A Fan Theory Explains Why Alex P. Keaton Exists in Another Michael J. Fox Sitcom

When the writers of Spin City decided to name-drop Alex P. Keaton in the Season Four finale, they surely thought they were merely making a little joke. Enjoying a jape. It was the last episode for Michael J. Fox, who starred in the series as Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty until Parkinson’s disease left him unable to keep up with the show’s filming schedule and also played Alex P. Keaton in the ‘80s on the beloved NBC sitcom Family Ties. So they must have thought a winking reference to a meeting between Flaherty and a Republican junior senator from Ohio named Alex P. Keaton was a cute way to have some fun with his send-off. 

“What a stiff,” they remark as Flaherty about the Reaganite former teenager, tongues firmly in their smug little cheeks. 

They clearly didn’t realize their actions would rip both universes wide open.

Let’s think about this: How could Mike Flaherty and Alex P. Keaton, two identical men of the exact same age living in different parts of the country, exist at the same time? It’s not unheard of — there have been a handful of cases over the centuries of completely unrelated men who, by accident of genetics, happen to be indistinguishable. Some of them even end up with similar personalities, families and jobs. It’s pretty unlikely, though. What’s more, Mike isn’t the only doppelganger of a member of the Keaton family to appear on Spin City. Michael Gross, who played the liberal Keaton patriarch Steven, plays Mike’s therapist, who has an assistant named Mallory, which was the name of Alex’s sister. Tracy Pollan, Fox’s real-life wife, appears on both shows as his character’s love interest. Most unsettlingly, Meredith Baxter, who played Alex’s mother on Family Ties, appears on Spin City… as Mike’s mother.

Clearly, there’s some kind of glitch in the matrix of the Spin City/Family Ties universe. The suggestion of two identical women giving birth to two identical children has led some fans to speculate that Elyse Keaton and Macy Flaherty were twins separated at birth, increasing their chances of having lookalike children, though not by that much, and it wouldn’t explain why there are parallel versions of so many other Family Ties characters living in Spin City’s New York. 

The prevailing explanation is some kind of alternate universe situation, where the timeline splintered at some point, resulting in duplicates of the same people born in different places under different circumstances. If only we knew who it was who tore the fabric of time. 

Hint: Christopher Lloyd also appears on Spin City — as Mike’s mentor.