September 17, 1996 – April 30, 2002
Spin City is an American sitcom television series that aired from September 17, 1996, to April 30, 2002, on ABC. Created by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence and produced by Ubu Productions, Lottery Hill Entertainment and DreamWorks Television, the show is set in a fictionalized version of the New York City mayor's office, and originally starred Michael J. Fox as Mike Flaherty, the Deputy Mayor of New York. Fox departed in 2000 at the conclusion of the fourth season due to symptoms of Parkinson's disease, and Charlie Sheen became the new lead as Charlie Crawford for the final two seasons.
Summary
The series presents a fictionalized version of the local government of New York City, and follows its mayor Randall Winston (Barry Bostwick) and his staff as they run the city, although the main person in charge is Deputy mayor Mike Flaherty (Fox). Mike is talented at his job, dealing with political spin and office chaos, but not so good at managing his personal life, which he neglects. Other members of staff at City Hall include press secretary Paul Lassiter (Richard Kind), the office snitch and a manipulative coward, who has a habit of being a troublemaker and is often kept in the dark about things; chief of staff Stuart Bondek (Alan Ruck), who thinks of himself as a lothario and is highly sexist; and head of minority affairs Carter Heywood (Michael Boatman), a gay black man with a suicidal dog named Rags. Also on the staff are speech writer James Hobert (Alexander Chaplin), who is weak-willed and gullible; Mike's secretary Janelle Cooper (Victoria Dillard), who is no-nonsense, pragmatic, and slightly apathetic towards the general chaos of her work; and accountant Nikki Faber (Connie Britton), who has a comically healthy relationship with her mother and often talks to her openly about sex and other taboo subjects. Janelle later becomes the mayor's secretary and Stacey Paterno (Jennifer Esposito) joins the show as Mike's secretary and Paul's nemesis. Together, this group helps run City Hall, improves the Mayor's image, and covers for his frequent mistakes—while sorting out their own personal issues.
The nature of Carter and Stuart's relationship became a running gag during the series. The two ended up becoming so close, their friendship was mocked by others, and their arguments sounded so much like husband and wife, a whole episode was dedicated to the notion that the two argued like a married couple. The two ended up meeting an older duo of best friends (one black and one white) who were virtual twins of Carter and Stuart in terms of personality; when it was discovered that the two older versions had become a couple, it ended up scaring Stuart quite a bit. For his part, Stuart tends to be very protective of his time with Carter, going so far as to be genuinely jealous when Carter spends more time with new campaign manager Caitlin (Heather Locklear). In spite of all the jokes and flirtations, they prove to be best friends willing to do anything for each other. This, too, was considered an important moment in television history, with essayist and poet Orville Lloyd Douglas noting, "I love the fact that the writers of Spin City explored the fact that gay men and heterosexual men can be friends. The straight man doesn't have to worry that the gay man might hit on him.