Sunday, September 30, 2018

I'm back ... and there's plenty to talk about

I'm back after a sabbatical. NFPW President Marianne Wolf-Astrauskas inspired me to write this column about "Murphy Brown." The Candice Bergan sitcom returned this week with plenty of fodder. Given her own morning news show, Murphy wasted no time taking on President Donald J. Trump on Twitter. She had previously surrendered her flip cell phone to her new show's millennial tech guru. His response to seeing a flip phone - and flipping it open - was priceless. It seems a bit unlikely as a twentysomething that he'd never seen one before, but it was a funny bit. I very much enjoyed the episode and not just because of its political stance. Faith Ford's character experiencing hot flashes while discussing global warming was a hoot. The irony is that I didn't watch "Murphy" during its initial run. There were times when it was Must-See TV, notably the episode that responded to Dan Quayle's family values comment. But beyond that, as a twentyishsomething, it didn't overly interest me. But this new iteration will definitely be a must-see for me. "Saturday Night Live" also returned this week and the timing was perfect for coverage of Thursday's Brett Kavanaugh hearing. The cold opening featuring Matt Damon was spot on. The irony here is that it's no laughing matter that Trump's pick for the U.S. Supreme Court would be serving long after Trump's tenure ends. His confirmation seems likely, pending an FBI investigation into allegations of sexual impropriety when he was a teen.