Today, we look at how Murphy Brown‘s pilot episode, “Respect,” was so strong that it essentially resolved its central tension in just one episode.
This is a delayed Year of Great TV Episodes, where every day from March 2nd on this year (plus January 1st-March 1st of 2024), we’ll take a look at great TV episodes. Note that I’m not talking about “Very Special Episodes” or episodes built around gimmicks, but just “normal” episodes of TV shows that are notable only because of how good they are.
All this month, I’ll be spotlighting great female-centric TV episodes.
Murphy Brown was a long-running, critically acclaimed sitcom centered around a powerhouse performance by Candice Bergen as TV news journalist, Murphy Brown, who is part of the news magazine show, FYI.
In the first episode of the series, “Respect,” written by show creator Diane English, Murphy has just gotten out of rehab, and there is a legit question of whether Murphy can even BE her old, dogged self without the booze. At the same time, she learns that FYI has a nee executive producer, a “wonder boy” named Miles Silverberg (Grant Shaud).
The show theoretically COULD have been about the conflict between Murphy’s old school journalism and Miles’ more modern “make the network as much money as possible” journalism, but English had a bit of a problem, she just wrote both Murphy and Miles so well that there was no reasonable way for them to remain in conflict THAT long. By the end of the first episode, they’re basically cool with each other.
Sure, they DO have conflicts throughout the first season, but in general, by the end of the pilot, Murphy has accepted that Miles IS a legitimately good news producer, and Miles has accepted that Murphy will never change (Miles secured Murphy the biggest interview in the country, a guy who MIGHT have had an affair with the married woman who was running to become the Vice President, an oddly fictionalized story in a Murphy Brown universe that tended to stay true to life for the BIG characters like people running for President/Vice President, but she has to agree NOT to ask him if slept with her…and Murphy does it anyways on live television).
One of the initial conflicts between Murphy and Miles was that Miles hired Corky Sherwood (Faith Ford), a former beauty pageant queen, to fill in for Murphy, and then remain as part of the show even after Murphy returned (the idea of having someone do occasional “feel good” stories later in the program was so obviously a fine idea that it was tough for Murphy to seriously complain about the concept).
The other two members of the FYI team were longtime anchor, Jim Dial (Charles Kimbrough), and investigative reporter, Frank Fontana (Joe Regalbuto). Jim was like a paternal figure to Murphy, while Frank was her best friend. The other cast members were Pat Corley as Phil, the owner of the popular nearby bar/restaurant where everyone goes to for lunch (and where Murphy used to routinely go to get wasted), and Robert Pastorelli as Elden, Murphy’s eccentric housepainter who exists to give us a way to check in at Murphy at home.
Elden’s debut in the episode is awesome. Murphy, thrilled after her big interview, is singing off key to a CD of Aretha Franklin singing “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” and Elden walks into the living room to see her singing (she doesn’t know he’s there. She’s been trying to get a hold of him for weeks to get him to show up and paint her house). He walks away so as to not embarrass her, but as she continues, she gets him so pumped up that he joins in, scaring the bejesus out of Murphy. It’s an awesome bit.
Bergen’s performance was truly remarkable. She has that brashness, of course, but more importantly, she carries all of that self-doubt from her alcoholism. She truly IS wondering whether she can make it without booze, and she wonders whether television really HAS passed her by, but by the end of the episode, when she turns on her interviewee (played by Tony Goldywn, who does a great job as the seemingly earnest guy who wants to keep his private life private…but really wants to cash in on being a celebrity without having to admit anything), she knows that she doesn’t need alcohol to still kick ass.
It’s an outstanding job. The cast are all well-defined, the news magazine setup supports SO many different plots, this first episode showed you how good the show would be for years.
Okay, if I’m going to have 295 more of these, I could use suggestions, so feel free to email me at brian@poprefs.com!
Bergen was always a really great performer. I was recently watching her episode of the Muppet Show with my daughter, and she even manages to get some dramatic flourishes into some of her performances there.