Murphy Brown (TV Series) Devil with a Blue Dress On (1988) User Reviews

The Devil in the blue dress

[smooth_op_85 · 7/10 · 12 January 2007]

This week's montage starts with a woman dressing, putting on lipstick, her little gold cuffs...and then the shoes.

Open the door of FYI and we are startled to see Murphy and Corky dressing EXACTLY alike..ESP big time.

It is a bit prophetic since they are assigned to a big case together and with Corky speaking of her admiration for THE MURPHY BROWN. After the discovery of a gentleman who does not go through customs---and is smuggling drugs in and out of the country through his humanitarian efforts. Murphy feels bad since it is Corky's lead (The woman who thinks Camou is a soap. what is Camou anyway?). Corky still admires her for following up on the lead and congratulates her for doing so--that's what makes her Murphy Brown.

On game night, Murphy now decides to make it up to Corky by having Corky lead in the story only to take it completely over! She reports the story while Murphy is stuck talking about how to take your pets to a licensed pet spa! This is not Murphy Brown quality stuff.

And so it goes.

You know a secretary who barely notices their boss is not going to last.

[mark.waltz · 9/10 · 24 March 2021]

I love how this show ridicules office protocol by having the staff actually act like they like each other. The women get involved in tossing around a football, and the seemingly uptight older white man shows that he has a sense of fun, when the big boss is not around.

It's not a good start for Murphy and Corky though when they both show up wearing the same blue dress and everybody notices Corky but not her. Perky Corky already gets on Murphy's nerves, and when Miles puts the two together on an assignment, Murphy is instantly annoyed. Ageism? Anti-perkyism? Or just two people who shouldn't even be remotely in the same universe? We've got over a decade of episodes to find out, and it's obvious that a bond will be created, but it's gonna take time.

You really also get to see the camaraderie between Murphy and Frank, as big of bosom buddies as Mame and Vera, and they really become the Lucy and Ethel of this show, with a gender switch for one. Faith Ford is another comedic genius, cute but not completely perfect, and willing to mess herself up for the perfect laugh as what happens when she goes out on assignments and comes back looking like a bag lady. Shakespeare and Albee couldn't get better on character development than what is done here, and the results are shear poetry.