49 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

I wish CBS had gone on with MSW when Angela Lansbury was interested in revisiting it.

 

Remember when Octavia Spencer attempted to revive MSW?  Boy, did that fail hard!  But, I think one reason why OS's attempt never got off the proverbial ground was because, from the way it sounded in all the articles, hers seemed to be a revival "in name only."  It was as if Universal granted them the rights to the names MSW and J.B. Fletcher, and nothing else.

 

If someone else were to try again with a MSW revival -- probably after Dame Angela has passed away -- my advice would be to adhere as closely to the spirit of the original series as possible.  The "new" J.B. Fletcher doesn't HAVE to be Caucasian, but she SHOULD be a retired schoolteacher from Cabot Cove, Maine, who launches a whole new career as a mystery novelist after her husband's untimely death; who traverses the country, and the rest of the world, visiting loved ones and gathering research for each new book; and who always finds herself in the thick of one whodunit or another.

 

1 hour ago, Juliajms said:

OMG. I had totally forgotten that.

 

It's understandable, given how much has happened in the world of politics to make that "scandal" seem so quaint by comparison.

Edited January 25, 20187 yr by Khan

Okay, folks, tell me I'm not the only one who read about this revival and immediately thought of an idea for an episode about Jim Dial being accused of sexual harassment?  Just thinking about how Jim would respond to being victimized by the whole #MeToo movement cracks my [!@#$%^&*] up.

I just typed 'murphy brown' into YT and damn if this isn't still relevant. On two counts: Murphy Brown and the FYI gang are forced to turn their format into a Today-style morning show (complete with coffee and sweaters), much as so many anchors do today, while Murphy is sent out to interview a heartland voter:

 

 

 

(My mother was over the moon, BTW.)

To think: it was just a year or so ago that people were saying that MB was hopelessly irrelevant.

Edited January 25, 20187 yr by Khan

Everything old is new again...isn't that the old saying?

The first questions that need to be answered are: how did Murphy get banned from the GW Bush and Obama White Houses and hopefully that’s exposition while she’s explaining to Frank and Jim how she got banned from the Trump White House.

 

You know it happened.

I'd forgotten how Murphy was banned from the WH by both Papa Bush and Bill Clinton.  Oh, now Avery just HAS to work for TrumpCo.!  LOL!!

In terms of relevancy,  people often claimed part of the reason why the show was not a success in syndication is due to being "too topical." It was very much a show of "the moment" if that makes sense. 

 

Add to me to the group who thinks Candice Bergen is an unbearable actress that plays everything the same way. How she received all those Emmy's is beyond me. 

I've also heard from people regarding Murphy Brown that she as a character is "very grating" to people

And honestly, I think part of that is down to Bergen's limitations as an actress...

 

I think both Cybil Sheppard and Heather Locklear were in mind for the character before Bergen came into the picture. I wonder if the character would have been more endearing to the general public with another actress (not that Sheppard and Locklear are any great thespians themselves). 

 

And yeah, I don't think the show was ever the same without Robert Pastorelli as Eldin. He was the one character that made Murphy tolerable, IMO. The original show definitely ran about 5 seasons too long.

 

Too bad Pastorelli is no longer with us...

Edited January 25, 20187 yr by BetterForgotten

Susan Sullivan would have made an interesting Murphy Brown.

I could absolutely understand why they'd find Murphy/Candice grating, lol, but I enjoy the hell out of her. Murphy Brown is great. It's been nice to see it again (on Antenna TV). But yeah, it really never did well in syndication. I think now's the time for a streaming deal and a cable run on Logo.

 

Maude (and until last year One Day at a Time) also seemed to suffer from either appearing too dated or topical. Yet All in the Family's been in syndication and I imagine remains popular. So it's interesting to think about. But I agree that Murphy was one of those shows "of the moment". (I also agree it ran a few seasons too long, Seasons 9 and 10 at the very least shouldn't have happened). And in this moment, it will no doubt work again. It's honestly a no-brainer. Would we be getting a Murphy reboot if Hillary were elected? If we weren't having a massive movement taking place? Interesting things to think about.

 

But now's the perfect time for a Murphy revival. With the women empowerment movement and a Trump presidency, among other things, now is the absolute perfect time. Before now? I'd agree the timing wasn't right.

 

And not to mention the moderate success of the revivals, like Will and Grace and Fuller House, etc. helps big time.

 

As for other reboots ... with Murphy Brown, Sister/Sister, possibly Mad About You and King of the Hill ... gimme Family Matters. The cast is for it.

 

Fresh Prince will never reunite. Friends and Seinfeld likely never will, but I think if the casts were older they'd be more for it (we'll see in 10 years). Kevin Can Wait should have been a revival of King of Queens. Raymond wouldn't be the same without Marie and Frank and one of the boys, so, no on that one. Coach came close on NBC. It could have worked on ABC paired with Last Man Standing, if it were in the same format as it originally was. Home Improvement would be doable but Tim and ABC seem a bit iffy ...

 

I'm sure I'm forgetting some ...

EDIT:

This revival also helps CBS. The network, I believe, that has pretty much all male leads and has gotten knocked for that in the past. So a woman of a "certain age" leading a sitcom is ... timely on their part.

Edited January 26, 20187 yr by KMan101

I don't think JTT, among others, would do Home Improvement (which I never liked). His relationship with the show and Tim Allen seems iffy, though I guess he did a lot of Last Man Standing (or one of those sitcoms) so who knows? I think the youngest boy is a stoner on a hemp farm somewhere.

On 1/24/2018 at 9:33 PM, Vee said:

I just typed 'murphy brown' into YT and damn if this isn't still relevant. On two counts: Murphy Brown and the FYI gang are forced to turn their format into a Today-style morning show (complete with coffee and sweaters), much as so many anchors do today, while Murphy is sent out to interview a heartland voter

 

 

The weird thing is at the time I would have said that was too broad. Now - it definitely is close to being on the nose.