Fat City
So much for those naysayers who predicted that ABC's Spin City would tank as soon as Michael J. Fox vacated the premises. With reformed bad boy Charlie Sheen anchoring the cast for the show's fifth season, the DreamWorks comedy is—hold on to your leopard skin rugs—actually improving on its numbers from last year. In each of its first five airings this season, City won its tough Wednesday night time period (opposite NBC's The West Wing) among 18 to 34 year olds. Suddenly, the curious decision to continue producing a sitcom conceived for a star who is no longer in it is starting to look pretty shrewd. DreamWorks mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg gleefully credits Sheen's instant chemistry with costar Heather Locklear for keeping the series spinning forward. "The core of the relationship between Charlie's character and Heather's character has allowed the show to be reinvented," Katzenberg believes, "so it now rightfully stands on its own two feet." And how does Mr. Fox (who has retained an executive consultant position on the sitcom) feel about his replacement's success? Says Katzenberg: "No one is more thrilled over this than Michael. Believe me."