After weeks of hype, I looked forward
to seeing two characters with disabilities in prime time this fall in Ironside and The Michael J. Fox Show. After seeing each pilot episode, I thought
the drama far outdid the comedy. It wasn’t that the police show dazzled, but
the situation comedy came up small.
Ironside’s
premier was pretty good despite some questionable accessibility issues. The main character, whose name gives
the show its title, seems to have a lot of people to do the leg work—no pun
intended, I swear—for him, and I’m not sure how well that will play out. He
seemed to get around the city a little too easily, and the one scene where he
saw a gun under a sofa cushion because of his eye level being in a wheelchair was
totally overplayed. Overall though, the character seemed very strong and the
focus on the typical crime drama story, which carries every TV lineup these
days, will hopefully keep the show on the air long enough for the character to
develop. It was also good to see the character involved with a woman without
any doubt that they are having sex.
Maybe my expectations for the Fox show were too high, but
it had a weak start. Bottom line, the comedy just wasn’t funny. I kind of
excused the pilot because there was a need to introduce the character and his
Parkinson’s disease. There were some fairly predictable cracks about the
disability, but nothing that deserved more than a guffaw.
NBC ran two episodes of the show on its first night, and
the second one was where disappointment started to settle in. Not only wasn’t
it offering any real laughs, the premise was downright awkward. The Fox
character, whose married with two children, became infatuated with the new
upstairs neighbor. It may sound hypocritical after what I said about Ironside,
but the awkwardness had nothing to do with the disability. The adulation
eventually played out right in front of his wife. I’m never big on the word dude. In fact, I only know one person
who can use it and not sound like an idiot. But it was the ultimate dude moment—as in, “Dude, you’re wife is right there. What the hell are ya doing?”
I really do hope Fox
bounces back with a strong episode this week. We need good, realistic
characters with disabilities in prime time. It’s a little disappointing to me
that both characters became disabled later in life as opposed to being born
with a disability. I think the two experiences have some major differences, and
I hope to see the latter eventually appear on television. It’s not that I have
any problem with the former, and those stories certainly need to be told as
well.
But I’m glad to see these two characters on the air and
hope they last awhile. My guess is Ironside
has a better chance of making that happen based on what I’ve seen so far on.
