What I’m Watching: Murphy Brown

Murphy Brown: Season 11, Episode 2 “I (Don’t) Heart Huckabee” (C)

I had wondered how this show would top its series return stunts of having Hillary Clinton play herself and Murphy tweeting Trump that when they went on a date, he had her split the check. It turns out that this episode did manage to do that, and I really am curious if the original run of the series was always this sensational in its high-aiming plotlines. Other shows, like “Will and Grace” and “Seinfeld,” have famously set scenes up so that it appears that an unseen character is playing a large part in them when in fact they’re never featured. That could easily have been done with Murphy sneaking into a White House press briefing, which in this universe of course was extremely simple since the gates weren’t even closed, and managed to ask a question without much effort. Editing the footage cleverly so that it seemed like she and Sarah Huckabee Sanders were having a conversation actually creates a dangerous precedent in a sense because it’s the definition of “fake news” and could be used to argue that any photography or video evidence could be forged to prove liberal arguments. Most importantly, it’s just not that funny, and the notion that Avery gets phone calls each night from Sanders in a considerable stretch. It’s looking more and more like this reboot won’t last beyond the season, but it may get awards attention, which makes me unsure of whether it’s worth sticking around to watch more.