It was announced back in January that CBS had gotten the cast ofMurphy Brownback together for a13-episode revival seriesand now Candice Bergen has shared the first photo of the reunited cast. Bergen revealed back in September of 2017 that she had been approached about getting the revival series idea and reprising her role as the title character, an investigative journalist and news anchor for the fictional TV newsmagazine FYI. The actress stated that it would be nice to make something good out of the current political climate.
In the era of Fake News, social media, Donald Trump, and other topics,Murphy Brownis coming back,20 years after the show went off the air. Candice Bergen, Faith Ford, Joe Regalbuto, and Grant Shaud, as well as writer and executive producer Diane English and newcomer Nik Dodani are all featured in the first picture from the reunion. Bergen captioned the picture saying, “Murphy Brown… together again. Coming to your neighborhood TV in the fall. Just in time…” From what’s been said, it appears that the revival series will have a heavy political slant.
Murphy Brownfirst aired in 1988 and ran for 10 seasons, ending in 1998. The show earned 62Emmy nominationsin its 10-year run and won 18 of them. While the show was extremely popular, especially during the first handful of seasons, it did not perform very well in syndication when the show went off the air. The costly music rights were one reason thatMurphy Browndidn’t survive syndication while the show was also deemed dated because of the topical references.
Today’s political climateis the perfect fodder for aMurphy Brownrevival and one can imagine that it will be the polar opposite of the newRoseannerevival’s fondness for the Donald Trump administration. CBS says that the revival will, “return to a world of cable news, social media, fake news and a very different political and cultural climate.” Which means if you didn’t enjoy the show when it originally aired, you more than likely will not like it now. However, from what Candice Bergen has said, they’re going to try and make something positive with the new revival series in light of the political climate.
Murphy Brownwill return to the small screen sometime this fall. A firm premiere date has yet to be set by the network. The show will join thecurrent reboot craze, which also includesWill & Grace,Roseanne, and the upcomingCagney & Lacey. It will be interesting to see ifMurphy Browncan capture the same type of ratings thatWill & GraceandRoseannehave been able to pull since coming back after all of these years. In the meantime, you’re able to check out the first photo from theMurphy Brownrevival series below, thanks toCandice Bergen’s Instagramaccount.
