Williams and Fox back to what they do best

MICHAEL J. Fox in “The Michael J. Fox Show”

Returning TV stars Robin Williams and Michael J. Fox were unexpectedly pitted “against” each other when their new shows made their debut on the same time slot in September!

The winner of the “duel” for top ratings? Clearly, it was Williams’ “The Crazy Ones,” viewed by 15 million avid viewers while Fox’s sitcom, “The Michael J. Fox Show,” pulled in “only” a little over seven million fans.

Pop history

One reason that Williams was way ahead in the ratings is the fact that his new sitcom is only the second regular TV comedy series he’s done in his career. He first made his mark as a young entertainer way back in the 1970s with “Mork and Mindy,” in which he played an endearing extraterrestrial most believably.

Right after that hit debut, he was snapped up by the movies—and the rest is pop history.

So, it’s no wonder that many viewers were eager to support his belated TV comeback—and see how he now comes across as a mature comedian.

Kid for life

Truth to tell, while Williams may already be in his 60s, his antic comedy style suggests that, as a performer, he will remain a “kid” all his life. A prime exponent of “physical” and “unpredictable” comedy, Williams favors an impulsive, intuitive and larger-than-life style for making people laugh—unlike other comedians like Woody Allen, who are more cerebral in their “humor-mongering” approach.

In this regard, Williams is a direct descendant of one of the original “physical” comedians, zany Red Skeleton, who didn’t just crack jokes, he cracked viewers’ heads open with them!

‘Son and heir’

He was also goony and spastic and overacted like heck, but his fans weren’t turned off by his florid and loud exercises—instead, they loved him for those!

ROBIN Williams with Sarah Michelle Gellar in “The Crazy Ones”

His “son and heir” was Jerry Lewis, whose goony comedy style is best showcased in “The Nutty Professor.” Originally the slapstick sidekick of Dean Martin, Lewis eventually opted for solo stardom, and is revered in France as a great comedic artist, even as some critics in the United States scorn his “excesses.”

After Lewis comes Robin Williams, who similarly became a top comedy star, and he was followed by Jim Carrey, who’s also famous for his physical, improvisational and even occasionally “epileptic” comedy “seizures!”

Back to Michael J. Fox: While his new show was watched by only half as many as the viewers who patronized Williams’ first telecast, seven million isn’t a small number as TV ratings go, so his TV comeback can also be described as a relative success.

And, please remember that Fox is making it while  he’s still contending with the dire effects of Parkinson’s disease! So, the mere fact that he’s dared to do a regular TV show can be hailed as—an act of artistic fortitude, and even courage!

New audience

Which is why we hope that more viewers will support his show in the coming weeks. Whether you’re rooting for Fox or Williams, the key consideration is that both exceptional and experienced actor-comedians are again regaling televiewers on a weekly basis. Their younger costars are sure to learn a lot from working with them, and the veteran comedians themselves will in turn benefit from the challenge of updating their gleeful gambits for a new TV audience!