Live-Action TV
- Clarissa Explains It All: In "The Last Clarissa", of Clarissa's visions of what her future will be like is a spoof of the show called Murphy Darling, with Clarissa as Murphy, Ferguson as Miles, Sam as Frank, Janet as Corky, and Marshall as Jim.
- Muppets Tonight: In the first episode, one of the listed shows on KMUP's fall lineup is Murphy Prawn.
- Seinfeld: In "The Keys", Jerry and George find out that Elaine had secretly written a spec script for Murphy Brown. Meanwhile, Kramer goes to Hollywood to pursue an acting career and lands a role as Murphy's new secretary.
- Step by Step: Carol spends "Beyond Therapy" worrying about how Blended Family Drama will affect the new baby and demands everyone go to therapy. During the one-on-one sessions, Dana tells the doctor that the pregnancy has forced her to come to terms with how Frank and Carol's marriage is for keeps. She says that she had previously just considered her stepfather as someone akin to "that Eldin guy on Murphy Brown": a handyman who inexplicably lives in the house.
Western Animation
- Animaniacs (2020): The show is one of the revived shows mentioned in the song "Reboot It". Ironically, it had already been cancelled by 2020.
- Family Guy:
- A cutaway from "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Bucks" pokes fun at the show's topical humor by having the characters talk only in "Blah, Blah, Blah" along with political buzzwords like "John Sununu" and "Tipper Gore".
- Inn "Stewie is Enceinte", Stewie is about to give birth to his and Brian's puppies and asks, "How did Murphy Brown make this look so easy?".
- The Simpsons:
- In "Krusty the Clown", a network president reveals to Homer that all television is fake and shows him hundreds of screens with the names of shows that don't really exist, including Murphy Brown.
- In "The Winter of Our Monetized Content", Warburton tells Homer and Bart that their new web show will get more views that the entire revival season of Murphy Brown.
- "Selma's Choice": Selma singing "You Make Me Feel (Like a Natural Woman)" to Jub-Jub was a nod to Murphy singing it to her baby.
Real Life
- Perhaps the show's most notable contribution to popular culture was the time then-Vice President Dan Quayle attacked the show for having Murphy become a single mother out of wedlock, calling it an attack on the role of the father. The writers responded with the episode "You Say Potatoe, I Say Potato", in which Murphy deals with this criticism (edited so that it's directed at the character in-universe).
