Darren McGavin

As we wind up our “Work It Out” blog series, we finish with a working crew that was very close on and off the set, a television show about a television show, Murphy Brown.

Created by Diane English, the show aired on CBS in the fall of 1988 and ran for a decade. In 2018, a reboot of the original cast had a one-season run of 13 new episodes when we got to catch up on life with the characters.

Murphy Brown is about an investigative journalist, Murphy Brown (Candice Bergman), who works for the news show FYI. I can’t imagine anyone other than Bergen in the role, but English had to fight hard for her because CBS president Kim LeMasters wanted Heather Locklear to have the role.

She is a recovering alcoholic and has a quick wit. Murphy strongly advocates for the integrity of journalism, the unjustness that can be found in politics, and feminist rights. One of her well-known frustrations is that she was so hard on secretaries, they never lasted long and we saw a long string of them come and go during the ten years. Murphy would have 93 of them during the show. One of the best secretary scenes was when Marcia Wallace who played Carol on The Bob Newhart Show worked for her. Murphy finally found a secretary that she loved and then at the end of the show, Bob Newhart appeared as Dr. Hartley and begged Carol to return to work, so she did. In one episode, Murphy finds out that there is actually a support group made up of her former secretaries.

Rounding out the cast was Jim Dial (Charles Kimbrough) who tends to live in the past a bit, Frank Fontana (Joe Regalbuto), Murphy’s best friend, who calls her “Murph.” He is a great reporter but is also a bit insecure. There is a running gag that the producer make him wear a toupee which he hates. Miles Silverberg (Grant Shaud) is that producer; he’s a Harvard grad and overachiever and doesn’t bond with the cast right away. Corky Sherwood (Faith Ford) is a former Miss America. She and Murphy don’t hit it off immediately, but Murphy learns to respect her during the run of the show, and they also become very close. Murphy’s other “person” is Eldin Bernecky (Robert Pastorelli). Eldin is a house painter; he worked around her house for six seasons and he gave her lots of advice and becomes like a brother to her. Then there is Phil (Pat Corley) who owns Phil’s Bar where the crew congregates. The bar is said to be a Washington DC institution and has its share of political knowledge and secrets.

We also get to know (1) Avery Brown (Colleen Dewhurst), Murphy’s mom who is a museum curator. When Dewhurst died in 1991, the producers had Murphy’s mom pass away as well. Murphy named her son Avery. (2) Bill Brown (Darren McGavin), Murphy’s dad, a newspaper publisher. He married a yoga teacher younger than Murphy. Dewhurst won two Emmys for her appearances on this show, and McGavin was nominated in 1990. (3) Audrey Cohen (Jane Leeves) is Miles’ girlfriend for seasons 2-5, but their relationship ended when she took the role of Daphne on Frasier.

In 1991, Murphy became pregnant. The father is her on-again, off-again ex-husband. He does not want to get tied down raising a baby, so Murphy becomes a single parent. One fun scene was Murphy’s baby shower which included several famous guests including Katie Couric, Joan Lunden, Paula Zahn, Mary Alice Williams, and Faith Daniels, all well-known news journalists. Baby Avery was played by Haley Joel Osment. Osment would grow up to play roles in more than 100 movies and television series including Forest Gump, The Sixth Sense, and Thunder Alley where he played Harry Turner.

In the revival, Murphy comes out of retirement to go on the air for a show called “Murphy in the Morning.” She brings back her colleagues Frank and Corky and has Miles produce it. Jim meets them once in a while but chooses to stay in retirement. Pat Patel (Nik Dodani) is their social media manager. Murphy’s son Avery (Jake McDorman), who was a baby when the show ended, has his own news show that competes with his mom but the two of them are very close. Murphy is a die-hard liberal and her son is much more conservative. Phil’s bar is still the place to hang out, but it is now run by Phil’s sister Phyllis (Tyne Daly).

Mother and son don’t see eye to eye often. Photo: variety.com

The original show was loved by critics from the beginning, but it took longer to establish an audience. In the third season, it became a top-ten hit and was number three the next year. The show was nominated for 62 Emmys and won 18. After Bergen won five, she declined to be nominated any longer.

By the ninth season, ratings were declining. Shaud left the show and Lily Tomlin took over his role as executive producer Kay Carter-Shepley. For the last season, Murphy is diagnosed with breast cancer. Bergen was presented with an award from the American Cancer Society because there was a 30% increase in the number of women getting mammograms.

Unfortunately, you cannot buy the DVD set to watch. I read that the first season did not sell as well as expected, so they stopped releasing them. However, the music used in the series seems to be the primary reason. The show used a lot of Motown classics that resulted in astronomical licensing fees for every episode and costs were prohibitive for DVDs.

Although this was a well-written show, the then-current political references do date it a bit, but then again, that was part of the show’s mission, so it’s hard to have it both ways. While I appreciate this show, if I’m going to watch a series about a group of coworkers, I would probably gravitate to The Mary Tyler Moore Show or M*A*S*H but Murphy Brown would definitely be in my top ten work shows.

One of my favorite blog series is beginning again today: “What a Character !” Our first character actor is Ruth McDevitt. You might not recognize her name, but the minute you see a photo of her you will definitely recognize this busy television star. Her on-screen personality is perfectly captured in her imdb biography where she is described as “delightfully daffy and quite an apple dumpling of a darling, a cheerfully wizened character.”

On Love American Style with Meredith McCrae Photo: pinterest

Ruth was born in Michigan but she spent most of her early life in Ohio. Her father was the county sheriff and both of her parents were musicians. After graduation, she attended college (some sites give her college as Bowling Green and others Wooster) and after her graduation, she studied at the Toledo Dramatic Academy. She then moved to New York to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Art.

When she married Patrick McDevitt in 1928, she decided to devote her time to her husband, giving up her career. Her husband was a widowed contractor who lived in Florida, so she made the move south and participated in a variety of women’s clubs and community groups. Unfortunately, her husband passed away in 1934, and she then returned to her acting profession in her forties. She made her debut on Broadway in 1940 in several shows and later appeared in “Arsenic and Old Lace” in 1942 and “The Solid Gold Cadillac” in 1954.

In the thirties, Ruth also began her radio career, taking on the roles of Rosemary’s mother in “Keeping up with Rosemary” and Jane in “This Life is Mine.”

Ruth also found success on the big screen. Her first movie role was in The Guy Who Came Back in 1951. She would appear in a variety of movies during her career including The Birds, The Parent Trap, The Shakiest Gun in the West, Mame, and Angel in My Pocket.

With Frank DeVol in The Parent Trap Photo: imdb.com

It was in television that she found most of her fame. Her first appearances were in 1949 when she was cast in A Woman to Remember, The Ford Theater Hour, and Suspense. She continued to receive dramatic roles throughout the fifties. From 1953-54, she appeared in seven episodes of Mister Peepers as his mother.

Ruth began the 1960s in several medical shows and then transitioned to comedies appearing in The Andy Griffith Show, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The Debbie Reynolds Show, I Dream of Jeanne, and Mayberry RFD. She received a recurring role in The Doctors in 1963 as Mrs. McMurtrie. She also became a cast member of Pistols and Petticoats in 1966. She was described as pistol-toting grannie, Effie Hanks. The show was set in Colorado in 1871 where the Hanks family are beloved residents and run things better than the sheriff does. It was canceled after its first season. Ann Sheridan starred in the tv series and she passed away a couple of months before the show was canceled.

The 1970s was Ruth’s busiest decade. She showed up in various dramas including Ironside, McCloud, Mannix, and The Rookies. She popped up in Gunsmoke and Little House on the Prairie and took part in the medical shows Marcus Welby and Medical Center.

With Bert Mustin on All in the Family Photo:

However, comedies kept her employed. She accepted roles on My World and Welcome to It, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, That Girl, Here’s Lucy, Love American Style, Nanny and the Professor, Bewitched, Room 222, and Phyllis. among others.

She accepted a recurring role on All in the Family as Jo Nelson from 1973-1975. Her last starring role was in Kolchak: The Night Stalker from 1974-1975. Darren McGavin plays a newspaper reporter who specializes in solving supernatural mysteries. His only friend was a coworker who also had a column in the paper played by McDevitt. The show supposedly inspired the X Files in part.

Ruth’s last two roles were in 1976 in made-for-tv movies. She passed away the same year from natural causes at age 80.

Whenever I write about these character actors, it makes me happy and sad. I respect them so much and appreciate the depth they add to make our television series better, but I am always disappointed that there is so little information available about their lives and careers. I very much enjoyed getting to know Ruth McDevitt a little better—she certainly was a character and we all benefit from that.

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How pop culture influences us

Murphy Brown: FYI

Ruth McDevitt: What a Character – Delightfully Daffy