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Breaking news, and it’s not good: CBS has cancelled the revival of Murphy Brown after one season, TVLine has learned.
Candice Bergen returned to the title role that won her five Emmys during the show’s original 1988-98 CBS run, with series creator Diane English back as showrunner. The revival also brought back original cast members Joe Regalbuto (Frank Fontana), Faith Ford (Corky Sherwood) and Grant Shaud (Miles Silverberg), and added Jake McDorman as Murphy’s son Avery — now a reporter for the rival Wolf network — Tyne Daly as bar owner Phyllis and Nik Dodani as social media whiz Pat.
But after debuting to a 1.1 demo rating, Murphy went fractional just three weeks in. Over its 13-episode revival run, which wrapped up in December, it averaged a 0.84 in the demo — ranking last among CBS’ eight sitcoms — and 6.1 million total viewers, where it outdrew Fam, Man With a Plan and Happy Together. (The veteran cast surely didn’t come cheap, either, so CBS couldn’t be happy to keep shelling out big bucks for its lowest-rated comedy.)
The Eye network has also axed sitcom Life in Pieces after four seasons, along with freshman comedies Happy Together and Fam.
TVLine’s Renewal Scorecard has been updated to reflect the news. Will you miss Murphy taking shots at Donald Trump? Share your reaction to the cancellation in a comment below.
I’m not surprised, given the ratings, but I’m definitely disappointed. It was an uneven season to be sure, but I think with a little retooling, it could have had a really successful second season.
Agreed on all points.
Ditto
Agree also o all ponts should have given a chance
It had a chance and blew it.
Yes. Instead of a cable news channel, Murphy should have developed a digital platform show, or podcast.
Let’s face it, nobody, wants to see cranky 70 year olds on a morning show.
Agreed.
Should have given it another season.
Some competition out there that won’t be around next fall and could have filled slots left open
It was picking up steam in terms of stories and writing. Loved how they address real and current Trump issues that real journalists are too afraid to..
Show should have been saved for one more season….or even the rest of the “regular” season (its season stopped in Dec) as CBS continues to renew other shows that are low in ratings…
Agreed!
Not too surprised by this one (and as noted, given the ratings it makes sense), but still sad to hear this regardless. I enjoyed the reboot and feel there was still a lot more they could do with the show.
Not surprised. LOVED the original Murphy Brown. This was not it. It lacked heart. Sometimes it seemed like it was only revived to annoy POTUS, and while I am no Cheeto fan, the jokes just were not as good as the Quayle-era joshing. I’m not sure the revival either kept its old audience or developed any kind of new one. And casting Jake Dorman, as good as he is, seemed to almost doom it. With the exception of Limitless, have any of his shows even gotten a 2nd season? Is he not one of the “sitcom killers” of this decade? (Love Paula Marshall, but she has also carried that moniker.)
Thank you! I tried to put my finger on it. i wanted to like it, heck I wanted to love it. But other than her scenes with Jake, it was largely unwatchable. As a long time fan, I was sad to see that the chemistry was gone and Murphy, where was Murphy? Other than the first part of the Thanksgiving episode and a few moments here and there, she was absent.
Was the original as biased as the last season? I enjoyed the original as a kid, too, but the new version was far too liberal.
I’ve caught reruns on Antenna TV and the original was pretty liberal, too. I mean, she called out Dan Quayle rather publically.
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That said, taking issue with and criticizing this current administration doesn’t have to be, and shouldn’t be, a solely liberal thing.
Angela, it’s a solely liberal thing because the rest of the country is mature.
@Brandon, no, it isn’t. People can dislike Trump and call him out on his BS, all while not being Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative.
lol…Google “Dan Quayle Murphy Brown” if you really want to know the answer to that. The character was a White House Reporter…what do you think?
But that was funny these were just not funny. You can blast the WH occupants but it has to be funny.
I was excited about the show. But after watching it it all seemed so forced. Some things just cannot be redone unfortunately.
Did you see the question to which I was responding??? Go back and reread the question, and then my answer will make sense to you…
I know it was a liberal show back in the 80s and 90s but THIS liberal???
The original was not as blatantly political. That was the problem. It seemed like the only reason the show was brought back was to try to agitate the President and the administration, and they were far too smart to respond. It didn’t have the focus on the individual characters the way the original had. It was just Trump bashing which is on every late night and not original or funny at all.
Agreed on all points.
It seemed very forced as if the returning cast were doing impersonations of the characters instead of being the characters. Only when Bergen was playing off of the guy who played her son did she feel natural in the part again. Maybe after all that time they had a hard time reconnecting with their old roles.
Won’t miss her or the comments.
Want programs with humor- get my politics from news.
These days, we get our humor from news, too!
I so hope ABC does the right thing and pick up LiP!
Why would they?
because it’s only one season away from syndication and Disney now owns it post Fox merger
The MB revival had potential. Murphy had good chemistry with her grown son Avery… and loved the dog towards the end of the season. I also liked the scenes at Phyllis’ (Tyne Daly). To be honest, the part that didnt work was the Murphy in the Morning segments.
The old show had a lot less of the news show and focused on the preparation of the news. Having the news program set in the newsroom and taking up so much of the newsroom seemed to drive the writers to create too many heavy-handed and not so funny scenes of the show on the air. It was as though they were playing to the live audience and didn’t want them to see an empty anchor desk and chairs. The old show wasn’t like that even when stories on FYI addressed serious real world issues. The Thanksgiving episode did this–off the morning show set. And, we all get to see good political humor with late night talk show monologues. Murphy’s jokes on her morning show just weren’t good. It would have worked better if she had been given a show like Maddow and they did a 30 second scene every week or two in which Murphy just threw in some cracks about politics as she dealt with real news and instead spent most of the time being funny in the newsroom, the restaurant, and at home.
Maybe because the show was horrible.
I guess salting your script with Orange Man Bad did not work out so well. TDS claims yet more victims.
Not at all. Several shows are thriving with their completely legitimate criticisms of that horrible excuse for a human. Murphy Brown was just a bad show.
TVGord,
Name one besides CNN, MSNBC, and late night garbage. Your opinion on the President is just that.
@Brandon, so in your world people or shows can’t have an opinion on Trump that differs from yours, nor can they express it without disapproval from you. We needn’t wonder why there are problems. You think like the orange one.
I SO loved the original show, but too much politics! Let’s leave out political issues in all our shows and get back to the original flavors. Where are shows like Little House, The Walton’s, family oriented shows with a learning and visions of family values. I watch tv to escape!!
But the original show was all politics too…
This. If a show is known for having political humor, I don’t exactly know what else people are expecting.
Half the country is not going to be interested is youre ONLY bad mouthing the right week in and week out.
JAS not like the reboot
Very disappointed, loved the show!!!
Ugh. I watch shows to escape the horrors of “family values”…
I’m not surprised – I wanted it to be so much better than it ended up being.
When are liberals going to learn that they way to a success is not to constantly trash the right?
Do the writers think anyone takes their show seriously enough to change their voting habits?
Perhaps the creator of the show just wanted a liberal biased show?
Did it ever occur to you that part of the reason the right got targeted on this show was because they were the party in full charge of the government up until the midterms last November? If one party runs everything, logic dictates they’re going to get the majority of the scrutiny and criticism. And if politicians are doing shady, crappy things, they should be called out.
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As for changing voting habits, in this case, I don’t really think they were expecting that-I think they were mainly just making a show for people who appreciated the original, and given the current political climate, felt it was timely enough. But I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility to hope that maybe somebody might, at the very least, better understand certain viewpoints, if not change their opinions about certain topics.
They NEVER insulted Clinton anywhere near as much as they did Trump when the former was in power.
If they would have been interested in making a show for the people, then they would have given the right a voice.
They had put their agenda over quality.
Did they expect to get renewed after the constant bad mouthing of the president and giving Hillary Clinton a standing ovation when she guest stared? After saying all that, I am a democrat who voted for Hillary.
And the show when it was originally on air called out former VP Dan Quayle, who publicly spoke about the show’s comments. If you are so ready to defend the Republicans who screwing us into doom, remember that the show targeted them in the 80s as well.
When was I defending the GOP? As I clearly said in the post youre replying I am a democrat who voted for Hillary.
My point was that the producers of the show shouldn’t be surprised that the show gets canceled when they had the intention of making a very liberal biased tv show. That is obviously going to turn off republicans. I dont care if they decide to make a liberal show but dont be surprised about getting canceled afterwards.
Exactly, the old show had political topics of course but the characters were liberal not the show if that makes sense.. The old show wasn’t trying to alienate half the population or preach a political gospel. The characters were like real people that you cared about. The old show didn’t exist to try to make the President respond or make fun of the administration for actual policy. The feel of the new show was totally different. I still wish it could be retooled and given another chance though.
Colleen S. LOL, the only doom is in your mind. If we had 4 more years of Demon-rats, this country would be in the crapper. PS The Dan Quayle thing was in 1992, not the 80s.
Good. It was like a bad parody or SNL skit. Over-exaggeration of literally everything.
It got a little annoying with all the jabs at Trump but I think CBS should give it another season for the show to latch on (or not). I personally liked having a grown up Avery following in his mom’s footsteps (more or less) & was wondering if they planned on bringing his dad into the series or even mentioning him. Well maybe the show will end up on NetFlex like Lucifer….yeaa!!
I loved original show and the revival; sorry that it was cancelled
I was really enjoying the new Murphy Brown and I’m really sorry to see it canceled. It did seem like the veteran cast was struggling a bit to find their way in this new social media age unlike the late 80s and early 90s when news was truly just news
I hope this version of Murphy Brown doesn’t ruin the legacy of the greatness of the original show. If the writers had been smart, they would have done a spin-off revolving around Avery as a liberal in a conservative news program. Then have Candace Bergen and company appear in cameos. They could even have Avery’s show compete against FYI in ratings and have Murphy in the Eldin role of the Avery spin-off. That would have been a more interesting show to watch.
To bad I a actually enjoyed this show!
Best thing about this season was casting Jake McDorman as Murphy’s son Avery. İ loved their scenes together.
I enjoyed seeing the gang back together… But the laugh track drove me crazy :-(
What idiot ever thought remaking Murphy Brown had any chance? Now they are going to remake All in the Family and the Jefferson’s which will also quickly tank.
Extreme bummer. But it’s the CBS of now, where we can only watch procedurals, Chuck Lorre shows and various jobs for Julie Chen.
I will miss it.
The old big three networks simply require too much effort, when it comes to keeping up with their very fluid scheduling. Watching movies or the incessant repeats on cable is just easier. Also, Murphy Brown was smart and sassy the first time around, but that was largely missing this last time around. Too bad, as the talented cast deserved better, and so did the tv viewer.
I was so excited for this, and so utterly disappointed by the quality when I watched it. Diane English needed to bring in someone else to run it and write it. So, so stale. If they could find the right writing team, I’d give it another chance on another platform. Such a shame.
Candice Bergen is a television Genesis! This is a show that showed how a real network should be. I hate to see it go as I love the characters of Murphy Brown! Sad day for TV!
I’m sad that it wasn’t as great as the original. I was hoping that it would get another chance at being retooled, but not surprised to hear this news.