Posted on 01/24/2018 4:16:39 PM PST by EdnaMode
Another beloved comedy series is coming back for a new installment on its original network. CBS has given a 13-episode series order to Murphy Brown, a revival of the 1988 sitcom with its creator Diane English and star Candice Bergen both set to return. Warner Bros. TV, which was behind the original series, is the sole studio.
Bergen will reprise her role as the famous investigative journalist and TV anchor at the FYI network, as Murphy Brown returns to a world of cable news, social media, fake news and a very different political and cultural climate. I hear talks are underway with other original cast members to return.
The multi-camera revival will come on the 30th anniversary of the original series. Murphy Brown aired on CBS for 10 seasons, from 1988-98, with English leaving after Season 4. The show was known for its political satire and for reflecting current events, regularly weaving in real-life political headlines. It famously was referenced by Vice President Dan Quayle in a speech during the 1992 presidential campaign.
In 2012, English said that she was having conversations with CBS about bringing Murphy Brown back for a few episodes during the election year. Chatter about a Murphy Brown revival restarted a year ago, around the time of Donald Trump’s inauguration, with rumors about English mulling an updated version to take on the new political climate and holding informal meetings with Bergen and some of the show’s former writers to brainstorm ideas. At that time, the revival was just a notion. It was a slow process, but the project finally came together, with deals closing in early January.
CBS Because of Murphy’s Brown‘s history on CBS, the pitch, accompanied by a finished script, was taken there first. I hear CBS bought the revival pre-emptively, with WBTV retaining full ownership based on the existing IP and high profile of the competitive package. The network stepping up makes sense since Murphy Brown is a signature CBS show. NBC did the same with the new Will & Grace as did ABC with the Roseanne revival, all airing on their original networks.
CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves ran WBTV for two seasons of Murphy Brown‘s run and then oversaw the show’s final years on CBS, including the final season that saw English back at the helm and Murphy Brown battling breast cancer.
In the two-part series finale — aptly titled “Never Can Say Goodbye,” in light of the upcoming revival — Murphy contemplated retirement. While under anesthesia for a surgery that ultimately confirmed she was cancer-free, she scored an interview with God, who convinced her to stay at FYI. In the final scene, Murphy returned home to find that that her former house painter Eldin (Robert Pastorelli) was back.
English serves as writer/executive producer of the CBS revival through her Bend in the Road Productions banner, with Bergen also executive producing. The series is expected to film a pilot episode followed by the rest of the order.
During its original run, Murphy Brown won 18 Emmys — including two Outstanding Comedy Series trophies and five best lead comedy actress statuettes for Bergen — three Golden Globes, two DGA Awards and two WGA Awards.
With Murphy Brown back on CBS, three of the Big 4 networks have a top comedy returning with its original creative auspices and stars, along with Will & Grace on NBC and Roseanne on ABC. The critical and commercial success of the Will & Grace redo, which has been earning award recognition and has ranked as NBC’s highest-rated comedy series, no doubt has helped fuel the current interest in reviving some of TV’s top comedies of the past few decades and the ongoing resurgence of the multi-camera sitcom format.
Murphy Brown is one of two straight-to-series orders at CBS for next season, along with an FBI drama from Law & Order and Chicago boss Dick Wolf.
English and Bergen are repped by ICM Partners.English also is with Jackoway Tyerman.
That is so 1980s
There was only one Mel Sharples.
I can’t see anyone else other than Vic Tayback.
They tried restarting Kojak and it flopped. There was only one Telly Savalas.
“Moonlighting” was fun.
I started watching a couple of episodes...Couldn’t finish them...They were neither funny nor interesting...
Robert Pastorelli ( Eldon ) died of an overdose in 2004.
Jay Thomas died in 2007.
Pat Corley ( Phil ) died in 2006.
So some of the best characters can’t return.
Yeah it seems pointless to bring it back without those actors.
Yeah the reboots are getting way out of hand. Cable and streaming have much better programming.
Yeah it’s ridiculous how many shows are being revived. Some of the revivals have definitely hurt the shows (24 Legacy, Heroes Reborn).
Murphy Brown downtown at the nursing home. First episode “Give me my Halcion, Damnit” 2nd Episode: Murphy naked in the hallway (blurred) holding up her dirty diaper and screaming— “Is somebody going to change this NOWWWW?”
How utterly irreleant to “revive” the dead history of what is now the finished product of insanity. Why not a remake of Mary Tyler Moore-— played by Sarah Silverman (with potty mouth)
“Baby,who did yoah hayah?— Do you like it? It’s Georgia Power!”
Maybe that will be Murph's secretary.
-PJ
-PJ
-PJ
It just says it all that Murphy Brown couldn’t be bothered to raise a fictional baby.
Is Murphy trying to raise the orphaned grandbaby?
The gender-fluid grandbaby. :-P
Well, Robert Pastorelli won’t be back. He died in 2004 of an overdose.
Pat Corley died in 2006.
Never saw the show once, have no plans to ever start. I don’t like Bergen, find her off-putting.
Enough with these friggin “revivals”. Ok there are some I would watch, A few years ago they revived “Dallas” which ok I’m a crack addict for that but it got weird with bad writing and ratings tanked and it got cancelled just as they were righting the ship.
“Prison Break”, I was all over that.
There has been talk of bringing back the original “Law and Order”, I’d watch that.
But some of these man
I remember like 10+ years ago they revived a cop show from the 80’s “Hunter” with Fred Dryer, why?
They brought back “Will and Grace” because of the positive response they got from an anti-Trump voting PSA. Morbid curiosity, I caught 5 minutes, politics aside it was cringwothy garbage, they were having a pillow fight in the Oval Office somehow, commercial for the next episode had the queen in a pair of jeans too tight for him to stand up in, hahaha?
There is something called “Fuller House”, Kimmy Gibbler got it this way.
“Girl meets World”
“The X-files” is back, like herpes.
“Roseanne”
And now Murphy friggin Brown?
What’s next “Laverne and Shirley: Florida Nursing Home Edition”? Schlemiel Schlimazel, oh no I broke a hip.
The cast of “Cheers” is still alive, right?
How about “Mash” it went on longer than the war actually did so wouldn’t it be funny to have an elderly Alan Alda still there?
How about this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPyc7dH28KE oh yeah
“Diagnosis Murder” before Van Dyke kicks the bucket?
From what I remember, it was like the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” with the warmth and charm removed and replaced with DNC talking points.
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