5 things you need to know about the 'Murphy Brown' reboot
Candice Bergen returns to television tonight for the highly anticipated reboot of her series "Murphy Brown."
CBS ordered 13 episodes of the groundbreaking show, which won 18 Emmy Awards during its nearly 10-year run, including five for Bergen.
The sitcom starred Bergen as Murphy Brown, a television journalist who, in its fourth season, became a single mother. Then-Vice President Dan Quayle famously criticized Brown for "mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone." The show went on to address the politician's remarks and Bergen thanked Quayle in her Emmys acceptance speech in 1992.
"Murphy Brown," which ran from 1988 until 1998, is just the latest show to be revived after "Roseanne," "Will & Grace" and "The X-Files" debuted earlier this year.
Below is what you need to know about the latest reboot. Caution, spoilers ahead.
Murphy's back
In the reboot, Murphy Brown leaves retirement to host a new cable news show, "Murphy in the Morning." She's joined by her old pals Frank Fontana (Joe Regalbuto), Corky Sherwood (Faith Ford) and Miles Silverberg (Grant Shaud). Behind the scenes, show creator Diane English is back, as well as six of the original writers.
Avery's grown up
The son Murphy raised as a single mom is all grown up and has followed his mom into the business. He is the token liberal for the conservative Wolf network, but unlike Murphy, he leaves the Beltway to travel around the country and find out why people voted for Trump.
There will be Trump
Speaking of the president, English has promised that he'll be mentioned in nearly every episode of the show without overdoing it. And the cast is hoping that Trump takes the bait and tweets about the show.
"We threw some red meat out there in the first episode, so we'll see," English told TVLine.
There will be #MeToo
The show will deal with current topics in the news, including the #MeToo movement. In fact, English told television critics during a panel over the summer, "We actually developed an episode about the #MeToo movement many months ago, and that will be our fourth episode."
Journalism today
Mostly the show will center on what English sees as a scary time for journalists.
"I'm focusing the show, really, through the prism of the press. The First Amendment and free press is under attack like I've never seen before. I don't think anybody's seen before," she told TV critics.
"The press is not 'the enemy of the people,'" she continued, referring to President Trump's use of that phrase to slam the media. "And these guys, our characters, are the press. So we deal with that a lot."
"Murphy Brown" airs on CBS tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET.
