Ridgefield Affordable Housing Spat Gives New Life to 90's TV Show

Leave it to Ridgefield folks to use a Murphy Brown reference in 2023.

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Murphy Brown was a TV sitcom that debuted on CBS in 1988. The show ran until 1998 and then was brought back in 2018 for one season. The series revolves around Murphy Brown, an over 40, recovering alcoholic who works as an anchor for a TV news magazine.

In it's day, Murphy Brown would have been effortlessly inserted into political and social discussions. Today, it's a lot more difficult but that has not stopped folks from Ridgefield from trying. Over the last week, Murphy Brown has been mentioned in 3 letters to the editor of the Ridgefield Press. The references have been used in arguments for and against the work of the Ridgefield Affordable Housing Committee.

It started in Letter #1 written by a man named John Tartaglia who compared RAHC Chairman Dave Goldenberg to the Murphy Brown character Eldin, "The Painter Who Never Leaves." Eldin was exactly that, a character who is constantly at Murphy's house but from a viewer's perspective, it appears he never really finishes whatever job he was hired to do. John says the RAHC and it's chairman "reminiscent."

Letter #2 was sent into the editor just days later, titled "Letter: Personal Attacks Disrespect Ridefield." This letter was written by a woman named Betty Kloth who took the stance that Eldin was a top-notch, super useful guy. Kloth wrote:

Mr. Tartaglia’s negative comparison is flawed and ineffective, because the character,Eldin, was beloved by the audience, was a core character for six seasons, and stayed because Murphy needed him.

Then, in Letter #3, fake Eldin, real Chairman Dave Goldenberg chimed in to defend the work of the committee, remarking:

There’s been a spate of assaults on the committee, and me personally, on social media, but I believe this comes from a small, angry and vocal minority.

Well slap my ass and call me pudgy! Personally, I put Seinfeld and the Office at #1 & 2 on my all-time TV list. If we're speaking in sitcoms, let's do this. If Mr. Tartaglia thinks the folks at the RAHC are truly ineffective, maybe he could have used Mr. Kruger from Kruger Industrial Smoothing. Or, he could have chosen Ryan Howard when he was launching the Dunder Mifflin Infinity 2.0 website.

I don't know which real-life side to choose but I am in favor of comparing people to TV characters, always.

This is great stuff. I really think this is proof positive that the Greater-Danbury area is one of the best regions in America. Here, you have people so passionate about their community, who have worked so hard to push for what they believe that they are willing to trade blows back and forth in the local press. They are so exhausted from their work, they don't even seem to care that no one knows what the hell they are talking about.

I don't mean any personal offense to anyone when I say this but have these folks heard of Twitter? The entire platform was invented for people to call each other names in an instant.

P.S. Since y'all are already working so hard would you mind terribly installing some parking spaces in town?

We spoke about this on the Monday edition (4/24/23) of the I-95 Morning Show.