CBS TO REPLAY 'MURPHY BROWN' MARIJUANA EPISODE

By Army Archerd,
Daily Variety Senior Columnist

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) Drug Enforcement Administrator Thomas Constantine can
take another drag on the marijuanathemed "Waiting to Inhale" seg of
"Murphy Brown," which aired Nov. 5 in the series' usual Wednesday 8:30 p.m.
CBS slot.

It's now being plotted for an unusual Monday night replay Nov. 24.

Among other things, the DEA's Constantine had said the seg "trivialized
drug abuse."

Not only did Murphy (Candice Bergen) light up, but Jim (costar Charles
Kimbrough) also puffed as well as bought the stuff on the street for her.

Series exec producer Marc Flanagan told me the seg "humanized the suffering
of a cancer patient, not the legality of marijuana."

He knows the pain and suffering of a cancer patient: an aunt and niece, 20
years apart in age, were cancer victims within a year of each other.

A new "Murphy Brown" seg will follow this repeat show in the regular
Wednesday slot Nov. 26. Olivia NewtonJohn gueststars in that one.

She came in to film it between benefits for cancer charities. She is a
fiveyear breast cancer survivor, having undergone a partial mastectomy in
1992, two weeks after her father had died from cancer.

She plays herself in the series. When she says to Murphy, "I heard about
your breast cancer, I hope you're doing OK," Murphy answers, "I'm hanging
in there," noting, "No one knows better than you you beat it one day at
a time."

The studio audience cheered Olivia.

Other ramifications to be faced by recovering women cancer patients are
made evident when Murphy's network contract is renewed only one year,
instead of the usual three.

"Where's the note of confidence?" asks the hopefully recovering Murphy of
the network boss played by Garry Marshall.