‘Murphy Brown’: CBS Streaming 18 Episodes on All Access

Murphy Brown is returning for a new and highly anticipated reboot season in two weeks, and you can now finally watch some of the episodes from its original run thanks to CBS All Access.

Ahead of the sitcom’s reboot premiere, CBS announced Thursday that 18 episodes from the original series will be available to stream in the video on-demand service for a limited time to subscribers, with season one’s Funnies Girl” available for free without a subscription.

Check out the full list of the episodes available to stream here.

The series is tricky to offer in streaming series due to Murphy’s (Candice Bergen) expensive taste in music. Given that many of the episodes featured popular songs of the time, licensing fees are simply too expensive for streaming platforms to afford.

According to Vulture, however, the audiences can catch reruns of the original series on Antenna TV, which runs episodes weeknights at 11 p.m. ET.

As previously reported, there are two big reasons the series is not found in streaming services, and why CBS can’t include the original run on its site.

The original series, and reboot, are produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Television. While the ownership issue might have been easy to fix, considering CBS’ hit show The Big Bang Theory is also a collaboration with Warner Bros. and is available to stream on CBS All Access, the music issue is another major roadblock.

With Murphy’s heavy use of Motown songs, including in stand-in theme songs, replacing the songs would make no sense and using them would be too expensive.

At least now fans can enjoy some of the episodes before the show’s 11th season premieres later in September.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, creator Diane English revealed she first thought of bringing back Murphy Brown in 2012, when former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was in the spotlight.

“Sarah was really the beginning of the Trump era, in a way that we had never seen before,” English told the outlet. “She didn’t have much experience, had very strong opinions, and was extremely out-there. I really disliked her. I made a joke someplace like, ‘If CBS just gave me six episodes, that’s all I would need.’ It became moot, though, because [the GOP] was soundly beaten, so we never really visited it.”

Fast forward a few years and the countdown is on for the Murphy Brown premiere, which many believe will be talker based on the show’s reputation on commenting frankly on the country’s political climate.

The Murphy Brown reboot will premiere on Thursday, Sept. 27 at 9:30 p.m. ET on CBS.