‘Murphy Brown’ Season Finale: The Mother-Son Duo Take Center Stage

Murphy Brown is a workplace comedy, yet some of the best moments on the revival take place between curmudgeon TV news veteran Murphy (Candice Bergen), and her grown son, Avery (Jake McDorman, Limitless), who followed her into the family business as a journalist.

“The scenes with Avery and Murphy are fun because they allow him to call her on her bull, check her privilege and get into her heart,” says McDorman. “That’s rare for Murphy.”

Their mother-son bond takes center stage tonight for the conclusion of an emotional two-episode arc that began last week. Avery had traveled to the Middle East to help Murphy and her CNC news network team, who have been investigating a story “that is similar to the Pentagon Papers in Vietnam but with the war in Afghanistan,” explains McDorman.

For Avery, the trip abroad “is a way to establish himself as a serious journalist apart from who his mother is. He wants to prove himself,” he continues. But while searching the country for CNC’s valuable source who’s gone quiet, Avery himself suddenly stops communicating with his mom.

L-R: Babak Tafti as Khaled, Jake McDorman as Avery Brown, and Joseph Kamal as Ahmed Zahir

The normally steely Murphy — who didn’t want Avery to head to the war zone in the first place — becomes unnerved at the thought of a tragedy befalling her only boy. “Every minute he’s not on the phone reassuring her he’s OK, Murphy is losing her mind,” McDorman says. “Professionally, she’s rooting for him. Maternally, she wants to pull him back home.”

Murphy Brown, Season Finale, Thursday, Dec. 20, 9:30/8:30c, CBS