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Michael J. Fox & friends inject bits of comedy into politics with Spin City: The Complete First Season.

The set up for Spin City follows the day-in/day-out events of a fictionalized New York City mayoral staff.  (Think The West Wing, but instead of 80’s star Rob Lowe, City has 80’s star Michael J. Fox.)  Fox (Family Ties, Back to the Future) stars as the beset Deputy Mayor of NYC under an unflappable but dense Mayor, played by Barry Boswick (Rocky Horror Picture Show, Megaforce).  Other cast members include Richard Kind (Mad About You); Michael Boatman (China Beach); Alan Rock (Ferris Mueller’s Day Off); Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights); Alexander Chaplin (ABC Afterschool Specials); and Carla Gugino (Son in Law and the upcoming Watchmen).

The ancillary actors play into the traditional roles of a sitcom.  Boatman does great double duty as the double minority (black and gay) moral compass.  Britton seems to take a while to find her center as a woman who knows what she wants and won’t be a doormat.  Kind is very funny as the nervous wreck PR mouthpiece.  Chaplin plays a more subdued, nerdy nervousness as the Mayor’s speechwriter.  But Rock is the standout stereotype as the office lascivious staffer (shades of John Larroquette from Night Court).  Though these roles are hardly groundbreaking, the performances are portrayed with a great naturalism and come off totally believable.

Spin City takes about half the season to figure out what kind of show it wants to be when it grows up.  This is around the same time that Gugino leaves the show.  And it’s not because she was bad at her role; it’s the role.  Mike’s love interest was an odd fit from the start and once the show decides to concentrate on the office staff things coalesce nicely.  And getting casts to gel together is a specialty of the two executive producers – Gary David Goldberg of Family Ties fame and Bill Lawrence who went on to create Scrubs.  Plus, one of the production companies is Ubu Productions, which means every episode ends with the phrase “Sit, Ubu.  Sit.  Good dog.”, and that’s just full of nostalgic goodness for me.

The commentaries are funny and informative.  Other special features are the Team Fox Foundation piece about raising awareness and funds for Parkinson’s disease (from which Fox suffers), Partners in Prime which is an Actor’s Studio style interview set up, a making-of feature, and interviews.

For fans of really good sitcoms, Spin City: The Complete First Season is a perfect buy.  For those who like to chuckle without wanting to get too involved in a show, it’s a great rental.  Myself, I enjoyed the first enough that I’m looking forward to the second season of Spin City.

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