For ten seasons (1988-98) Murphy Brown reigned supreme in the ratings, earning multiple Emmy Awards for star Candice Bergen and other honors along the way. The core cast of the beloved sitcom has been reunited for a series of new episodes that promise to be just as topical. Was it an accident the series finale was entitled Never Can Say Goodbye? Apparently yes. “I did my first interview with my hometown newspaper, The Buffalo News, [and was] reminded of that,” executive producer Diane English told reporters at the Television Critics Association Press Tour earlier this week. "I guess that's kind of true, so here we are again.”
According to English, this wasn’t the first time she toyed with the idea of reviving the show. During the 2012 presidential campaign when Sarah Palin was running alongside John McCain thoughts of a possible six-episode mini-season were top of mind but never came to fruition. Fast-forward to the last Presidential election. “[Warner Bros. Television] Chief Executive Peter Roth came to us and said, ‘Would you consider bringing the show back?’" English told the press. “Candice and I were kind of reluctant because we felt we had done it. But as the months ticked by, it started to feel like we had maybe a real reason to come back, and so Peter said, ‘What if I pay you to write a script?’ That got my attention.”
Paid in advance for her trouble, English set pen to paper, and nine months later the “daunting experience” of revisiting the beloved character was finished. “It came pouring out of me,” she laughed. “I handed the script to Candice and said, ‘What do you think?’”
“I said, ‘Let's do it’!” Bergen recalled. Still, before a firm decision to start production was made, some logistics had to be taken into account. “We moved the show to New York because I have to be in New York for other reasons,” said Bergen. “They built Murphy's townhouse on a soundstage in a studio in Queens. When we saw [it] for the first time we all got tears in our eyes. Murphy was so important to all of us, and so to be back there, we're just grateful.”