![]() ![]() A future episode later revealed that Michael's congressional nemesis would be a conservative senator by the name of Alex P. At the end of the season, in an emotional episode, Michael took the fall for a political scandal involving the mayor's office and became an environmental lobbyist in Washington, DC. During the season, Caitlin and Michael clashed for power, then ended up dating. In the fall of 1999, TV series veteran Heather Locklear became a regular as the mayor's sexy campaign manager Caitlin Moore, who directed Mayor Winston's ill-fated run for the U.S. ![]() Fox decided to put his health and family first, announcing that the 1999-2000 season of Spin City would be his last. By this time, the symptoms had begun affecting his motor skills to a noticeable degree. But it was a more serious matter in 1998 when the much-loved actor announced he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease nearly a decade earlier. Some critics have compared Michael Flaherty to real-life political "spinmeister" George Stephanopoulos, who worked for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign (and was later an aide to Clinton before leaving the White House for a journalism career).įox kept audiences laughing on screen. The pair made a true "odd couple" with Stuart's politically incorrect womanizing and Carter's fussiness, along with his aging dog "Rags". Carter, who became one of American television's most-rounded homosexual characters during the late 1990's, shared an apartment with politically incorrect Stuart. The mayor himself divorced his wife Helen after Season One Paul fell in love with Claudia Sacks (Faith Prince) the two eventually married. Most of the show's plots involved cleaning up the mayor's weekly messes, or the personal problems of the various staff members. He had chosen his career over the woman he loved. Meanwhile, Michael's relationship with City Hall reporter Ashley Schaeffer (Carla Gugino) proved to be prickly Ashley and Michael broke up after the first season-partly because Michael could not commit to Ashley for the long term. ![]() To "spin" the situation, Michael hired gay and African-American Carter Heywood (Michael Boatman) as the mayor's minority liaison. The first episode (which aired September 17th, 1996) found Michael defusing yet another controversy by the mayor when he was asked by a reporter if he would march in the city's gay pride parade, Winston replied "What, are you drunk?". They included ruthless and crude assistant Stuart Bondek (Alan Ruck) bumbling press secretary Paul Lassiter (Richard Kind) young idealist James Hobert (Alexander Chaplin) and accountant Nikki Faber (Connie Britton). Flaherty was not only busy keeping the mayor out of political hot water he had to oversee his ragtag staff in the mayor's office. "Ties" creator Gary David Goldberg and producer Bill Lawrence (who would later develop Scrubs for NBC) came up with this political comedy about the staff of likeable but clueless New York Mayor Randall Winston (Barry Bostwick). But it did have its good points, and managed to survive after Fox's untimely departure for health reasons. That was a good thing, since Fox's newest series Spin City was sometimes uneven in quality. Seven years after leaving Family Ties he proved to television audiences he had not lost one iota of charm, timing or talent. Both characters did have one thing in common: Michael J. Keaton had an alter ego, it would have been Michael Flaherty, the cynical and scheming deputy mayor of New York City. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |