The talk swirling around “The Michael J. Fox Show” since its September launch has been more about its ratings struggles than its quality.
It’s a discussion series co-creator/executive producer Sam Laybourne hopes to change, with seven episodes remaining in the NBC sitcom’s first season.
“The headline I want to get out there, and it’s the honest truth, is that I think we’ve really found our footing and the show has gotten markedly better,” Laybourne says. “You can sort of guess and figure out why a show doesn’t attract a bigger audience out of the gate — you can chalk that up to all sorts of scheduling and competition issues, and it takes time to figure out all the moving pieces.
“And the good news is that we’ve figured it out,” he says. “Around Thanksgiving, and our Christmas show [which featured Sting], we took a fairly drastic turn, quality-wise.
“And to have Anne Heche [in Thursday night’s episode] and Christopher Lloyd and, soon, Brooke Shields coming on as guest stars . . . Mike [Fox] is such a great counter-puncher and plays really well off big, fun characters and we’ve fully embraced that.”
The Thursday-night sitcom launched to high expectations. Not only did NBC give it a full-season order (22 episodes), sight unseen — which rarely ever happens — but it marked Fox’s first regular-series gig (not counting guest-starring roles) since “Spin City.” In “The Michael J. Fox Show,” he plays New York-based broadcaster Mike Henry, returning to work after retiring to spending time with his family (Betsy Brandt plays his wife; Juliette Goglia, Conor Romero and Jack Gore their three kids) and dealing with his Parkinson’s disease (with which Fox was diagnosed in 1991).
Slotted at 9:30 p.m., “The Michael J. Fox Show” struggled from Day One, averaging around 4.3 million viewers and a 1.3 in the “money” demo of adults 18-49.
(Those numbers have improved to 5.1 million viewers and a 1.7 when “Live +7” data — DVR viewership, etc. — is factored in. NBC has moved the show, for now, to 9 p.m., leading out of “Parks and Recreation.”)
“There were titanic expectations, understandably, and they were fair. Mike’s an icon, an amazing man and an amazing comic,” Laybourne says. “The expectations were through the roof, coupled with the 22-episode order. The story doesn’t become that the ratings aren’t good, it’s more, ‘Is the show going to survive?’
“We focused our energies on figuring out how to offer great content — what’s the DNA between Mike’s workplace and at home, for instance — so we’re there now, and it kills me that we’re in the shadow of that 22-episode order,” Laybourne says. “If you watch the show every week you’ll find it funny, warm and good for a family audience. It’s edgy and showcases Mike in an edgy way. I think we’ve found a great tone where it’s an aspect of what Mike goes through — which is sometimes mined for comedy and sometimes for reality and the challenges that poses. Mike’s illness is a substantial part of who he is but it doesn’t define him.
“I just wish more people were watching,” he says. “We’re in a really good place right now. The story that’s not being told, and the only story that’s going to save us and get people to watch is that, at the halfway point, we’ve tried to find ways to improve [the show],” he says. “The idea of a post-mortem — what-the-heck went wrong — that’s not my take on it. My take is we figured out what the show should be, it’s awesome and let’s keep this around. And I’m doing everything in my power to get that message out there.
“Mike deserves it — not in an entitled way, but people should be checking out his great work.”