CBS’ “Murphy Brown” revival is not shying away from the elephant in the room, both on-screen and off.
During the show’s panel at the Television Critics Association press tour Sunday, creator Diane English proactively addressed the sexual misconduct accusations recently posed against CBS Corp CEO Les Moonves by six women in a bombshell New Yorker story.
English said her team takes the allegations “extremely seriously” and revealed they have a #MeToo-themed episode planned for the show’s return, entitled “#MurphyToo.”
“We know that there is a question that is going to come up, and I just want to address is right now, regarding the New Yorker article that appeared a few days ago,” English told reporters, before anyone had broached the topic of Moonves.
“I just want to say that, on behalf of everybody on our show, that we take the allegations of sexual misconduct extremely seriously,” English continued. “So seriously, that we actually developed an episode about the #MeToo movement many months ago and that will be our fourth episode. We support the investigation fully. We, none of us have had any negative experience, in that regard, at CBS. And I go back to the Bill Paley days. [laughs] I’ve kind of outlasted all these guys.”
“So I’ve never experienced any kind of sexual misconduct personally or misogyny and — as far as I know — no one on the crew has,” she added. “So I feel like I just want to say that upfront on our behalf, and would much rather talk about our show coming back. So I think that’s the only comment we will have until the investigation is complete.”
The panel got back around to show-related topics, talking about how Murphy Brown’s (Candice Bergen) grown son Avery (played by “Limitless” alum Jake McDorman) is an employee of the Wolf Network, which is the sitcom’s take on Fox News Channel.