Like its real life counterparts, ‘Murphy In the Morning’ gets fresh update for midterms

By Michael P. Hill

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CBS’s “Murphy Brown” tackled the 2018 midterm elections inside its fictional universe.

Spanning decades: ‘Murphy Brown’ production design bridges classic look with today’s news landscape

In the “Murphy In the Morning” “show within a show,” the fictional CNC had Brown and her team on air from its normal early morning timeslot until polls close.

Like its real life counterparts, “Murphy In the Morning” gave its set a unique look for election coverage — namely through internally lit pillars and special patriotic themed graphics. The network also used its large ‘big board’ video wall for interactive maps and tosses to live shots.

The on-set video monitors featured stars and stripes graphics.

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‘Murphy Brown’ fans get look at rival ‘Wolf Network’ graphics

The ‘Results May Vary’ episode also included Brown’s son, Avery, joining another show-within-a-show — ‘The Wolf Pack’ — on rival ‘Wolf Network.’ Viewers first saw on-air visuals of the Wold Network on the previous week’s episode.

‘The Wolf Pack’ appears to be a dig at ‘Fox & Friends‘ — given its ‘curvy couch’ and windowed set, while Peter Gallagher plays John Haggerty, a character that appears to be based on Fox News‘ Sean Hannity. 

Incidentally, “Murphy Brown” cleverly wrote around showing the actual results of the midterms in a sort of fiction-meets-real-life cliffhanger — and instead ended with an on screen message encouraging viewers to vote.

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Broadcast Industry News, Featured, TV Show Production Design