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Tag: Michael J. Fox

  • Blake Lively Accompanies Ryan Reynolds to State Dinner in Honor of Canadian Prime Minister at White House

    Blake Lively accompanied her Canadian husband Ryan Reynolds to a State Dinner at the White House earlier this week, in honor of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

    Oozing old Hollywood glam, the Gossip Girl alum donned a silver Ralph & Russo robe gown for the event, accessorizing with Lorraine Schwartz jewelry and a Marchesa clutch. Much to her dismay, Blake Lively experienced a bit of a wardrobe malfunction at the White House, when the gown’s thigh-high slit exposed her shape wear underneath.

    Ryan Reynolds complemented his wife’s attire with a dark tuxedo that sharply contrasted with his white bow tie.

    In addition to Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, other Hollywood celebs at the State Dinner included Reynolds’ fellow Canadians Mike Meyers, Michael J. Fox and Sandra Oh. Canadian singer Sara Bareilles performed at the event.

    Guests at the State Dinner listened to President Barack Obama try to crack jokes about the relationship between Canada and the U.S. He said the countries would always disagree on some topics–like who brews the better beer.

    Alas it was likely an exciting night for Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, as well as for the other celebs who attended the State Dinner in honor of the Canadian Prime Minister. Even though it sounds like it may have been a bit of a stuffy occasion at times, not everyone can say they’ve attended such an affair.

  • Jamie Foxx Ecstatic Daughter is Named Miss Golden Globe

    Jamie Foxx is experiencing one of those proud moments that only a Hollywood dad can understand. His daughter, Corinne, was named Miss Golden Globe on Tuesday. She joins a list of sons and daughters of Hollywood’s elite who have enjoyed the honor in past years.

    Traditionally the daughter of a Hollywood star, Michael J. Fox’s son Sam was named Mr. Golden Globe one year, breaking with that tradition. Rumer Willis, Laura Dern, and Francesca Eastwood are some of the previous Miss Golden Globes. The duty of Miss Golden Globe is to hand out the statuettes during the awards show.

    Jamie Foxx will surely be in the audience on January 10th when the Golden Globes are presented. His attention will likely be less focused on the nominees and winners, and more on his daughter instead.

    “Man, I’m over the moon, man!” he told Entertainment Tonight shortly after learning the exciting news. “People don’t understand, my daughter’s always been cool… ain’t never ask me for nothing.”

    “I feel proud about [the honor], and whatever she does I always support but I’m, absolutely just blown away,” Foxx added, quickly choking up. “I cry easy but this, uh, this is a moment, man.”

    Jamie Foxx says he will do anything at all to make the evening of the Golden Globes perfect for Corinne.

    “[I’ll do] anything I got to do, man. I’ll be the valet, be the chauffeur, whatever I got to do,” he said. “That’s my baby girl, man!”

    In 2005, Jamie Foxx won a Golden Globe for his performance in Ray.

    Will you tune in to the Golden Globes on January 10th at 8 p.m. ET on NBC?

    You’ll no doubt catch a glimpse of a very proud Jamie Foxx in the audience when you do.

  • ‘The Good Wife’ Signs Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan as New Investigator

    The Good Wife will have a new investigator when the show returns for its seventh season this fall. Jeffrey Dean Morgan has signed on as a regular on the series, playing Alicia Florrick’s (played by Julianna Margulies) latest hire.

    Alicia may have hired Alex, who CBS describes as “a calm, experienced hourly investigator,” but no one has yet divulged whether he will work for the new firm Michael J. Fox’s character proposed at the end of season six–or for Lockhart Argos.

    The Good Wife executive producers Robert and Michelle King issued a press release about the new character.

    “We’ve loved and admired Jeffrey Dean Morgan for years, and we were thrilled to hear that Julianna did too, so it was a no-brainer to ask him to join our troupe,” they wrote.

    When Jeffrey Dean Morgan arrives on The Good Wife, viewers might think he looks a bit familiar. That’s because he currently stars alongside Halle Berry in Extant, and he also appeared in Texas Rising–a recent miniseries.

    Us Weekly speculates that Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s new character might be The Good Wife’s new Kalinda.

    Fans will simply have to tune in for themselves to see if he plays a similar role.

    Are you a fan of The Good Wife? Will you be checking out Jeffrey Dean Morgan in his new role starting this fall?

  • Lea Thompson On Why She’s Lucky “Back To The Future” Made Her Famous

    Lea Thompson has a lot of film credits to her name, but the one she always gets asked about is Back To The Future. The trilogy has never lost one iota of charm over the years, and that says a lot, as it’s about to turn 30. Thompson sat down for an interview recently and talked about how lucky she is to be known for a film that aged her with makeup before her time.

    “It’s had a big resurgence. My mother-in-law said, ‘My great-grandchild loves the movie!’ That’s four generations. I feel lucky to be famous for ‘Back to the Future’ because of the fact that my character in the movie aged and people aren’t freaked out to see me now!” Thompson told ABC News.

    Lea, who says it took about three hours for the makeup artist to age her for several scenes in the films, admits she took some of her character’s wardrobe and wigs when shooting wrapped, including the prom dress Lorraine wears to the Enchantment Under The Sea dance. Because the films jump back and forth over several years, Lorraine spends time as a teenager and as a couple of different versions of Marty McFly’s mom, so her wardrobe was pretty varied. Thompson said she actually brought one of the wigs to the set of her ABC Family series Switched At Birth so that an actress–who was playing a younger version of Thompson’s character–could use it.

    Lea Thompson also talked about how Eric Stoltz–who was originally cast as Marty–helped land her the role, saying it was awkward when he was fired. But for fans of the movies, the idea of another actor playing Marty is unthinkable. Actor Christopher Lloyd said at a recent anniversary event that he and Michael J. Fox always had wonderful chemistry together, which made the job easy.

    “It was love at first sight. Everything just happened so easily with Michael. He has a comic flair, very spontaneous, had wonderful energy. It just all came through. And the chemistry we had between each other — I felt we never had to work for it. It simply existed,” Lloyd said.

  • David Letterman: Guests for 28 Final Shows Announced

    David Letterman is nearing the end of his late night talk show reign, and has just announced the guest lineup for his final 28 shows. His final weeks on The Late Show are filled with a wealth of A-listers.

    May 20th will mark the last time David Letterman sits behind his dest at the Ed Sullivan Theater, and leading up to that date he will visit with some very intriguing people.

    George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Hanks, and Oprah Winfrey are among the top celebrities who will bid adieux to David Letterman. Other guests include Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jack Hanna, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Keaton, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Don Rickles, Ray Romano, Paul Rudd, Jerry Seinfeld, Martin Short, Howard Stern, John Travolta and Bruce Willis. Musical guests will include The Avett Brothers with Brandi Carlile, Elvis Costello, Dave Matthews Band, Emmylou Harris, Norah Jones, Mumford and Sons, Ralph Stanley, and Amos Lee.

    This week’s guests on The Late Show include Sarah Jessica Parker, 2015 Masters winner Jordan Spieth, Billy Crystal, The Talk and Big Brother host Julie Chen, Michael J. Fox, Amy Sedaris, Kevin James, comedian Tom Dreesen and Alec Baldwin. Asleep at the Wheel, Chris Stapleton, Iron & Wine with Ben Bridwell, Tracy Chapman, and John Mayer are set to perform as the week’s musical guests.

    Can you believe David Letterman is preparing to say goodbye to The Late Show? Fans will definitely miss the late night comedian and host. He is certainly going out with a bang, however, and with a very impressive list of guests for his last 28 shows.

    Will you be tuning in to watch at least some of David Letterman’s final shows?

  • Michael J Fox: Nike Set to Sell Back to the Future Power Shoelaces This Year

    Michael J. Fox, we’re counting on you. It’s 2015. This is the year it was all supposed to happen. We were supposed to have hoverboards. Not concept hoverboards; mass-produced, affordable, the real deal. Marty McFly went forward in time to 2015 and there were hoverboards.

    Maybe the hoverboard thing will happen; maybe it won’t. But Nike is bound and determined to get one thing to market before the year is out. Another product inspired by the adventures of Michael J. Fox’s character from Back to the Future II is on the drawing board.

    Power laces are coming, promises Nike. The shoe giant has been teasing a McFly-inspired shoe ever since early 2014. Called the Nike Air MAG, the shoe is designed to look like the ones McFly wore when he landed in 2015.

    The trouble has been getting the power laces to do their thing without a huge battery pack to power them.

    But Nike says that it is on the job and will definitely have the shoes out in 2015.

    Several pairs of the shoes are slated to be auctioned off to benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. That organization is rumored to be seeking permission to merge with a smaller company, Michael Stern Parkinson’s Research Foundation. While Michael J. Fox’s Foundation is much larger, reports indicate that they see potential in the Stern organization in terms of developments toward actually finding a cure.

    Michael J. Fox has battled with Parkinson’s disease since the early 1990s, and has been a vocal public face in the race for a cure since 1998.

  • Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher Join Michael J. Fox, Rihanna in Annie Cameos

    Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher Join Michael J. Fox, Rihanna in Annie Cameos

    Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher are in the new Annie remake. Kinda, sorta.

    The new Annie, which stars Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis’ as Will Stacks and Annie, respectively, features several celebrities in cameos, including new parents Kunis and Kutcher. Foxx’s character is a parallel to the classic Daddy Warbucks character from previous incarnations of the Annie story.

    Michael J. Fox plays himself in the film, in a scene in which he endorses the fictional New York City mayor. This scene no doubt hearkens back to Fox’s role in ABC’s “Spin City” sitcom as Mike Flaherty, the Deputy Mayor of New York. Fox played that role for the first four seasons of the show with Barry Bostwick as the Mayor of New York.

    According to the New York Daily News, Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher are tucked a bit deeper into the film. They are actually in a film within the film.

    The Annie film includes as scene where Stacks and Annie go to a premiere event for a movie called Moonquake Lake. Kunis and Kutcher are leads in that film. In a Moonquake Lake scene, the two are confronted by pop star Rihanna playing a villain covered in blue makeup. But Kunis and Kutcher are also present in character at the premiere event.

    IMDb lists Kunis role as “Andrea Alvin,” while Kutcher is “Simon Goodspeed.” There is currently no listing for Rihanna nor her birth name, Robyn Rihanna Fenty. She is not even listed in the “uncredited” section.

    In the trailer below, you can see Kunis and Kutcher on the Moonquake Lake movie poster if you pause at 1:21 and again at 1:22.

  • ‘Dancing With the Stars:’ Who Are These Stars?

    Dancing With the Stars hosts Tom Bergeron and Erin Andrews announced the new season’s cast a few days ago, leaving some fans to ask, “Where are the stars?” Of course it was pretty likely from the inception of the show that they would eventually run out of real stars–but Tommy Chong? He and Cheech Marin made up the duo famously known as ‘Cheech and Chong.’ The two smoked enough pot back in the 1970s to leave them with a life long case of the munchies.

    In addition to Tommy Chong, who will be paired with dance pro Peta Murgatroyd, is a lineup of cast members who might become stars by appearing on Dancing With the Stars, but really aren’t stars as of yet. A few were stars, but haven’t had that claim to fame for a very long time.

    Sadie Robertson is Phil Robertson’s granddaughter and she sometimes appears on Duck Dynasty, so that makes her a ‘sort-of’ star–maybe even a ‘star in training.’ Sadie will compete on Dancing With the Stars with Mark Ballas.

    Michael Waltrip is a star if you’re a pro racing fan. He will temporarily trade in his race car for dancing shoes and is paired with DWTS pro Emma Slater.

    Lolo Jones is an Olympic star, unless you count her efforts on the bobsled during the 2014 Winter Olympics. She will dance with Keo Motsepe, and can at least outrun everyone on the show if she feels she’s too embarrassed to continue on with the competition.

    Jonathan Bennett joins Dancing With the Stars following (no one said ‘following soon thereafter’) his appearance in the 2004 film Mean Girls. He won’t be dancing with Lindsay Lohan, but rather with dance pro Allison Holker.

    If you loved Back to the Future, you’ll remember Lea Thompson, who played Marty McFly’s (Michael J. Fox) love interest Lorraine Baines. She has come back to the present to dance with Artem Chigvintsev.

    Antonio Sabato, Jr. earned his stardom on General Hospital and Melrose Place, meaning when the drama gets ridiculous on Dancing With the Stars, he just might be involved. Cheryl Burke–his dance partner-in-crime–will likely hold him accountable for his actions, however.

    Randy Couture is a champion mixed martial artist who is trying to become a star as part of The Expendables franchise. In the meantime he is dancing with Karina Smirnoff on Dancing With the Stars.

    Janel Parrish plays the role of Mona Vanderwaal on Pretty Little Liars. Hopefully she leaves Mona’s cunning personality on that set as she comes to the DWTS set to compete alongside the very handsome Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

    Designer Betsey Johnson is a star in the fashion world. Might she be there to help out with the costumes she and partner Tony Dovolani will wear during this season’s competition?

    Bethany Mota comes to your TV straight from YouTube. She is a beauty expert with more than seven million followers. How does that even happen? She is dancing with just one Dancing With the Stars pro, however–Derek Hough–whose sister Julianne Hough will be sitting at the judge’s table this season.

    Alfonso Ribeiro comes from 1996–the last year The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air aired. He played the role of Carlton Banks opposite Will Smith. Will couldn’t be his dance partner on Dancing With the Stars (oh–he wasn’t asked?) so Alfonso is dancing with pro Witney Carson instead.

    Rounding out this season’s contestants is Tavis Smiley. The talk show host (most of us don’t know where he did that talking) will dance with Sharna Burgess.

    Will you be tuning in to watch this season of Dancing With the Stars? It premieres on September 15th on ABC. How many of this season’s ‘stars’ do you recognize?

  • Robin Williams’s Wife Says He Had Parkinson’s Disease

    Days after the devastating news that actor and comedian Robin Williams committed suicide was released, his wife Susan Schneider revealed that her husband had been recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. This is the same disorder that celebrities Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali suffer from.

    Williams was found dead at his home on Monday morning. According to Marin County Sheriff’s Lt. Keith Boyd, the actor committed suicide by hanging himself with his belt. The Good Will Hunting star was known to struggle with substance abuse and depression, but he was also suffering from something that he kept from the eye of the public: Parkinson’s disease.

    Robin Williams’s wife made a statement on Thursday thanking everyone for their support and revealed that the actor was in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease. Read Schneider’s statement below.

    Robin spent so much of his life helping others. Whether he was entertaining millions on stage, film or television, our troops on the frontlines, or comforting a sick child–Robin wanted us to laugh and to feel less afraid.

    Since his passing, all of us who loved Robin have found some solace in the tremendous outpouring of affection and admiration for him from the millions of people whose lives he touched. His greatest legacy, besides his three children, is the joy and happiness he offered to others, particularly to those fighting personal battles.

    Robin’s sobriety was intact and he was brave as he struggled with his own battles of depression, anxiety as well as early stages of Parkinson’s Disease, which he was not yet ready to share publicly.

    It is our hope in the wake of Robin’s tragic passing, that others will find the strength to seek the care and support they need to treat whatever battles they are facing so they may feel less afraid.

    For those who aren’t familiar with Parkinson’s, Mayo Clinic describes it as “a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects your movement.” In addition to causing shaking, Parkinson’s also causes slurred speech and difficulty walking. Symptoms worsen over time, and there is no cure at this time.

    The news that Robin Williams had Parkinson’s disease seemed to resonate with quite a few of his fans.

    No details have been released on when Williams’s family will hold his funeral. It is rumored that Westboro Baptist Church will picket the funeral.

    Image via YouTube

  • Marty McFly’s Power Laces Scheduled for a 2015 Release

    A factor that unites many Back to the Future fans is their desire to own some of the futuristic gadgets from the second movie. How many times have you heard people discuss how cool it would be to ride a hoverboard, or how much they’d kill to own a pair of Marty McFly’s shoes? Well as technology advances, so does the possibility of Back to the Future fans’ dreams coming true.

    In 2011, Nike created a replica of Marty McFly’s shoes in Back to the Future II. Only 1,500 pairs of Nike MAG were created. Every pair was auctioned off for charity; all proceeds went to the Michael J. Fox Foundation to further Parkinson’s research. Film and shoe fans spent over 6 million dollars to own a pair of these extremely rare and cool sneakers. But as accurate as the shoes looked, they lacked one important feature: the self-tying power laces. In 2015, those laces will become a reality.

    Nike designer Tinker Hatfield revealed to Sole Collector that they plan to release the power laces next year; right on track with the year Marty wore his Nike sneakers.

    Hartfield didn’t offer any further details about the laces, such as if they’ll be available on their own, as part of a newer version of MAG, or an adjustment to the 2011 model. However they’re released, Back to the Future fans, sneaker lovers, film fans, and people who love to spend money will readily buy these laces.

    Some Marty McFly fans took to Twitter to disclose their excitement about this upcoming shoe release.

     

     


    The few pairs of Nike MAG left are selling on eBay for as much as $8,000. Isn’t it time for someone to create hoverboards?

    Image via Nike, Website

  • Michael J. Fox Show Cancelled by NBC

    Michael J. Fox Show Cancelled by NBC

    Michael J. Fox is now a has-been. NBC yanked his show, The Michael J. Fox Show from the network lineup and replaced it with Jane Lynch’s Hollywood Game Night. The Family Ties and Spin City actor is now, once again, a man without a show.

    In addition to Fox, his show starred Betsy Brandt in the role of his wife, Annie, as well as Juliette Goglia, Conor Romero and Jack Gore as the couple’s three children. Katie Finneran played Fox’s character’s sister.

    Fifteen of The Michael J. Fox Show’s 22 episodes have aired thus far this season. It’s uncertain right now if and when the remaining 7 episodes will air.

    Fox won’t be crying alone following NBC’s decision, however. Sean Saves the World has been pulled from the Thursday night lineup as well. Starring Sean Hayes, Sean Saves the World preceded Fox’s show on Thursday nights.

    Michael J. Fox didn’t waste any time making plans to get back to work following his show’s cancellation. He has negotiated a return to The Good Wife in his role as Louis Canning. He has signed on for several episodes playing Alicia Florrick’s (played by Julianna Margulies) nemesis in the courtroom.

    Are you at all surprised that Michael J. Fox’s NBC show was cancelled? It apparently had faltered in the ratings lately. Some critics said it was difficult at times to understand what Fox was saying. The best comedy writing will definitely fall flat if you can’t understand its delivery.

    Since Fox won’t be delivering one liners and zingers as part of The Good Wife it might be a much better fit for the actor.

    Big changes are taking place during the next couple of weeks on NBC as the network hosts the Sochi Olympics. One the games end, however, it seems like viewers are in for some big changes.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • “The Michael J. Fox Show” Pulled from NBC Lineup

    NBC has pulled “The Michael J. Fox Show” from its Thursday night lineup after only 15 episodes. The show has struggled to gain ground with viewers, despite relaunching the small screen career of Fox, one of television’s all time most successful sitcom actors. In its final Thursday airing on January 23, the show garnered only a 0.7 rating among adults 18-49 and 2.2 million viewers overall.

    “Fox” features its eponymous frontman as Mike Henry, a newscaster who retired to spend more time with his family and tend to his health after learning he had Parkinson’s disease. Five years on, the kids are grown, Mike gets restless, and his family urges him to return to TV. The most recent episode has Mike covering the Olympic games in Sochi (there’s a joke in this someplace having to do with the empty seats at the Olympics and “Fox”’s lack of viewers . . .).

    The show received mixed reviews. Entertainment Weekly named it one of the six best shows of the 2013-2014 season, but Mike Hale writing in the New York Times found something “off” about it. “The problem is the feeling that you’re watching a long and expensive public service announcement” about people with Parkinson’s, wrote Hale, noting also that the show seemed preoccupied with making Fox’s character “a saint” rather than funny.

    The Jane Lynch-hosted “Hollywood Game Night” will take the spots left by “Fox” and another recent ratings casualty, “Sean Saves the World.”

    It had been thought that the network would stick with the show a little longer, given it had already purchased a full 22 episode season, all of which are finished and ready to air. NBC has been cautious to point out, though, that it is not cancelling the show, merely changing its time slot. Even so, the network has not yet revealed when it might air the remaining seven episodes.

    Image via YouTube

  • Michael J. Fox: Will His New Show Be Cancelled?

    Remember when NBC used to run the sitcom world? It just seems like yesterday when it was on top and the other networks were trying to play catch up.

    But that was years ago, and since then, ABC and CBS have not only caught up to NBC, but they’ve surpassed it with hits like “Modern Family” and “2 Broke Girls,” which makes old NBC hits like “Seinfeld” and “Friends” seem like ancient history.

    Which is why NBC has gone back to the drawing board and created shows around some of yesterday’s stars like Bill Cosby and Michael J. Fox.

    As we reported, Cosby will try to make TV magic like he did in the 80s with another family themed show, but will it work this time?

    There’s a good chance it won’t, because times and people have changed, so it’ll be interesting to see if the younger generation responds to the new show, or if folks will ignore it like they’re doing the “The Michael J. Fox Show,” which has been struggling to find its way.

    Sam Laybourne, the show’s co-creator and executive producer, recognized “The Michael J. Fox Show” needed a lot of work, and the writers have just recently turned the level of quality around.

    “The good news is that we’ve figured it out,” he said. “Around Thanksgiving, and our Christmas show, we took a fairly drastic turn quality-wise.”

    In addition, Laybourne says that scheduling may also be the reason the show hasn’t developed a bigger audience, but he hopes some big named guest will change all of that, and save the show from being canceled.

    “And to have Anne Heche and Christopher Lloyd, and soon, Brooke Shields coming on as guests stars [is great],” said Laybourne, “And Mike [Fox] is such a great counter-puncher and plays really well off big, fun characters and we’ve fully embraced that.”

    What also hurt the show, he says, is that people had tremendous expectations for it to do well, namely because Fox’s name is attached to it, and he’s always had a great reputation for bringing in killer ratings.

    “There were titanic expectations, understandably, and they were fair,” he said. “The expectations were through the roof, coupled with the 22-episode order. The story doesn’t become that the ratings aren’t good, it’s more, is the show going to survive.”

    Image via Twitter

  • Michael J. Fox Dissed by The E! Channel

    Michael J. Fox Dissed by The E! Channel

    When one thinks of the term “fun fact,” he or she probably associates it with some sort of lighthearted truth, like Leonardo DiCaprio first starring in the show “Growing Pains” before making it big, or finding out that Woody Allen’s first film was “What’s New Pussycat?” in 1965. But for some reason the E! channel decided to take a very serious disease and make it a fun fact during the live streaming of its red carpet broadcast.

    During the show, a grey box appeared on the screen with the words “Fun Fact” in bold white letters and in the box it said “Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1991,” which of course caused an immediate backlash from viewers. Fortunately for E! the snafu came during the live streaming of the event and not on live television.

    But it wasn’t too long after the error that E! sent out an apology, and said that it recognized its crucial mistake. “We regret the insensitive classification of Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s diagnosis during our E online live stream,” said the network. “We understand the serious nature of the disease and sincerely apologize.”

    In a 2013 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Fox said that if he had the opportunity to be cured, he wouldn’t take it because Parkinson’s taught him so much. “If I walked into a room with God or Buddha or Bill Gates or Sergey Brin or whoever could figure out a way to fix it for me, I don’t think I’d do it,” he said.

    “The bottom line of this whole f–king thing is that it’s better. My life is better than it was, because I have access to these truths and access to these moments where I give myself a break and just go, ‘F–k it.”

    In addition, Fox said that people shouldn’t feel sorry for him at all, because he’s coping with the disease just fine. “People look at me and have fear and sadness in their eyes, which they think they’re seeing reflected back at them,” he said. “They wouldn’t see what I’m really feeling, which is, I’m okay! But people are afraid. They’ll realize that this is just my life, the stuff I was given to deal with.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Michael J Fox Opens Up About His Life

    Michael J. Fox of Back to the Future and Family Ties fame spoke with The Guardian about his most recent project, The Michael J. Fox Show among other things. The 52-year-old spoke about his desire to “entertain people” as motivation for his return to mainstream television.

    “Denis [Leary] told me after I did Curb that I should get back to work, and I wanted to, to create a world and entertain people. There is also a satisfaction in knowing that maybe you’re doing something bigger, but that’s not for me to ponder,” Michael said.

    The following video is the official trailer for NBC’s The Michael J. Fox Show.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXl-krlLoxg

    Many believed Michael’s career was over after his diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease; however, he has continued working on such shows as Phineas and Ferb as well as Rescue Me. Michael explained the reason behind his perseverance as wanting to go against the grain.

    “If you pick me last, I will do everything I can to make you look like a fool,” Fox said.

    His innate desire to rise against adversity is not the only reason for the actor’s continued success. Michael credits his supportive wife of 25 years, Tracy Pollan, with being the main driving force.

    Michael spoke candidly about their relationship. “I wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for Tracy, I don’t doubt that. People picture Tracy as this paragon of stoicism, this long-suffering wife, and that’s all b******t. This is my situation and she deals with it, and I never feel like, ‘I’m sorry you have to put up with this’ – it’s nothing like that. When I told her about the Parkinson’s I said to her, ‘Are you in for this?’ and she said, ‘I’m in for it.’ And that was it. It was still a struggle but that was a really great moment. She is so funny and she puts up with my happy idiot persona,” he said before adding, “She is so HOT! Sometimes I look at her and I just can’t believe it!”

    The following picture of Michael and his wife is from the 40th Emmy Awards.

    Michael J. Fox has been an activist for stem cell research, and open about his hopes to find a cure for Parkinson’s disease. However, his interest has not been in vain.

    “Finding a cure? I don’t view that as something that will happen in my lifetime. That’s – that’s not my purpose, to find a cure for myself, and that’s not noble of me, that’s just the way it goes. But I know somebody will one day figure it out,” Michael J. Fox said.

    He has fought to ensure that the disease does not restrict his enjoyment of life as shown from the following interview.

    [Images Via Wikimedia Commons And Courtesy Of Paul Hudson and Alan Light]

  • Robin Williams vs. Michael J. Fox in New Sitcoms

    Quite a few TV shows had their premieres last week, including a few new shows from the Fall 2013 lineup. Two of the new sitcoms that aired this week were The Crazy Ones and The Michael J. Fox Show. The first stars actor Robin Williams and the second stars, well, Michael J. Fox. With two actors of that caliber going up against each other, a lot of people are wanting to know which one came out on top. The winner–Robin Williams, by a landslide.

    Robin Williams, along with Sarah Michelle Geller and guest Kelly Clarkson, managed to bring in 15.6 million viewers with The Crazy Ones. Unfortunately for Fox, The Michael J. Fox Show brought in less than half as many viewers with 7.2 million viewers.

    It’s worth noting that part of Williams’ success with The Crazy Ones is, perhaps, due in part to following The Big Bang Theory season premiere, which had 18.3 million viewers. After all, it’s hard to think about flipping the channel after watching Amy Farrah Fowler remark, “It’d be nice to be with a man who wants to know what’s underneath my cardigan. FYI, it’s another cardigan.”

    The Michael J. Fox Show, on the other hand, followed the season premiere of Parks and Recreation. While Parks and Rec is hilarious, and is very helpful for those of us having The Office withdrawals, it doesn’t have nearly the following of The Big Bang Theory, so there isn’t as much carryover as far as viewers are concerned.

    The Crazy Ones

    The Crazy Ones is about a father and daughter, Simon and Sydney Roberts (Williams and Geller), who work in a Chicago ad agency. Williams plays the dad who has a tendency to take things just a little too far at times, such as when he and his partner get Kelly Clarkson to bump and grind while singing a song for a McDonald’s ad. Geller’s character is appalled and exclaims, “Oh, my God! I’m about to watch America’s sweetheart orgasm in front of my father!”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz-8JoUQzE0

    The Michael J. Fox Show

    In addition to Fox, the show stars Breaking Bad’s Betsy Brandt and the show focuses on Fox and his family after he received his Parkinson’s diagnosis. You know those inappropriate Michael J. Fox/Parkinson’s jokes people sometimes make after having a little too much to drink? A few of those were made during the show. Uncomfortable (or hilarious, depending on your sense of humor) jokes aside, the show takes place a few years after Fox’s diagnosis and shows him coping with the struggles of everyday life, but in a funny way.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXl-krlLoxg

    Image via YouTube

  • Michael J. Fox Returns To Television With New Show

    Michael J. Fox has returned to television and will be the star of his own show, The Michael J. Fox Show. Michael J. Fox is a film and television actor mostly known for his work on the show Family Ties, as well as the Back To The Future trilogy, which was very popular in the 1980’s. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1991 and revealed the news to the public in 1999, retiring from acting shortly after. He was starring on the hit show Spin City at the time.

    The disease was simply too hard on his career and he was unable to operate in a role that required him to do anything without having his symptoms, such as involuntary movements, start to kick in. He is finally able to conquer that obstacle starting this fall with his new sitcom. The show will feature him as a family man and aging dad that also has Parkinson’s. When it was first reported that Fox was planning to return to television, it was big news in the television world with the networks going crazy wanting to pick it up, and eventually NBC ordered the proejct directly to series without a pilot, which is very rare in recent times, mentions TV Guide.

    The show, since it has Fox is the titular character, will be loosely based on his own life as a husband, father, public figure, and as someone with Parkinson’s. He will also play a beloved New York City newsman. The Los Angeles Times states that after retiring five years earlier, after a Parkinson’s-related, rolling-chair incident, he has been hanging around the house, spending more time with his family than his family would like. As a result, he decides to return to work and that is where the show picks up.

    His co-star Wendell Pierce is very excited for the new show and shared his thoughts on twitter.

    Michael J. Fox has been slowly making his way back into the spotlight of television after having a recurring role on The Good Wife and a small part on Rescue Me. The Michael J. Fox show will premieres tonight on NBC at 9 p.m. Everyone make sure to tune in and see how Michael J. Fox has changed, after over a decade away from the small screen. Fans of the hit series Breaking Bad will also recognize his wife, played by Betsy Brandt, from her role as Marie Schrader.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXl-krlLoxg

    Image via Youtube

  • Michael J. Fox On Working With Parkinson’s

    “Vanity’s really overrated,” Michael J. Fox says. “I don’t need to be pretty anymore. I just am who I am.”

    Those are pretty harsh words for a guy whose adorable features helped to propel him to stardom in the ’80s and saw teen girls everywhere hanging up his Tiger Beat posters on their walls. But Fox, whose new show premieres tonight on NBC, has been through too much in recent years to care much about such trivial matters as looks. In 1991, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and told he might have ten more years of acting work left in him. The news hit hard, especially as it came right after his success with the “Back To The Future” trilogies and the start of his family with wife Tracy Pollan.

    “My first reaction to it was to start drinking heavily,” he said. “I used to drink to party, but then I was drinking alone…Every day. It was about a year of a knife fight in a closet, where I just didn’t have my tools to deal with it. But then after that I went to therapy, and it all started to get really clear to me.”

    Throughout that time, however, Fox was working, on “Spin City”. When that show ended in 2000, he was still around, appearing on successful shows like “Rescue Me” to great reviews. Yet many think he disappeared from the spotlight.

    “It’s funny, it is kind of weird to have been low-key for a few years … but I never really went anywhere,” he said.

    Fox says that learning to live with Parkinson’s hasn’t been an easy road, particularly for an actor who makes his living relying on facial expressions. But there came a time when he knew he was ready to go back to work, even if he knew it would be difficult. His character on the show addresses some of those issues in the first episode.

    “It’s more (work) than I thought it would be, but I’ve handled it better than I thought I would,” he said. “It’s what I do, it’s what I have done for years, and it’s what I enjoy doing,” he said.

    “The Michael J. Fox Show” airs Thursday nights at 9 on NBC.

    Image: Wikimedia Commons

  • Michael J. Fox Returning To Television

    Michael J. Fox Returning To Television

    This Thursday night Michael J. Fox will appear back on television as he is the star of his new television show, ‘The Michael J. Fox Show’.

    According to Today, “On the new ‘Michael J. Fox Show,’ Fox plays family man and TV anchor Mike Henry, who returns to the air five years after Parkinson’s put his career on hold. Fox himself was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s in 1991, when he was 30 years old and flying high after starring on the hit sitcom “Family Ties” and in three “Back to the Future” movies. ”

    “(The diagnosis) came … with a prognosis that … I’d have … maybe 10 years left to work,” Fox told Geist, whose own father has Parkinson’s and who sits on the board of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. “I was just married and my son was just born and my father had just passed away. And it was — all kinds of stuff going on and — and it flattened me.””

    The new show will be on at 9:30 pm on Thursday’s. This is the same time that ‘Two And A Half Men’, ‘Glee’, and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ are all on as well. That could decrease the amount of views the show gets.

    According to the L.A. Times, “A scheduling sweet spot? Um, no. It’s the same spot “Parks and Recreation” was in last fall — and it struggled there, too. NBC may get an initial burst of curiosity and nostalgic affection for Fox, then. But over the long haul, “The Michael J. Fox” is going to walk a very tough road. In the late 1990’s, Fox was a popular actor on “Spin City”, a TV sitcom. The show was about a local government in New York City. ”

    [Photo via Youtube]

  • Anne Heche Signed On To ‘Michael J. Fox Show’

    Anne Heche, perhaps most well-known for her psychological issues and mid-level roles, has reportedly signed on to play the professional rival of Michael J. Fox in the upcoming “Michael J. Fox Show’.

    Heche, whose previous show ‘Save Me’ aired its finale in June, will return to NBC for the project. She will play the part of Susan Rodriguez-Jones, a rival news anchor to Fox’s Mike Henry.

    While the show will unlikely break from the traditional sitcom formula, it will have the added angle of focusing on a main character afflicted with a serious disease. Fox, who has made his battle with Parkinson’s disease well-known, will be playing a man returning to his job in spite of his condition and with the support of a loving family.

    While the show may not break new ground or bring anything new and exciting to the television landscape, it will show that individuals with conditions like Parkinson’s are just as able to contribute to society as someone in perfect health. Not to mention that Fox is one of those celebrities that everyone likes to cheer for because of his positive outlook and work to raise funds for Parkinson’s research.

    With Heche added to the cast, the show adds another well-known name. Whether or not her addition will add to the show’s success will not be known until it premiers in September.

  • Here’s The Trailer For The Michael J. Fox Show

    Michael J. Fox is returning to network television, and his new show, in which he plays a television personality with Parkinson’s disease returning to television, looks pretty entertaining.

    The trailer for the show, which is coming to NBC on Thursdays this fall, has been released:

    Here’s the official description for the show:

    Look who’s making the news again. One of New York’s most beloved news anchors, Mike Henry (Michael J. Fox), put his career on hold to spend more time with his family and focus on his health after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. But now five years later, with the kids busy growing up and Mike growing restless, it just might be time for him to get back to work.

    Having never wanted Mike to leave in the first place, his old boss Harris Green jumped at the chance to get him back on TV. The trick, as it’s always been, was to make Mike think it was his idea. After several – okay, many – failed attempts, Mike’s family, anxious to see him out of the house, finally succeeded in getting him to “run into” Green. Now their plan is in motion. He’ll be back to juggling home, family and career, just like the old days – only better.

    Sold yet? Come on, who doesn’t love Michael J. Fox?

    Plus, it has Betsy Brandt from Breaking Bad.