European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 18, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Candice Bergen stars As a television reporter interviewer in the series Murphy Murphy Brown a love hate relationship with to viewers by Michael e. Hill the Washington Post the letters keep coming Lothe Murphy Brown show someday How much they like say they hate it one of them the one done in Pencil and cat Lul hand on yellow paper carefully critiques each show and pledges to watch no longer. And then the viewer watches and writes again. Sometimes they get not letters but memos from the lbs network saying Nice show but about that Indira Gandhi joke who knows who she is we gel very interesting letters on our show said executive producer Diane English i think we be gotten an equal number of letters Lor every episode. People will write and say i hated that one or that one was my Mavorite and there s the persistent viewer who Hales to look at the show but loves to write about it. We get a letter from a viewer every week written very neatly in a Dull Pencil said co executive producer Joel Shukovsky. He gives us a line by line dissertation on How he hates the show. And he s done this Lor nine weeks. In refuses to watch the show Ever again and says i m just letting you know this once More " it matters less of course that people write than that they watch. They have to watch Belore they can write. That they write persistently and with such detail says they Are watching with the kind of intensity that leads audiences to claim a show As their own like it or not. And in increasing numbers viewers Are seeing and liking Murphy Brown. Candice Bergen has the title role of a reporter interviewer on the f v /. Television Magazine show critics and viewers who have put the show on their can to miss in list mention the show s terrific ensemble cast some likening it to the classic Mary Tyler Moore show aggregation they talk about the Sharp edges and shadows of the Brown character she was ust Back from the belly Ford clinic As the series began. They also note that the show is funny something of a Happy anomaly at a Lime when television with its laugh trackless somber toned offerings tries with mixed results to reinvent the sitcom English the series creator wonders and worries about her to baby the Way a Mother frets Over her child s social acceptability. A number of the show s running gags come straight from her own experience and she seems to have a keen sense of when enough is enough. Take close the door for instance. Or maybe you should leave it ajar. This Adamant cry from the patrons of the to studio s neighbourhood bar whenever anyone opens the door admitting a Spielberg an Shaft of Light As Well As a Patron is on its Way out maybe already extinct. We re phasing that English acknowledged in a sometimes it works sometimes it does t Tona. And How about the Hunt for the perfect Secretary a running bit on the show has a new one trying out virtually every episode All of them shall we say flawed. Like the one who seemed perfect charming efficient enthusiastic until she mentioned her morning conversation with the Devil. The Secretary sidelight came from my own experience actually with the Warner Brothers secretarial Pool said English. I m saving the Best ones for will there Ever be a permanent hire for that position a we Hil on somebody that Avo just think to can t live without every week i think that s the Point at which we would say of Well commit to that. Bui there s too Many to do this year so we re still having a lot of fun with and How Long will it take Eldin the Painter to finish painting Murphy s House hell never finish said English who knows about such things we be been working on our House for four years she said of her own Home. We have the same workmen. We re going Back and doing stuff Over that we started four years ago. H s in Murphy herself English has Given television a female Lead with an Edge sort of a female slap Maxwell Well maybe not with that Sharp an Edge but a character nonetheless who has obvious flaws and who just might not be the person you d want As a Best Friend. The network English said notices that Edge or components of it and occasionally urges change which she resists. There s always you re not going to Appeal to the lowest common denominator or the mass she said. We got research Back the other Day from lbs that said we be done this testing and gee you know maybe you should t ought to do those jokes about Indira Gandhi. A lot of people did t know who that was and it s frightening but those Aren t people who Are going to watch our show anyway. So we resist that kind of request. We resist also just taking All the stuffing out of Murphy people Don t realize they re asking you to do that but when you add up All of the requests that s really what it comes Down to so we resist and Mutphy remains a hard headed driven woman we like to bring Mutphy Oul of the elevator Hon with an Alli Lude in the said English and you know sometimes i think we be gone a Litlo Loo far Wilh it and that s been a cause of concern to me. If you redeem a character at the end. You can Gal away with just about anything i think we always do that because we do love Murphy loves Murphy too. Bergen. To to forever remembered As the daughter of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the sister of Dummy Charlie Mccarthy has obviously claimed this character As her own. No Small thing Given her impressive roster of film and television roles. She May have had Murphy in mind when she said she wished the May lower Madam to movie had had a bit More levity to it. In any Case in films like Gandhi. The Sand pebbles the wind and the lion and bite the Bullet she s shown her ability to be a part of Strong casts. For her work in starting Over she was nominated for an Oscar. I love this character said Bergen. I love Murphy. More than anything i love the Edge of her. I love it that it s As Willy an Edge As it is that it s directed at Leeds rather than people of Noble character thai usually it s directed at people who deserve it. And if it in t. Ihen it s retracted in some form. She does t like to apologize much bul she usually circumvents it somehow her husband film director Louis Malle has noticed Bergen s Affinity for the character. To says it s had an influence on my driving for said Bergen. It s the first time i be Ever seen my husband hold onto the handle and put his foot on the floor bracing himself when i be been driving. I insist i be always driven that Way but he said what s happened to you you re driving like a commando. This character is really taking you Over " monday september 18, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 17
