Feelin' good with Michael J. Fox

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 7, 2009 | by Scott D. Pierce Deseret News

For the ultimate in feel-good television, spend an hour with Michael J. Fox.

"I think I like it best when people call me an optimist," he says in the special "Michael J. Fox: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist" (9:02 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4).

If a disclaimer is necessary, the special is a companion to Fox's new book, "Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist." It's produced by Disney, which owns both ABC and Hyperion, which published the book.

But this doesn't feel like an infomercial. It's an hour with a guy who was one of America's most popular actors before he had to give that up (for the most part) because of his battle with Parkinson's disease.

While Fox is the focus of the hour, it's not all about him. It's about Fox investigating the whole concept of optimism.

He talks to Lance Armstrong, who overcame cancer to become a champion bicycle racer. He talks to Bonnie Hunt, who is one of those crazy Chicago Cubs fans who approaches each season with optimism despite the fact that it's been a century since their team won the World Series.

Fox goes golfing with Bill Murray, and he plays the guitar with musician Ben Harper.

And we see Fox on the set of "Rescue Me," where he had a recurring role as a guy confined to a wheelchair, with Denis Leary.

"Perfect casting, right?" Fox says. "Take a guy who can't stop moving and cast him as a guy who can't move."

(Fox has an astonishing sense of humor about his own disease, which he calls "the gift that keeps on taking.")

But "Adventures of an Incurable Optimist" is not just about the rich and famous. Fox introduces us to a guy who hands out free newspapers in New York. He visits a group of dairy farmers in Pennsylvania.

He talks to young, aspiring actors, both in this country and in India. He visits the kingdom of Bhutan, where his sense of optimism seems to be the norm.

And Fox talks to experts who are studying optimism itself -- is it genetic?

But some of the most touching moments come when he's talking with his wife.

"My wife, Tracy Pollan, makes anything seem possible, even when I'm impossible," he says.

"How nuts does this whole, like, living with this uber optimist drive you," he asks Pollan.

She laughs and says, "It can get a little irritating sometimes. It goes against my natural grain."

But he attributes much of his optimism to the support of Pollan, their four children and just about everyone else he encounters.

"Since of I'm not sure of the address to which to send my gratitude, I put it out there in everything I do," Fox says.

There's a touch of politics to "Adventures of an Incurable Optimist," but only a touch. Fox attends the inauguration of President Barack Obama and talks to people there about why they're feeling optimistic.

It won't be a real big surprise if Rush Limbaugh criticizes Fox for equating Obama with optimism. Don't forget, the radio host actually accused Fox of exaggerating his Parkinson's symptoms in commercials supporting three U.S. Senate candidates because of their support for stem-cell research. And Fox was critical of President George W. Bush's opposition to stem-cell research.

But "Adventures" is not about any of that. It's a touching, engaging hour that ought to make most of us realize that if Fox can look on the bright side of things despite his Parkinson's, why can't we?

"Twenty years in, it's slowed me down a bit. But it hasn't stopped me," he says.

E-mail: pierce@desnews.com