Michael Starr

Michael Starr

TV

Charles Grodin’s last-minute return to TV

When Charles Grodin says he was just cast as Michael J. Fox’s dad in “The Michael J. Fox Show” (opposite Candice Bergen as Fox’s sitcom mom), he means it. Literally. “I filmed my first day [this past] Monday and they asked me to do it last Thursday,” Grodin told me. “I really don’t understand [the timing] myself.” For Grodin, 78, it marks his first TV role since two early-career sitcom appearances. On the NBC comedy, he’ll play Steve Henry, the father of Fox’s Mike Henry, a former TV anchor who’s returning to the newsroom after time away to raise his family and deal with his Parkinson’s disease (the same disease which has plagued Fox for over 20 years). Bergen, 67, plays Beth — Steve’s wife (and Mike’s mother). “The most striking part is that I had never met Michael J. Fox until now,” Grodin says. ” I was certainly aware of him and he’s really quite inspiring. These are very long days [shooting the show] — and I’m healthy it seems to me — and then I look at this guy and it’s amazing.

“The best moment was at the end of our 14-hour day,” he said. “As we said goodbye, I said to Michael, ‘The next time we’re in a scene together, give me a couple of takes without doing the Parkinson’s thing,’ and the fact that he laughed — I took a chance with that — is quite something.” Grodin — who will continue his CBS Radio commentary — describes Steve Henry as a guy who accepts his son — no matter what his physical limitations. “He really pushes his son … as though he’s absolutely in top physical shape. He doesn’t make any concessions [to Mike] and he doesn’t want to,” Grodin said. “He’s a really ‘go-out-there-and-get-’em’ type of guy.” Grodin will be taping his scenes through this Thursday, in an episode revolving around the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s also not his first time working with Bergen, who Grodin hired for his 1974 movie “11 Harrow House,” co-starring Trevor Howard, John Gielgud and James Mason.

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Another Starr Report exclusive: Steve Harvey will kick off the second season of his daytime talk show this Monday, Sept. 16, by assembling 654 eligible singles at Chicago’s Navy Pier — recognized by Guinness World Records as “The Most Couples to Participate in a Dating Event in 12 Hours” (in case you were wondering). The singles will mix and mingle, meeting each other for the first time — hoping to meet a potential mate. Harvey — who scored solid ratings among women viewers in Season One — after making a conscious effort to target the demo (daytime’s biggest audience) — will feature Drs. Nancy Snyderman and Laura Berman on Tuesday’s show and Michael Buble on Thursday, Sept. 19 (3 p.m./Ch. 4).

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Now that Jimmy Kimmel has copped to master-minding the “Twerking girl on fire” video, which has amassed over 10 million hits on YouTube, I think it’s time to anoint him the late-night master of social media. Kimmel’s late-night colleague, Jimmy Fallon, has done a nice job posting his music parodies online — and they’re quite good — but Kimmel’s latest viral vieo is light years ahead of what Fallon has posted of late. Prepare yourself for their social media “battle” once Fallon takes over “Tonight” from Jay Leno.