TV Notes: Fox May Visit 'Spin City'

ByABC News
June 5, 2001, 12:48 PM

June 5 -- Michael J. Fox left Spin City to battle Parkinson's disease. Now he's "strongly" suggesting he'll do a guest spot on the ABC sitcom.

Fox, who played a deputy mayor on the show, was replaced by Charlie Sheen. Sheen's character not only has the same job, but the same girlfriend played by Heather Locklear.

"Boy, I'm saying more than I really should," Fox told Access Hollywood, "But if anybody saw the final episode, when [Sheen's character] walks into [Heather Locklear's] apartment, you don't see what he sees there, so "

Fox said on Live With Regis and Kelly that if his schedule permits, he's sure to do it. By the way, Fox remains an executive producer of Spin City so he can say whatever he wants.

In other Fox news, he lends his voice to the cartoon feature Atlantis.

Halloween Shooting May Haunt Police

The family of the TV actor accidentally shot to death at a Halloween party last year by the LAPD has hired lawyer Johnnie Cochran and is suing for unspecified damages.

Police claim they fired at Anthony Swain Lee in self defense, after Lee pointed a fake .357 magnum at an officer. But Cochran says that autopsies will prove otherwise.

Lee has appeared on ER and NYPD Blue. Friends say the prop gun was part of his costume and didn't know that the officer who fired his weapon, Tarriel Hopper, was a real policeman.

"There's one thing that I'd like to make very clear about why we're filing this lawsuit," says Lee's sister, Tina Lee-Vogt. "And it can be summed up in one word, and that word is accountability."

"My brother was not a fleeing felon," she says. "He was not a parolee at large. He was not a suspect with outstanding warrants."

Cochran says the evidence will destroy police claims of firing in self defense. "We had all these reports about how Mr. Lee had pointed the gun at the officer and taken a step toward the officer and words to that effect He was shot in the back."

Moreover

West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin missed a court hearing Monday to answer charges he tried to sneak cocaine, marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms onto an airplane. His lawyer said he was recovering from back surgery. Jason Priestley has made his first TV series commitment since leaving Beverly Hills 90210. He's has signed on with the FX channel to star in an ensemble drama pilot entitled Dope.