Murphy Brown (1988–1998)

The misadventures of a tough female television journalist and her friends.

Creator:

Diane English

Stars:

Candice Bergen, Faith Ford, Grant Shaud

Won 3 Golden Globes. Another 42 wins & 83 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Candice Bergen	...	Murphy Brown (247 episodes, 1988-1998)
Faith Ford	...	Corky Sherwood (122 episodes, 1988-1998)
Charles Kimbrough	...	Jim Dial (122 episodes, 1988-1998)
Joe Regalbuto	...	Frank Fontana (122 episodes, 1988-1998)

Storyline

Murphy Brown is a very selfish, stubborn, extremely hot-tempered but also talented, resourceful, clever and caring middle-aged reporter who works for FYI News Network and at the same time tries to raise her child as an unmarried, working woman. Her friends and co-workers, Corky, Jim, Frank and Miles, try to balance between her outbursts of anger and her family, personality or even financial crises. It's a difficult life for Murphy but she's got the guts to live it...

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Plot Keywords:

television | journalism | series in series | sitcom | news anchor | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 November 1988 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 4, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shukovsky English Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 30 min (247 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The character Jim Dial was reportedly modeled after TV news reporter Jim Jensen of New York City's WCBS-TV.

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Quotes

Murphy: I was waiting for the universe to dispense some justice but sometimes the universe is just too damn slow. The effects of putting Nair in someone's styling gel, however, only take a few minutes.

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Connections

Referenced in Oz: Blizzard of '01 (2001)

User Reviews

One of the most controversial comedies ever.

Candice Bergen's "Murphy Brown" is one of the best sit-coms ever made, but it also had it's share of controversy during its 10 years at CBS. Bergen played the title character, who I felt was a step-up from Maude Findlay's character, complete with the deep voice. She's an anchorwoman for FYI News (a CBS affiliate) in New York. With the outstanding performances of Grant Shaud as hyperactive studio boss Miles Silverberg, Faith Ford as perky Paige Davis-like Corky Sherwood, and the hilariously wooden Jim Dial (Charles Kimbrough), this show had some endearing characters.

Of course, the show is remembered for being the site of some controversy. Everyone remembers the war of criticism between Bergen and then U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle when the VP criticized Bergen's character becoming a single mother through insemination. Also, one of the greatest episodes of all sitcoms was when Murphy Brown used an episode to take a nasty swipe at CBS for the poor efforts it had made since 1985 to wrest the Nielsen crown away from NBC. Since that time, CBS had been getting its head kicked in repeatedly by Brandon Tartikoff's Peacock network. Murphy's FYI was to announce the fall line-up and she wasn't pleased with the effort "CBS" was making. One of the shows to come was going to have a chimpanzee as its star. Who couldn't forget the ending credits with Bergen announcing to all the affiliates about when the show with the chimp was going to be (including non-CBS city Montreal, Quebec). Ironically, a year or two later, CBS turned it around and won the Nielsen ratings. The episode with Candice's husband. the late Louis Malle is another great one as well.

I was more of an off-and-on fan of this show, but when this show was on, Murphy Brown was as good as any sitcom around.