BEVERLY HILLS, California 鈥� Murphy Brown is one TV revival that鈥檚 more relevant than ever.
The CBS comedy, which had a successful 10-year run, was so topical that then-U.S. vice-president Dan Quayle confused Candice Bergen鈥檚 newsmagazine reporter with a real person in a diatribe against single motherhood.
Now, 20 years after it went off the air, the show is back this fall with a 13-episode revival season (Sept. 27, 9:30 p.m.), featuring much of its original cast.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always been a political show with something to say,鈥� creator Diane English told the Television Critics Association at its recent conference. 鈥渂ut I鈥檓 focusing the [new] show really through the prism of the press. The First Amendment and the free press is under attack like I鈥檝e never seen before. ... The press is not the enemy of the people, and these guys are the press, so we care a lot.鈥�
The revival has Murphy, Corky (Faith Ford) and Frank (Joe Regalbuto), sidelined for a few years, starting up a morning show, once again with Miles (Grant Shaud) as their producer. Murphy鈥檚 son, Avery, born during the original series, is all grown up (now played by Jake McDorman) and works for Wolf, a rival (and conservative) cable-news network, as its token liberal voice.
(鈥淪he鈥檚 a fierce mom but a competitive mom, so Avery has his work cut out,鈥� Bergen says.)
There鈥檚 plenty of fresh material: 鈥淲hen we left these characters in 1998, there was no internet, there was no social media, cable news was just getting started,鈥� English said. 鈥淪o to take these characters and put them in the world of 24-hour news ... was very rich for us.鈥�
The show鈥檚 opening montage begins on Election Day 2016 and then jumps to present day.
And Bergen is thrilled to be back: 鈥淢uch like Murphy and Frank and Corky on TV, and much like ourselves, they don鈥檛 like being sidelined. All of us have been in retirement the last few years and they all want to be back in action.鈥�
Tyne Daly joins the cast as the sister of Phil (the late Pat Corley), who takes over his bar. And even Jim Dial (Charles Kimbrough), the retired anchor of the gang鈥檚 former newsmagazine, 鈥淔YI,鈥� comes back for a three-episode stint, as 鈥渉e finds a compelling reason to return to the gang,鈥� English teased.
English, who left the series before its final season, is simply pretending the romance between Corky and Miles never happened. 鈥淲e鈥檙e good with that,鈥� Ford said.
And the season鈥檚 later episodes will be written and taped on tight time schedules so topical material can be added at the last minute.
Before then, the show will air its own #MeToo episode, written months ago. But English addressed accusations against CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, who was president of the show鈥檚 producer, Warner Bros. Television, in later Murphy seasons.
鈥淲e take the allegations of sexual misconduct extremely seriously, so seriously that we actually developed an episode about the #MeToo movement, and that will be our fourth episode. None of us have had any negative experience at CBS in that regard.鈥�
