8 Things You Didn’t Know About Spin City

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7. Hiding His Symptoms

One of Fox’s trademarks on Spin City was that his character, Mike Flaherty, would jam his hands in his pockets. He would do this to hide his Parkinson’s disease symptoms. It was like a last-ditch effort when all else failed.

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6. Michael J. Fox’s Departure

As his symptoms of Parkinson’s disease worsened, Fox announced that he was leaving the series in 2000, at the end of season four, to spend more time with his family and to raise awareness of the disease; however, he stayed on as a producer. According to Fox, the physical strain of the disease, as well as his weariness of having to hide it led to his decision. “This big idea that the show must go on — after a while it just didn’t seem as compelling an idea. It just seemed like the right time,” he told The New York Times.

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5. Getting Heather Locklear on Board

After Fox announced that he had Parkinson’s disease, Heather Locklear was added to the cast at the start of the 1999-2000 season to help share his workload. Her character, Caitlin Moore, was Mayor Winston’s new campaign manager, who replaced Jennifer Esposito’s character on the show.

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4. Lack of Chemistry

Carla Gugino was cast as Fox’s love interest, Ashley, on the show during season one, but the two didn’t have any chemistry, so she left after the 13th episode. While a DreamWorks spokesman said that her character was leaving the series because “the storylines all began to gravitate towards the mayor’s office and away from the home,” Gugino’s spokesperson said that she left the show because she was more interested in building a film career.

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3. Timeslot Issues

The show was first in the post Home Improvement Tuesday timeslot where its ratings soared; however, when it was moved to Wednesdays at 8 p.m., ratings dropped. The show was then bounced all over Tuesdays and Wednesdays timeslots in an effort to find one that worked, which didn’t end up improving ratings.

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2. Filming Location Change

The first four seasons of the show were filmed in New York City; however, when Michael J. Fox left the show and was replaced by Charlie Sheen, production for the series was moved to Los Angeles where Sheen and Spin City co-creator Gary Goldberg lived.

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1. Rise in Viewers Thanks to Sheen

When Sheen first joined the series for the 2000-2001 season, the number of viewers increased from 11.8 million to 12.1 million. The audience began to grow after Fox announced that he was going to leave and included TV’s most prized demographics –  teenagers and young adults. One of the reasons for this may be because Sheen’s character added a new sexiness to the series thanks to his dissolute ways.

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Cate

Cate has a B.A. and an M.A. in English Literature and has been the Managing Editor of Fame10 for more than 6 years. Despite having a love for the works of Thomas Hardy, Leo Tolstoy and Lord Byron, she also has an intense fascination with pop culture. When she isn’t writing for Fame10, she’s planning her next big adventure in Southeast Asia.