Date of airing: November 21, 1988 (CBS)
Nielsen ratings information: 16.3 million viewers, 12.0/18 in Households
written by: Korby Siamis
directed by: Barnet Kellman
In which Murphy turned out to be a mean daughter-of-a-bitch, because
maybe she simply does not like to be backstabbed, let alone share the wealth of a successful career in journalism. I am actually surprised
that this episode’s title worked with the premise of the episode, or the titular song by Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels (even the lyrics somewhat described Corky, although she was not at all a devil – just conniving for a minute). And now I am also sad that music like this continues to prevent MURPHY BROWN from ever seeing the light of day as a hardcopy or in streaming, because I can only imagine how hard and expensive it must be to secure the music rights, especially when the songs are woven into the episodes. Murphy sings out loud for a few minutes in the pilot episode, and in this half hour, Corky lipsyncs while getting ready for work. It is not that easy to just cut around it when you do not have the money to pay for the music.
Now, Murphy has proven she is not just the main character of a sitcom,
but she is also ruthless when she has to be, and when somebody is threatening to take the spotlight away from
her. You can think about Murphy's stardom as a journalist all you want, but it was clear in this episode that Corky did
all the legwork, and that Murphy wanted to take all the honor and
gratitude for the reporting, because that is how the business always worked. It seems pretty obvious that Murphy’s
turn into a villain for a scene was inevitable. And I liked it,
because it established that Murphy is not just a lovely character to
cheer for. She is a seasoned reporter who wants to be the star of news
television, and she is not going to be stopped by a former beauty queen. If someone stands in Murphy's way, she will take them out
with fire and fury like the world has never seen before, to quote a twice impeached, thrice indicted private citizen residing in Florida.
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| The twins are on opposite sides of the excitement spectrum about working together. |
What the show needs at this point though is a little bit of something happening in Murphy's life, something that is more than just her work. After the pilot focused on her almost completely, this episode was no less interested in the other characters, since the focus on the titular character stood on the same level as it did during the pilot. I guess that is what happens when you write a show for an eponymous character, and even though the writers did not neglect the other characters and included subplots about Jim needing to smile more, as well as Frank’s story about the football team formerly known as the Redskins, they seemed rather random, and entirely forgettable. The only reason I would want to remember those stories is because of the Redskins team name controversy that reached a peak in the mid-2010s, as well as Jim’s failure to smile reminding me of the Terminator’s horse-looking face in the extended edition of TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY. But I am pretty sure I will have forgotten about all of it in a few episodes’ time.
I did like that the episode focused on rivalry in the newsroom though, and that the rivalry was between two women. It almost came close to a bitchfight after the FYI show ended, and for a moment, I wondered if the writers had some experiences with actual newsroom – I can imagine there have been actual catfights between real-life women reporters who attempted to steal stories from one another, considering the news field was predominantly male-driven in the twentieth century, so the women had to do anything they could to get airtime. Here is another premise the writers were able to work with: Murphy and Corky are essentially competition for the prime FYI spot, even though they both get airtime on FYI, and both have found their niche (although I do not know if Corky is happy with those fluff pieces she has been reporting). There is conflict material there, which the episode beautifully tapped into and hopefully did not do for the last time. It would be a shame to put it to waste after this episode.
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| Show us those shiny whities, Jim! |
By the way, I guess it is time to count Murphy’s secretaries. After
two episodes, she had three. Two of them were familiar to my TV viewing
habits, with last episode’s Robert being one of Frank Parker's "babysitters" from
UPN’s forgotten time-travel action-adventure show SEVEN DAYS, and this
episode’s Megan is known as Nurse Shirley from ER, who regularly assisted the surgeons over the course of the series. I guess there was a
time in which a certain role became a spot for some guest star
professionals during the 1980s and 90s? That almost has me excited about which A-list TV stars from back in the day decided to cameo as Murphy's secretary.
