Fox will star in new sitcom

Michael J. Fox’s comic brilliance took him to the top of the television acting world back in the 1980s. Fox parlayed playing a stuffy yuppie in Family Ties into to a co-starring role in the Back to the Future cinema trilogy and seemed set for the life of a successful actor in both film and television.

But it didn’t turn out that way for Mr. Fox, a native of Burnaby, B.C.

In 1991, Mr. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He disclosed his condition to the public in 1999 and semi-retired from acting in 2000 as the symptoms of his disease became more severe. He played some guest roles on television but most of his energy has been directed toward his wife, Tracy Pollan, their four children and raising money for research into Parkinson’s disease.

His Michael J. Fox Foundation is the largest private funding source of Parkinson’s research, having raised more than $325 million over the past 10 years.

Now, Mr. Fox is returning to television full-time at the age of 52 with a sitcom entitled The Michael J. Fox Show. He will play a popular New York news anchor who left television years ago to deal with Parkinson’s disease and decides to return to work.

As Mr. Fox met the media over the weekend in Los Angeles to promote the show, one journalist tweeted, “Everybody’s worried about Michael J. Fox’s health and endurance except Michael J. Fox.

Mr. Fox concurred. Asked if he was nervous what he was first pitched the show, he replied, “What’s going to work for 22 minutes?”

Mr. Fox, who holds both Canadian and US citizenship, says the new show is giving him a new lease on life.

“I had a muscle that had atrophied and that i didn’t have any more,” he said. “I realized it would get progressively worse and I’d be in a bad situation. Or it would get strong as I used it more, and it would get easier. And that’s what happened.

“I feel great. I wake up more fresh every day and ready to go.”