NBC Entertainment Chair Robert Greenblatt confirmed that the network's new Michael J. Fox show, pitched to them by the actor with Parkinson's disease, has started production.

NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke says the show is inspired by Fox's real life. He'll play a dad and husband who grapples with a disease along the lines of Parkinson's. Fox will be a newscaster, not an actor, in the series.

Fox's character will have recently stepped down from his job but will be trying to get back in the game thanks to a new medication that helps him better control the symptoms of his disease.

"He laughs at himself and his kids joke about him," Salke said.

The show is shooting in New York and is written by Sam Laybourne ("Cougar Town").