Murphy Brown (1988)
Murphy Brown (Candice Bergen) is a recovering alcoholic who returns to the fictional newsmagazine FYI for the first time following a stay at the Betty Ford Clinic residential treatment center. Over 40 and single, she is sharp tongued and hard as nails. In her profession, she is considered one of the boys, having shattered many glass ceilings encountered during her career. Dominating the FYI news magazine, she is portrayed as one of America's hardest-hitting (though not the warmest or more sympathetic) media personalities.
Seasons & Episode
When Murphy and Frank don't show up for dinner, Kay speculates they have are a having a relationship. Murphy drops the bomb on the rest of the staff. Jim is speechless. Frank tries to help in every way that he can. Murphy faces a tough decision with the myriad of treatment options for her breast cancer.
Frank can't stop telling the story about him punching the paparazzi. Murphy returns to work the day after her surgery and she looks like hell and is very disoriented. Corky takes her home at offers to stay with her for a couple of days. Murphy becomes so dependent upon Corky that Corky hasn't got the time to take care of her own problems, such as her failing marriage to Miles.
Murphy begins her chemotherapy treatments. The treatments make her uncomfortable and take a lot out of her. She confronts Jim about his avoidance of her and her condition. In an effort to help her out, Jim purchases some marijuana to help ease her pain. They light up and deal with their issues.
The chemotherapy begins to take its toll on Murphy's hair. She begins to wear a wig and attend support group meetings.
Murphy battles insomnia and the gang helps her to get through the night. Frank, while he is on a stakeout with a SWAT team. Jim, while he is working on getting back together with Doris. Corky, while she is going through her storage locker of memories. Kay, who was up anyway, helps Murphy make and bake cookies from scratch, over the phone.
Kay's idea to take the show to Paris turns into the network's idea of airing old stories on a cable special. The staff tries to decide upon which of their old stories to show. Murphy sees herself side-by-side, then and now and that causes her to return to her childhood home in Philadelphia in an attempt to recapture something from her childhood.
For a birthday present, Murphy helps her friend Lisa, from the canccer support group, to meet her high school crush. The gang decides to return the same favor for Murphy when Murphy mentions the name of boy she had a crush on; he was the lead in a high school production of ""The Music Man."" They set up a surprise meeting and they discover that Murphy's old crush is now a lounge singer.
To prove her point about gender identification, Kay shows up at Phil's dressed as a man. The disguise fools the staff and Murphy uses Kay in her disguise to stop the advances of an IRS tax accountant that has information Muprhy needs for a big story. Unfortunately, the poly jeopardizes Murphy's chances at the story. The staff tries to help Murphy rescue her story.