'Murphy Brown': Bette Midler, Katie Couric announced as guest stars

Oct. 19 (UPI) -- The newly revived Murphy Brown is set to feature a number of guest-stars including Bette Midler and Katie Couric, among others.

Brooke Shields, John Larroquette and Peter Gallagher have also been announced to appear during the program's current season on CBS.

Midler and Couric both previously appeared on the original Murphy Brown, which ran for 10 seasons from 1988 to 1998. Midler will be reprising her role as Caprice Feldman, now Caprice Morton, on the Nov. 8 episode. The character was Brown's (Candice Bergen) former secretary.

Couric, meanwhile, will once again be starring as herself on the Nov. 8 episode. The journalist will be meeting up with Brown and Corky Sherwood (Faith Ford) while hosting a Lifetime Achievement event. Larroquette will play Judge Nate Campbell on that episode.

Shields will be portraying a woman named Holly Mackin Lynne who wakes up from a coma on Nov. 15.

Murphy Brown, which returned in September, features the title character hosting a cable news morning show titled Murphy in the Morning as opposed to running news magazine FYI as seen in the original series.

The new season also features returning stars Joe Regalbuto as Frank Fontana and Grant Shaud as Miles Silverberg alongside newcomer Jake McDorman as Brown's grownup son Avery.