Spin City 

Mike Flaherty, the Deputy Mayor of New York City, and his team of half-wits must constantly save the Mayor from embarrassment and the media. Mike is later succeeded by Charlie Crawford.

Creators:

Gary David Goldberg, Bill Lawrence

Stars:

Michael J. Fox, Charlie Sheen, Heather Locklear

Won 4 Golden Globes. Another 10 wins & 38 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Richard Kind	...	Paul Lassiter 145 episodes, 1996-2002
Alan Ruck	...	Stuart Bondek 145 episodes, 1996-2002
Michael Boatman	...	Carter Heywood / ... 145 episodes, 1996-2002
Barry Bostwick	...	The Mayor 145 episodes, 1996-2002
Michael J. Fox	...	Mike Flaherty 103 episodes, 1996-2001
Connie Britton	...	Nikki Faber 100 episodes, 1996-2000
Alexander Chaplin	...	James Hobert 100 episodes, 1996-2000
Victoria Dillard	...	Janelle Cooper / ... 91 episodes, 1996-2000
Heather Locklear	...	Caitlin Moore 71 episodes, 1999-2002

Storyline

In this sitcom, Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty (Fox) and his City Hall staff must stop the dim-witted Mayor (Bostwick) of New York City from embarrassing himself in front of the media and the voters. The staff consists of Caitlin Moore (Locklear) the Communications Director, Carter Haywood (Boatman) the head of Minority Affairs,Stuart Bondack (Ruck) the Chief of Staff, Paul Lassiter (Kind) the Press Secretary, James Hobert (Gaberman/Chaplin)the Mayor's Speech Writer, and Nikki Faber (Britton) accountant. In the final two seasons of the show, Mike is replaced by Charlie Crawford (Sheen).

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Plot Keywords:

20th century | 21st century | 1990s | 2000s | mayor | 

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Taglines:

Slur campaigns. Cheap shots. Smear tactics. Just another day at the office.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Official Sites:

ABC

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 September 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Spin

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks, Lottery Hill Entertainment, Ubu Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min (145 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Carter was the first non-stereotyped openly gay African-American character to appear regularly on a prime time television series.

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Quotes

Mike: This is like a step back in time!
Owen Kingston: Though men like us look to the future.

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Alternate Versions

In the episode "A Star is Born" [1.6], there are 2 different primetime versions, one with a storyline involving Ashley Shaffer trying out to be a televion anchor and a second verson completely without her. The differences between these 2 versions are as follows:

• The original opening sequence features Ashley on a Sunday talk show. In the second version, the footage is replaced with Mike, Nicki and Carter betting on the Super Bowl.
• The second version's press conference sequence replaces Ashley's lines with those of a different reporter's.
• The original version has a sequence in which Ashley talks with Mike while walking down the hallway. In the second version, she's replaced with Stuart.
• The original version contains a sequence where Mike and Ashley are in their apartment watching television, followed by a closing sequence where they make out off camera. In the second version, all of the footage is replaced with a completely different storyline in which Nicki and Carter interview a guy named "Guy" at a focus group meeting, whom both Nicki and Carter develop feelings for. They argue over what Guy's sexual preference is and ask him back to find out for sure, to which he replies that he is gay, but not interested in Carter.

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Connections

Featured in The 56th Annual Golden Globe Awards (1999)

User Reviews

Solid, under-appreciated show for the first 3 seasons

Spin City was a great show for the first three years, okay for a year, and bad for the last two. From what I've read on IMDb, I'm the one who didn't like Michael J. Fox from Family Ties and Back to the Future. I also don't like some of the things I've heard him say in interviews, but that all goes away when he is playing Mike Flaherty. That, I believe, is a sign of a good actor.

This show is by Mike, for Mike, and about Mike, and for the first 3 years of the show, it worked, and worked well. Bringing in Heather Locklear served its intended purpose, which was to create competition for Mike, but it did not work. This show was at its best when Mike was in command of his team of dunces, including the mayor.

In the beginning, Carla Gugino played Mike's love interest, and that created some great moments just in the first 12 episodes. Mike is the Deputy mayor of New York City, and Gugino, as Ashley, was a City Hall reporter. Not a totally original concept, but it worked really well. After the original 12 episode run, they decided that they had enough show without the Ashley character. Apparently it came as a surprise to the producers of the show that New York City politics was enough to stand on its own. So much so that no character other than Mike was ever really explored on this show.

All the other characters are very simple, but very funny. Stuart is the sex obsessed wacko. Carter is the homosexual, token black wacko. Nikki is the unlucky in love, neurotic wacko. James is the naive wacko. Stacy is the foul-mouthed Brooklynite wacko. Paul is just plain wacko.

What made the first 3 seasons great were the story lines and the performances of Michael J. Fox and Barry Bostwick. The fact that they used politics without politicizing the show just makes it a stroke of genius. Think about this: the show is about politics, and it never once got preachy. In fact, I don't believe they ever come out and say what political party the staff is representing. Reading between the lines, you can figure out that they are Democrats, but that is not the point of the show in any way. Others may find this a detriment to the show, meaning it was not socially relevant. This is true, it was not. But it was funny. That was really the bottom line of this show. It was just funny. Nothing more, nothing less. The jokes made you laugh. Whether its a joke about the Pope, or the state of Wisconsin, or homosexuality, or an overflowing toilet (perhaps the single best moment ever on the show).

This show lost me in the fourth season when Heather Locklear came on board. Her character took charge of the office, and the energy that came with Mike in control was gone. In addition, with two well known stars on the show, the other characters were literally filtered out. I would have loved to see Caitlin take on Stacey, but Jennifer Esposito left as Heather Locklear came on. Of course, Mike and Caitlin eventually fell for each other, but it never really worked, and shortly thereafter, Mike was gone.

I personally consider the Charlie Sheen years to be a completely different show, not worthy of comment.