Look it would have been hard to see one of the 'child actors' overtake you as top billing and become the real star of the show
With Michael J Fox, the show would have been cancelled after a couple of seasons
But Michael Gross has had his health all these years and look what Michael J Fox has had to go through
Michael Gross isn't blatantly jealous but you can see it when he's questioned about Michael J Fox
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Very good point...!
shareThis show was the complete incarnation of everything I hated that was happening in the 80's. The upsetting of society by pandering to kids allowing them all to believe that they knew as much or more than their parents, and could be rude and snide to them. I really hated this show ... that is, except for Justine Bateman who was totally beautiful. But I am curious as to why you would say Gross was jealous of Fox ... is there some source for this? I never heard that, and especially in any way that every other actor on the show would have felt upstaged by Fox.
shareI wouldn't say he is jealous and you are wrong that a child actor overtook top billing. The very first episode is all about Alex and from then on the show was mainly about Alex. Michael Gross knew this when the show started. It was never a secret. I think you are being overly dramatic.
shareFox was hardly a child when the show began. More like young adult--although he was young enough to play a teenager. This is common bc people actually under 18 cannot work a full day.
shareAnd yet in TV shows it is pretty common for a supporting character to outshine the "stars". Good Times, Happy Days, Family Matters to name three.
shareEsther Rolle hated Jimmy Walker
the mom from family matters hated Urkel.
Yep, they both hated how stupid characters derailed their shows but at the same time both of those shows probably wouldn't have lasted long without the stupid characters.
shareHis name was Steve Urkel
Stepon Ur-Keail was he was cool.
So many of the episodes of Family Matters were utter nonsense.
Like, I think the writers were on that stuff.
Alex had his hobbies but he never had a catch phrase. Fox was savvy enough to become more than a catch phrase even though he had not completed high school (at the time). He was able to do more than Alex P Keaton and very successfully. it was difficult for Henry Winkler--who did have a graduate degree to do movies.
Mr. Gross should count his blessings that he landed a role on a successful TV sitcom in the 80s. It's like winning the lottery. He's also lucky to have a costar who continued to star as Michael Keaton even though he could have opted out and pursued Hollywood movies Fulltime as Back to the Future elevated him to movie star status.
A lot shows were started with the intent of focusing on the older stars (usually the ones playing the parents) but then a younger actor becomes the fave of the audience. Same thing happened with Good Times (JJ), Family Matters (Urkel), Happy Days (Fonz), Valerie (Jason Bateman) and others.
It wouldn't surprise me if the older actors were told that the shows would be vehicles for them only to be pissed off later with the upstart gets all the attention.