Although “Murphy Brown” had a highly successful initial run from 1988 to 1998, this year’s more politically charged reboot did not enjoy nearly the same level of success — and CBS dropped it.
The show will not be picked up for another season due to its abysmal ratings, as The Hollywood Reporter and other outlets noted.
“Murphy Brown” had been rebooted for a 13-episode season this fall but ultimately, it had a 0.9 Nielsen rating in the key 18-49 demographic, not enough to justify continuing it.
Even early on, critics largely panned and dismissed it.
Said one outlet about the show, “‘Murphy Brown’ is so angrily focused on 2018 politics that its comedy often gets stuck back in the ’80s.”
In October, the show’s star, Candice Bergen, said on “CBS This Morning” that the series was revived because President Donald Trump won the 2016 president election. Had Hillary Clinton taken the White House, Bergen would have been “dancing in the streets,” she said.
The show reflected this political bias.
During its new season, the show featured a Hillary Clinton cameo in which the former secretary of state and failed presidential candidate applied for a job at the news station where Murphy Brown (Bergen) worked — and was told she was “overqualified” for the position.
Clinton left a business card with her email address that read, “Hillary at you could have had me dot.com.”
The episode after that was titled “I (Don’t) Heart Huckabee” and it (naturally) went after Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The show featured actual video of Sanders during White House press briefings; Murphy Brown is shown asking Sanders, “Why do you lie?” and calling the press secretary’s behavior “really inappropriate.”
“Murphy Brown” also claimed that President Donald Trump had lied over 5,000 times since becoming president, called the former real estate mogul “handsy,” and took a clear stance against America’s ICE agents and the work they do to enforce the country’s immigration laws.
It even said of white conservative men in one episode, “You and your friends are all dinosaurs.”
These left-wing talking points and others like it clearly did not resonate with viewers — never mind that the original show won 18 Emmy Awards during its 10-season run.
Check out a clip from the newest season of “Murphy Brown” below.
In it, you can see how producers spliced together actual footage of Sarah Sanders with scripted footage of Candice Bergen.
Tom Joyce is a freelance writer from the South Shore of Massachusetts. He covers sports, pop culture, and politics and has contributed to The Federalist, Newsday, and other outlets.
Join the Discussion
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.