One of the running jokes of this series was Murphy Brown's inability to obtain a good secretary or one who could work well with her. During the show's first ten seasons, Murphy had a total of ninety-three secretaries. They were referred to by number in the closing credits cast list of each program, as "Secretary #1", "Secretary #2", et cetera. One that was very efficient was Marcia Wallace, playing her Carol Kester character from The Bob Newhart Show (1972). At the end of the show, Dr. Robert Hartley (Bob Newhart) showed up and pleaded for her to return, which she did. In one episode, Murphy discovered there was a support group for her former secretaries, where they comforted each other over their inability to keep the job.
The outside building shown as Murphy Brown's home is the same building used to show as the home of Diana Prince in Wonder Woman (1975).
After receiving her fifth Emmy Award for the role of "Murphy Brown", Candice Bergen declined all future nominations for the role.
The recurring character of Stuart Best (Wallace Shawn) was a reference to The Beatles former members Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best.
In season four, episode twenty-six, "Birth 101", Murphy Brown gave birth to her child, Avery. Around that time Vice President Dan Quayle, during a televised debate, criticized the show for introducing the theme of an unmarried woman having a child and thereby promoting the idea of single motherhood and the decay of family values, a hot issue during that year's election campaigning. The producers and writers retaliated in the sixty-minute season five premiere, "You Say Potatoe, I Say Potato". The clip from the debate was featured prominently in the episode and the majority of the writing made fun of Vice President Quayle's remarks (To his credit, Vice President Quayle later sent the fictional baby Avery a very real plush toy elephant.)