Though he's had recurring roles on shows like "The Good Wife" and "Boston Legal," Michael J. Fox hasn't starred in a television show since he left "Spin City" in 2000. This Thursday, the 52-year-old actor returns to TV with "The Michael J. Fox Show," about a TV anchor who returns to work five years after his Parkinson's diagnosis.
"It's more [work] than I thought it would be, but I've handled it better than I thought I would," Fox told the "Today" show Wednesday. "It's what I do, it's what I have done for years, and it's what I enjoy doing."
Fox compared the struggles of his character, Mike Henry, with his own hesitation about working.
“The struggle with Mike on the show, and the struggle that I had, was that you want to go work,” he told NBC Bay Area. “You don't want to be a novelty. And I think Mike Henry avoids it, and I've avoided it.”
Though he's surprised by the media attention around his new show, Fox said he never "really" left the business.
It's pretty flattering that people give the attention and -- and that on some level, people are excited about it. It's funny, it is kind of weird to have been low-key for a few years ... but I never really went anywhere.
Though he hasn't let his disease -- one that affects the body's motor systems -- stop him from working, Fox said that it has changed the way he approaches acting.
“It’s changed the way I work. I can’t rely on a quick eyebrow lift or … express myself in a certain way facially," he said. "I just feel stuff more and so what comes out, I have less control over, but it tends to be more honest.”
"The Michael J. Fox" show airs this Thursday at 9 ET on NBC.
