ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 29, 1996 TAG: 9610290036
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PATRICIA BRENNAN THE WASHINGTON POST
This time producer Gary David Goldberg has a winner. After a rough period during which two of his series failed - both of them based on periods of his own life - Goldberg is riding high with one of the season's more delightful series.
ABC's ``Spin City'' (Tuesday nights at 9:30 on WSET, Channel 13) is not only set in Goldberg's home town, New York, it also stars his good-luck charm, Michael J. Fox, as a political operative. Fox, the break-out star of ``Family Ties,'' and Goldberg shot to stardom in that series' seven seasons on NBC in the 1980s.
But in 1991, two years after ``Family Ties'' shut down, Goldberg put his heart into ``Brooklyn Bridge,'' a nostalgic series based on his own youth during the mid-50s, and had it broken.
A gentle half-hour drama with humor, the series ran into scheduling trouble. It aired first on Fridays, then Wednesdays, then Saturdays, and was often pre-empted during its run from September 1991 to August 1993.
Despite critical praise, with special kudos for Marion Ross, who played Grandmother Sophie, and a theme song by Marvin Hamlisch and Alan and Marilyn Bergman (sung by Art Garfunkel), CBS killed ``Brooklyn Bridge'' before all 35 episodes had aired.
Goldberg was crushed. ``I had my childhood canceled,'' he said.
Angry, he took himself out of the television business for a year, spending his time traveling and reading. Then he tried again last season with ``Champs,'' an ABC series about four middle-aged buddies from high school who, like Goldberg, still loved to play basketball. It got the ax early, although unaired episodes turned up last summer opposite NBC's Olympics coverage.
Both series suffered fates he thinks they didn't deserve.
``I don't know what happened to `Champs,''' he said recently. ``It was DOA. In a way, that was the reverse of what happened with `Spin City.' ABC decided we would be a successful show and put all their energy and professional efforts behind it. You try to live long enough to get that.''
But his experiences with the first two shows made him wonder if he would ever get there again.
He has, and this time everything's clicking. ``Spin City'' was the only fall series that the ad agency Leo Burnett Co.'s survey rated A, Goldberg said.
``The reviews were almost stunningly good,'' he said. ``The ratings are great. We're getting the hard-to-reach, college-age viewer. It's really smartly written and well acted. Mike is an extraordinarily gifted actor. And the episodes are even getting better.
``We have a Donald Trump character that we're introducing, someone from the private sector. We may add some people - a rival at work for Flaherty [Fox's character]. And more shots of the city.''
It also took more to make ``Spin City'' a hit than simply putting Goldberg behind the camera, Fox in front of it and letting the ``Family Ties'' magic happen.
``There's a lot to `Spin City.' It certainly is an edgier show, a sexier show [than `Family Ties'],'' Goldberg said. ``This is on at 9:30, and it's a different game. We're still learning about what our show is, trying to figure it out ourselves.''
The show focuses on Fox as workaholic Michael T. Flaherty, the deputy mayor of New York, whose girlfriend, Ashley (Carla Gugino), is a newspaper reporter covering City Hall. Sometimes they gaze at one another longingly in the hallways or at press briefings. But when they're alone back at their apartment, it's fun and games for the reporter and her best source.
Barry Bostwick plays Mayor Randall Winston, who needs Flaherty because he has a tendency to, well, step in it. Richard Kind is the mayor's press secretary, always out of the loop, thanks to super-controller Flaherty. Alan Ruck is Flaherty's assistant, who thinks he deserves Flaherty's job.
Michael Boatman plays a gay activist who is the mayor's special assistant for minority affairs; Connie Britton is the mayor's number-cruncher; Taylor Stanley is the wide-eyed college intern; and Deborah Rush plays Winston's wife, Helen.
The cast's only true New York natives are Alexander Gaberman, who plays the mayor's idealistic young speechwriter from the Midwest; and Victoria Dillard, as the receptionist.
Oh, and there's one other facet of ``Spin City'': It's also the return of the little guy, the hero in a slightly scaled-down mode.
At 5-foot-5, Fox's Flaherty is a lot like an assertive terrier that cares nothing about size. Surrounded by tall men (Bostwick is 6-4, Kind is 6-2, Boatman and Ruck are both 6 feet), Flaherty knows that he's still manager of the mayor's team.
LENGTH: Medium: 85 linesby CNB