When we last saw “Murphy Brown” in May 1998, the irascible Washington newswoman played by Candice Bergen had won her battle with cancer, crossed paths with idol Mike Wallace, who played himself, and got a final scoop in an interview with God, played by Alan King, in an anesthesia-fueled dream. The internet’s potential hadn’t been tapped and Facebook and Twitter were still years in the future.
Bergen, 72, and other members of the original cast make a triumphant return to the small screen in a 13-series reboot that premieres on CBS at 9:30 p.m. EDT Thursday, Sept. 27
The original series won 18 Emmy Awards, including five best actress awards to Bergen, in its 10-year, 245-episode run. The central character became a feminist icon and the show’s scripts provoked water-cooler debates across the country and even found their way into the fall 1992 presidential campaign when the fictional reporter took on then Vice President Dan Quayle, who in real life had said Murphy Brown’s character “mocked the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone” and said it helped fuel the “breakdown of family structure.”
More than 70 million viewers watched that show, the fifth season opener.
The reunion show hopes to rekindle some of the political fire of the original. It is retooled for “a world of cable news, social media, fake news and a very different cultural climate,” CBS said.
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Here are four things to know about the reboot:
The gang is (mostly) all here. Sadly, Phil has passed, but there’s a surprise. Several other members of the original cast will join Bergen in the show, whose premiere coincides with the debut of “Murphy Brown.” They include fictional broadcast colleagues Frank Fontana (Joe Regalbuto), Faith Ford (Corky Sherwood) and Miles Silverberg (Grant Shaud). Jim Dial (Charles Kimbrough) will come back in a reduced role; Kimbrough is 82 now.
Newcomers include Jake McDormand, who plays Murphy’s son, Avery, whose birth on the show caused Quayle’s thankfully pre-Twitter rant on the breakdown on the American family. He was only 6 when the original “Murphy Brown” ended in 1998. And, in a reflection of the real world of journalism today, Nik Dodani will join the team as social media wiz Pat.
Also new is six-time Emmy winner Tyne Daly — here’s the surprise. She will play Phyllis, Phil’s sister, and the new owner of his bar (Pat Corley, who played Phil, died in 2006). Adan Rocha plays Miguel, who works at the bar. He’s a college student and “Dreamer” who was born in Mexico, but came to the United States with his parents when he was a young child, so expect some real current events worked in the storyline.
Oh, whimper, Eldin, also will be absent.Robert Pastorelli, who played Murphy’s painter and sometimes nanny, died in 2004. But the cast will do a toast to him.
The first episode will leap right into the political fray. What, you doubted that? The first episode takes place on Nov. 8, 2016, the night Donald Trump was elected president, and then jumps to present day. Bergen took several barbs at Trump’ in a recent interview and said her fictional newsmagazine, “FYI,” is needed because of Trump’s victory, Politico reported.
“We had to do something,” Bergen she said of the current political crises. “Get the old gang together. Take on this crazy new world of alternative facts and fake news. It’s our civic duty, and besides, you missed us. You know you did.”
The reboot will address the #MeToo movement. What, you didn’t see this coming either? CBS’s “Murphy Brown” revival comes after the network’s CEO, Les Moonves, was forced out amid allegations of sexual abuse. The show’s creator, Diane English, said the show will address the movement in its fourth week in an episode titled “#MurphyToo.”
“I can tell you that in the writer’s room we have a great collection of people — men and women, gay and straight — who developed this episode,” English said during a Television Critics Association press tour. “I don’t think there is a woman out here who hasn’t had some experience with misogyny or misconduct. “It’s a powerful moment and we wanted to do it justice.”
It’s “Murphy in the Morning,” not in the primetime slot, and just guess the identity of the “Wolf” (read Fox) opposite her. On the original show, Murphy Brown hosted a primetown newsmagazine show, but in the reboot, she’s on the morning beat. Son Avery followed his mother with a career in broadcast journalism, but brings a liberal voice to the “Wolf Network,” a not so subtle fictional parallel of Fox News.
As McDormand explained it in a recent interview, Avery “had this kind of surrogate family with Corky and Frank and Miles teaching him everything he knows about journalistic integrity, and he is finally at the age where he’s gotten the opportunity to put all of those lessons into practice.”
Here’s a look at what’s ahead:
Photo: Candice Bergen attends the “Murphy Brown” panel during the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour at the the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, Aug. 5, 2018, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
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