‘Murphy Brown’ Will Return for Its Ninth Season

“Murphy Brown” is still going to be around in the fall.

CBS Entertainment President Leslie Moonves announced on Saturday that the comedy, starring Candice Bergen as an acerbic TV journalist, would return for a ninth season, most likely with the entire cast intact.

Bergen had previously expressed some unhappiness with the writing and direction of the show, saying that this season would be her last. She also said she wanted to leave the show while it still had a loyal following.

There was also speculation about Bergen’s leaving the show because of the death last November of her husband, French film director Louis Malle.

But the comedy has gained renewed vibrancy and popularity this season under the new executive producing team of Rob Bragin, Bill Diamond and Michael Saltzman, getting some of its best ratings ever, Moonves said. He said Bergen decided recently that she wanted the series to continue.

“ ‘Murphy Brown’ had a major turnaround this season,” Moonves said, saying he was excited that the show would be returning.

“Murphy Brown” will be one of the cornerstones of the network’s fall schedule as it struggles to recover from a disastrous year marked by dwindling viewership, a lack of hits and a change in ownership with its acquisition by Westinghouse Electric Corp.

Moonves, who took over the helm of CBS Entertainment after a successful run as president of Warner Bros. Television, said his first six months on the job had not been easy, and that mistakes had been made at the network. Most notable of the missteps was the network’s attempt at targeting younger demographics while apparently alienating older viewers.

He said the strategy was best illustrated by the heavy promotional campaign behind “Central Park West,” a prime-time soap featuring a cast of young adult hip actors that failed miserably. The series was taken off the air and will return in April and March, with the addition of Raquel Welch and Gerald McRainey in an attempt to appeal to a broader audience.

“Our mistake was to go for too much, too soon,” Moonves said. “With ‘Central Park West,’ we were saying, ‘we are younger, we are hipper, we are Fox.’ ” The message to older CBS viewers, Moonves said, was ‘Not only is this show not for you, but neither is CBS.’ That was wrong.”

He said the network would still try to attract younger audiences without diluting its reach to a broader audience. “You don’t have to be young to be hip,” said Moonves, pointing to the network’s successful Saturday night lineup of “Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman,” “Touched By An Angel” and “Walker, Texas Ranger.”

Moonves also pointed to the station’s new dedication in rebuilding with its new management team, saying its recent deal with comedian Bill Cosby to star in a new show this fall typified the new administration’s willingness to let his management team plot the course for recovery.