Spin City: The Complete Second Season (2009, Shout Factory)
purchase from Amazon: DVD

By its second season, Spin City, ABC’s tightly written workplace sitcom starring Michael J. Fox, had worked out the kinks and developed into one of the finest ensemble comedies of the 1990s. With Fox acting as the center of the show, creators Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence and their crack staff of writers (along with series director Andy Cadiff), were now familiar enough with their talented cast that they were able to let their actors expand their characters and make them more fully realized. While Fox’s character of Deputy Mayor Michael Flaherty continued to woo and romance beautiful women (including Paula Marshall), the other characters’ personal lives were also explored to keep the audiences interested in every aspect of then show.

Once again playing off their strengths, the supporting cast of Spin City came into their own during season two. The rapport and comic timing between Michael Boatman as Carter Heywood, the liberal gay activist, and Alan Ruck as Stuart Bondek, the conservative, womanizing ass, clicked much better and the two of them, playing polar political and sexual opposites, became brilliant comic foils. Richard Kind, having perfected the goofy, dork role on Mad About You, continued to play this type of character to as Press Secretary Paul Lassiter, and in season two received a romantic interest in the strong and wonderful Faith Prince, playing his fiancée, Claudia. Of course, Barry Bostwick, with his mix of arrogance and ignorance continued to shine as the Mayor Randall Winston, and the second season also saw the introduction of Stacy, Mike’s new street smart secretary, played with sass by Jennifer Esposito. Rounding out the cast were Alexander Chaplin as the naïve James, Janelle Cooper as Victoria (now the mayor’s assistant) and Connie Britton (who would go on the great acclaim in television’s Friday Night Lights) as Nikki. (more…)