1 link 14 May 2013

[sasha_feather]

Think Progress: In "The Michael J. Fox Show" and "Ironside", NBC bets big on Characters with Physical Limitations

The network is remaking Ironside, a show about a detective who uses a wheelchair after he’s shot in the line of duty that ran on NBC for eight seasons between 1967 and 1975. And it’ll be airing The Michael J. Fox show, a sitcom featuring the titular comedian, who did seven years on NBC with Family Ties, which ran from 1982 to 1989, as a news anchor who returns to work despite the way his Parkinson’s Disease, from which Fox suffers in real life. In other words, NBC is putting two shows on air that feature characters with physical limitations, moving a kind of character who’s often relegated to supporting roles—and who’s often there to illustrate the goodness of or provide moral tests to fully able-bodied characters—to the center of the frame. And from the trailers, it looks like both Ironside and The Michael J. Fox show won’t shy away from discussing their characters’ physical limitations, and other people’s reactions to them, directly.

Comments

[jadelennox]

And thye're actually castin Michael J. Fox! And not Ryan Gosling faking a stutter and a tremor!

Flying effing pigs, man.

[sasha_feather]

Right?? :D

[meloukhia]

Yeah, I am SO excited about this. A disabled person playing a disabled character, with the same disability! I wish it didn't have to be a vanity project to get this kind of casting.

Sad/frustrated that Ironside isn't getting the same treatment. *sigh* And some of the media coverage of the show is...AGH. Let's just say that if I see the words 'confined to a wheelchair' one more time, I'm going to start punching holes in the walls.

[gehayi]

I remember the old Ironside. It sounds like this version is just as badass as he was. (I don't particularly mind the trope that insists on showing disabled people living full lives; there are so many idiots who are convinced that's impossible that I think it helps to show them.) And I'm really glad to see Michael J. Fox playing someone with the same disability that he has. That is HUGE.

[perfectworry]

Especially after the fake out with John's limp in Sherlock, I'm extra excited for Ironside.

[jesse_the_k]

I loved Ironside when I was a kid. I don't remember much "life with disability" info in it, but I loved that they traveled around in tippy laundry van (aka panel truck or milk delivery lorry). Criminals would never suspect they were the police.

The last two years of Ironside, there was some competition in the able-boded actor playing disabled detective business: Longstreet, who was blinded on the job and came back to get revenge on the person who'd killed his wife. Didn't last long. They did a lot of "this is how it's done" in that show.

In any case, it's annoying as hell that they're still casting nondisabled actors for disabled roles. Robert David Hall, to name one, could do a bang up job as Ironside. The casting directors continue to shrug and say, "Not possible." The disabled actors search for work that doesn't mind their disabilities. Will the twain every &^%$$ meet?