
Michael J. Fox to guest star on next season of 'Shrinking'
Michael J. Fox is returning to his roots.
The five-time Emmy Award winner will guest star in the third season of the Apple TV+ series 'Shrinking.'
The streaming service and the actor shared a collaborative Instagram post with the news Thursday.
'Big feelings incoming. Michael J. Fox joins the Shrinking cast as a guest star in season 3,' the caption reads. 'Shrinking Season 2 — Now Streaming.'
There are no details on what role Fox will play.
In 'Shrinking,' Harrison Ford plays a therapist who, it's disclosed at the end of the first season, has Parkinson's disease, the same disease Fox revealed in 1998 he had. Fox recently partnered with Apple TV+ on the 2023 Emmy-winning documentary 'Still,' which chronicled his life and history with Parkinson's.
'Shrinking' will reunite Fox with co-creator and executive producer Bill Lawrence, who co-created the sitcom 'Spin City,' which Fox starred in before leaving the series and retiring from full-time acting in 2000 to instead focus on his foundation. Fox won his fourth Emmy Award for 'Spin City' after he won three for 'Family Ties.'
Fox made many more appearances on the small screen over the years, even winning another Emmy for his guest role on the FX series 'Rescue Me' in 2009. He would earn another five Emmy nominations for his work on the CBS drama 'The Good Wife.' Fox also appeared on 'Designated Survivor,' 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and 'Boston Legal,' and he starred in his own short-lived series, 'The Michael J. Fox Show.'
'Shrinking' will be Fox's first on-screen TV acting role since he appeared on 'The Good Wife' spinoff, 'The Good Fight,' in 2020.
That same year, Fox revealed he planned to retire from acting for a second time.
'The nascent diminishment in my ability to download words and repeat them verbatim is just the latest ripple in the pond,' he wrote in his memoir 'No Time Like the Future.'
'There are reasons for my lapses in memorization — be they age, cognitive issues with the disease, distraction from the constant sensations of Parkinson's, or lack of sensation because of the spine — but I read it as a message, an indicator,' he wrote.
'There is a time for everything, and my time of putting in a twelve-hour workday, and memorizing seven pages of dialogue, is best behind me,' he continued. 'At least for now.'
Fox also poked some fun at the challenges acting presented to him, although he didn't necessarily close the door on returning to his trade.
'In fairness to myself and to producers, directors, editors, and poor beleaguered script supervisors, not to mention actors who enjoy a little pace, I enter a second retirement,' he wrote.
'That could change, because everything changes. But if this is the end of my acting career, so be it.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


NBC News
21 minutes ago
- NBC News
Loretta Swit dies at age 87
Emmy Award-winner Loretta Swit, best known for her role as Major Margaret "Hotlips" Houlihan on the hit series "M*A*S*H*", died in New York City at age 31, 2025


NBC News
3 hours ago
- NBC News
Alf Clausen, Emmy-winning composer for ‘The Simpsons,' dies at 84
LOS ANGELES — Alf Clausen, the Emmy-winning composer whose music provided essential accompaniment for the animated antics of 'The Simpsons' for 27 years, has died. His daughter Kaarin Clausen told The Associated Press that Alf Clausen died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles after struggling with Parkinson's disease for about a decade. He was 84. Clausen, who also scored TV series including 'Moonlighting' and 'Alf' ('no relation,' he used to joke) was nominated for 30 Emmy Awards, 21 of them for 'The Simpsons.' He won twice. Al Jean, an early 'Simpsons' writer who was one of the key creative figures on the show in the 1990s, said in a post on X Friday that 'Clausen was an incredibly talented man who did so much for The Simpsons.' Danny Elfman wrote the show's theme song, but Clausen joined the Fox animated series created by Matt Groening in 1990 and provided essentially all of its music until 2017, composing nearly 600 scores and conducting the 35-piece orchestra that played it in the studio His colleagues said his music was a key component of the show's comedy, but Clausen believed the best way to back up the gags of Homer, Marge Bart and Lisa was by making the music as straight as possible. 'This is a dream job for a composer,' Clausen told Variety, which first reported his death, in 1998. 'Matt Groening said to me very early on, 'We're not a cartoon. We're a drama where the characters are drawn. I want you to score it like a drama.' I score the emotions of the characters as opposed to specific action hits on the screen.' Groening, in a 1996 interview, called him 'one of the unacknowledged treasures of the show.' Clausen was born in Minneapolis and raised in Jamestown, North Dakota. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 1966, and moved to Los Angeles seeking a career in music. In the 1970s he was a musical director on several TV variety shows including 'Donny & Marie.' Clausen worked as an orchestrator for composer Lee Holdridge in his scores for 1980s films including 'Splash' and 'The Beastmaster.' It was Holdridge who first got the composing job on 'Moonlighting,' the late-80s ABC rom-com detective series starring Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd, but he handed the gig off to Clausen, who would get six Emmy nominations for his music on it. Clausen won his Emmys for 'The Simpsons' in 1997 and 1998. He also won five Annie Awards, which honor work in animation in film and television. He was fired from 'The Simpsons' in a cost-cutting move in 2017, to the outrage of his collaborators and fans. He sued over his dismissal.


Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Colin Farrell looks smart in a navy blue suit as he films for season two of Apple TV series Sugar in Los Angeles
Colin Farrell looked smart as he filmed scenes for season two of his Apple TV series Sugar in Los Angeles on Friday. The Irish actor, 48, who stars as lead character John Sugar in the neo-noir mystery drama, wore a navy blue suit as he got in character. He completed his look with a black tie and added a pair of brown leather dress shoes. Colin shielded his eyes with a pair of square-framed sunglasses and was seen chatting with other members of the cast. The series follows private investigator John as he investigates the disappearance of a wealthy movie producer's granddaughter. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. It comes after Colin revealed the reason behind his decision to place his adult disabled son into care - explaining that he wants to ensure his son's care is properly managed while he and his ex-partner are still alive, and to provide him with a strong sense of community. The actor previously explained how son James, 21, was heartbreakingly misdiagnosed with cerebral palsy before doctors eventually confirmed he was suffering from Angelman syndrome. Angelman syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that primarily affects the nervous system, causes severe physical and intellectual disability. Speaking to Candis Magazine, Colin revealed he and his ex Kim Bordenave have made a decision and plan to settle James into a long-term care facility. He said: 'It's tricky, some parents will say: "I want to take care of my child myself." And I respect that. 'But my horror would be... What if I have a heart attack tomorrow, and, God forbid, James' mother, Kim, has a car crash and she's taken too – and then James is on his own? 'Then he's a ward of the state and he goes where? We'd have no say in it.' He and Kim are hoping to 'find somewhere we like where he can go now, while we're still alive and healthy, that we can go and visit, and we can take him out sometimes'. Colin continued: 'We want him to find somewhere where he can have a full and happy life, where he feels connected.' WHAT IS CEREBRAL PALSY? Cerebral palsy is the name for a set of conditions affecting movement and co-ordination stemming from a problem with the brain that takes place before, during or soon after birth. Symptoms are not typically obvious immediately after a child is born — but instead normally become noticeable after two or three years. They include delays in reaching development milestones, such as: not sitting by eight months; not walking by 18 months; appearing too stiff or too floppy; walking on tip-toes; weak arms or legs; fidgety, jerky or clumsy movements; random, uncontrolled movements; Difficulty speaking, swallowing or seeing — along with learning difficulties — can also be symptoms. Cerebral palsy symptoms can be caused by a number of things and are not necessarily an indication of the condition, which can occur if a child's brain does not develop normally while in the womb, or is damaged during or soon after birth. Causes include bleeding in the baby's brain, reduced blood and oxygen supply, infection caught by the mother while pregnant, asphyxiation during a difficult birth, meningitis or a serious head injury - though the precise cause is often not clear. There is no cure currently, but physiotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and medication are often used as treatment. Each person living with the condition is affected in a different way, but generally speaking most children live into adult life and some can live for many decades. The Phone Booth actor previously discussed his first-born son's condition and said medical advice was sought after James missed developmental milestones and struggled to sit up or crawl as a baby. Colin explained how many sufferers of the rare syndrome are often misdiagnosed with cerebral palsy due to both conditions having similar symptoms. He told People: '[James] couldn't sit up. He wasn't crawling. I think he was a year and a half when we took him to get really checked out, and he was diagnosed as having cerebral palsy.' Cerebral palsy is the name for a set of conditions affecting movement and co-ordination stemming from a problem with the brain that takes place before, during or soon after birth. Difficulty speaking, swallowing or seeing — along with learning difficulties — can also be symptoms. Colin said: 'It was a common misdiagnosis, because it shared a lot of the same characteristics. And that was a downer for sure.' The Oscar nominee revealed that, when James was only about two and a half years old, a pediatric neurologist suggested he be tested for Angelman syndrome. Recalling the moment he received the diagnosis, he shared: 'I remember the first two questions I asked were, "What's the life expectancy and how much pain is involved?" 'And the doctor said, "Life expectancy, as far as we can tell, is the same for you and for me, and pain, no."' A doctor had noticed an unusual symptom that prompted him to test for Angelman syndrome. Colin explained: 'One of the characteristics of Angelman syndrome is outbreaks of laughter. And the doctor saw that James was laughing a lot and doing this movement [he waves his hands],' the father-of-two shared. Angelman syndrome is also characterized by seizures, which Colin - who also shares son Henry Tadeusz, 15, with Polish actress Alicja Bachleda-Curus, 41 - said is 'one of the things that parents struggle with greatly'. He added: 'Thankfully, James hasn't had a breakthrough seizure now in about 10 or 11 years, but I've been in the back of ambulances, I've been in the hospital with him. 'I've done Diastat [a sedative] up his rectum to get him out of a seizure that lasted longer than three minutes. Finding the right amount of medication that doesn't have adverse effects — that's all very tricky business.' The actor is now launching the Colin Farrell Foundation to provide support, education, and advocacy for adults with intellectual disabilities. 'This is the first time I've spoken about it, and obviously the only reason I'm speaking is I can't ask James if he wants to do this,' he said. The proud dad stated that his eldest son 'has worked so hard all his life, so hard'. He said: 'Repetition, repetition, balance, his jerky gait. When he started feeding himself for the first time, his face looks like a Jackson Pollock by the end of it. But he gets it in, he feeds himself beautifully. I'm proud of him every day, because I just think he's magic.' Colin also described watching his son take his first steps just before his fourth birthday. Detailing the 'profound' moment to People, Colin said: 'I knew they [James's carers] were working on walking. And I stood over there, and she let him go, and he just came to [me]. He shares his younger son Henry with Ondine co-star, Polish actress Alicja Bachleda-Curus (pictured, in 2010) whom he dated from from approximately late 2008 to early 2010 'It was so profound. It was magic. 'I'll never forget just the face of determination on him as he walked toward me. He took, like, six steps, and I burst into tears.' James's condition is severe enough that he is nonverbal and requires the help of a live-in caregiver to accomplish his day-to-day tasks. When James was four, Colin went public with his Angelman Syndrome, saying his son had demonstrated 'amazing courage' in the face of his condition. Shortly before James turned 18, Colin and Kim filed to obtain a conservatorship of him, noting he still needed help with tasks like getting dressed and making meals. He later went on to reveal that he and James's mother make sure to share in the smallest victories and enjoy the milestones whatever age they happen - including James's first words aged six, being able to feed himself at 19, and getting his seizures under control. Colin has maintained a very private life and has not spoken about his son in great detail until recently, although he told InStyle he first decided to 'talk publicly about the pride and joy I had in our son' while attending the 2007 Special Olympics. He said: 'He has enriched my life, but I don't want to minimize the trials that so many families go through; the fear, consternation, frustration, and pain... When you're the parent of a child with special needs, it's important to feel that you're not alone.' Discussing being a parent to a child with disabilities, the Hollywood star said that James was the main reason he was able to get sober. Colin and James's mother Kim dated from 2001 to 2003. He later had Henry with his Ondine co-star Alicja, whom he dated from from approximately late 2008 to early 2010. What is Angelman syndrome? Angelman syndrome is a genetic condition that affects the nervous system and causes severe physical and learning disabilities. A person with Angelman syndrome will have a near-normal life expectancy, but they will need support throughout their life. Characteristics of Angelman syndrome A child with Angelman syndrome will begin to show signs of delayed development at around six to 12 months of age, such as being unable to sit unsupported or make babbling noises. Later, they may not speak at all, or may only be able to say a few words. However, most children with Angelman syndrome will be able to communicate using gestures, signs or other systems. The movement of a child with Angelman syndrome will also be affected. They may have difficulty walking because of issues with balance and co-ordination (ataxia). Their arms may tremble or make jerky movements, and their legs may be stiff. Several distinctive behaviours are associated with Angelman syndrome. These include: * frequent laughter and smiling, often with little stimulus * being easily excitable, often flapping the hands * being restless (hyperactive) * having a short attention span * trouble sleeping and needing less sleep than other children