Spin City centers around the inner working of city hall in the city of New York. Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty (Michael J. Fox) is the person in charge putting out fires, keeping the quirky and at times out of it Mayor Randall Winston (Barry Bostwick) in check and making sure the city doesn’t fall prey to any scandals. If he doesn’t have enough on his plate already, when he’s not trying to keep the city together, he’s dealing with his own rollercoaster love life.
Mike does have plenty of help in city hall with his team of diverse and crazy characters. We have press secretary Paul Lassiter (Richard Kind) who may be more nuts then the major with his own collection of neurosis. Assistant deputy mayor Stuart Bondek (Alan Ruck) is around who has a hard time keeping his often old world sexists opinions to himself. To balance him out there is the head of minority affairs Carter Heywood (Michael Boatman). Carter is a sophisticated gay black man, whom is hired after a potential scandal when the Mayor decided to open his mouth and say something unscripted. Speech writer James Hobert (Alexander Chaplin) is the young naive kid from Wisconsin, with Mike's secretary Janelle Cooper (Victoria Dillard) and his assistant Nikki Faber (Connie Britton) rounding out his staff.
Along with all 24 episodes of the first season, the box set contains some nice bonus features as well. First up we have some of the highlights of The Paley Center for Media Seminar featuring Gary David Goldberg and Michael J. Fox in 1996, where they discuss the two of them getting back together to make Spin City. It’s nice to see the archival footage talking about the show prior to it hitting the small screen and being a hit.
There are seven episodes that include commentary with the cast and the creators of the series. You can hear in their voice how fondly they look back on working in the series. The commentary in “Dog Day Afternoon” with stars Michael J. Fox and Alexander Chaplin is interesting in that Fox points out how he is trying to hide his Parkinson’s in a scene.
There are also all new interviews with Michael J. Fox and the cast and creators of the show. This is a great little featurette that gives us the inside scoop on how the show came to be. Last but least, there is a special little feature on The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. This is an inspiring video showcasing Team Fox and their fundraising efforts. This along with the new interviews let’s us see Michael J. Fox and how he is surviving with Parkinson’s Disease today.
Spin City is one of those shows that you enjoy watching week after week because you fall in love with the characters. You laugh with them and you laugh at them. Even if you didn’t watch the show during its original run, Spin City is a show you will instantly enjoy from the very first episode. Michael J. Fox and the whole cast are wonderful and makes politics fun. Pick up the first season of Spin City on DVD and get caught up in the mayhem. The second season is schedule to be released next April.
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