nishapashmurthy This was such a great and original idea for a show. Finally a TV sitcom that could demonstrate to the world that people with medical problems and disabilities are just regular people with regular day-to-day challenges - who can still be annoying and also laugh at themselves and laugh at life. And who better to do it than the highly talented, endearing, funny and affable Michael J. Fox - who can show the world what it's like to live with Parkinson's? Sounds like the formula for a television classic - and then came the script and the rest of the cast.The scripts are generally unfunny and half-baked. The TV family are all cardboard cut-outs from other family sitcoms. The "kooky" aunt (MJF's television sister) is straight out of Jan Brady's kooky cosmic aunt Jenny (played by Imogene Coca) on the Brady Bunch. Some of the episodes also seem to have been done before on other shows - one episode, where the son comes home with "an older woman", is straight out of Family Ties - except this time Michael J. Fox plays the father. Another episode, where MJF bumps into his Back to the Future Costar Christopher Lloyd and exchanges knowing glances with him, comes out of Spin City.Michael J Fox is still great in this - others have commented on being distracted by his PD - I loved the fact that he was prepared to show the world what it was like - all credit to him. Unfortunately the rest of the cast is wooden and cliché – none of them seem to work and none of them ever hit their mark.The biggest disappointment, however, is the script. It should have focused more on the living with Parkinson's and less on the phony, "seen-it-all-before" situations and clichéd, cartoon-character family. Recently I read a book called "Far Away Cows - A Book About Cows, Engineers and Research into Parkinson's Disease" - this was a real story which was able to cover the subject of illness with pathos, clever humor and witty observations. That's something this show wasn't able to achieve - and that's a shame because it deserved to succeed, and Michael J. Fox deserved to get this important message out. Let's hope someone can come up with a Version 2.0 of the concept that can score a real goal.

iHaveCellulite Of course if you're reading this review, you may be thinking to yourself "I'd love to see the return of Michael J Fox to TV, but I just know this is going to be one huge pity-party hoping for sympathy for ratings!"The writers of The Michael J Fox Show realized this, and instead of just making a great original show that proves otherwise, they literally make a show staring the returning MJF, about a guy also named Mike, who also has Parkinsons, also returning to work after a long hiatus, whose entire cast of characters revolve around making sure EVERYONE knows that he is not here for your sympathy!So OK, I get it, you want us to accept MJF's return to TV as a true return to TV, and not a "triumph" for his battle over Parkinsons. The point was made within the first 5 minutes of the pilot. GREAT! Now that the viewers know it's not a pity-party, let's start the show!.... ... and then you realize that WAS the show ! ... A show, that spends each and every scene, joke, character, and plot to tell you, "Hey! He's totally normal with Parkinsons!" That's it.As the moral of the "I don't want your sympathy!" story is endlessly drilled into your brain by Mike every episode, you soon (very soon) start looking for depth in the other characters' stories or plots, desperately looking for a reason to keep watching... only to realize the only reason the other characters exist is to tell you "This is how Mike reacts when you try to treat him special!" (_insert lesson-learning scene about how they were a fool to try and think he was any different than someone without Parkinsons_)." If you made it this far into the review, you're done! You have The Michael J Fox Show in it's entirety! Don't worry, there's nothing else to look for. You can practically "feel" the separation between all the supporting characters and MJF; the supporting characters' potential for great acting/talent/depth/humor all on the fringe of something that could-be, but never is... vs MJF and the writers on their own mission not to make a great show (or any show for that fact) but to prove a point to the viewers!

SnoopyStyle Mike Henry (Michael J. Fox) is a TV anchor returning to the news with his disability. His family (Betsy Brandt, Juliette Goglia, Conor Romero)is lovable if somewhat chaotic with his sister Leigh (Katie Finneran) living in the downstairs apartment. His best friend Harris Green (Wendell Pierce) is his boss at the TV station.I like all the characters, but they're not that funny. They're cute most of the time, charming, and likable. They just need to write better jokes. To its credit, there wasn't a laugh track. When Katie Finneran is the closest thing to a comedian, then it's time to see that there is a problem. My favorite episode is the second one with MJF's real life wife Tracy Pollan as the upstairs neighbor. It's the only episode where I actually laughed. This was canceled after airing 15 episodes.

Blue Velvyt What has happened to the attention span of TV Viewers, when I was growing up networks never canceled a show before it even aired, or after just showing the pilot. Sad that some of you post things like "Sympathy Viewing" or "only watched 3 episodes" It is really sad to see people judge things so quickly these days. This generation of humans is so "Instant Gratification" oriented.Real shows need time to grow, to build upon their characters, to make cast changes, change writers, change story lines, etc The Walking Dead tripled it's numbers in the third season, prior to that it had no where near the numbers network shows pull, but it's on AMC, where they believe in their shows and let them air out longer then 3 episodes.MJF is amazing, always has been, I for one will be giving him and his show all the time it needs, he makes me laugh, unfortunately I think the network is giving him a "pity" season for his illness and will most likely be canceled for next season. For some reason THE U.S. can't stand to see old people or sick people, or worse, old sick people, we just put them on an iceberg and send them out to sea. I live in the health care system, I know what I have seen and I have seen it more often then not.However, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, for instance I can't stand the Big Bang Theory, it is juvenile and silly, yet everyone else I know seems to love it.Am I biased, perhaps, I suffer an auto immune disease, have been bed ridden now for 3 years with deadly bacterial infections, watching MJF do his thing once again despite his illness gives me hope, perhaps some shows are all about perspective. No I don't simply support the show because he suffers an illness.If this show isn't successful, then I hope he gets one that is, in the mean time I will have Michaels back and support his show fully, not because he is sick, because I love watching him and the show makes me laugh.Just my opinion.