In the early to mid-'90s, Candice Bergen was the reigning queen of television sitcoms.
Her smash hit series Murphy Brown ran from 1989 to 1997, and during its run, it made
a fairly significant cultural impact by touching on issues and themes that were previously
unexplored on television shows.
Candice Bergen starred as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famed investigative journalist and
news anchor for a fictional newsmagazine program called FYI. Later in the series, Brown fronted
the 'Murphy in the Morning' cable morning news program.
The show was groundbreaking in more ways than one. For one thing, it had a markedly feminist
tone, making it one of the first shows on TV at the time that was willing to speak out
on issues involving single mothers and the cultural impact of women entering the workplace.
While this was seen as a significant victory for the women's rights crowd, not everyone
was thrilled about its trailblazing 'wokeness'. On one notable occasion, Murphy Brown even
drew the criticism of then-Vice President Dan Quayle, who was offended by the show's
perceived glorification and promotion of single motherdom.
But instead of feeling deterred by the hostile rhetoric that was coming out of the White
House, Murphy Brown took this unexpected press coverage in stride. Leaning into the controversy,
the series saw a significant boost in the ratings. So, while Quayle's ire might have
been seen as a bad thing by some, in reality, the conservative political heavyweight was
basically serving as a very public, albeit unwitting, advertising agent of sorts.
After airing for 247 episodes over ten seasons, Murphy Brown came to an end. It was later
rebooted by CBS in 2018 but was canceled after just one 13-episode season.
Keep watching to find out the real reasons why Murphy Brown was canceled not once but
twice.
Murphy Brown's History Of Controversy
Throughout its time on the air, Murphy Brown was able to respond and play off of real-world
situations that were happening around the globe, but sometimes what the series chose
to touch on caused news on its own.
Perhaps the most famous example of this happened in 1992 when the show was caught up in the
controversy caused by Vice President Dan Quayle when he chose to make the show his target.
At the time in the series, Brown, a hardworking journalist and recovering alcoholic, had made
the conscious decision to raise a child on her own. While this might not sound very controversial
by today's standards, at the time, it was a very provocative decision on the writer's
end of things.
Quayle began blaming the character and her life choices on the 'breakdown of family values'.
He made this opinion a key part of a speech that he made in May of 1992.
Quayle stated that bearing babies irresponsibly and not supporting a child that one fathered
was wrong. He went on to say that when prime-time TV depicts characters such as Murphy Brown
as 'mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone' and simply calling it just
another 'lifestyle choice', this contributed to the breakdown of the traditional family
and in some more esoteric way American values as a whole.
Quayle received substantial backlash for his comments and was the butt of numerous jokes
at that year's Emmy Awards.
Later that year, Quayle and President George H. W. Bush lost their reelection bid. Some
saw this loss as having been at least somewhat correlated to the controversy caused by the
Vice President's Murphy Brown rhetoric and the ensuing fuss it caused.
On the show, Murphy Brown addressed Quayle's comments directly by saying that his limited
definition of what an 'acceptable family' looked like, was shockingly out of touch with
what millions of children growing up in nontraditional families throughout the country have experienced.
Murphy Brown has since been pointed to by critics as having paved the way for numerous
shows that have followed in its path. Single mothers have since been depicted on television
without issue in shows like Gilmore Girls, Sex and the City, Girls, and SMILF.
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to find out why Murphy Brown was canceled both in 1998 and 2018.
The Original Series Finale
Murphy Brown started out fairly strong in the rating department. The show averaged 14.9
million viewers during its debut season and peaked at 18.6 million average viewers during
season four.
Series creator and showrunner Diane English departed after the end of the fourth season,
but the show continued to enjoy relatively high ratings. For the next several seasons,
numerous changes were made to the on and off camera staff. For a while, the show's cast
was basically a revolving door of temporary stars that would back up Candice.
By the start of the 1996-1997 season, viewership was beginning to decline. After the ninth
season wrapped up and CBS saw the writing on the wall so-to-speak, they chose not to
renew the series past its 10th season.
Murphy Brown's final season premiered in the fall of 1997. That season included a story
arc in which Brown battled breast cancer. The storyline was not without controversy,
however, as in one episode, Brown used medical marijuana to help relieve the crippling side
effects of chemotherapy. The show came under fire from conservative anti-drug groups for
this decision, but it was notable for being one of the first on-screen portrayals of medical
cannabis.
Later that season, the show was criticized by women's health groups that took offense
to an episode where Brown was seen shopping for prosthetic breasts. At one point, she
uttered the line 'Should I go with the Demi Moore or the Elsie the Cow?'
Despite the controversy, the show's handling of the topic of breast cancer was credited
with a 30% increase in the number of female-bodied people getting mammograms that year. Because
of this Candice Bergen was presented with an award by the American Cancer Society to
celebrate her role in educating women on the importance of breast cancer screening and
prevention.
Murphy Brown's two-part series finale 'Never Can Say Goodbye' saw Brown undergoing surgery
after a second cancer scare. While on the operating table, she woke up in heaven and
got to conduct an interview with God, portrayed by actor Alan King.
During this interview, God managed to convince Murphy to stick with her job with FYI, which
she was contemplating leaving. After she woke up, Brown found out that she was cancer-free.
The series wrapped up with Murphy telling her colleagues that she was planning on returning
to work. At the end of the episode, Brown went home and sang the song 'Natural woman'
one last time.
Why The Reboot Failed
CBS, riding the revival fever train that all of the networks seemed to be on at the time,
decided to reboot Murphy Brown in 2018, 20 years after the original run of the Emmy Award-Winning
Diane English-created series ended.
Initially conceived as a one-off 13-episode series, the Murphy Brown reboot dealt with
issues like fake news and the polarizing politics of Donald Trump. The revival premiered in
September, but right off the bat, its ratings were rather disappointing.
It was hoped that if the season was well-received, it could lead to a full-fledged multi-season
treatment, but after only averaging 9.1 million viewers, the Murphy Brown reboot's future
was uncertain.
Due to its filming location in New York, the Murphy Brown reboot was costlier than the
average sitcom, coupled with the lackluster ratings, CBS had little incentive to keep
the show alive for another season and subsequently officially announced its cancellation in May
of 2019.
During its original run, Murphy Brown won a staggering 18 Emmy's – including two for
Outstanding Comedy Series and one for Best Lead Actress. It additionally took home three
Golden Globes, two DGA Awards, and another two WGA Awards.
The revival series earned Candice Bergen a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in
a Television Series Musical or Comedy.
So, while it might not have lasted as long as its creators and cast might have hoped,
the Murphy Brown reboot at least garnered critical acclaim. But as we all know, it hardly
matters what the critics think about a show when no one actually tunes in to watch it.
Candice Hasn't Slowed Down
Candice Bergen quickly recovered after the Murphy Brown reboot was given the ax. In 2021,
she appeared in three episodes of the ABC Roseanne revival The Connors as the character
Barb.
She's also been fairly active in the film world as well. In 2018, she appeared in the
Bill Holderman-directed romantic comedy film Book Club. She followed that up by playing
Roberta in the 2020 comedy-drama film Let Them All Talk.
Most recently, she made an appearance in the 2022 Mayim Bialik-produced and directed drama
film As They made Us.
In 2023, Candice will be reprising her role as Sharon Myers in Book Club 2 – The Next
Chapter.
Diane English likewise is still very active in Hollywood. At the moment she is working
on developing a feature film titled Timbuktu. She's already written the script for the film
and is slated to be its director as well, but as of right now, it's unclear when it
will actually make it to theaters.
We're just about out of time for this video, but we'd love to hear from you.
Did you know that Murphy Brown came under fire from former US Vice President for supposedly
contributing to the breakdown of the family and that actress Candice Bergen is currently
expected to appear in the sequel to her hit 2018 film Book Club in 2023?
Feel free to share your answers to these questions and all of your thoughts on Murphy Brown in
the comments section down below.
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