Anne Heche has signed to guest star in a multi-episode arc on The Michael J. Fox show series which will premiere with a one-hour program on September 26.
According to Entertainment Weekly , the blonde 44-year-old Six Days Seven Nights star has accepted the role of Susan Rodriguez-Jones, a news anchor at NBC 4, where Fox’s character Mike Henry has just returned to work after five years off the job. Henry, like Michael J. Fox himself, has Parkinson’s Disease but decides to go back on the job in front of the camera because “it was just too dangerous to stay home.”
NBC has reportedly described the Anne Heche role as a “sharp, savvy, and tough as nails” character embroiled in a professional rivalry with Fox. Apparently there’s a suspicious incident in their past working at an Orlando news station where she lost him accidentally-on-purpose in the Everglades. Hmm.
Anne Heche recently starred in the ill-fated NBC comedy Save Me about a woman who awoke from a near-death experience claiming that she can now talk to God. If that sounds like a snooze, well, what can I say?
It didn’t last long. Save Me debuted on May 23, ran seven episodes, and had its final show on June 13. In case you ever need to know for a Trivia or Jeopardy game, Betty White played God in the Save Me finale. Or says Anne Heche’s Twitter feed. I’m not completely convinced anyone else watched it enough to find out for sure.
But clearly NBC isn’t ready to give up on Anne Heche all that easily.
This is an official NBC trailer for The Michael J. Fox Show which was released in May. That’s before Heche was signed, but it will give you a flavor for what’s coming:
What do you think? Are The Michael J. Fox Show and Anne Heche going to be a good fit?
[Sharon Stone and Anne Heche photo by DFree / Shutterstock.com ]