Not all revivals can be successful and CBS’ Murphy Brown is proof of that. The network has canceled the revived series after only one season.
Some thought that it was going to get an eleventh-hour comeback but the chances of that were very slim. In the second wave of revival fever fueling networks in recent years, the Emmy winning show returned to CBS last September almost 20 years after the original run ended. The series ended up being a pricey ratings disappointment and its take on fake news in the Donald Trump era was off-putting for some viewers that wanted a bit of a break from that.
Initially conceived as a one-time 13-episode run, the 11th season of sorts dived by 39% in viewers and the 18-49 demographic from its premiere to its December 20, 2018 finale, which had a 1.1 rating and an audience of 7.01 million. Averaging a 1.4 rating and 9.1 million viewers overall, the Warner Bros TV-produced high-profile Murphy came with greater than usual sitcom costs for CBS due to its New York filming location.
Season 11 of Murphy Brown saw Candice Bergen reprise her role as the famous investigative journalist and TV anchor She reunites with her old gang hosting a morning cable news show: all older and wiser, Corky Sherwood (Faith Ford), Frank Fontana (Joe Regalbuto) and their former wunderkind news producer Miles Silverberg (Grant Shaud) rolled up their respective sleeves for the fictional CNC’s Murphy in the Morning. Though not back full time, original series regular Charles Kimbrough’s Jim Dial made frequent appearances on the revival. Jake McDorman played Brown’s now-grown son, who is also a journalist.
