O'BSERVATIONS - "MURPHY BROWN" 2.0

One of the trends in TV the last few years has been bringing old shows back from the dead.  Not as remakes which would be banished to the dimension of Toobworld2, but as continuations of the original series.  In the past, at best there would be a TV reunion movie.  But so far, NBC has brought back ‘Will & Grace’, ABC had ‘Roseanne’ – until it crashed and burned for outside reason which don’t have any bearing on Life in Toobworld.  (But the show has now been rebooted to be known as ‘The Conners’.)

Now it’s CBS’ turn, and they are reviving ‘Murphy Brown’ with most of the same cast.  (And boy do we need her back in these times!)

Pat Corley passed away so Phil the bartender has been replaced by his sister Phyllis, played by Tyne Daly.

Senior anchorman Jim Dial has retired to sail the world on his boat.  (But I’ve read that Charles Kimbrough might make occasional appearances.  We’ll see.)

Grant Shaud had left the series back in 1996, but he’s come back as the executive producer of the new show, ‘Murphy In The Morning’ – no long the young wunderkind, but just as anxiety-ridden.

Garry Marshall also passed away and so network head honcho Stan Lansing won’t be seen anymore.  (I just hope they don’t use some kind of Les Moonves exit variation to splain away why he’s no longer around.  That wouldn’t be respectful.)

Robert Pastorelli is also gone; he apparently killed himself after being suspected of murdering his girlfriend.  The debut episode acknowledged the passing of his character Eldon near the end as Murphy and her son Avery looked at the ceiling mural which he painted and toasted him with their drinks.  (Not sure they were looking in the right direction, but then that’s Pastorelli and not Eldon.)

Lily Tomlin is busy with her own show on Netflix, ‘Grace & Frankie’ with Jane Fonda, so she can’t reprise her role as Kay Carter-Shepley.  (Kay was brought in as the executive producer for ‘FYI’ after Miles Silverberg left.)  But with Miles back on board, I’d like to think Kay is enjoying her retirement.

And then the biggest change in the characters – Avery Brown is now all-growed up.  He’s of a more conservative bent, like his grandfather, newspaper publisher Bill Brown, but he bears the name of his grandmother, Avery.  As a newborn, Avery was played by two different babies, and then as a little boy by Haley Joel Osment.  He was recast yet again with this new series, played by Jake McDornan (formerly of ‘Limitless’.)  Avery got his own show as well, on the Wolf Network opposite his mother.  (And she shellacked him in the ratings.)

With the premiere, we got a call-back to the Wolf Network, which played a role in at least one episode in the original series (back when Fox News was just starting out.)  And that was just one of the Toobworthy points of interest in the first episode (entitled “Fake News”.  Thank the gods they didn’t toss it off as “Pilot”.)

Here’s my list of those points of interest:

During the first edition of the new show within a show, ‘Murphy In The Morning’, Trump tweeted his opinions of the show while they were on the air.  And the new social media director got them on the air right away.

Those two tweets serve as legit additions to Trump’s tally for membership in the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.  (He was inducted as the April Fool member back in 2009.  Prescient, huh?)

As an “Unseen on TV”, Trump also got a check mark when Murphy sent out her first tweet – she once went on a date with Donald Trump and he made them split the check.

Senator Elizabeth Warren retweeted that and so that “Unseen on TV” adds to her eventual inclusion in the TVXOHOF.  Being a fictional activity by her televersion, this marks her second qualification for membership for membership in the Hall of Fame.  She already appeared as herself in an episode of ‘Alpha House’.

I thought their network – CNC – had already appeared somewhere in Toobworld, but I haven’t found mention of it anywhere.  Anybody out there know of any sightings of it in other shows?

Murph set up her first Twitter account in the episode and her son suggested that her password be “Aretha4ever”.  By her reaction, I think it’s evident that the televersion of Aretha has passed away as she did in the Real World as well.

Before coming back to work with Murphy, Frank, and Corky, Miles had been working behind the scenes for ‘The View’, which nearly broke him.  ‘The View’ has appeared in episodes of ‘SportsNight’, ‘Entourage’, and ‘Modern Family’ and ‘Bones’ appeared on an episode (but wasn’t seen.)  Plus there were plenty of “Unseen On TV” mentions of it by other fictional characters.  It also has a presence in Skitlandia, the Tooniverse, and the dimension of ‘The West Wing’.

Finally, the last running gag from the old series returned in the premiere.  Murphy had a horrible track record with secretaries - in the original series, she worked her way through 93 of them at least.  (The only two good ones were Carol Kester Bondurant and Andrew Lansing, Stan's nephew.  Thanks to nepotism, Andrew got kicked upstairs, while Carol felt too loyal to Dr. Bob Hartley and returned with him to Chicago.  (The appearance of Marcia Wallace and Bob Newhart in that episode was one of the few crossovers for 'Murphy Brown'.  The other one was with the sitcom 'Ink'.)

For this first episode back, Hilary Clendon applied for the job.  Not Hillary Clinton; Hilary Clendon.  But Hillary Clinton played the role! 

Murphy was sympathetic to Hilary's plight, looking so similar to Hillary, and let her down easy with basically a "We'll let you know" dimissal.  Ms. Clendon must have been used to that, but you could see she was hurt when she left.

So taken for all in all, I enjoyed the return and my fears that it had lost its edge were assuaged.

Looking forward to the rest of the new season!

BCnU!