Diane English is in the enviable position of having several successful shows to her credit, a credit often shared with coproducer and husband, Joel Shukovsky. In addition to the programs–Murphy Brown, Love and War, and the earlier Foley Square and My Sister Sam– their company also manages a lucrative eight-figure multiseries contract with the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). The couple started their careers in public television (New York City’s WNET) with English’s adaptation of The Lathe of Heaven, and English went on to write nine TV movies before being offered the opportunity to “create-write-produce” the pilot for Foley Square, which, like her later shows, featured a strong female central character. 

In a demanding profession, however, English’s career has not been without controversy.  Murphy Brown was attacked by Vice President Dan Quayle in the summer of 1992 when the main character on the series, a single professional woman played by Candice Bergen, decided not to terminate her unplanned pregnancy. Quayle’s primary criticism was that the series mocked the importance of fathers by having a woman bear a child alone and call it “just another lifestyle choice. Quayle and English engaged in a heated and prolonged dispute through the media, which made the series, and English herself, a household word. Some industry experts called the incident the single most important element contributing to the long-term ratings success of the show. For advertisers, in the following season, Murphy Brown was the most expensive show in television, with 30-second commercials on the show costing an average $310,000. Syndication sales were said to exceed $100 million. Because of her unusual combination of business and creative skills, English is often mentioned as the only woman in television now capable of taking over the entertainment division at a major network.