THE MICHAEL J. FOX SHOW

**1/2 (out of ****)

The danger of airing your first two episodes in one night, as opposed to just the pilot, is that we lose that week of focusing on the potential the pilot has. We can’t dream about all of the ways the second episode will improve on the first, so sure are we that the producers of the episode noticed all of the issues that we noticed about the pilot, and have spent the last week hard at work, trying to fix them. Instead, our hopes are dashed, realizing that a show will probably only peak at pretty good.

The Michael J. Fox Show tells the story of Mike Henry, a beloved local newscaster who is forced to retire thanks to his Parkinson’s Disease. After spending almost the entirety of one whole episode retired, he decides to come back, knowing that the world is ready to see a twitchy newscaster, and that is family is ready to get him the fuck out of the house. So we have a show about a celebrity with Parkinson’s trying to deal with coming back to work, along with constantly getting approached on the streets by people telling him what a hero he is, all premiering on the same night as The Crazy Ones, a different show where the star plays themselves in ways that hit closer to home than usual. But is it funny? Hold on a sec – we have other stuff to deal with.

The pilot was so tight that I thought this had a good chance of being one of the best, if not funniest (there you go – not that funny) new shows in years. It felt like the show thought of everything. The newly stay-at-home dad is a perfect first conflict, forcing every character in the show to, one way or another, say something like “My dad is the best, but he’s the worst!” Fox developed/family member developed/relationship between the two developed. Then we have the problem of the shaky shaky jokes. MJFS seems to have their finger on exactly how far they can take the jokes, and how often they can make him. Maybe because they have a self-deprecating, but sensitive Parkinson’s sufferer who knows how to handle this shit. Thirdly, we have confessionals, because this is a TV show, and that’s how it works now. BUT, Fox’s daughter is working on a school project, in which she interviews people about her dad! Now we can find out about each character with confessionals that are organically introduced into the story! Not so fast, assholes. Confessionals are still there in the second episode, for no reason whatsoever.

The second episode takes a step back in every way, in fact. Everything veers back towards the sitcom norm. The cold open shows the two parents trying to hook up, but can’t because they keep getting interrupted by their kids. Then we have a “hot” neighbor move in to the building, with Fox having to keep her a secret. All of the excitement of the first episode has reverted back to complete conventionality, and without the laughs to back that up, that just simply won’t do.

-Ryan Haley