Murphy To Dan: Read My Ratings

THE ULTIMATE IRONY OF THE SPARRING BETWEEN FICtional journalist Murphy Brown and real-life Vice President Dan Quayle is that it serves the purposes of one of America's greatest entrepreneurs: Murphy Brown TV series creator Diane English. Last week's season opener, pumped up by weeks of publicity, drew an enormous 44 million viewers to a special hour-long episode. Quayle's rebuke of the sitcom for supposedly glamourizing single moms was challenged by such scripted scolding from star Candice Bergen as, "Perhaps it's time for the Vice President to recognize that families come in all shapes and sizes."

Murphy Brown, along with the stellar performance of new Monday-night romantic comedies Hearts Afire (courtesy of Designing Women and Evening Shade creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason) and Love and War (the latest from English herself), seems likely once again to nail down the evening as a wholly owned subsidiary of CBS. And the strong Friday night figures for the new Golden Palace (a spin-off of the successful Golden Girls) and Picket Fences (a reworking of the rural-gothic themes of Emmy-winning Northern Exposure) may create a new bridgehead for the Tiffany Network.

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CREDIT: [TMFONT 1 d #666666 d {Source: Nielsen Media Research}]CAPTION: TV viewers