Michael J. Fox

Yesterday, May 24, 2000, Michael J. Fox ended his run on television due to his increasingly debilitating case of Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease. What does this mean to us? Well, emotionally, America feels as though one of its best friends is moving far away.

Back in 1976 when he made his TV debut on a little known Canadian show called Leo And Me, who would have known that he would turn into the nearly iconic figure of optimism and youth that he is today? Of course that show isn’t what he’s known for. It didn’t even begin to make him a star. What did that was a little show called Family Ties that premiered back in 1982.

The show centered around a couple of who now had to face the fact that their oldest son, Alex P. Keaton, is a young Republican stock-watcher. As weak as that premise seems, the show hit a chord with America, and Alex became an icon of 80s sensibilities. He was everything we didn’t want to be, but we knew that there was a heart of gold underneath the stuffy, egotistical veneer. Not to mention the fact that this kid playing him was really good! He had a way of getting to the heart of the character without letting it show so much that we hated watching it. And he could handle both physical and verbal comedy.

Through the years they added characters (Marc Price as Mallory’s not nearly secret enough admirer Skippy, Brian Bonsall as the Keaton’s dog-year growing baby boy Andrew, Scott Valentine as Mallory’s Bill & Ted type boyfriend Nick), but none of them outshined Michael in a role that wasn’t supposed to take over the show. Something just kept drawing people to him. Lucky for him it also drew one of his costars, Tracy Pollan who played Alex’s girlfriend, Ellen Reed, for a year. The two got married in 1988, three years after she was off the show.

Then, of course, came the movie career. He’s really only done a handful of good movies, but who cares? Those good ones include the greatest time travel sci-fi teen comedy ever made: Back To The Future. It was so good and did so well that the studio decided, in one of the few good sequel decisions, to make two sequels at the same time. And the world is such a better place for it. The story of Marty McFly hit with everybody. Even Huey Lewis. What a great movie. And could you imagine the movie with original choice Eric Stolz? No, only Michael could pull off being a high school student at age 24. Ok, maybe not only Michael, but he was perfect for the role. Once again his physical prowess paid off in a part seemingly tailor made for him.

After that, though, the movies were a little sketchier. The Secret Of My Success. Bright Lights, Big City. Light Of Day. Casualties Of War. It took a while for him to bounce back, but he did eventually. But it was with the Back To The Future sequels.

After Family Ties ended in 1989 to a nationwide curtain call (um, what?), he floundered in a few more flicks. But something happened on the set of one of them. Doc Hollywood was a story about a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who gets stuck in a little farmer’s town. At some point during filming Michael noticed a slight tremor in one of his arms. It turned out to be a rare case of Parkinson’s in a person under 45 or 50. But he soldiered on. No one knew about his ailment except for his family, close friends and doctors.

Then his career started to pick back up. Greedy (1994) started to bring him back into the spotlight. The movie itself didn’t do too well, but it starred Kirk Douglas and the ever-popular SNL member Phil Hartman, so it at least got him some press. Then, 1995, he did a small bit in the sequel to the popular indie, Smoke, called Blue In The Face. And then, finally, The American President came calling. He got his best reviews in a long time playing an aid to Michael Douglas’s president in Rob Reiner’s romantic comedy. People finally started to realize that the guy could act again. He proved later that he could act well enough to hide something from the entire world.

The next year he pulled a weird one out of his hat: The Frighteners, Peter Jackson’s funny little Ghostbusters type flick about a guy who sees ghosts and tries to cheat people by having his friendly ghosts “haunt” their houses. This is a great one that no one really wants to give a chance. Then again, I think Peter Jackson is a pretty amazing director, so I love all of his movies.

Michael continued his strange choices by taking a role in Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks. Yeah, it’s one of Tim’s weakest flicks, but it’s fun and Mike has a pretty funny character who’s more Alex than Marty.

Also in ’96 Mike used his increasing clout to get himself back onto the medium that made him a star. Spin City debuted in September of that year and met pretty much unanimous praise. His character, Mike Flaherty, is pretty much just and extension of his character from The American President (I can hear him saying to the Mayor, “N-no no hopping, sir.”), but, once again, he was hitting a chord with people. The show has never been as big as Family Ties, but it has its audience and they love it. And, even though Mike is a Democrat, he’s almost like Alex all grown up. He’s career driven, very intelligent and pretty reserved, but he knows when to show his heart and when to let lose. He also makes a lot of sex jokes, which is a little weird coming from Michael J. Fox, but that’s ok. I guess I can handle him making masturbation jokes. What the heck. As long as they’re funny, which they usually are. What’s not funny about masturbation?

When he announced back in January that he had Parkinson’s and would soon stop coming to our homes every week, something seemed to die in all of us. Even those of us who made fun of him (yes, I was one of them—I always liked him, but there was a weird “closet fan” type of stigma on him, kind of like the Monkees. I guess it’s all the not so good movies he did right in a row) seemed to step back and think about what’s really cool about the guy. Even in his bad movies there’s something that keeps us watching him. He may not be the greatest actor in the world, but he’s become a part of all of us in some way or another. Hell, I grew up with him.

What’s cool about him? Well, there’s his “I can make this work” demeanor. No matter what happens in his shows or in life, he knows that he can rise above it and make it come out ok. He has a horrible disease, but he believes in his heart that he will be cured within the next 10 years. If there’s one guy who could make it happen it’s him.

Then there’s his self-deprecation. Some of us feign the “I’m not cool” humor, but he revels in it. Even after his final show he called attention to the fact that he’s only 5’4” by literally stepping off of his soapbox.

He’s also another one of those forever-young type people. Like Dick Clark he’ll never age beyond 25. Unlike Dick Clark he’ll probably always be popular.

What I find strange about the whole thing is the impact that he’s had with his announcement and semi-retirement. (He’s going to continue acting and move into directing, but not as much as he used to and not on a weekly TV show. His main priority, though, will be the fight against Parkinson’s Disease.) After all, this is the same disease that Muhammad Ali has. This guy was the greatest boxer of all time and a very big hero to millions of people all over the world. When it was announced that he had the disease a few years back the only thing I heard was “Oh, how sad.” I just found out that Janet Reno has it. Not a word was spoken about it before. Now that Michael has come out with it everyone’s talking about it. I’ve seen people nearly tear up when it gets brought up. Everyone wants a cure NOW!! I guess that’s part of the power of a weekly series. You get into peoples’ homes and affect them harder than anyone could ever imagine.

But I have to admit that, while watching the last few episodes of Spin City, I noticed how much I’m going to miss seeing him on the show. I didn’t watch it every week, but when I surfed through it I tuned in. Now Charlie Sheen is going to take over and the show is going to disappear faster than News Radio did after Phil Hartman died. When people trade tapes we’ll hear things like “You want Season 5?” “Oh no. Those are the Post-Fox shows, aren’t they? Yech!” You know this is true.

That last episode, though, was an interesting way to get rid of his character. And what better way to send him off than to have his original TV dad, Michael Gross, come back as a psychiatrist with a receptionist named Mallory. Or to have him reference a Republican rep he met in Washington who was way too stiff. His name: Alex P. Keaton.

Every time he had his big emotional scene with one of the characters I saw myself in them. Carter (Michael Boatman) found out that he was Mike’s best friend. Paul (Richard Kind) nearly swallowed him in a giant bear hug. Stuart (Alan Ruck) denied that it was over. James (Alexander Gaberman) just sat there dumbly as he was told a story about himself not really knowing what to think. And The Mayor (Barry Bostwick) broke down on video while telling him that he loved him as if he were his own son. This is how America will always see Michael J. Fox: as a best friend, a family member, someone who will always be there. Sure, he’s no Jimmy Stewart, but neither is Tom Hanks. And we all feel pretty damn strongly about him, too. He’s just someone we all know and love and wish all the best for. And somehow I just know that it’s all going to turn out ok.

Good luck, Mike. We’re all pulling for you.