It looks like Alex P. Keaton might be making a television comeback! Well not exactly, but Michael J. Fox is attached to star in a new series with writer Sam Laybourne (Cougar Town) and producer Will Gluck that is currently being pitched to major networks and would premiere in fall 2013. Fox has not starred in a series since the end of Spin City in 2002, and it's been even longer since he portrayed an endearing (and sometimes annoying) young conservative in Family Ties. I must say that I'm hoping this new series is somewhat of a 21st century rendition of Family Ties because the nostalgia alone would prompt me to watch!
It's been way too long since I've seen my other friends. And by friends I mean the stars from my beloved '80s and '90s sitcoms that I used to pretend were my actual friends... (I'm normal! I swear!) When shows like Full House and Friends finally came to an end, a part of me was inconsolable for a while. Of course I bought the complete series DVD box sets but it was never quite the same as looking forward to a brand new primetime episode every week.
I have tried to take solace in the fact that a few of my favorite former sitcom stars have made comebacks over the years. I love Matt LeBlanc in Showtime's Episodes (which ironically is about re-making a comedy series), and I can't wait for Go On with Matthew Perry to premiere this fall. Now if we could just convince Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, and David Schwimmer to all star in their own new shows I would be content!
I can also find remedy for my withdrawal by watching Neil Patrick Harris, a.k.a. N.P.H., aka Doogie Howser, as the Armani suit-clad man whore Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother, which he has been successfully doing for eight seasons now. And I thoroughly enjoy watching Mayim Bialik, who was once never seen without a flowered hat on her head in Blossom, play the ever so literal Amy Farrah Fowler on The Big Bang Theory. Still, there seems to be a sitcom void inside of me that remains unfulfilled.
I really think it is time for someone from Full House to make a full-fledged television comeback. Sure John Stamos tried it back in 2005 with the short-lived Jake in Progress, and he's had stints on a variety of shows such as Glee and ER, but I think it's time for Uncle Jesse to star in his own show again. Or perhaps Bob Saget? Who wouldn't want to watch Bob Saget teach us how to be upstanding, moral individuals again, and stay away from boys in vans? I'm sure we could all use a refresher course!
Maybe what I'm really missing is some good old-fashioned '90s teen heartthrobs. Hello, Jonathan Taylor Thomas! Where have you been since Home Improvement and why don't you have your own show by now where you are required to take off your shirt at least once an episode? Or remember Leonardo DiCaprio as Luke Brower from Growing Pains? I mean, what the heck has he been up to these days? Okay fine, he can be the exception (and the inception!).
But seriously folks, I think Michael J. Fox is setting a great trend! Wouldn't it be amazing if all of our favorite former sitcom stars came back with their own shows? I would be in TV heaven! I think we should re-invent '80s and '90s family sitcoms in 2012. What other former TV stars should make comebacks this year?