To be honest, this one takes a moment or two to get started. To the point I wondered how it managed to stay on the air long enough to finally get going. The first season with Carla Gugino was anecdotal. And even in the following episodes, the writing feels like it's totally uninspired and just running on empty a lot of the time. The show survives with its superb setting and an excellent cast of actors who'll lift any scene with their performance. Eventually, it picks up, and when it does, it's really a fun ride, and consistently so. Every great show needs an iconic setting, a place that feels like home for the viewer's eyes. Friends had the twin apartments and cafe, Seinfeld had Jerry's studio... and Spin City had that busy hall, Mike's office and the meeting room. Over little time, it felt familiar and pleasant to watch these characters roam New York's city hall.
As mentioned the cast was top notch and a highlight in this series. There was a charm about Michael J. Fox and his unique small man gymnastics, and his Canadian simplicity. It felt like he could deliver any line, no matter how long and stretched or silly, he could make it sound good enough for TV, while always avoiding appearing like an over-acting diva. He handled the lead role just right. The rest of the crew managed to play their role differently enough and with enough unique personality that they wouldn't feel like hollow programmed characters. Paul wasn't just a B version of George Costanza, Nicky wasn't just the hottie with a pretty face on the show, Carter was more than the token black guy, the Mayor was legitimately excellent and much more than just the absent-minded senile idiot in office, Stuart was a good addition and James was downright hilarious most of the time with his over-the-top dramatic reactions.
As far as the seething criticism towards Heather Locklear, I don't see it. She was actually good and fully convincing in her role and as far as ruining the show as many are suggesting, I understand she veered the show some and gave it a slightly different flavor, because now the love/hate relationship between herself and Mike was quite central, but it's not like it transformed the show in its essence or turned it into a soap opera. It was still very much Spin City.
I watched the first episode with Charlie Sheen, thought it was better than I'd expected, but felt like just another comedy series at that point and I felt like leaving it at that and keeping the memories of Seasons 1-4 with me.
As mentioned the cast was top notch and a highlight in this series. There was a charm about Michael J. Fox and his unique small man gymnastics, and his Canadian simplicity. It felt like he could deliver any line, no matter how long and stretched or silly, he could make it sound good enough for TV, while always avoiding appearing like an over-acting diva. He handled the lead role just right. The rest of the crew managed to play their role differently enough and with enough unique personality that they wouldn't feel like hollow programmed characters. Paul wasn't just a B version of George Costanza, Nicky wasn't just the hottie with a pretty face on the show, Carter was more than the token black guy, the Mayor was legitimately excellent and much more than just the absent-minded senile idiot in office, Stuart was a good addition and James was downright hilarious most of the time with his over-the-top dramatic reactions.
As far as the seething criticism towards Heather Locklear, I don't see it. She was actually good and fully convincing in her role and as far as ruining the show as many are suggesting, I understand she veered the show some and gave it a slightly different flavor, because now the love/hate relationship between herself and Mike was quite central, but it's not like it transformed the show in its essence or turned it into a soap opera. It was still very much Spin City.
I watched the first episode with Charlie Sheen, thought it was better than I'd expected, but felt like just another comedy series at that point and I felt like leaving it at that and keeping the memories of Seasons 1-4 with me.