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The gang at city hall work to protect the mayor’s image with hilarious results.

Spin City: The Complete Second Season features Michael J. Fox as New York City’s Deputy Mayor. Fox, as Mike Flaherty, spends his time trying to deal with city issues and clean up the messes and PR nightmares caused by the city’s Mayor Randall Winston (Barry Bostwick).  Along for the ride are their staff, Stuart, the oversexed and sarcastic (Alan Ruck), the naïve Paul,(Richard Kind), the abrasive new secretary, Stacey (Jennifer Esposito), speech writer James (Alexander Chaplin), Carter ( Michael Boatman), and Nikki (Connie Britton).

In this season, Mike begins dating a lawyer who represents the Mayor’s wife in their divorce proceedings. She tells Mike she’s not looking for commitment, but he begins falling for her. When her mother comes to town, Mike can’t leave well enough alone and he “accidentally” runs into them at a restaurant. She goes into an act about how deep their relationship is, but only to get her nagging mother off her back. However, Mike at first thinks she’s being serious and later, tells her how he feels.

The show tackles subjects like Mike’s mother (played by his old Family Ties TV mom, Meredith Baxter) dating the mayor. Mike is uncomfortable at seeing the two of them together and when a scandalous picture shows up of the Mayor handing a prostitute money (he was trying to get change), Mike decides not to use his mother as an alibi even though the mayor is innocent. They have a heart-to-heart where he puts a hilarious request out there that you have to watch the episode to see.

We also see an episode that deals with Mayor Winston’s awkward relationship with his rebellious daughter (played by Alyssa Milano).  The show also tackles a tougher subject when Carter is mistaken for a Central Park mugger and going on national TV to accuse the police of racism. One of the funnier episodes involves the city beefing up security which causes an elderly security guard to discharge his weapon accidentally hitting Paul. When the guard is fired, he sues Paul for wrongful termination and Paul takes him to the People’s Court. Throughout the whole court case Paul repeats, “I’m being sued for getting shot in the head,” in disbelief as the case swings in the ex-guard’s favor.

Spin City is known for being a big vehicle for Michael J. Fox, but the cast is very strong with excellent comedic timing. Richard kind is hysterical in every situation he’s put into. Whether he’s having to pretend to be mentally unstable to cover up the mayor’s vacation or realizing that for years he was used by friends because he had a “hot mom” (played by Raquel Welch).

The guest stars, Raquel Welch, Meredith Baxter, Alyssa Milano, etc. all are blended seamlessly into the scripts. Rick, Kind, and Boatman play off each other brilliantly and there is no weak link in the cast. The scripts are well-written with each character getting camera time. T

Although season two ran during 1997-1998, the time span has no effect on the great writing and humor. Spin City: The Complete Second Season is a well-written and funny series and a great edition to any DVD collection.

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