A sense of preachy self-importance that permeates the Murphy Brown revival

People

The CBS revival of the classic Candice Bergen sitcom "is conscious that the world has changed in the 20 years since we last saw Murphy and friends," says Alan Sepinwall. "The problem is that Murphy Brown itself really hasn’t, and that does more to tarnish the real show’s legacy than anything else. The original series was both a classic and very much of its time. Murphy — simultaneously glamorous and pugnacious, a recovering alcoholic who took on titans of industry and government without fear — is a Hall of Fame sitcom character. The show around her had its charms ...  but also a weakness for jokes dependent entirely on name-dropping famous political and media figures of the day." The reference humor is still there in abundance, says Sepinwall. He adds that there is also "the sense of preachy self-importance that permeates the entire revival. Murphy Brown comes out of retirement to try to save America itself, and Murphy Brown seems convinced it can do the same thing."

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• Murphy Brown can't escape the gentler era it was engineered for: Its attempts at takedown are tame, safe or delivered from a soapbox
• The revival has become the kind of sitcom that prefers applause to laughs -- or "clapter"
• Murphy Brown succeeds simply by being more of what it originally was: fast, sharp and unwaveringly pointed
• Murphy Brown represents both the best-case scenario and the worst-case scenario for revival series
• Murphy Brown’s political chatter has been reduced to a lot of Trump jokes
• Candice Bergen seems ill at ease, delivering dialogue that seems better-suited for the page than the rat-a-tat pace of the newsroom
• Murphy Brown is like visiting an old friend you haven't seen in a while -- and realizing the novelty of the relationship is gone
• Murphy Brown shoots itself in the foot by becoming almost entirely dependent on Trump
• There's too much emphasis on Murphy's age and being out of touch with technology -- as if she's been living in a cave for two decades
• The best aspect of Murphy Brown is how it acknowledges the meta elements of its existence without sacrificing the quality of its comedy or breaking the fourth wall
• How costume designer Patricia Fields updated Murphy's look for the cable news era
• Jake McDorman on auditioning to play Murphy's son: Bergen told him, “McDorman, get your a** in here!”
• Creator Diane English: "There’s been so much single-camera comedy that it really is great to have an audience out there"