On this day in 1998, CBS introduced Murphy Brown. The sitcom, starring Candice Bergen, revolved around a cynical journalist and news anchor for a fictional network newsmagazine called FYI.

Bergen's co-stars included Charles Kimbrough, Joe Regalbuto and Faith Ford as the newsmag's on-air talent, Grant Shaud as the show's wunderkind producer, Pat Corley as owner of the bar and grill the FYI team frequented, and Robert Pastorelli as Murphy's housepainter, who never finished working on her Georgetown townhouse.

The series played an unexpected role in the 1992 presidential election when, during a campaign speech, then-vice president Dan Quayle criticized the then-pregnant, not-married fictional character for "ignoring the importance of fathers by birthing a child alone." The comment sparked a national debate, and the series capitalized on the attention by allowing its characters to react to Quayle's remarks in the show's 1992-1993 season premiere.