Murphy Brown’s back and hasn’t changed a bit. She may be older, retired, and hasn’t been on the air for years, but that hasn’t stopped her from calling things how she sees them.
We’re reintroduced to Murphy Brown (Candice Bergen), Frank Fontana (Joe Regalbuto), and Corky Sherwood (Faith Ford) at Phil’s bar where they meet after a women’s rally and reminisce about the old times. Murphy and company are worked up about President Donald Trump and want to get back into the television game. Conveniently, a cable news channel has been courting Murphy, providing the perfect opportunity to get the gang back together.
While the premise may turn off diehard Trump supporters, it’s perfectly in line with who Murphy Brown is as a character. She’s always been a liberal feminist, who takes on the male members of the establishment. Murphy Brown‘s revival may be opportunistic, but the revival works because the show’s philosophy and tenor capture the zeitgeist. This isn’t a 20-something year old woman railing against the patriarchy on Twitter. This is a woman who successfully took on Dan Quayle when he criticized single mothers. Of course, she’s going to have a say on the women’s march and Donald Trump’s treatment of women. If Murphy ignored politics or embraced ring wing policies, it wouldn’t ring true to her character.
As for the child Murphy raised as a single mother; he turned out fine. Avery Brown (Jake McDorman) is a respected journalist in his own right. The 28-year-old was praised for his 2016 election coverage, resulting in the Wolf Network giving him his own show. Since the Wolf Network is an obvious stand-in for Fox News, no one’s surprised when Murphy isn’t thrilled her son will be working for a network that is blatantly partisan and ignores facts. Adding more drama to the situation is the fact that Murphy and Avery will have shows in the same time slot on competing networks. Naturally, the intensely competitive Murphy passed on that trait to her son, so the duo welcomes the competition.
Murphy’s show, Murphy in the Morning, may be going against her son’s show and have it’s on camera team decided. However, it still needs a producer and Murphy wants Miles Silverberg (Grand Shaud) back on the team. There’s only one major issue: Mile’s mental health isn’t the greatest. When we meet Miles again, we find out that he left FYI for The View and then had a mental breakdown, which forced him to “go away for a while to a facility.” Considering Miles always seemed to be on the verge of a mental breakdown to begin with, this was the perfect way to show that Miles is older, but not necessarily more grounded. It also provides Murphy Brown with the opportunity to address his serious mental health issues just like the original show handled Murphy’s alcoholism. After a firm talking to from friends he wishes he could quit, Miles agrees to return to television as Murphy in the Morning‘s producer.
During Murphy in the Morning‘s development stage, Murphy needs a new secretary. She couldn’t keep a secretary for more than one episode before and that doesn’t show signs of changing. In a nice surprise, Hillary Clinton shows up to interview for the position. No, she’s not that Hillary Clinton. She spells her name with only one L. Yes, she knows she looks exactly like that Hillary Clinton. Hilary Clinton was also the secretary of a large organization. Once the shock that Hillary Clinton is on Murphy Brown wears off, the jokes become obvious. They’re still funny, but you also hope that the writer’s don’t rely on the “famous people making jokes about themselves as Murphy interviews them for her perpetually empty secretary position” as a crutch.
Unlike other cable shows, which regardless of political affiliation have been known to twist the facts, Murphy in the Morning promises to stick to the facts. Then in the first episode, she gets into a fictional feud with Donald Trump, which diminishes the original intention of the fictional cable show.
Of all the revivals on television, Murphy Brown is the best. I would even go as far to say that Murphy Brown is the best show to debut so far. It may be an old favorite, but the show manages to still be current. Because the show is and always has been so topical, it was never rerun to death and only the first season was available on DVD. Sure, you could find the occasional rerun on Nick@Nite early in the morning and now Antenna TV reruns the show, but the former was for a short period and the latter is because the revival reignited interest in Murphy Brown. The lack of reruns works in the shows favor because we never were given a chance to get sick of it, making the return that much more welcome.
Overall Rating: 10 out of 10
Murphy Brown airs Thursday nights on CBS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VezUa8P0TGA
