''Moonlighting'' is an American
comedy drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple co ...
television series that aired on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 67 episodes. Starring
Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Lynne Shepherd (born February 18, 1950) is an American actress and former model. Her film debut and breakthrough role came as Jacy Farrow in Peter Bogdanovich's coming-of-age drama ''The Last Picture Show'' (1971) alongside Jeff Bridges. ...
and
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero a ...
as
private detective
A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...
s, and
Allyce Beasley
Allyce Beasley ( Tannenberg) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as rhyming, love-struck receptionist Agnes DiPesto in the television series ''Moonlighting''. From 2001 to 2007, she was the announcer on Playhouse Disney, a mor ...
as their quirky receptionist, the show was a mixture of
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
,
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
,
mystery
Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
*Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange''
Films
* ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film
* ''Mystery'' ( ...
, and
romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
, and was considered to be one of the first successful and influential examples of
comedy drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple co ...
, or "dramedy", emerging as a distinct television genre.
The show's theme song was co-written and performed by jazz singer
Al Jarreau
Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and musician. His 1981 album '' Breakin' Away'' spent two years on the ''Billboard'' 200 and is considered one of the finest examples of the Los Angeles pop and R ...
and became a hit. The show is also credited with making Willis a star and relaunching Shepherd's career after a string of lackluster projects. In 1997, the episode "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice" was ranked #34 on (the 1997)
TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
. In 2007, the series was listed as one of ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-''Time''". The relationship between the characters David and Maddie was included in ''TV Guide''s list of the best TV couples of all time.
Plot
The series revolved around cases investigated by the Blue Moon Detective Agency and its two partners, Madolyn "Maddie" Hayes (Shepherd) and David Addison Jr. (Willis). The show, with a mix of mystery, sharp dialogue, and sexual tension between its leads, introduced Willis to the world and brought Shepherd back into the spotlight after a nearly decade-long absence. The characters were introduced in a two-hour
pilot episode
A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...
.
The show's storyline begins with the reversal of fortune of Maddie Hayes, a former model who finds herself bankrupt after her accountant embezzles all her liquid assets. She is left saddled with several failing businesses formerly maintained as tax writeoffs, one of which is the City of Angels Detective Agency, helmed by the carefree David Addison. Between the pilot and the first one-hour episode, David persuades Maddie to keep the business and run it as a partnership. The agency is renamed Blue Moon Investigations because Maddie was most famous for being the spokesmodel for the Blue Moon Shampoo Company. In many episodes, she was recognized as "the Blue Moon shampoo girl," if not by name.
In his
audio commentary
An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...
for the Season 3
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
, creator
Glenn Gordon Caron
Glenn Gordon Caron (born April 3, 1954), sometimes credited as Glenn Caron, is an American writer, director, and producer, best known for the television series ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'' in the 1980s and ''Medium (TV series), Mediu ...
says that the inspiration for the series was a production of ''
The Taming of the Shrew
''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...
'' he saw in
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
starring
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...
and
Raúl Julia. The show parodied the play in the Season 3 episode ''Atomic Shakespeare''.
Cast
Main cast
*
Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Lynne Shepherd (born February 18, 1950) is an American actress and former model. Her film debut and breakthrough role came as Jacy Farrow in Peter Bogdanovich's coming-of-age drama ''The Last Picture Show'' (1971) alongside Jeff Bridges. ...
as Madolyn "Maddie" Hayes, a chic, smart former high-fashion model. Left bankrupt when her accountant embezzles her money, she is forced to make a living by running the detective agency she owns as a tax writeoff. Using her celebrity as a former model, she brings in clients and tries to bring some order to a business previously run without any discipline. By the time he had written 50 pages for the pilot to the show, Caron says he realized he was writing the part for Shepherd.
After reading the script, she immediately realized this was a part she wanted to do and, during her first meeting with Caron and producer Jay Daniel, remarked that it was reminiscent of a “
Hawksian” comedy. The two had no idea what she was talking about, so she suggested they screen ''
Twentieth Century
The 20th (twentieth) century began on
January 1, 1901 ( MCMI), and ended on December 31, 2000 ( MM). The 20th century was dominated by significant events that defined the modern era: Spanish flu pandemic, World War I and World War II, nuclear ...
'', ''
Bringing Up Baby
''Bringing Up Baby'' is a 1938 American screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. It was released by RKO Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures. The film tells the story of a paleontologist in a numb ...
'', and ''
His Girl Friday
''His Girl Friday'' is a 1940 American screwball comedy directed by Howard Hawks, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell and featuring Ralph Bellamy and Gene Lockhart. It was released by Columbia Pictures. The plot centers on a newspaper edito ...
'', three of her favorites, to see how the overlapping dialogue was handled. A week before shooting of the pilot began, Caron, Shepherd, and Willis watched ''Bringing Up Baby'' and ''His Girl Friday''.
*
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero a ...
as David Addison Jr., a wise-cracking detective running the City of Angels Detective Agency. Faced with the prospect of being put out of business, he convinces Maddie that they lost money only because they were supposed to and talks her into rebranding the agency and going into business with him as her partner. Caron had to fight with ABC to put Willis in the lead role, having already signed Shepherd for the pilot and series. Caron claims he tested Willis about a third of the way through over 2,000 actors, knew "this was the guy" immediately, and had to fight through twice as many more acting tests and readings while arguing with ABC executives before receiving conditional authorization to cast Willis in the pilot. According to Caron, ABC did not feel that viewers would find any sexual tension
[A&E Biography Channel, "Bruce Willis" (2005), air date: 2008-06-27 (rebroadcast), 10–12pm EDST.] between Shepherd and Willis believable.
*
Allyce Beasley
Allyce Beasley ( Tannenberg) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as rhyming, love-struck receptionist Agnes DiPesto in the television series ''Moonlighting''. From 2001 to 2007, she was the announcer on Playhouse Disney, a mor ...
as Agnes DiPesto, the agency's extremely loyal and quirky receptionist who always answers the phone in rhyme. In season two, it is revealed that she lives at 6338 Hope Street. As problems arose with getting Willis and Shepherd on screen due to personal issues, the writers started to focus on the relationship between Agnes and fellow Blue Moon employee Herbert Viola. In the series finale, Agnes berates Maddie and David for not being able to figure out their relationship as the entire set is dismantled and says, “if there’s a God in heaven, he’ll spin Herbert and me off in our own series.”
*
Curtis Armstrong
Curtis Armstrong (born November 27, 1953) is an American actor and singer best known for playing the role of Booger in the ''Revenge of the Nerds'' movies, Herbert Viola on the TV series ''Moonlighting'', Miles Dalby in the film '' Risky Busines ...
as Herbert Viola, who started at Blue Moon as an employee from a temp agency. The producers brought Armstrong in based on his work in ''
Revenge of the Nerds
''Revenge of the Nerds'' is a 1984 American comedy film directed by Jeff Kanew and starring Robert Carradine, Anthony Edwards, Ted McGinley, and Bernie Casey. The film's plot chronicles a group of nerds at the fictional Adams College trying ...
'' and ''
Better Off Dead'', hoping to expand the role of DiPesto by giving her a love interest, thereby taking some of the pressure off Willis and Shepherd. As Herbert begins to shine in his duties, he gets promoted to junior detective. Debuting in season three, he appeared in 36 of the series' 67 episodes.
*
Jack Blessing
Jack Blessing (July 29, 1951 – November 14, 2017) was an American film and television actor. He was notable for his roles as MacGillicuddy on '' Moonlighting'' and as Jack Powers in the sitcom ''George Lopez''. He also had a recurring role ...
as MacGillicudy, a Blue Moon employee who became a foil for Viola and a rival for DiPesto's affections. Debuting in season three, he appeared in 17 of the series’ 67 episodes.
Guest cast
In addition to the primary cast, several notable actors appeared either as guest stars or made cameos on the series.
Recurring roles:
*
Charles Rocket
Charles Adams Claverie (August 28, 1949 – October 7, 2005), known by stage names Charlie Hamburger, Charlie Kennedy and Charles Rocket, was an American actor, comedian, musician, and television news reporter. He was a cast member on ''Saturda ...
as Richard Addison, David's brother.
*
Eva Marie Saint
Eva Marie Saint (born July 4, 1924) is an American actress of film, theatre and television. In a career spanning over 70 years, she has won an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, alongside nominations for a Golden Globe Award and two Brit ...
and
Robert Webber
Robert Laman Webber (October 14, 1924 – May 19, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in dozens of films and television series, roles that included Juror No. 12 in the 1957 film ''12 Angry Men''.
Early life
Webber was born in Santa Ana, ...
as Virginia and Alexander Hayes, Maddie's parents.
*
Mark Harmon
Thomas Mark Harmon (born September 2, 1951) is an American actor. He is most famous for playing the lead role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs in '' NCIS''. He also appeared in a wide variety of roles since the early 1970s. After spending the majority of ...
appeared near the end of Season 3 as Sam Crawford, Maddie's romantic interest and rival with David.
*
Dennis Dugan
Dennis Barton Dugan (born September 5, 1946) is an American director, actor, writer, artist and comedian. He is known for his partnership with comedic actor Adam Sandler, for whom he directed the films ''Happy Gilmore'', '' Big Daddy'', ''The Be ...
as Walter Bishop, who dates then marries Maddie
*
Brooke Adams appeared in Season 4 as Terri Knowles, a single mother for whom David volunteered as a
Lamaze
The Lamaze technique, also known as the psychoprophylactic method or simply Lamaze, began as a prepared childbirth technique. As an alternative to medical intervention during childbirth, it was popularized in the 1950s by French obstetrician Dr. ...
partner in preparation for the birth of Maddie's child.
*
Virginia Madsen
Virginia Gayle Madsen (born September 11, 1961) is an American actress and film producer. She made her film debut in ''Class'' (1983), which was filmed in her native Chicago. After she moved to Los Angeles, director David Lynch cast her as Pri ...
appeared in Season 5 as Annie Charnock, Maddie's cousin and a short-term romantic interest for David.
One-time roles:
*
Liz Sheridan as Selma in the pilot episode.
*
Mary Hart
Mary Hart (born Mary Johanna Harum; November 8, 1950) is an American television personality and actress. She was the long-running host (1982–2011) of the syndicated gossip and entertainment round-up television program ''Entertainment Tonight'' ...
as herself in the pilot episode.
*
Tim Robbins
Timothy Francis Robbins (born October 16, 1958) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for portraying Andy Dufresne in the film ''The Shawshank Redemption ''(1994), and has won an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards for his role ...
as a hitman in the Season 1 episode "Gunfight at the So-So Corral".
*
C. Thomas Howell
Christopher Thomas Howell (born December 7, 1966) is an American actor. He has starred in the films '' Soul Man'', '' The Hitcher'', '' Grandview U.S.A.'', ''Red Dawn'', ''Secret Admirer'' and '' The Outsiders''. He has also appeared in '' Gett ...
as a waiter (uncredited) in the Season 2 episode "The Lady in the Iron Mask". and as a postal worker (uncredited) in the Season 3 episode "Yours, Very Deadly".
*
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
as himself delivering the
cold open
A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Ameri ...
in the Season 2 episode "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice". It was Welles's last appearance before his death.
*
Barbara Bain
Barbara Bain (born Mildred Fogel; September 13, 1931) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Cinnamon Carter on the action television series '' Mission: Impossible'' (1966–1969), which earned her three Primetime Emmy Awar ...
as Emily Grayson in the Season 2 episode "My Fair David".
*
Dana Delany
Dana Welles Delany (born March 13, 1956) is an American actress. After appearing in small roles early in her career, Delany received her breakthrough role as Colleen McMurphy on the ABC television drama ''China Beach'' (1988–1991), for which s ...
as Jillian Armstrong in the Season 2 episode "Knowing Her".
*
David Patrick Kelly
David Patrick Kelly (born January 23, 1951) is an American actor, musician and lyricist who has appeared in numerous films and television series. He is best known for his role as the main antagonist, Luther, in the cult film '' The Warriors'' (19 ...
as McBride in the Season 2 episode "Somewhere Under the Rainbow".
*
Dan Lauria
Daniel Joseph Lauria (born April 12, 1947) is an American actor, known for playing the role of Jack Arnold in ''The Wonder Years'' (1988–1993), Jack Sullivan on '' Sullivan and Son'' (2012–2014), and Al Luongo on '' Pitch'' (2016–2017).
Ea ...
as the Lieutenant in the Season 2 episode "Portrait of Maddie".
*
Mark Linn-Baker
Mark Linn-Baker (born June 17, 1954) is an American actor and director who played Benjy Stone in the film ''My Favorite Year'' and Larry Appleton in the television sitcom '' Perfect Strangers''.
Early life and education
Mark Linn-Baker was bor ...
as Phil West in the Season 2 episode "Atlas Belched".
*
Richard Belzer
Richard Jay Belzer (born August 4, 1944) is a retired American actor, stand-up comedian, and author. He is best known for his role as BPD Detective, NYPD Detective/Sergeant, and DA Investigator John Munch, whom he has portrayed as a regular cast ...
as Leonard in the Season 2 episode "Twas the Episode Before Christmas".
*
Whoopi Goldberg
Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...
as Camille Brand in the Season 2 episode "Camille".
*
Judd Nelson
Judd Asher Nelson (born November 28, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as John Bender in ''The Breakfast Club'', Alec Newbury in ''St. Elmo's Fire'', Joe Hunt in ''Billionaire Boys Club'', Nick Peretti in ''New Jack City ...
as a Police Officer in the Season 2 episode "Camille".
*
Billy Barty
Billy Barty (born William John Bertanzetti, October 25, 1924 – December 23, 2000) was an American actor and activist. In adult life, he stood tall, due to cartilage–hair hypoplasia dwarfism. Because of his short stature, he was often cast ...
as himself in the Season 2 episode "Camille".
*
Paul Sorvino
Paul Anthony Sorvino (, ; April 13, 1939 – July 25, 2022) was an American actor. He often portrayed authority figures on both the criminal and the law enforcement sides of the law.
Sorvino was particularly known for his roles as Lucchese cri ...
as David Addison Sr. in the Season 3 episode "The Son Also Rises".
* The
Temptations
The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top 1 ...
as themselves in the Season 3 episode "Symphony in Knocked Flat".
*
Don King
Donald King (born August 20, 1931) is an American boxing Promoter (entertainment), promoter, known for his involvement in several historic boxing matchups. He has been a controversial figure, partly due to a manslaughter conviction and civil cas ...
as himself in the Season 3 episode "Symphony in Knocked Flat".
*
Brad Dourif
Bradford Claude Dourif (; born March 18, 1950) is an American actor. He was nominated for an Oscar, and won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for his film debut role as Billy Bibbit in '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (1975). He is also kn ...
as Father McDonovan in the Season 3 episode "All Creatures Great and… Not So Great".
*
Rick Ducommun
Richard Ducommun (July 3, 1952 – June 12, 2015) was a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, writer and producer.
Career
One of his earliest television appearances was on ''Star Search'' and as a technician accosted by a scantily-clad dancer near ...
as one of David's friends in the Season 3 episode "Big Man On Mulberry Street".
*
Sandahl Bergman
Sandahl Bergman is an American actress and dancer. She is best known for her role as Valeria in the film ''Conan the Barbarian'' (1982), for which she won a Golden Globe and a Saturn Award.
Early life
Bergman was born in Kansas City, Missou ...
appeared in a "dream" dance sequence in the Season 3 episode "Big Man On Mulberry Street".
*
Colm Meaney
Colm J. Meaney (; ga, Colm Ó Maonaigh; born 30 May 1953) is an Irish actor known for playing Miles O'Brien in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994) and '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (1993–1999). He has guest-starred on many T ...
as one of Katharina's suitors in the Season 3 episode "Atomic Shakespeare".
*
Sterling Holloway
Sterling Price Holloway Jr. (January 4, 1905 – November 22, 1992) was an American actor and voice actor who appeared in over 100 films and 40 television shows. He did voice acting for The Walt Disney Company, playing Mr. Stork in ''Dumbo'', Ad ...
as the Narrator in the Season 3 episode "Atomic Shakespeare".
*
Lionel Stander
Lionel Jay Stander (January 11, 1908 – November 30, 1994) was an American actor in films, radio, theater and television. He is best remembered for his role as majordomo Max on the 1980s mystery television series ''Hart to Hart''.
Early ...
as Max in the Season 3 episode "It's a Wonderful Job".
*
Cheryl Tiegs
Cheryl Rae Tiegs (born September 25, 1947) is an American model and fashion designer. Frequently described as the first American supermodel, Tiegs is best known for her multiple appearances on the covers of the ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit I ...
as herself in the Season 3 episode "It's a Wonderful Job".
*
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brendan Brosnan (; born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He is best known as the fifth actor to play secret agent James Bond in the Bond film series, starring in four films from 1995 to 2002 (''GoldenEye'', ''Tomorrow ...
as
Remington Steele
''Remington Steele'' is an American television series co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from Oc ...
in the Season 3 episode "The Straight Poop".
*
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian.
One of the "New Hollywood" directors, Bogdanovich started as a film journalist until he was hired to work on R ...
as himself in the Season 3 episode "The Straight Poop".
*
Rona Barrett
Rona Barrett (born Rona Burstein, October 8, 1936) is an American gossip columnist and businesswoman. She runs the Rona Barrett Foundation, a non-profit organization in Santa Ynez, California, dedicated to the aid and support of senior citizens ...
as herself in the Season 3 episode "The Straight Poop".
*
Donna Dixon
Donna Lynn Dixon is an American film and television actress, best known for playing Sonny Lumet in the TV series ''Bosom Buddies'' (1980-1982).
Biography
Dixon was born in Alexandria, Virginia, to Earl Dixon. Her father owned a nightclub in ...
as Joan Tenowitz in the Season 3 episode "Blonde on Blonde".
*
Sam McMurray
Sam, SAM or variants may refer to:
Places
* Sam, Benin
* Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Iran
* Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place
People and fictional ...
as Moe Hyman in the Season 3 episode "Blonde on Blonde".
*
Robert Wuhl
Robert Wuhl (born October 9, 1951) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television comedy series '' Arliss'' (1996–2002) and for his portrayal of newspaper reporter Alexander Knox in Tim Bu ...
as the Nut in Holding Cell in the Season 3 episode "Blonde on Blonde".
*
Jeff Jarvis
Jeff Jarvis (born July 15, 1954) is an American journalist, associate professor, public speaker and former television critic. He advocates the Open Web and argues that there are many social and personal benefits to living a more public life on t ...
as himself in the Season 3 episode "Sam & Dave".
*
Randall 'Tex' Cobb as "Big Guy in Gas Station" in the Season 3 episode "Sam & Dave".
*
Gary Cole
Gary Michael Cole (born September 20, 1956) is an American television, film and voice actor. Cole began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. On television, he has had starring roles in the T ...
as Alan McClafferty in the Season 3 episode "Maddie's Turn to Cry".
*
William Hickey as Mr. Kendall in the Season 3 episode "To Heiress Human".
*
Dr. Joyce Brothers
Joyce Diane Brothers (October 20, 1927 – May 13, 2013) was an American psychologist, television personality, advice columnist, and writer.
She first became famous in 1955 for winning the top prize on the American game show '' The $64,000 Ques ...
as herself in the Season 4 episode "A Trip to the Moon".
*
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...
as himself in the Season 4 episode "A Trip to the Moon".
*
John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the ABC comedy series '' Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he received a Golden Globe Award, an ...
as Donald Chase in the Season 4 episode "Come Back Little Shiksa".
*
Amanda Plummer
Amanda Michael Plummer (born March 23, 1957) is an American actress. She is known for her work on stage and for her roles in such films as '' Joe Versus the Volcano'' (1990), ''The Fisher King'' (1991), ''Pulp Fiction'' (1994), and '' The Hunge ...
as Jacqueline "Jackie" Wilbourne in the Season 4 episode "Take a Left at the Altar".
*
Terry O'Quinn
Terrance Quinn (born July 15, 1952), known professionally as Terry O'Quinn, is an American actor. He played John Locke on the TV series ''Lost'', the title role in '' The Stepfather'' and ''Stepfather II'', and Peter Watts in ''Millennium'', w ...
as Bryant "Brian" Wilbourne in the Season 4 episode "Take a Left at the Altar".
*
Imogene Coca
Imogene Coca (born Emogeane Coca; November 18, 1908 – June 2, 2001) was an American comic actress best known for her role opposite Sid Caesar on ''Your Show of Shows''. Starting out in vaudeville as a child acrobat, she studied ballet and wishe ...
as Clara DiPesto in the Season 4 episode "Los Dos DiPestos".
*
Michelle Johnson as Mrs. Hunziger in the Season 5 episode "Plastic Fantastic Lovers".
*
Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly (born Jennifer Ellen Chan; September 16, 1958) is an American–Canadian actress and poker player. Known for her distinctive voice and comedic timing, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, two MTV Movie Awards and three Sat ...
as Nurse Saundra in the Season 5 episode "Plastic Fantastic Lovers".
*
Colleen Dewhurst
Colleen Rose Dewhurst (3 June 1924 – 22 August 1991) was a Canadian-American actress mostly known for theatre roles. She was a renowned interpreter of the works of Eugene O'Neill on the stage, and her career also encompassed film, early drama ...
as Betty Russell in the Season 5 episode "Take My Wife, For Example".
*
Rita Wilson
Rita Wilson (born Margarita Ibrahimoff; October 26, 1956) is an American actress, singer, and producer. Her film appearances include ''Volunteers'' (1985), ''Sleepless in Seattle'' (1993), '' Now and Then'' (1995), ''That Thing You Do!'' (1996), ...
as Carla in the Season 5 episode "Those Lips, Those Lies".
*
Demi Moore
Demi Gene Moore ( ; née Guynes; born November 11, 1962) is an American actress. After making her film debut in 1981, Moore appeared on the soap opera ''General Hospital'' (1982–1984) and subsequently gained recognition as a member of the Bra ...
, Bruce Willis's wife at the time, as the woman in the elevator in the Season 5 episode "When Girls Collide".
*
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...
as minister Wynn Deaupayne in the Season 5 episode "Lunar Eclipse".
*
Robert Ellenstein
Robert Ellenstein (June 18, 1923 – October 28, 2010) was an American actor. The son of Meyer C. Ellenstein, a Newark dentist, Ellenstein grew up to see his father become a two-term mayor from 1933 to 1941. He served in the United States Army ...
as Heinz in the Pilot episode
*
Bill Erwin
William Lindsey Erwin (December 2, 1914 – December 29, 2010) was an American film, stage and television actor and cartoonist with over 250 television and film credits. A veteran character actor, he is widely known for his 1993 Emmy Award-nomi ...
as Duncan Kennedy in the season 5 episode: "Perfetc"
Episodes
Format innovations
The series was created by
Glenn Gordon Caron
Glenn Gordon Caron (born April 3, 1954), sometimes credited as Glenn Caron, is an American writer, director, and producer, best known for the television series ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'' in the 1980s and ''Medium (TV series), Mediu ...
, one of the producers of the similar ''
Remington Steele
''Remington Steele'' is an American television series co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from Oc ...
'', when he was approached by ABC executive Lewis H. Erlicht. Erlicht liked the work Caron had done on ''
Taxi
A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...
'' and ''
Remington Steele
''Remington Steele'' is an American television series co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from Oc ...
'' and wanted a detective show featuring a major star in a leading role who would appeal to an upscale audience. Caron wanted to do a romance, to which Erlicht replied “I don’t care what it is, as long as it’s a detective show.”
The tone of the series was left up to the production staff, resulting in ''Moonlighting'' becoming one of the first successful TV "
dramedies"— dramatic-comedy, a style of television and movies in which there is an equal or nearly equal balance of humor and serious content. The show made use of fast-paced, overlapping dialogue between the two leads, harking back to classic
screwball comedy
Screwball comedy is a subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristi ...
films such as those of director
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name."
A v ...
. These innovative qualities resulted in its being nominated, for the first time in the 50-year history of the Directors Guild of America, for both Best Drama and Best Comedy in the same year (both in 1985 and 1986).
Breaking the fourth wall
''Moonlighting'' frequently broke the
fourth wall
The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...
, with many episodes including dialogue that made direct references to the scriptwriters, the audience, the network, or the series itself. (For example, when a woman is trying to commit suicide by jumping into a bathtub with a television playing ''
The Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...
'', Addison says, "The Stooges? Are you nuts? The network'll never let you do that, lady!")
Cold open
A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Ameri ...
s sometimes featured Shepherd and Willis (in character as Maddie Hayes and David Addison), other actors, viewers, or TV critics directly addressing the audience about the show's production itself. These cold opens were originally borne out of desperation as a way to fill air time, since the dialogue on the show was spoken so quickly and the producers needed something to fill the entire hour. In some episodes, the production crew and sets become involved in the plot.
Fantasy
The series also embraced fantasy; in season two, the show aired "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice," an episode that features two lengthy and elaborately produced black-and-white dream sequences. David and Maddie are told about a murder that occurred in the 1940s by the inheritor of the then-famous nightclub where the murder took place. Maddie and David feud over whether the man or woman who was executed for the crime was the real murderer. The two dream sequences present each detective's version of how the murder took place. They were filmed on black-and-white film stock so that they would look like true period films. (On the commentary on the DVD, it is said that they used black-and-white film instead of color so that the network would not later use the color film.)
Fearing fan reaction to a popular show being shown in black and white, ABC demanded a disclaimer be made at the beginning of the episode to inform viewers of the "black-and-white" gimmick for the episode. The show's producers hired
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
to deliver the introduction, which aired a few days after the actor's death.
"Atomic Shakespeare" features the cast performing a variation of ''
The Taming of the Shrew
''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...
'', with David in the role of Petruchio, Maddie as Katharina, Agnes as Bianca, and Herbert as Lucentio. The episode features
Shakespearean
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
costumes and mixed the plot with humorous anachronisms and variations on ''Moonlightings own running gags. The characters perform the dialogue in
iambic pentameter
Iambic pentameter () is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in that line; rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called "feet". "Iambi ...
, and the episode is
wrapped by segments featuring a boy imagining the episode's proceedings because his mother forced him to do his Shakespeare homework instead of watching ''Moonlighting''.
Other
In addition, the show mocked its connection to the ''
Remington Steele
''Remington Steele'' is an American television series co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from Oc ...
'' series by having
Pierce Brosnan
Pierce Brendan Brosnan (; born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He is best known as the fifth actor to play secret agent James Bond in the Bond film series, starring in four films from 1995 to 2002 (''GoldenEye'', ''Tomorrow ...
hop networks and make a cameo appearance as Steele in one episode. The show also acknowledged ''
Hart to Hart
''Hart to Hart'' is an American mystery television series that premiered on August 25, 1979, on ABC. The show stars Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, respectively, a wealthy couple who lead a glamorous jetset lifes ...
'' as an influence: in the episode "It's a Wonderful Job," based on the film ''
It's a Wonderful Life
''It's a Wonderful Life'' is a 1946 American Christmas by medium#Films, Christmas Fantasy film, fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet ''The Greatest Gift'', which Philip Van Doren Stern se ...
'', Maddie's guardian angel showed her an alternate reality in which Jonathan and Jennifer Hart from the earlier series had taken over Blue Moon's lease. Although
Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner Jr. (born February 10, 1930) is an American actor of stage, screen, and television. He is known for starring in the television shows '' It Takes a Thief'' (1968–1970), ''Switch'' (1975–1978), and ''Hart to Hart'' (1979– ...
and
Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers (born November 2, 1942) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Jennifer Hart on the mystery television series ''Hart to Hart'' (1979–1984), for which she received nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards a ...
did not appear in the episode,
Lionel Stander
Lionel Jay Stander (January 11, 1908 – November 30, 1994) was an American actor in films, radio, theater and television. He is best remembered for his role as majordomo Max on the 1980s mystery television series ''Hart to Hart''.
Early ...
reprised his role as the Harts' assistant Max.
Both Shepherd and Willis sang musical numbers over the course of the show. In "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice," Shepherd performed both "
Blue Moon
A blue moon is an additional full moon that appears in a subdivision of a year: the third of four full moons in a season.
The phrase in modern usage has nothing to do with the actual color of the Moon, although a visually blue Moon (the Moon a ...
" in Maddie's dream sequence and "
I Told Ya I Love Ya, Now Get Out
"I Told Ya I Love Ya, Now Get Out" is a popular song composed by Herb Ellis, Lou Carter, and John Frigo. The three men were members of Jimmy Dorsey's big band, but left in 1946 to form the jazz trio "The Soft Winds." While in the group, they compo ...
" in David's, while in "Atomic Shakespeare," Willis sings
The Young Rascals
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
' "
Good Lovin'
"Good Lovin is a song written by Rudy Clark and Arthur Resnick that was a #1 hit single for the Young Rascals in 1966.
Original version
The song was first recorded by Lemme B. Good (stage name of singer Limmie Snell) in March 1965 and written b ...
". Willis also frequently broke into shorter snippets of
Motown
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...
songs. "Good Lovin'," "Blue Moon", and "I Told Ya I Love Ya..." appeared on the
Moonlighting Soundtrack
''Moonlighting: the Television Soundtrack Album'' is the soundtrack to the ABC television series ''Moonlighting'' and was produced by Phil Ramone and Glenn Gordon Caron. It features songs performed on the show by series leads Cybill Shepherd and Br ...
.
The episode "
" centers around a production dance number set to the
Billy Joel
William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...
song of the same name. The sequence was directed by musical director
Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen ( ; April 13, 1924 – February 21, 2019) was an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are '' On the Town,'' (1949) and ''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), both of which he co-directed with Gene Kell ...
.
Production
''Moonlighting'' was unusual at the time for being one of only three shows, due to FCC regulations limiting the practice, to be owned and produced in-house by a broadcast network (
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
’s ''
Punky Brewster
''Punky Brewster'' is an American sitcom television series about a young girl (Soleil Moon Frye) being raised by a foster parent (George Gaynes). The show ran on NBC from September 16, 1984, to March 9, 1986, and again in syndication from Octobe ...
'' and
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
’s
''Twilight Zone'' revival being the others). This allowed the network greater flexibility in budgeting the show since the “back-end potential” for profits was so much greater with not having to pay a licensing fee to the film studio or independent production company. As a result, ABC gave Caron a lot of control over production. Caron, however, was a perfectionist and viewed ''Moonlighting'' as the filming of a one-hour movie every week, using techniques usually reserved for big budget films. To capture the cinematic feel of the films of the 1940s, for example, he would prohibit the use of a zoom lens, opting instead to use more time-consuming moving master cameras that move back and forth on a track and require constant resetting of the lights.
Diffusion disks were used to soften Cybill Shepherd's features, and a special lens needed to be employed so that in a
two shot
A two shot is a type of shot in which the frame encompasses two people (the subjects). The subjects do not have to be next to each other, and there are many common two shots which have one subject in the foreground and the other subject in the ba ...
, Maddie would be diffused and David would not.
Much of the credit for this look and feel can be attributed to the hiring of
Gerald Finnerman
Gerald Perry Finnerman (December 17, 1931 – April 6, 2011) was an American cinematographer who worked on TV series such as ''Moonlighting'' and the original '' Star Trek''. He served as vice president of the American Society of Cinematographe ...
as the
director of photography
The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...
. Finnerman, a second-generation
cinematographer
The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...
, was brought up in the old school of cinematography by working with his father, Perry Finnerman, and later as a camera operator for
Harry Stradling
Henry A. Stradling, A.S.C. (September 1, 1901 – February 14, 1970) was an American cinematographer with more than 130 films to his credit.
His uncle Walter Stradling, son Harry Stradling Jr. and godson Gerald Perry Finnerman were also cine ...
on such films as
''My Fair Lady'' and
''The Picture of Dorian Gray''. Finnerman would then go on to be the director of photography for the TV series ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' and was responsible for creating much of the mood in that show by employing black-and-white lighting techniques for color film. This background meshed perfectly with what Caron was trying to portray in the series and earned him an
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
nomination for the black-and-white episode “The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice”. Hired for the show after the pilot was shot, Finnerman would become involved in virtually every aspect of the show including the scripts, lighting, set design, and even directing some of the later episodes.
Typical scripts for an average one-hour television show run 60 pages, but those for ''Moonlighting'' were nearly twice as long due to the fast talking overlapping dialogue of the main characters. While the average television show would take seven days to shoot, ''Moonlighting'' would take from 12 to 14 days to complete with episodes and dialogue frequently being written by Caron the same day they were shot.
This attention to detail contributed to ''Moonlighting'' as being one of the most expensive television shows being produced at the time. Where most episodes would cost around $900,000 to produce, ''Moonlighting'' was running nearly double that. The season 2 episode "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice" could have been filmed much more cheaply by being shot in color and then decolorized, but Caron insisted on the authentic look of black-and-white film which took 16 days to shoot, bringing the cost of the episode to the then-unheard-of sum of two million dollars. Caron often defended his filming practices in the name of giving the audience what they wanted and producing a quality product. He used the following analogy to illustrate the point, "The thinking in television which makes no damn sense to me, is that a half hour of television costs X, and an hour of television costs Y, no matter what that television is, it strikes me as an insane hypothesis. The parallel is, you're hungry, whether you go to McDonald's or whether you go to '21,' it should cost the same; they both fill your stomach. It's nonsense."
All of this attention to detail resulted in production delays and the show became notorious for airing reruns when new episodes had not been completed in time for broadcast. The first two seasons of ''Moonlighting'' focused almost entirely on the two main characters, having them appear in almost every scene. According to Cybill Shepherd, "I left home at 5 A.M. each day. ''Moonlighting'' scripts were close to a hundred pages, half again as long as the average one-hour television series. Almost from the moment the cameras started rolling we were behind schedule, sometimes completing as few as sixteen episodes per season, and never achieving the standard twenty-two."
Glenn Gordon Caron partly blamed Cybill Shepherd for production problems:
"I don't mean to paint her as the sole bearer of responsibility for the discord. But if I said to you, 'You're going to have a great new job – it's a life-defining job – but you're going to work 14–15 hours a day, and by the way, you'll never know what hours those are – sometimes you'll start at noon and work until 3 a.m., other times you won't know when or where it will be ntil the last minute' It can be very difficult, it requires an amazing amount of stamina. It's easier to do if you're still reaching for the stars, it's a lot tougher if you're already a star, if you've already reached the top of the mountain."
Producer
Jay Daniel
Jay Daniel is an electronic musician, producer, and selector from Detroit, Michigan, United States. In addition to his own label, Watusi High, Daniel has released music on Sound Signature, Wild Oats, and most recently released his debut album, 'B ...
talked about the difficulties between the costars in the later seasons:
"Well, I was the guy that more often than not would be the one that would go into the lions den when they were having disagreements. I'd sort of be the referee, try to resolve it so that we could get back to work. So there was that side of it. Everybody knows there was friction between the two of them on the stage. In the beginning, Bruce was just a guy’s guy. Let's just say he evolved. Over the years, he went from being the crew's best friend and just being grateful for the work and all of that to realizing that he was going to be a movie star and wanting to move on. Part of that was because of his strained relationship with Cybill. That sometimes made the set a very unpleasant place to be. Cybill – I got along with her very well at times, other times I’d have to be the one who said you have to come out of the trailer and go to work. In fairness to her, she was in the makeup chair at six thirty in the morning with pages of dialogue she hadn’t seen before, she'd work very long hours, and then be back in the makeup chair at six thirty the next morning."
The delays became so great that even ABC mocked the lateness with an ad campaign showing network executives waiting impatiently for the arrival of new episodes at ABC's corporate headquarters. One episode featured television critic
Jeff Jarvis
Jeff Jarvis (born July 15, 1954) is an American journalist, associate professor, public speaker and former television critic. He advocates the Open Web and argues that there are many social and personal benefits to living a more public life on t ...
in an introduction, sarcastically reminding viewers what was going on with the show's plot since it had been so long since the last new episode.
The season three
clipshow
A clip show is an episode of a television series that consists primarily of excerpts from previous episodes. Most clip shows feature the format of a frame story in which cast members recall past events from past installments of the show, depicted ...
episode "The Straight Poop" also made fun of the episode delays by having Hollywood columnist
Rona Barrett
Rona Barrett (born Rona Burstein, October 8, 1936) is an American gossip columnist and businesswoman. She runs the Rona Barrett Foundation, a non-profit organization in Santa Ynez, California, dedicated to the aid and support of senior citizens ...
drop by the Blue Moon Detective Agency to figure out why David and Maddie couldn't get along, as the premise to set up the clips from earlier episodes. In the end, Rona convinced them to apologize to one another, and promised the viewers that there would be an all-new episode the following week.
Shepherd's real-life
pregnancy
Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops ( gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins.
Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but ca ...
and a
skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...
accident in which Willis broke his
clavicle
The clavicle, or collarbone, is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately 6 inches (15 cm) long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on the left and one on the rig ...
further contributed to production delays. To counter these problems, with the fourth season, the writers began to focus more of the show's attention on supporting cast members Agnes and Herbert, writing several episodes focusing on the two so that the show would be able to have episodes ready for airing.
Ratings and decline
''Moonlighting'' was a hit with TV audiences as well as with critics and industry insiders, with 16 Emmy nominations for the second season which saw ''Moonlighting'' tie for 20th place in the
Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
. In season three, the show peaked at 9th, then dropped off slightly to tie for 12th in the 4th season.
By the end of the final season, the show was 49th in the ratings.
The show's ratings decline is popularly attributed to Episode #14 of Season 3, "I Am Curious… Maddie", which infamously had Maddie and David consummate their relationship after two and a half years of romantic tension. In commentaries on the third season DVD set, Caron disputed that the event led to the show's decline, but that a number of other factors led to the series' decline and eventual cancellation.
In the fourth season, Willis and Shepherd had scant screen time together. Jay Daniel explained that: Bruce Willis was filming ''
Die Hard
''Die Hard'' is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan, with a screenplay by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. Based on the 1979 novel '' Nothing Lasts Forever'', by Roderick Thorp, it stars Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Ale ...
'' during this period. When the film became a
blockbuster
Blockbuster or Block Buster may refer to:
*Blockbuster (entertainment) a term coined for an extremely successful movie, from which most other uses are derived.
Corporations
* Blockbuster (retailer), a defunct video and game rental chain
** Bl ...
, a film career beckoned and his desire to continue in a weekly series waned. In a series that depended on the chemistry between the two main stars, not having them together for the bulk of the fourth season hurt the ratings.
The series lost Glenn Gordon Caron as executive producer and head writer when he left the show over difficulties with the production: Shepherd recalled Caron left the show stating that it was either him or her, and he did not think the network would choose him.
When Maddie returned to Los Angeles near the end of the fourth season, the writers tried to recreate the tension between Maddie and David by having Maddie spontaneously marry a man named Walter Bishop (
Dennis Dugan
Dennis Barton Dugan (born September 5, 1946) is an American director, actor, writer, artist and comedian. He is known for his partnership with comedic actor Adam Sandler, for whom he directed the films ''Happy Gilmore'', '' Big Daddy'', ''The Be ...
) within a few hours of meeting him on the train back to Los Angeles. When Shepherd read the script, she strongly voiced her objection that her character would not do such a thing, but was overruled. The move failed to rekindle the sparks between the main characters or capture the interest of the audience, which led to an even further ratings decline.
Cancellation
Neither of the principal stars was fully committed to the final season of the show. Bruce Willis, fresh from his ''
Die Hard
''Die Hard'' is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan, with a screenplay by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. Based on the 1979 novel '' Nothing Lasts Forever'', by Roderick Thorp, it stars Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Ale ...
'' success, wanted to make more films. Cybill Shepherd, having just given birth to twins, had grown tired of the long, grueling production days and was ready for the series to end.
In the 1988–1989 TV season, the show's
rating
A rating is an evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of quality, quantity, or some combination of both.
Rating or ratings may also refer to:
Business and economics
* Credit rating, estimating the credit worthiness of an individual, c ...
s declined precipitously. The March to August
1988 Writers Guild of America strike The 1988 Writers Guild of America strike was a strike action taken by members of both the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) against major United States television and film studios represented by the ...
cancelled plans for the 1987–1988 ''Moonlighting'' season finale to be filmed and aired on TV in
3-D in a deal with
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
, and delayed the broadcast of the first new episode until December 6, 1988. The series went on hiatus during the
February sweeps, and returned on Sunday evenings in the spring of 1989. Six more episodes aired before the series was cancelled in May of that year.
In keeping with the show's tradition of "breaking the fourth wall", the last episode (fittingly titled "Lunar Eclipse") featured Maddie and David returning from Agnes and Herbert's wedding to find the Blue Moon sets being taken away, and an ABC network executive waiting to tell them that the show has been cancelled. The characters then race through the studio lot in search of a television producer named Cy, as the world of ''Moonlighting'' is slowly dismantled.
When they find Cy, he is screening a print of "In 'n Outlaws", the episode of ''Moonlighting'' that had aired two weeks earlier. Once informed of the problem, Cy lectures David and Maddie on the perils of losing their audience and the fragility of romance. Cy was played by Dennis Dugan, the same actor who had played Walter Bishop in Maddie's marriage storyline — however, Dugan was also the ''director'' of the episode, so his acting credit was listed as "Walter Bishop". David and Maddie then admit defeat that the show is ending but not before Maddie tells David 'I can't imagine not seeing you again tomorrow' and then we are treated to a clip montage of previous Moonlighting episodes and then it ends with a message stating that "Blue Moon Investigations ceased operations on May 14, 1989. The Anselmo Case was never solved… and remains a mystery to this day."
Syndication
As the show had not produced enough episodes to gain a
syndication
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
contract, following its original run it was not widely seen until its DVD release, although it occasionally appeared on
cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
channels targeting women (including
Lifetime and
Bravo
Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels
*Bravo (band), a Russian rock band
* Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984
*Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...
in the US, and
W in Canada) in the 1990s and 2000s. Bravo airings often featured new
claymation
Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay.
Tra ...
promos with Maddie and David using original audio clips from the series. The "Atomic Shakespeare" episode aired on
Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET/Pac ...
in 2005 as part of the network's 20th anniversary celebration. The 1985
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
Tuesday night line-up was honored with reruns of ''
Who's the Boss?'', ''
Growing Pains
''Growing Pains'' is an American television sitcom created by Neal Marlens that aired on ABC from September 24, 1985, to April 25, 1992. The show ran for seven seasons, consisting of 166 episodes. The series followed the misadventures of the Se ...
'', and ''Moonlighting'', although "Atomic Shakespeare" was from the '86-'87 season.
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
initially carried the show in the UK from 1986 to 1989, and it ran on
Sky 1
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
circa 1991. It has been shown on
CBS Drama
RealityXtra (formerly CBS Drama) is a British free-to-air television channel that centres its programming on American television shows produced by CBS. It is the sister channel of CBS Reality and is owned in partnership by AMC Networks and Para ...
since November 2009. Between 2005 and 2008, the show was frequently shown on the now defunct channel
ABC1
ABC TV, formerly known as ABC1, is an Australian national public television network. It is owned and operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is the flagship ABC Television network. The headquarters of the ABC TV channel an ...
. In Asia, ''Moonlighting'' began airing Seasons 1 and 2 on Rewind Network's HITS channel in December 2013.
Awards and nominations
''Moonlighting'' was nominated for a wide range of awards, including nominations for 40
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
s of which it won 6. It was also nominated for 10
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
s of which it won 3.
Home media
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment (formerly Video Treasures and Starmaker Entertainment) was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, television ser ...
released the original pilot episode on DVD in region 1.
Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered in ...
later released the entire series of ''Moonlighting'', including the pilot episode, on DVD in Region 1. Each release contains bonus features including commentaries and featurettes. As of 2013, these releases have been discontinued and are out of print.
In Regions 2 & 4,
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation.
Background
SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures lib ...
has released all 5 seasons on DVD, although the Region 4 sets are now out of print. A complete series box set was also released in Region 2 on September 14, 2009.
The series is noticeably unavailable to stream, rent or buy on any service currently due to the costly music licensing. However, on October 5, 2022, Caron posted on his official
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account that work had begun to prepare all five seasons of the series for streaming.
Parodies
''
Riptide
A rip tide, or riptide, is a strong offshore current that is caused by the tide pulling water through an inlet along a barrier beach, at a lagoon or inland marina where tide water flows steadily out to sea during ebb tide. It is a strong tidal fl ...
'', a once-popular detective series whose ratings had declined to the point of cancellation after airing against ''Moonlighting'' in the 1985–1986 television season, aired an episode (the show's penultimate) in 1986, in which that show's detectives acted as mentors to "Rosalind Grant" (
Annette McCarthy
Annette McCarthy is an American actress who is best known for her role as Evelyn Marsh in the second season of ''Twin Peaks'', and as Dr. Wendy Oliver in the cult movie '' Creature'' (1985). She also appeared in several TV movies and series, inc ...
) and "Cary Russell" (
H. Richard Greene
H. Richard Greene (sometimes credited as "Richard Greene") is an American film, television, and stage actor, acting coach, and guest professor at UCLA.
Career
Television Roles
He has appeared in TV shows such as '' Matlock'', ''According t ...
), the bickering stars of a television detective show pilot. Although their names were an allusion to
Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...
and
Rosalind Russell
Catherine Rosalind Russell (June 4, 1907November 28, 1976) was an American actress, comedienne, screenwriter, and singer,Obituary ''Variety'', December 1, 1976, p. 79. known for her role as fast-talking newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson in the H ...
, the characters were written as parodies of Shepherd and Willis, even adopting some of their real mannerisms and clothing styles, and their dialogue contained many nods, both obvious and subtle, to ''Moonlighting''
's writing style.
["Spoofing Around on ''Riptide'']
, ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', April 16, 1986. The episode was explicitly promoted by NBC (''Riptide''
's network) as a ''Moonlighting'' parody, and was publicized as such widely enough that ''Riptide''
's producers felt obliged to clarify that they liked ''Moonlighting'' and intended the episode as an homage. The episode was even titled "If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em".
[
The series even spawned a porn parody entitled "Moonlusting" in 1987, directed by ]Henri Pachard
Henri Pachard, Jackson St. Louis and Crystal Blue were the pseudonyms of the American film director Ron Sullivan (June 4, 1939 – September 27, 2008).
In the late 1960s, using his real name, Sullivan directed a number of sex-and-sadism Sexplo ...
and starring Taija Rae as Hattie Mays and Jerry Butler
Jerry Butler Jr. (born December 8, 1939) is an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and retired politician. He was the original lead singer of the Rhythm and blues, R&B vocal group the Impressions, inducted into the Rock and Rol ...
as David Madison, together running the New Poon Detective Agency. The dynamic of the main characters mirrored that of Shepherd and Willis, even down to breaking the fourth wall and addressing viewers directly.
See also
* List of ''Moonlighting'' episodes
* ''Moonlighting'' soundtrack
* Detective couple, Nick and Nora Charles
References
Notes
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
''Moonlighting'' in the Encyclopedia of Television
{{Al Jarreau
1980s American comedy-drama television series
1980s American mystery television series
1980s American romantic comedy television series
1980s American workplace comedy television series
1980s American workplace drama television series
1985 American television series debuts
1989 American television series endings
American Broadcasting Company original programming
American detective television series
English-language television shows
Metafictional television series
Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series
Television series about couples
Television series by Disney–ABC Domestic Television
Television shows set in Los Angeles
Television shows scored by Alf Clausen