May 19, 1992
Vice President Dan Quayle criticized the Murphy Brown character for
"ignoring the importance of fathers by birthing a child alone".
In the show's 1991–1992 season, Murphy became pregnant.
When her baby's father (ex-husband and current underground radical Jake
Lowenstein) expressed his unwillingness to give up his own lifestyle to be a
parent, Murphy chose to have the child and raise it alone. Another major
fiction-reality blending came at Murphy's baby shower: the invited guests were
journalists Katie
Couric, Joan Lunden, Paula Zahn, Mary
Alice Williams and Faith Daniels, who treated the fictional Murphy and Corky as
friends and peers.
At the point where she was about to give birth, she had stated that "several people do not want me to have the baby. Pat Robertson; Phyllis Schlafly; half of Utah!" Right after giving birth to her son, Avery, Murphy sang the song "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin. This storyline made the show a subject of political controversy during the 1992 American presidential campaign. On May 19, 1992, then Vice President Dan Quayle spoke at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. During his speech,[5] he criticized the Murphy Brown character for "ignoring the importance of fathers by birthing a child alone".
Quayle's remarks caused a public discussion on family values, culminating in the 1992–93 season premiere, "You Say Potatoe, I Say Potato", where the television characters reacted to Quayle's comments and produced a special episode of FYI showcasing and celebrating the diversity of the modern American family. Because Quayle's actual speech made little reference to Murphy Brown's fictional nature (other than the use of the word character), the show was able to use actual footage from his speech to make it appear that, within the fictional world of the show, Quayle was referring to Murphy Brown personally, rather than to the fictional character. At the end, Brown helps organize a special edition of FYI focusing on different kinds of families then arranges a retaliatory prank in which a truckload of potatoes is dumped in front of Quayle's residence, while a disc jockey commenting on the incident notes the Vice President should be glad people were not making fun of him for misspelling "fertilizer", (On June 15, 1992, at a spelling bee in Trenton, New Jersey, Quayle had erroneously corrected an elementary school student's spelling of "potato" to "potatoe".) When Candice Bergen won another Emmy that year, she thanked Dan Quayle. The feud was cited by E! as #81 on its list of "101 Reasons the '90s Ruled."
In 2002, Bergen said in an interview that she
personally agreed with much of Quayle's speech, calling it "a perfectly intelligent
speech about fathers not being dispensable" and adding that "nobody
agreed with that more than I did."
Quayle would eventually display a sense of humor about
the incident—after the controversy died down, he appeared for an interview on
an independent Los Angeles TV station and for his final question was asked what
his favorite TV show was. He responded with "Murphy Brown—Not!"
The station would later use the clip of Quayle's response to promote its
showing of Murphy Brown re-runs in syndication.
May 20, 2007
The Simpsons airs 400th episode.
The first animated prime-time sitcom since The Flinstones in the
1960s, The Simpsons burst onto the scene during a period when most of
the successful comedy series on television were family-friendly offerings such
as The Cosby Show, Full House, Growing Pains and Family
Matters. Offbeat and dysfunctional, The Simpsons offered a far
different view of family life. Critics raved about the show and its edgy,
pop-culture savvy humor from the beginning, and it became a huge ratings hit.
In 2005, The Simpsons became the longest-running sitcom ever, passing
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, which ran for 14 seasons (1952-66).
Over the years, the series racked up no fewer than 23 Emmy Awards, and was
named by TIME magazine as the best show of all time in 1999 and as No. 1
on Entertainment Weekly’s list of New Classic TV Shows in 2008. Its
incredible success paved the way for other adult-oriented animated series,
notably Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill, The Family Guy
and South Park.
May 22, 1992
The Final
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
As his retirement approached, Johnny Carson tried to avoid too much sentimentality, but would periodically show clips of some of his favorite moments and revisit with some of his favorite guests.
However, no one was quite prepared for Carson's next-to-last night, where
his final guests his guests were Robin Williams and Bette Midler. Midler found the emotional
vein of the farewell. After the topic of their conversation turned to Johnny's
favorite songs ("I'll Be Seeing
You" and "Here's That Rainy
Day"), Midler mentioned she knew a chorus of the latter. She
began singing the song, and after the first line, Carson joined in and turned
it into a touching impromptu duet. Midler finished her appearance when, from
center stage, she slowly sang the pop standard "One
for My Baby (and One More for the Road)." This penultimate show
was immediately recognized as a television classic, and Midler would win an
Emmy Award for her role in it.
Carson did not have guests on his final episode of The Tonight Show.
An estimated 50 million people watched this retrospective show, which ended
with him sitting on a stool alone on the stage, curiously similar to Jack Paar's last show. He gave these final
words of goodbye,
“And so it has come to this: I, uh... am one
of the lucky people in the world; I found something I always wanted to do and I
have enjoyed every single minute of it. I want to thank the gentlemen who've
shared this stage with me for thirty years. Mr. Ed McMahon, Mr. Doc Severinsen,
and you people watching. I can only tell you that it has been an honor and a
privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you. And I hope
when I find something that I want to do and I think you would like and come
back that you'll be as gracious in inviting me into your home as you have been.
I bid you a very heartfelt good night”.
During his final speech, Carson told the audience that he hoped to return to
television with another project and that hopefully "will meet with your
approval". A few weeks after the final show aired, it was announced that
NBC and Carson had struck a deal to develop a new series, but ultimately he
chose never to return to television with another show of his own.
Johnny Carson died of complications from emphysema on January 23, 2005 at age 79.
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
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