Michael J Fox Page 3

More than a quarter of a century after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, actor Michael J. Fox has revealed that he uses humour to deal with the debilitating condition, and often finds that he “can’t stop laughing” at his inability to perform everyday tasks.

The 55 year old Back To The Future star was diagnosed with the devastating neurological condition, which causes the sufferer’s movement to become slow, erratic and imprecise, in 1991 at the age of just 29. Ever since, he has been a campaigner for research into the condition, creating his own foundation for the purpose.

Michael J. Fox has suffered from Parkinson's disease for 26 years

Continue reading: Michael J. Fox Reveals He Finds Humour In His Parkinson's Battle

Jodie Foster has spoken out against President Donald Trump’s travel ban at a pre-Oscars rally in Los Angeles.

The United Voices Rally was held by the United Talent Agency, in place of their usual pre-Oscars party, with the aim to “express the creative community’s support for freedom of speech and artistic expression and stand against policies of exclusion and division”.

Jodie Foster spoke at an anti-travel ban rally in Los Angeles on Friday 

Continue reading: Jodie Foster Tells Anti-Travel Ban Rally: "It's Time To Resist"

Back To the Future star Michael J. Fox joined Coldplay on-stage at the weekend to re-create a scene from the iconic 1985 movie – at the request of Chris Martin’s son, Moses.

The British rock giants invited Fox, 55, to join them during the second of their two gigs at the MetLife stadium in New Jersey on Sunday night (July 17th), where they performed ‘Earth Angel’ and ‘Johnny B. Goode’, the two songs Fox performs in the prom-night scene from the cult film.

Michael J. Fox joined Coldplay on stage at the weekend

Continue reading: Michael J. Fox Joins Coldplay On Stage To Perform 'Back To The Future' Songs

Back in 1989, Marty McFly and Doc Brown made some bold predictions about how the future might look in 2015. In the hit film, starring Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd, the pair travelled to our current year to prevent Marty's future son from ending up in jail. But now as we begin to settle into the New Year it’s time to investigate, just how much did Back to the Future Part II get right about life in 2015?

Back to the Future, an accurate representation of modern life?

Well surprisingly the film did manage to get a few things right about life in 2015. While the movie’s predictions might not have been 100% accurate, there’s still enough there that nearly hit the mark. One of the best examples is the film’s depiction of video calls, something which is now a reality for everyone, thanks to programs such as Skype and Face Time.

Continue reading: So, Is 2015 Anything Like What 'Back To The Future' Predicted?

Michael J. Fox's return to television wasn't as glorious as he would have hoped.

The 52 year-old actor, who starred in the 80s sitcom 'Family Ties' and the 90s hit TV series 'Spin City', took a hiatus from the small screen after suffering from Parkinson's disease.

But in this latest project, Fox developed a way to try and achieve previous success as well as deal with his ongoing health issues.

Continue reading: 'The Michael J. Fox Show' Canceled After Only One Season

NBC has axed the remaining episodes of Michael J Fox's struggling Thursday night comedy, The Michael J Fox Show, which will be replaced by Hollywood Game Night. Fifteen of the comedy's 22-episode order have aired whilst production has wrapped on all 22 episodes, with NBC unclear where the remaining seven episodes will be broadcast, though the network will apparently look for a slot after the 3rd April, according to THR.

Michael J Fox's 'The Michael J Fox Show' Has Been Pulled Indefinitely Due To Low Ratings.

NBC picked up Fox's show with a straight-to-series order after a bidding war between multiple networks in August 2012. The outlook looked bright: the show would be the respected Back To The Future actor's return to television since his diagnosis with Parkinson's Disease. However, the show bombed in the ratings with an underwhelming 0.7 in the vital 18-49 category logged upon the 24th January episode airing.

Continue reading: 'Michael J Fox Show' Pulled: What Went Wrong For The New Comedy?

Michael J. Fox’s foray into the world of sitcom is looking like a short-lived affair. NBC confirmed last night (Feb 5) that the show – which is 15 shows into its 22 – will not be returning for a second season. There are also question marks over the final episodes; with the show being replaced on Thursday nights by Hollywood Game Night, no one knows when or if the final 7 episodes will get an air-date.

Michael J Fox's show didn't have the legs to keep running

Entertainment Weekly reported troubles with the show back on Jan 19 when NBC’s entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt was answering questions renewal odds for several prime-time shows on Sunday at the TCA press tour.

Continue reading: Michael J. Fox's Sitcom Is Cancelled Due To Poor Ratings

NBC has pulled The Michael J. Fox Show from its schedule. The show which airs on a Thursday night at 9.30pm has been effectively cancelled having only shown 15 of its 22 episode run.

Michael J. Fox at the 2013 NBC Upfront Presentation.

The show, which has aired since September 2013 on NBC, has seen declining ratings. The premiere on 26th September 2013 attracted a large audience of approximately 5.2 million viewers, primarily owing to Fox's return to a sitcom after a 14 year break from series television. Unfortunately, over the passing months, the show's audience figures have declined to less than 2 million, as THR reports. There were seemingly already grumblings from the network executives about the relatively small audiences, as NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt told the same website: "I love the show but would have hoped for a larger audience."

Continue reading: 'The Michael J. Fox Show' Cancelled? NBC Pulls Thursday Night Sitcom

Back to The Future is the latest cult franchise to be in line for a theatre reimagining; this time, it’s a musical. It’ll hit the West End in 2015, the 30th anniversary of the film. Robert Zemeckis – the director of the original movies - Bob Gale and Jamie Lloyd will provide the writing for the project, while the latter is set to direct.

Michael J. Fox is the enduring face of Back to The Future

Music and lyrics will come from composer Alan Silvestri and songwriter/record-producer Glen Ballard. “The production will include illusions, skateboarding and many other surprises that will capture the spirit of the film but freshly interpret it for a new audience,' Lloyd said in a statement Friday.

Continue reading: Back To The Future Musical: DeLoreans And Time Travel Heading To The West End

NBC have teased at what shows they are due to renew and which they are likely to drop from their schedules at the TCA press tour this weekend. Given how vague the network executives were at the press meeting, we can't exactly confirm anything, but what we can say is that Parks & Recreation will more than likely be getting a seventh season, everything else might not be so lucky.

Star Amy Poehler and the rest of her Parks & Rec. castmates celebrate the show's 100th episode

“I’m going out on a limb: Parks and Recreation is going to have a 7th season,” was the word of the NBC's entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt at the TCA event, giving the closest thing to a solid confirmation regarding the future of a NBC show. The only other shows that held a similar kind of certainty were two popular comedies: Parenthood and Community.

Continue reading: NBC Expects 'Parks & Recreation' Renewal, With Other Shows Still In Limbo

E! Entertainment has apologised after listing Michael J Fox's Parkinson's disease as a "fun fact" during its coverage of the Golden Globes on Sunday. A graphic popped up during Fox's entrance to the Beverly Hills Hilton hotel, reading, "Fun fact: Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991"

Michael J Fox's 'Fun Fact' Popped Up When He Arrived On The Red Carpet at the Golden Globes

In a statement, the network said "we.sincerely apologise" 

Continue reading: Yep, E! Really Listed Michael J. Fox's Disease As A "Fun Fact"

E! have been forced to apologies unreservedly after they listed Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s diagnosis back in 1999 as one of their ‘Fun Facts’ during their online coverage of the Golden Globes. Meanwhile, Fox appeared on the red carpet with his wife Tracy Pollen.

Michael J. Fox may have found the whole thing funny, but we don't know that

Continue reading: Fun Fact: E! Are Idiots! Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's Diagnosis The Subject Of Apology

Michael J. Fox, like many other high-profile Hollywood stars, was attending this Sunday's (Jan 12th) 2014 Golden Globe ceremony.

As the A-listers were arriving at the award show at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, California, they step onto the red carpet for a flurry of questions and photographs where they are exposed to the world's media.

E! was conducting a standard pre-award show, which usually discusses nominations, the arriving stars and who is wearing what, but the television network made an embarrassing error.

Continue reading: E! Issues An Apology To Michael J. Fox For Offensive 'Fun Fact' Remark

Can you smell that? It’s the smell of all our favorite shows coming back! The biggest winner of TV premiere week so far seems to be Robin Williams, who emerged victorious from his Thursday matchup with Michael J. Fox. There he was on Thursday night, drawing in 15.6 million viewers to the returning CBS comedy The Crazy Ones, while Fox’s The Michael J. Fox Show only managed 7.2 million. Crazy also beat Fox in the highly prized by advertisers so-called “young adult” demographic. We suspect quite a few people in this demo were away from the TV entirely, streaming episodes of other shows, but that’s beside the point.

It was a sizeable win for Williams.

To be fair to both shows, however, the rest of the Thursday lineup could have had something to do with the considerable gap in ratings. While The Crazy Ones was preceded by a double bill of the wildly popular (for whatever reason) The Big Bang Theory, which averaged 18.9 million viewers, The Michael J. Fox Show came after the much less popular Parks and Recreation, which drew in just 3.3 million.

Continue reading: Robin Williams' 'The Crazy Ones' Dominates Thursday Ratings, With Michael J. Fox Taking A Beating Over At CBS

Michael J Fox is set to star in a new show on NBC called 'The Michael J. Fox Show' that portrays a TV anchor and dad who is in an ongoing battle with Parkinson 's disease, which Fox suffers from in real life.

The 52 year old left the highly successful sitcom 'Spin City' nearly 13 years ago because of his declining health problems as he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

However he is returning to television screens celebrating his symptoms by using the illness as a motif for his brand new show that depicts how a Parkinson's sufferer copes with everyday life.

Continue reading: Michael J. Fox To Star In New Parkinson's Disease Themed Show

James Gandolfini was remembered by his The Sopranos co-star Edie Falco in an emotional tribute to the late actor during Sunday (22 Sept.) night's 65th Annual Emmy Awards. In a ceremony that featured a number of memorials to fallen stars, Falco's appraisal of her on-screen husband was by far one of the most poignant of the night as she led the ceremony into a hushed remembrance of the acting great.

Falco and Gandolfini during one of their many domestic disputes

Falco, who played the long-suffering Carmela Soprano in the ever-popular series, fought back the tears as she remembered the late actor, who passed away in June aged 51. She remembered Gandolfini as a man of "tremendous warmth and heart" and who was "uniquely generous," being nothing like the character he will be best remembered for.

Continue reading: Edie Falco Gives Moving Tribute To James Gandolfini At Emmy Awards

Despite the seemingly crippling twin concerns of being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and undergoing surgery for prostate cancer, Scottish comedian and national treasure Billy Connolly has vowed to keep on working, in what can only be described as the most determined move. Ever.

BIlly Connolly is staying positive.

A spokeswoman for the 70-year old comedian and actor said: “Billy Connolly recently underwent minor surgery in America after being diagnosed with the very early stages of prostate cancer. The operation was a total success, and Billy is fully recovered. In addition, Billy has been assessed as having the initial symptoms of Parkinson's disease, for which he is receiving the appropriate treatment.” (The Independent).

Continue reading: Relentless Billy Connolly Won't Let Recent Medical Setbacks Stop Him

Fans of Michael J. Fox will know his new show, The Michael J. Fox Show (who needs a fancy name?) plays on his disability for laughs, just like he did on Curb Your Enthusiasm, when Larry David was convinced he was using his Parkinson’s to ruin his life.

But it’s more than that; Fox’s personal life away from his disability, his family etc, are all going to influence directly the content in his show. "There are some things taken from [my] life," he told reporters on Saturday (27 July) at the Television Critics Association press tour, according to People Magazine. 

"For example, my youngest daughter, when she went to camp a couple of years ago, took us aside and said, 'I'm warning you, when I go camping and you see pictures on the Internet, I'm trying out a new smile.' And we transposed that to the daughter on the show, when she doesn't like the way she runs, so she rehearses a new running method. There's little snips and pieces of the experience of raising teenagers."

Continue reading: How Will Michael J. Fox's Personal Life Bleed Into His New Show?

Michael J. Fox’s new show could have ignored his affliction – he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1991 – and it probably woud have still been funny. He’s a funny guy. But for Fox, years of battling the disease have put him in a position to laugh at it, and he thinks you will to.

Fox's new show is out in September

"There's nothing horrifying about it to me," he says. "I don't think it's gothic nastiness. There's nothing horrible on the surface about someone with a shaky hand. The way I look at it, sometimes it's frustrating, sometimes it's funny. I need to look at it that way." (USA Today)

Continue reading: For Michael J. Fox, His Parkinsons Is Funny

New Jersey governor Chris Christie is to appear on Michael J Fox's eponymous new sitcom, following his numerous late-night TV appearances, including Saturday Night Live. Christie's office confirmed reports that the Republican politician will make a cameo on an episode sometime this fall, though NBC is yet to announce the air date of the episode, according to Zap2it.com.

The Michael J. Fox Show is an anticipated sitcom set for later this year on which the legendary actor plays a sports-caster with Parkinson's disease who returns to work. Clearly, the show is partly based on Fox's real-life.

There is no word yet on what Christie will do on the show as himself, though seen as though he's running for second term as governor on November 5, it may well have a political aspect to it. There's been plenty of buzz about The Michael J. Fox Show and should it pass the critical test, it should be a stroke of genius for Christie and his team - in terms of a re-election.

Continue reading: Is Chris Christie's Appearance On 'The Michael J. Fox Show' An Election Ploy?

The talented TV writer Gary David Goldberg, creator of Family Ties, passed away yesterday (23 June). He was 68. According to Variety, Goldberg died in Montecito, Calif., after losing his battle with cancer. The screenwriter created many TV gems, including The Bob Newhart Show, The Last Resort and Lou Grant, even winning an Emmy for the latter one. The first show that Goldberg worked on was Family Ties, which the writer launched on NBC in 1982.

Besides winning seven Emmy awards as well as critical praise, the series also helped launch the career of Michael J Fox. Goldberg won a writing Emmy for the series, which ran for seven seasons and went on to repeat that success for his writing on the Mary Tyler Moore Show spinoff, Lou Grant. However, while his biggest success, Family Ties, is currently remembered as a huge hit the series didn’t really take off with audiences until well into the third season. Additionally, Goldberg initially resisted the choice of Fox for the Family Ties cast, however, after the choice was proven to be beneficial for the show, Goldberg also went on to work with Fox on Spin City, this time for ABC.

During his entire career, he worked according to a very specific ethic. Asked in the archive interview what gave him the most pride about his career, Goldberg said, “I think it’s the fact that I’m still really close with almost everyone I’ve worked with, and a lot of the young writers I started have gone on to great careers. … It’s an idea that writers matter.”

Continue reading: Renowned Writer Of Family Ties, Gary David Goldman Dies At 68

Simply Heroic: Angelina Jolie stunned the world this week after revealing she had undergone a double mastectomy in order to reduce her risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer. The Oscar-winning actress lost her mother to cancer and was keen to limit the chances of the same thing happening to her brood. 

Darth Hader: After eight years on Saturday Night Live, Bill Hader has announced he is leaving the show when its season ends on Saturday. "It was a hard decision, but it has to happen at some point," Mr. Hader said in an interview. "It got to a point where I said, 'Maybe it's just time to go." He will certainly be missed!

Continue reading: The Week In News: Angelina Jolie's Double Mastectomy, Bill Hader Leaves Saturday Night Live And Beyonce Pregnant, Again?

Michael J Fox's return to television could turn out to be something very special indeed. He stars in an eponymous show for NBC's Autumn schedule in which he plays Mike Henry, a sufferer of Parkinson's disease who decided to return to his old job in television news after spending years staying at home with his family. Obviously uses his own experiences of Parkinson's, Fox is sharp, witty and funny throughout the new teaser trailer.

The actor first rose to television fame as Alex P. Keaton in 1980's Family Ties before becoming a global mega-star in the Back to the Future trilogy. He bowed out of a starring role on Spin City in 2000, following his diagnosis with Parkinson's disease but gained critical acclaim for his returning appearances on Boston Legal, The Good Wife and Curb Your Enthusiasm. The self-deprecating Fox has always been able to pull in the laughs and he appears to be in top form in the new show, which could become a major player on the NBC schedule if the latest clip is anything to go by. 

Continue reading: NBC's The Michael J Fox Show Seems Feel-Good, Fresh And Funny [Trailer]

Michael J Fox hasn't had a staring role for nearly a decade, following his ongoing battle with parkinson's disease. However, thanks largely to the miraculous advances in modern medicine, Fox's condition is at a manageable level that he can once again become a name at the front of any billing.
His next project comes courtesy of NBC, who have commissioned the new sitcom, The Michael J Fox Show, that sees the actor portray a character not unlike himself. In the show, Fox plays a news anchor who, like the actor, is diagnosed with parkinson's. It follows his return to work, and his daily struggles faced by having the disease, and has the potential to be a thoroughly enjoyable show.

Fox has appeared in various projects since leaving behind his last staring vehicle, Spin City, in 2001, when his condition became unmanageable next to his schedule. One of his most memorable appearances was on Scrubs, in which he played a doctor suffering from OCD, a performance that won him many plaudits and may potentially indicate tone his new show will take; humorous but with a touch of gravitas to bring the whole thing down to earth. Either way, the trailer looks promising and it is good to have MJF back.
Also appearing on the show are Breaking Bad's Betsy Brandt, as his wife, and The Wire's Wendell Pierce, as his former boss and the man who convinces him to come back to work. Sam Laybourne, of Cougar Town fame, is on board to write the show. The show airs Thursdays at the start of the new season of programming on NBC.

Michael J Fox and Wendell Pierce filming in New York for the The Michael J Fox Show

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.

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

Continue reading: Michael J Fox Will Return To TV In (Kind-Of) Autobiographical 'The Michael J. Fox Show'

It appears Michael J. Fox has apologized to country-pop sensation Taylor Swift, after he made disparaging remarks about her at the Golden Globes. We say disparaging...what we really mean, is...a little harsh, but not really.

It all started when co-host Tina Fey warned Swift to "stay away from Michael J. Fox's son," adding, "She needs some 'me time' to learn about herself." Backstage, the New York magazine's Vulture blog caught up with the legendary actor and asked him if he would approve of a romance between Swift, 23, and his son Sam, 23. "No. No...Just back off. I don't keep up with it all. But Taylor Swift writes songs about everybody she goes out with, right? What a way to build a career." Fox admitted that he wouldn't recognize Swift if she ever showed up to a family dinner, though would put two-and-two together if she released a song about her son. "Sam, You Piece of [Expletive]. Oh...that was the girl you brought home!" he joked.

Swift - who has dated John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal, Taylor Lautner, Joe Jonas, Conor Kennedy and Harry Styles - was not best pleased with the remarks, while her Twitter followers were incensed. The singer took to Twitter on Friday (January 18, 2013) to say, "Hey everybody, Michael J. Fox got in touch with me today and we are good. Thank you for having my back."

Continue reading: Did Michael J. Fox Really Have To Apologize To Taylor Swift?

NBC claims that it has The Voice to thank for its reversal of fortune in the TV ratings battle in the latter part of 2012.

It’s fair to say that the television network has taken a fair whuppin’ at the hand of its long-time rival CBS in recent years, with beleaguered bosses desperate to try and stop the rot. Thanks to shows like The Voice, however, it appears that finally the tide is beginning to, if not turn, then certainly lose much of its velocity. At the end of 2012, and thus the mid-point of the TV season, NBC still trailed CBS; however it did so only on total viewers, while it also jumped from fourth place of out of all the networks in 2011, to second.

The Voice, which is the only reality TV singing contest whose ratings have risen, can take much of the credit for NBC’s resurgence, but it was also supported by a couple of surprise hits in Revolution and Go On – the former a post-apocalyptic science fiction drama, the latter a Matthew Perry-starring sitcom around a sportscaster trying to move on from his wife.

Continue reading: NBC Has The Voice To Thank For Ratings Rise

A recent poll put together to celebrate the release of the board game Stratego Sci-Fi has found that the late Christopher Reeves as the Man of Steel is the public's favourite sci-fi star to grace the silver screen.

Reeves battled off tough competition from Star Wars’ Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Yoda (Frank Oz), who placed second and third respectively, and Star Trek's James T Kirk (William Shatner) and Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), who placed seventh and tenth in the countdown.

Perhaps the most unusual choice for the top ten was Will Smith's Agent Jay character from the Men In Black trilogy, who made it all the way to number five in the countdown, whereas one of the more natural choices - David Tennant as Dr Who - was pushed all the was down to number twenty.

Continue reading: Christopher Reeves' Superman Is The Greatest Sci-Fi Star