much better. It revolved around a hot neighbor, who was attracted to Mike and it made him uncomfortable. Since this is a sitcom, Mike’s wife, Annie, spends the episode trying to get Mike to admit he’s attracted to their neighbor. The man is even having sex dreams about her. Something’s definitely up. He even tries to prevent his boss from having a relationship with his neighbor. Annie isn’t bothered that Mike is attracted to the neighbor; although, Mike denies it until the end. She’s bothered that he doesn’t admit it.

In “Neighbor,” Ian and Eve hang out with Eve’s new “lesbian” friend. No one cares that Eve’s friend is a lesbian, except for Eve, who has this thing for having unique friends that have been rejected by every other high school crowd. Ian is attracted to Eve’s friend, but Eve tells him it’s never going to work. Guess whose friend isn’t a lesbian? Eve finds out the hard way when her brother starts making out with the girl in public.

This episode also has Mike’s sister, Leigh, watching Graham, who is eight years old. She uses him as a tool to meet single mothers at the park for her US Weekly column. Leigh also proves she would make a terrible parent by allowing Graham to drink several sodas and use Twizzlers as straws. After the single mom’s reject her, Leigh ends up caving and taking Graham to JJ’s Fun Cave, where Ian and Eve happen to be.

Eventually, Leigh calls Mike and Annie to pick Graham up. At JJ’s Fun Cave, Mike admits the truth about why he is awkward about the neighbor situation. It’s the first time since his Parkinson’s diagnosis that a woman besides his wife made him feel attractive. Mike and Annie make up and the show ends with the entire family losing Mike in the ball pit. The family found him when Mike’s Parkinson’s started causing the balls to shake. It was funny because Michael J. Fox is clearly in on the joke. We’re not laughing at him. We’re laughing with him.

Based on the fact that Mom, The Goldbergs, Back in the Game, and The Michael J. Fox show all debuted this season, it appears that the networks are pushing viewers into a new era of family sitcoms. So far, The Michael J. Fox Show has been the only standout, but it still needs a lot of work. Hopefully, viewers will give the show enough time to find its footing because it has a lot of potential.