‘Spin City’: THR’s 1996 Review

On Sept. 17, 1996, ABC premiered Spin City at 9:30 pm, featuring a cast led by Michael J. Fox and Carla Cugino. The series went on to run for six seasons and claimed two Emmys, including for Fox as a lead actor in a comedy in 2000. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:

Spin City, here we come.

Yes, as the season of presidential politics grinds on to the November showdown, a promising but unfulfilled new ABC situation comedy called Spin City puts its own spin on the hype and hope associated with the political game.

And starring in this not uninteresting TV take on power as humor is Michael J. Fox, returning to a series after several years gone from the hit sitcom Family Ties.

Spin City reunites Fox with Gary David Goldberg, the man who created Family Ties. And while Spin City frequently delivers comic cliches and humor as platitudes, it does hold more than a smidgen of appeal. For there is a sense that the series is working toward a keener meaning of what politics and those who practice this less-than-scientific pursuit are about.

Fox is here cast as Mike Flaherty, a harried wheeler-dealer type who is right-hand man to New York Mayor Randall Winston (Barry Bostwick), a don’t-bother-me-with-the-details fellow who has his sights set on national elected office. Flaherty also interacts with a peppy gal pal (Carla Gugino), a city hall reporter for a metropolitan daily.

As political fix-it man, Fox burns some comic octane, his sense of timing and talent for the right gesture put to good use here. Additionally, Richard Kind as the mayor’s put-upon press secretary also generates laughs. — Miles Beller, originally published on Sept. 17, 1996.