Posted on 09/28/2018 8:22:14 AM PDT by EdnaMode
Murphy Brown made its primetime return Thursday night and delivered surprisingly modest ratings for CBS, and considerably softer numbers than premieres of similarly hyped yesteryear sitcom revivals in recent seasons (such as NBCs Will & Grace and ABCs Roseanne).
The newsroom sitcom starring Candice Bergen (and included a Hillary Clinton cameo) was seen by 7.4 million viewers and had only a 1.1 rating among adults 18-49 the lowest of the networks two-hour comedy block, slipping from its Mom lead in.
Yet Murphy Brown arguably has the highest name recognition among viewers of any new show this fall (along with the revamp of Magnum P.I.), so one would have expected to see far more sampling for its premiere episode.
By comparison, 2017s return of Will & Grace on NBC after 11 years off the air had more than 10 million viewers and a strong 3.0 rating in the demo. Earlier this year, Roseanne stunned with a massive 18 million viewers and a 5.1 rating in the demo after 20 years off the air.
Murphy Brown which was likewise off the air for 20 years returned following a dramatic day of live Senate Judiciary Committee hearing testimony from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexual assault. The timing might have inspired some viewers to tune into Murphy Browns brand of topical progressive humor, but some would-be fans might have also been drawn to watch primetime cable news coverage of the hearings instead.
More to come
Now I would watch Barney ! Great show.
She was hot 50 years ago, now she has just another show spouting the same opinions on all the other channels.
But delivered by a geriatric.
Candice Bergen still the lead? Is the setting a nursing home?
Its hard to be sassy when youre grassy. ~ Murphy Brown
Everything is always a surprise with these people
Why would they think it would be a huge hit? It wasn't a huge hit the first time, and 30 years on it's not getting any better.
I watched for five minutes and then switched to the Barrett-Jackson automobile auction.
We won't be back next week.
Antenna TV runs it.
I have the boxed set of DVDs as well.
So far the only thing that has come out of this season that I will watch another episode of is “Manifest”.
Too much of the same old wine in a new, though broken bottle.
This might have worked if they cast a younger, less well known woman in the lead role. All is too familiar, no surprises to anticipate.
I was watching the Meacum Auctions.
We record shows to watch on Hulu, these three are on being recorded. Magnum P.I. is such a PC Hour, I can not bear to watch.
“More to come ”
hopefully not for long.
Hillary is running 2020? WOW! Great news in the morning. Can’t wait for the slip and slides this time around.
Chris Plante played some audio between Hillary and Bergen. It was the most pathetic crap I’ve ever heard. A comedy act at the airport Hilton quality.
I can’t figure why CBS thought the new/old Murphy Brown would be a hit. The original was popular in its day, but was canceled after the ratings started to slide. Why’d they think anybody would want to re-visit this?
Tom Seleck is Magnum. Always was....always will be.
This was always going to flop...
Only thing that could save it would be Trump tweeting about it.. which hopefully he won’t and will just ignore this train wreck....
Murphy Brown never held up... it was a disaster in syndication... no one cares what a bitter old shrew who basically made a big deal about having a baby, only to completely ignore it is up to.
Never even watched a single episode of the original one.
She was good in “The Sand Pebbles.” All down hill after that (1966).
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