Murphy Brown Had a Weird Christmas Episode in Its First Season

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https://popculturereferences.com/mur...-first-season/

We continue our look at some notable 1980s Christmas episodes by looking at the first Murphy Brown Christmas episode, where Murphy has to take care of three kids at Christmastime.



We continue our look at some notable 1980s Christmas episodes by looking at the first Murphy Brown Christmas episode, where Murphy has to take care of three kids at Christmastime when their mother sends them to go live with Murphy because she can’t afford to raise them anymore.

Murphy Brown was a smash hit series, both commercially and critically, starring Candice Bergen as an investigative reporter and interviewer for the fictional TV newsmagazine, FYI. You could basically inscribe the Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy Series to Bergen every year, to the point where she eventually just pulled her name for consideration for the show’s final three seasons after winning her fifth in seven seasons.

This is early in the series, but it’s weird how quickly some of the early plots from the show got played out. Like Murphy having a problem with Miles, her new young executive producer, or Murphy’s house painter, Elden, seemingly always JUST about to finish painting her house any day now. They addressed the Miles issue by having them become friends quickly enough (and then just worked together against the network), and with Elden, they futzed around for a while before finally bringing Elden back as her nanny when Murphy had a kid (it is hard to imagine now just HOW big of a deal Murphy Brown having a kid was at the time).

In this episode, one of her viewers, a down on her luck single mother, sends her kids to Murphy because she feels Murphy can take care of them better than she can. Murphy has to get a social worker to get the kids, but since it is right before Christmas, it is hard to get a hold of one, so she has to take care of the kids, who are rather bratty. However, they surprise her when they say nice things to Santa Claus about Murphy, including asking Santa to bring the pony to Murphy she didn’t get as a kid.

So when the social worker shows up to take the kids, Murphy decides to keep them. She then gives them an awesome Christmas, along with her Phil (who owns the local watering hole that the FYI crew hangs out with every day) dressed up as Santa Claus (bringing a pony for Murphy).

Their mother then shows up, missing her kids (obviously), and Murphy gives them to their mom, and writes the mother a sizable check to help her out.

A forlorn Murphy then goes to the FYI Christmas party, which, amusingly, is decked out in Hanukkah decorations since Miles was in charge of the party. Everyone dances and has a good time.

The third season of Murphy Brown has by FAR the show’s best Christmas episode, but that’s in 1990, so it’s not eligible for this feature. Next year!