# Murphy Brown Revival **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 29, 2018, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155 "2018-09-29T04:42:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/21 "2018-09-30T01:20:38Z")
Reports are the ratings were disappointing. Personally I didn’t like the character or Bergen in the role but always felt the supporting cast was excellent and very funny. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/22 "2018-09-30T01:35:41Z")
It felt like someone took characters I knew and stripped off a layer. Too many cliches. Corky has hot flashes. Murphy is a luddite with a flip phone. Let’s throw in an Asian hipster techie with skinny jeans and a man bun. I haven’t watched the original since it went off the air, but this seemed a little too much like Married with Children rather than Murphy Brown. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/23 "2018-09-30T01:37:54Z")
I’ve been rewatching the original run and it was slow to get started. The first new episode of 2018 didn’t impress me, but it was no worse than the pilot. The lack of Jim is something that is a detriment, though I’m glad he’s going to be doing guest spots. Phil and Eldin’s absences are also noticeable, but I think Tyne will do a good job and the gag of Eldin wouldn’t have worked. The secretary gag always works, though. I thought they should have gone meta and had FYI be rebooted. I’m torn about it being back. This show was a big part of my teen/pre-teen feminist formative years. A crappy revival/reboot won’t take those good feelings away, but it does take away from my overall love for something if it comes back in a terrible way. ---
**Author:** ![Tread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Tread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tread)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/24 "2018-09-30T01:44:48Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Considering the political leanings in the original, why would you expect anything else in this one? Just so you could express surprise that they went there? I expected more interoffice type banter, and something other than Anti-Trump one liners at a rate of more than 1 per minute. If you are going to rely heavily on Trump jokes, do better, than Bad hair, likes Putin, he’s orange, and over uses Twitter, and has an under qualified cabinet. These have been done for a year now ad nauseam , do something creative. The original was left leaning also, but had more creativity, and the humor came from more than quick “zingers”. It then was surprising and disappointing that they would have Corky get married, seemingly just to have the name Corky Sherwood-Forrest. Now that joke would have been the highlight. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/25 "2018-09-30T19:17:45Z")
It seemed stilted, but we laughed here and there, which is more than I can say for most TV comedies. We’ll give it a few weeks. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2018, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/26 "2018-09-30T20:29:24Z")
They could bring back Jim Dial as a Lou Dobbs-style cranky old nutjob but on the radio or some such. That way he could do just the voice work. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/27 "2018-10-02T04:32:54Z")
> [@Tinker Grey](#): > > I found it odd that the “secretary” seemed the most natural actress of the cast. And we’ll never see Ms Clinton, err… Clendon again. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOldKJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@GoodOldKJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOldKJ)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/28 "2018-10-02T05:47:33Z")
I watched the original with my Gram back then and I remember her really liking it. I enjoyed the 1st new episode but it wasn’t in my top 10 new shows for last week. I will keep watching with the hope that they will find the spark. The best way I can describe how I felt watching was that I didn’t laugh a lot but I smiled almost the whole half hour. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/29 "2018-10-02T20:55:03Z")
> [@Tread](#): > > It then was surprising and disappointing that they would have Corky get married, seemingly just to have the name Corky Sherwood-Forrest. This is an inside joke, at the time Faith Ford’s husband’s name was Robert Nottingham. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2018, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/30 "2018-10-05T02:04:07Z")
The second episode was jaw-droppingly awful. These are people I don’t want on my side. Go away, you’re embarrassing us. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2018, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/31 "2018-10-05T02:11:21Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The second episode was jaw-droppingly awful. These are people I don’t want on my side. Go away, you’re embarrassing us. I have to agree. A few ham-fisted jokes and a dumb story-line. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2018, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/32 "2018-10-05T02:33:02Z")
The first episode was decent, if working a little too hard to establish things. This one was just plain awful. The idea of attending the press conference might have been a decent basis, but the “stealth” method of getting – a joke that was belaboured from the start and not particularly funny. I haven’t seen a sitcom this bad in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2018, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/33 "2018-10-05T07:30:52Z")
That was really, really, really bad. I’ve been watching reruns on one of the oldies stations (MeTV? AntennaTV? something else?) and it was just better. The writing was sharper, the acting was better (comedy is about timing and this group has lost it in the past 20 years). Also it was less heavy handed. The better episodes weren’t really about politics, they were more about workplace or the media (and/or the network) or personality clashes. And in many of the political ones were pointed back at the characters (I just saw an episode where Newt Gingrich had a cameo. While Murphy called him a pig, the show didn’t. The joke was that Murphy didn’t know how to calibrate her sense of humor. This version just calls him a pig) ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2018, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/34 "2018-10-05T13:08:22Z")
What I saw was brutally awful. I saw it on part way through and switched it on just as she was sneaking into the White house. I switched away as soon as I saw she was just there to give the press secretary a lecture. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/35 "2018-10-05T13:10:28Z")
I tried to watch it for the first time last night. Didn’t last 5 minutes. Awful. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2018, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/36 "2018-10-05T23:21:20Z")
Huh. I didn’t mind it. I didn’t LOVE it and I don’t know if I would use the word “like”, but I didn’t hate it. I saw more potential in it. The chemistry was better, like everyone was more comfortable in character. The writing is not quite sharp enough. Everyone has an opinion on Trump, so it’s best to leave it if you don’t have something new to say. Or at least be more subtle, like the Pod Save America t-shirt Avery wore. The whole bar bit with Phyllis and the new hire was excruciating, however. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155/37 "2018-10-06T00:05:38Z")
This was the vibe I got. Lead actors on set, spot light hits them one at a time, in turn. They spout one liner about current politics. Spotlight goes to next actor. Repeat, repeat, repeat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murphy-brown-revival/822155.md?page=1)