My day on Murphy Brown

Air Date was Nov. 27, 1995

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Act One: Check In

I "won" a walk-on part on Murphy Brown through a silent auction held at the Curtis School Fair which is on Mullholland Drive in LA. A very ritzy school indeed, they had items for auction like the T-shirt off Bruce Willis' back, signed by the Bruce himself. They also had walk on parts for Lois and Clark, Coach, and Picket Fences.

The day of the shoot rolls along, (Nov. 10, 1995), and I was told to report to Teresa at 10 am that morning. At 10 am I'm talking to a guard at the entrance to Studio 9. I tell him I was told to report to Teresa. He shows me where Teresa is (just across the hall from him), and I wander over and ask what the heck I was supposed to do. She says, "You're not supposed to check in with me. Check in with the guard and he'll tell you where to go." (paraphrased). Okay. Evidently a mix-up. I head back over to the guard and tell him I'm supposed to check in. He asks me if I'm an extra and I say, "No, I got this through the Curtis Fair and --" I never even finished the sentence as Teresa overheard and rushed out. "Why didn't you say so?" she exclaimed.

Act Two: Hanging Around The Set

This is the set of Murphy Brown, shooting every Friday from about 10 am to 10:30 p.m. I was there all day, watching and taking pictures and actually being placed in two scenes. These two pictures were taken from the studio audience stands, where I kept getting the weirdest looks from some of the regulars. One even when so far as to tell me, "You're not supposed to be here. You're supposed to be in the holding area with the other extras." (This woman has since been fired from the show.) Holding area? What are they using cattle for extras? It seems that there is a definite hierarchy of sorts between the actors on the show, and the extras are at the lowest rung. They are herded in for their background shots, and herded out when they are not needed. All the rest of the time they are kept away from the main set in the holding area. Which is why I never said I was an actor the entire day I was there, except to the other actors. For instance, the man in the left of the left picture is Ernest-Frank Taylor, whom I got along with extremely well over the day. More about him in the next paragraph.

Act Three: This is Murphy's desk

This is me sitting at Murphy's desk. you can be sure none of the other extras got to do this. Ernest-Frank Taylor took this picture. He's been on the show eight years, I believe he said. What does he do? He's one of the office workers you see in the FYI room scurrying around all the time. What a job.

Act Four: Working the Bar

I actually have two appearances in the show that night. The first appearance is my exiting the elevator just as Garry Marshall is set to exit from the FYI room. The second appearance is in Phil's bar, right in front of the door. So as people are entering and exiting the bar, you'll get a great look at my ugly puss, along with Daily Variety columnist Army Archerd and syndicated columnist Liz Smith, who appear as themselves. If you click on the picture, I have placed an arrow on the seat where I'll be sitting. I also got to meet two very nice sound people, Steve Blumenfeld and Paul B. Hulse

Act Five: The Guests

They had a whole load of guest stars that night, such as Shelly Long, (to the left). While I did manage to talk to her a little, I did not utter one coherent sentence. Dom DeLuise was also on the show that night. (to the right). He was a wonder. He was able to get the studio audience to crack up at every single word he said. I kid you not. However, notice that the picture I have with Dom is out of focus. The picture was taken by his son Michael DeLuise (remember him from 21 Jump Street?) with an autofocus camera. HOW CAN SOMEONE MESS UP WITH AN AUTOFOCUS, HUH? Garry Marshall is pictured here too. What a guy. I made sure he remembered my name before the night was over. He asked, "James, how do you like being on the set?" and I replied, "Beats working."

Act Six: The Regulars

And I did get some pictures with the regulars like Faith Ford and Joe Regalbuto. Faith was so sweet. We talked a little about Louisiana and LA and I think I embarrassed myself but that's OK. I talked to Charles Kimbrough a little during rehearsal and I mentioned that I saw him perform with Kate Jackson in "Love Letters" over in Beverly Hills. He said she was a sweet woman. I did see Candice Bergen maybe five seconds outside of the set. I did get a brief handshake, and a "HiHowAreYou", but I know she's busy and I'm a lowly peon, but it was kind of a bummer to not get into a deep discussion of Democratic politics during the day. Maybe I can talk to her bodyguard Todd next time.

Act Seven: Postscript

About a month after the show aired, I received a a package in the mail containing an autographed script of the show I was in ("Dick and Dottie"), an autographed picture of the entire cast, and an autographed picture of Candice Bergen. How sweet.

As of May 1st, 2001, that script has been sitting in my closet gathering dust for some time now, so I'm selling it on Ebay.