#35

Murphy Brown

Politics and the media. Murphy Brown was a show ahead of its time.

At the fictional news television newsmagazine program, FYI, investiagtive journalist Murphy Brown searched for the scoops and traversed the ups and downs of Washngton, D.C. with her crew of fellow reporters.

Murphy Brown, played by Candice Bergen, was one of the top sitcoms on CBS and was genuinely funny. It used current world politics to tell some remarkably hilarious stories.

When real world Vice President Dan Quayle made a remark about the fictional TV show Murphy Brown, the show took it into their fictional world and ran with it into a feud with the sitting VP. I would love to have seen what Murphy Brown would have done with Donald Trump (though he was mentioned during a 2017 revival of the shw that lasted one season).

As it is with many of these types of shows, the ensemble’s chemistry is what truly makes the show work. This is true for Murphy Brown as well as Candice Bergen was joined by Charles Kinbrough, Joe Regalbuto, Grant Shaud, Faith Ford, Pat Corley, Robert Pastorelli and eventually Lily Tomlin.

One of the running gags throughout the show was the inability for Murphy Brown to keep a secretary. The joke allowed a countless number of fun cameos over the 10+ seasons of the show.

The multiple Emmy winning show dealt with many issues outside of politics, including breast cancer, feminism, family and single mothers.