THE MICHAEL J. FOX SHOW
A funny, family-centered sitcom with conservative jabs and secular limits.
Should You Watch It?
The first three episodes of The Michael J. Fox Show are funny, well-written, and well-acted. They follow a former New York City local news anchor with Parkinson’s Disease who returns to work after five years at home. His family is relieved to see him pursue something beyond micro-managing their lives, and the show finds comedy in their adjustments.
The series offers some inspiring moments and a loving, intact nuclear family. It also takes surprisingly sharp comic jabs at liberal political correctness, sex education, and obsequious attitudes toward homosexuality. Still, the humor includes sexual references, light profanity, alcohol use, and other off-color material. The show has no religious foundation.
If your family can use discernment with those elements, this is a worthwhile sitcom for older children, teenagers, and adults.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESMike Henry is a former New York City local news anchor whose Parkinson’s Disease led him to retire from television. After five years as a stay-at-home dad, he decides to return to the airwaves as a roving reporter.
The choice invigorates Mike but disrupts the family routine. As he begins his new job, Mike, his wife, and their children face comical complications involving work, parenting, friendships, and growing up.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is an especially entertaining sitcom. The first three episodes are funny, well-written, and well-acted, with witty wisecracks and comical bumps that the family works through with love and determination.
The show also benefits from Michael J. Fox’s return to a starring television role. Its most appealing quality is the warm, happy family at its center. Even when the series handles questionable material, it often uses the situation for comedy or to make a point.
The Worldview
The show presents a strong but secular moral worldview. It values perseverance, marriage, family loyalty, and a loving, intact nuclear family. Mike remains faithful to his wife when he is flattered by a beautiful neighbor’s attraction, and the series contrasts his happy married life with his boss’s promiscuous single life.
The program also pokes fun at permissive or politically correct attitudes. One joke questions whether distributing hundreds of free condoms to young people is prevention or pressure. Another story undercuts assumptions about a teenage girl’s alleged lesbian identity. These moments are presented as comedy rather than as a religious argument.
The weakness is that the show’s moral lessons are not rooted in Scripture. Mike and his wife reject the “because I said so” parenting style of their own parents, yet ultimately use that same approach when forbidding their daughter from photographing nude models. The show can recognize family values, but it does not ground those values in God’s character or the Bible.
Christian families may appreciate the series’ affection for marriage and family while remembering that biblical parenting goes beyond parental authority: “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Strong moral, but secular, worldview about a former New York City local news anchor who retired due to having Parkinson’s Disease and now has his work and family life turned upside down by his decision to return to the airwaves, plus America and some American and traditional, conservative values (including the nuclear family) are shown in a positive light, including the basic nuclear family, plus lesbian homosexual references in one show of three reviewed, but leftist political correctness, sex education and obsequious attitudes toward homosexuality are mocked; two or three light exclamatory profanities and an SOB and an “h” word over three episodes; some comic violence at times; some sexual references and innuendoes intended for comedy, such as, in one scene, the lead’s college-aged son and teenage daughter use condoms as water balloons they throw off the roof of their apartment building, but even that moment leads to a clever comment attacking school distribution of condoms, and husband is flattered that a pretty neighbor finds him attractive but he remains faithful to his wife; no visual nudity but some light jokes about using nude models in a community center art class in one episode; alcohol use; no smoking or drugs; and, some miscellaneous problematic content like selfishness and pride but often used for comic effect and even to impart some lessons.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Mike’s return to work changes the rhythm of his family’s life. How can a family pursue meaningful work while still loving and serving one another?
Philippians 2:3–4 · Colossians 3:23Mike remains faithful when he is flattered by another woman’s attention. What protects a marriage when temptation appears?
Proverbs 5:18–19 · Hebrews 13:4Mike and his wife struggle with how to set boundaries for their daughter. What is the difference between mere control and God-centered parenting?
Ephesians 6:4 · Proverbs 22:6The show mocks some forms of political correctness and permissiveness. How should Christians pursue truth while speaking with grace?
Ephesians 4:15 · Colossians 4:6The Final Word
The Michael J. Fox Show is a funny, well-acted sitcom with an unusually warm family at its center. Its off-color content and secular worldview require discernment, but older children, teenagers, and adults may find much to enjoy. Our answer is WORTH WATCHING — OLDER CHILDREN AND ADULTS.
