It’s Official!
Shout! Factory has released an official press release for Spin City Season 1
Spin City Season 1 Art - click to enlarge
For Immediate Release
Starring Primetime Emmy® and Three-time Golden Globe® Winner Michael J. Fox, Barry Bostwick, Carla Gugino, Richard Kind, Alan Ruck, Michael Boatman, Connie Britton, Alexander Chaplin
SPIN CITY
THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
A Collectible 4-DVD Box Set Packed with All 24 Addictive Episodes
Featuring All-New Interviews with Michael J. Fox, Cast & Show Creators and more!
DEBUTS ON DVD November 4, 2008
from Shout! Factory
Los Angeles, CA - Step inside the inner sanctum of one of the most sharp-witted and funniest political machines ever. Meet Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty and the quirky City Hall staff members from Spin City as they expertly spin their gaffe-prone Mayor Randall Winston and the City out of daily near-misses. From dealing with the Mayor’s problematic wife to catching a nudist roaming inside the City Hall to losing a deceased police dog just hours before the wake, this idiosyncratic office family goes the distance in this popular ensemble television comedy.
The critically acclaimed and award-winning television series Spin City draws back the curtain of this dysfunctional City Hall in the biggest city in America and provides a smart and comic take on how much it takes to keep the well-meaning but bumbling Mayor looking good. Season One of Spin City boasts a pedigreed ensemble cast including Michael J. Fox, Carla Gugino (Chicago Hope, Karen Sisco), Barry Bostwick (Law & Order: SVU), Richard Kind (Mad About You, Scrubs), Alan Ruck (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), Michael Boatman (Law & Order), Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights), and Alexander Chaplin (Scrubs), alongside notable guest stars Stephen Colbert, Jennifer Garner, Woody Harrelson, Marlee Matlin, Gretchen Mol, Amanda Peet, Luke Perry, George Stephanopoulos, Courtney Thorne-Smith, George Wendt, among others.
Marking 12 years after Spin City’s initial premiere on network television, Shout! Factory will release Spin City: The Complete First Season DVD box set on November 4, 2008. Season One of the series is available for the first time ever in this 4-DVD box set containing all 24 acclaimed episodes, all-new interviews with Michael J. Fox, the series creators and the ensemble cast, 7 episode commentaries and Highlights of The Paley Center for Media Seminar featuring Gary David Goldberg and Michael J. Fox in 1996. The collectible Spin City: The Complete First Season DVD box set is priced to own at $39.99.
Spin City is a smart, sophisticated sitcom about the behind-the-scenes workings of a fictional NYC based City Hall. Workaholic Mike Flaherty (Michael J. Fox) is the Deputy Mayor of New York City, serving as Mayor Randall Winston’s (Barry Bostwick) key strategist and much-needed handler. Mike runs the city with the help of his oddball staff: an anxious and insecure press secretary (Richard Kind); a sexist, boorish chief of staff (Alan Ruck); an impeccably groomed gay activist running minority affairs (Michael Boatman); a sharp and efficient, man-crazy accountant (Connie Britton); and an idealistic young speechwriter (Alexander Chaplin). Like Mike, they are all professionally capable but personally challenged.
Created by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence, executive produced by Michael J. Fox and Gary David Goldberg, and produced by UBU Productions in association with Dreamworks Television, Spin City debuted on ABC on September 17, 1996 and received extraordinary receptions from the critics and viewers. The series reunited Fox and Family Ties executive producer and creator Gary David Goldberg and proved that the magic of their creative partnership was enduring.
About Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is a diversified entertainment company devoted to producing, uncovering and revitalizing the very best of pop culture. Founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos have spent their careers sharing their music, television and film faves with discerning consumers the world over. Shout! Factory’s DVD offerings serve up classic, contemporary and cult TV series, riveting sports programs, live music, animation and documentaries in lavish packages crammed with extras. The company’s audio catalogue boasts GRAMMY®-nominated boxed sets, new releases from storied artists, lovingly assembled album reissues and indispensable “best of” compilations. These riches are the result of a creative acquisitions mandate that has established the company as a hotbed of cultural preservation and commercial reinvention. Shout! Factory is based in Santa Monica, California. For more on Shout! Factory, visit www.shoutfactory.com.
Click the image to enlarge.
Here Comes Steven’s Beard!
Season two was still sometimes hokey, but the writing was noticeably better. The characters were fleshed out enough for the writers to really start to work with, manipulate and milk for all the laughs they were worth.
The season one DVD set was rather disappointing. Some scenes were cut because of music rights – and one was completely unnecessary, the music could have been replaced – and there were absolutely no extra features. The menus looked like they were designed during the early days of DVD production and the print quality of the episodes was adequate, but not great.
The thirty minute documentary The Making of Family Ties started out with all those stories we’ve heard since the mid-80’s. You know the ones – how Gary David Goldberg, the creator of the show, didn’t want Michael J. Fox at first, but was convinced by the casting director; how Justine Bateman had never acted before this show, blah blah blah. However, once they get past the old, known stories, there is some new, interesting information told by Gary David Goldberg, Michael J. Fox, Michael Gross and Tina Yothers in footage shot specifically for this DVD set. Intercut with the interviews are clips from the show and bloopers from the shooting of several episodes. The only thing missing that would have made it even better were interviews with Meredith Baxter and Justine Bateman.
