Bette Midler Returns to ‘Murphy Brown’ in Episode 7

Murphy Brown featured the return of her worst assistant ever in the latest episode.

As the Murphy In the Morning team talked about how excited they were to attend a gala in honor of their friend Jim Dial (Charles Kim Brough), Murphy was surprised to see her former assistant Caprice Feldman (Bette Midler) walk into the set with some surprising news.

Murphy (Candice Bergen) regrets seeing the woman, who had once been her worst assistant twenty years ago. Caprice, however, is feeling good in the moment, when she reveals that she had been married to the biggest shareholder for the network. After his recent death, the man left all of his shares to her, meaning that she is now Murphy’s boss.

“I’ve been widowed twice now, first Victor then Karl, both with huge… generous hearts,” she said.

“I inherited all of Karl’s stock… I own you,” she said before letting everyone know she owns all of them.

“I have some fantastic ideas for livening up this brand,” Caprice reveals. “We’re going to take boobs, booty and banter all the way to the bank. Look out world, Caprice Feldman-Morton is coming through!”

Caprice returns later in the episode during Jim’s event and attempts to flirt with the decorated journalist, despite him having brought Phyllis (Tyne Daly) as his date for the evening.

The two ladies have an argument over Jim’s affections, but Caprice decides to let it slide, leaving them with another hilarious one-liner.

“You can have your seat back. But it’s your loss Mr. Dial, you could’ve had a lifetime achievement award and two Golden Globes,” she says.

Ahead of the new episode, Murphy Brown creator Diane English teased Midler’s return to the series after 20 years. She revealed to the Montana Standard that she ran into Midler shortly before she wrote the new episodes of the sitcom and they agreed Caprice had to return.

“Bette was on set for five days — it was really fun. She’s a force of nature,” English told the outlet.

“In Murphy’s mind, she was the worst assistant ever,” she added. “So it’s almost like she’s having PTSD when she hears Caprice’s voice.”

The episode also featured Katie Couric guest starring on the series as herself and the presenter of Jim Dial’s award. The episode also introduced John Larroquette as a judge who caught Murphy’s interest during the event, much to the horror of her son Avery (Jake McDorman)

Murphy Brown airs Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. ET on CBS.