Murphy Brown

TV show named for a character created by Candice Bergen. Elements of the character include a love for sixties Motown, an inability to get along with personal secretaries, an abrasive exterior and occasionally warm caring person behind it (okay, puke now).

Dan Qualye confused the character with reality for a brief period in public. This ranked as one of his bigger gaffes, right up there with calling native Polynesians "happy campers."

Murphy Brown was a smart television show which tried to show what the world of a tv reporter/anchor/producer looks like (just like The West Wing tries to do for the White House). The plot mostly revolved around getting stories for their show, FYI.

In it's final years, the show took a turn for the worse when the original creators left to pursue other projects. The characters were declawed and neutered. It became just another sitcom: the main plot was abandoned in favor of many sub-plots involving the characters' ever-increasing neuroses.