Michael J. Fox is coming back to a primetime TV starring role after a decade away from any major role, with the Back To The Future star down to star in The Michael J. Fox Show, about a former new anchor suffering from Parkinson's disease who returns to work. The programme will air on Thursdays when the new season of television begins on NBC, the network revealed yesterday.

A Parkinson’s sufferer himself, Fox's return as a lead actor can be thanked to the amazing advances in modern medicine, and the show will no doubt see him draw on his own experiences (which were first diagnosed in 1991, and disclosed to the public in 1998) with the disease when channelling his character. Parkinson's disease is a condition that causes effects nerve cells and leaves sufferers unable to control their movements. Fox's last staring role was in the series Spin City, which ran from 1996 until 2002, with Fox dropping out of the show in 2001 as his health worsened.

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Michael J Fox's return to TV should be a good one

With the end of 30 Rock and The Office, and the end of Parks and Recreation and Community's current series, NBC will be hoping to build on it's Thursday night comedy line-up and hopefully Fox's new show can do this. Whilst the allure of Fox's return is enough to attract a reasonably sized audience, the show will have to rely on decent writing and acting too if it wants to make a lasting impression on audiences.

Previously, Fox played a surgeon suffering from OCD during a guest spot on Scrubs, a performance he pulled off admirably. That particular appearance potentially spells good things for the show as far as the acting is concerned, and with Cougar Town and one-time Arrested Development writer Sam Laybourne on board for the script, NBC might have another winner on their hands.

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Michael J Fox and co-star Wendell Pierce during the shooting of The Michael J Fox Show