Spin City: The Complete First Season

Family Ties creator Gary David Goldberg coaxed his show's breakout star, Michael J. Fox, back to primetime with this smart and sassy sitcom, which landed in the Top 20 by the end of its 1996-97 first season. More than a decade later, Spin City still delights, thanks to tart dialogue, amusing situations, and characters who are both extremely well-drawn and brightly portrayed. Fox plays New York Deputy Mayor Michael Flaherty, right-hand man to bumbling Mayor Randall Winston (Barry Bostwick). Flaherty tries to keep his variegated City Hall staff—a neurotic press secretary (Richard Kind), a gay activist in charge of minority affairs (Michael Boatman), a chauvinistic chief of staff (Alan Ruck), a highly efficient chief accountant (Connie Britton), and a humorless but idealistic speechwriter (Alexander Chaplin)—in line, even as his personal life spins completely out of control. The 24 episodes compiled here maintain a high standard, opening with a narrative arc tracking the struggles of the Mayor's office to deal with a garbage strike. The hilarious episode “Dog Day Afternoon” revolves around the chaos that erupts when Mike's lackeys mislay the body of a recently deceased (and much-beloved) police dog en route to the animal's ceremonial funeral, while fan favorite “Snowbound” takes place during a blizzard and depicts a chain of mishaps at City Hall—not the least of which is the repeated failure to apprehend a nudist roaming the corridors. Fox's character is something of a ladies' man, and the first dozen or so episodes provide him with a great girlfriend played by Carla Gugino, who unfortunately was abruptly replaced—a definite blow, although the series rebounded and hit its stride in subsequent years. DVD extras include audio commentaries, a retrospective featurette with new interviews of cast and crew, highlights from a 1996 seminar featuring Goldberg and Fox, and a moving profile of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Recommended. (E. Hulse)