When the vice president took on a sitcom character
05/30/19 • 20 min
In May 1992, the TV character Murphy Brown gave birth to a baby boy. The following day, Vice President Dan Quayle publicly blamed Brown for "mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice." But Murphy Brown wasn’t the first single mom on TV, or the first pregnant character to wrestle with whether to have a baby. Other shows tackled more controversial issues like abortion decades earlier. We look back at the feud between a sitcom character and a real politician to find out what that fight tells us about our culture, in 1992 and today.
Music credits:
Reach Out by James Copperthwaite
Murphy Brown Theme by Steve Dorff
Voyage (A) by by Jon Lorca and Peter James Quiney
A Most Quiet Season by Richard Bone
Rue Montclare (A) by Joe Henson, Alexis Leon Smith, and Reinould Willem Rutger Ford
When in the West by Landsman Duets (from Blue Dot Sessions)
Two Dollar Token by Warmbody (from Blue Dot Sessions)
Kitten by Podington Bear
Constructions (B) by John Devereuax
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In May 1992, the TV character Murphy Brown gave birth to a baby boy. The following day, Vice President Dan Quayle publicly blamed Brown for "mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice." But Murphy Brown wasn’t the first single mom on TV, or the first pregnant character to wrestle with whether to have a baby. Other shows tackled more controversial issues like abortion decades earlier. We look back at the feud between a sitcom character and a real politician to find out what that fight tells us about our culture, in 1992 and today.
Music credits:
Reach Out by James Copperthwaite
Murphy Brown Theme by Steve Dorff
Voyage (A) by by Jon Lorca and Peter James Quiney
A Most Quiet Season by Richard Bone
Rue Montclare (A) by Joe Henson, Alexis Leon Smith, and Reinould Willem Rutger Ford
When in the West by Landsman Duets (from Blue Dot Sessions)
Two Dollar Token by Warmbody (from Blue Dot Sessions)
Kitten by Podington Bear
Constructions (B) by John Devereuax
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Previous Episode
The fictional presidencies of Hillary Clinton
Fictional women in power on TV have a lot in common with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Characters on The Good Wife, Scandal, House of Cards, Commander in Chief — the list goes on and on. On this episode, we examine these characters to find out what they reveal about us and our attitudes toward powerful women in the real world.
Music credits: “Sugar Frosting” by Charlotte Lucy Glasson, Peter Michael Ludlam, and Hans Hummer“Soothe” by Bodytonic (from Blue Dot Sessions)“Going Forward Looking Back” by Podington Bear“New Connection” by Bob Bradley and Thomas Richard Balmforth“Solidarity” by Podington Bear“A Most Quiet Season” by Richard Bone“Bear Kitten” by Podington Bear
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Next Episode
The TV Presidents: Reagan and Obama
While they had radically different styles and politics, Presidents Reagan and Obama had at least one thing in common: They were both masters of the small screen. We’ll explore how both presidents used the medium to communicate their message directly to their supporters, often avoiding criticism from the press along the way.
Music credits:
Rue Montclare (A) by Joe Henson, Alexis Leon Smith, and Reinould Willem Rutger FordPositive Motion by Thomas Richard Peter Howe and Stephen Christopher TaitVengeful by Warmbody (from Blue Dot Sessions)Night Time Adventure by John Lorca and Peter James QuineyVoyage (a) by Jon Lorca and Peter James Quiney
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