Fanning Out
New episode of CBS revival deals with a major current topic
Murphy Brown meets #MeToo.
That’s the theme of the Thursday, Oct. 11, episode of the CBS sitcom revival. The veteran journalist, played by Candice Bergen (who won five Emmy Awards for the role during the show’s original run), has a surprising reaction to sexual-harassment training at work … as it brings back memories she’s long repressed of a troubling encounter she had, reflecting one of the hot-button issues of the moment.
Though the episode originally was scheduled for a later date, it’s likely that it was moved up to capitalize on the plentiful conversation over the nomination and confirmation of new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
“In the writers’ room, we have a great collection of people,” says “Murphy Brown” creator and executive producer Diane English. “They are younger. They are older. They are male. They are female. They are gay. They are straight. And so, in developing this episode, we came at it from many different angles because it is such a complicated issue.
“For a week to 10 days, just the conversations that we had in there of perspectives (reflected what) people have coming from their own particular prism,” English adds. “I don’t think there’s probably a woman who hasn’t had some experience with misogyny or misconduct. It’s a powerful movement. We wanted to do it justice. And the title (of the episode) is ‘#MurphyToo.’”
