Moonlighting (TV series)


Moonlighting is an American comedy drama television series that aired on ABC from March 3, 1985, to May 14, 1989. The network aired a total of 67 episodes. Starring Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis as private detectives, Allyce Beasley as their quirky receptionist, and Curtis Armstrong as a temporary worker, the show was a mixture of drama, comedy, mystery, and romance, and was considered to be one of the first successful and influential examples of comedy drama, or "dramedy", emerging as a distinct television genre.
The show's theme song was co-written and performed by singer Al Jarreau 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 number 34 on TV Guides 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. In 2007, the series was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-Time. The relationship between the characters David and Maddie was included in TV Guides 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 and David Addison. 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.
The show's storyline begins with the reversal of fortune of Maddie Hayes, a former model who finds herself bankrupt after her accountant steals all her liquid assets. She is left 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 for the season-three DVD, creator Glenn Gordon Caron says that the inspiration for the series was a production of The Taming of the Shrew he saw in Central Park starring Meryl Streep and Raúl Julia. The show parodied the play in the season-three episode "Atomic Shakespeare".

Cast

Main cast

  • Cybill Shepherd as Madolyn "Maddie" Hayes, is 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, Bringing Up Baby, and His Girl Friday, 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 as David Addison, is a wisecracking 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 between Shepherd and Willis believable.
  • Allyce Beasley as Agnes DiPesto, is the agency's extremely loyal and quirky receptionist, who always answers the phone in rhyme. 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 marries Herbert and 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 as Herbert Viola, started at Blue Moon as an employee from a temporary help agency. The producers brought Armstrong in based on his work in Revenge of the Nerds 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 and marries Agnes in the series finale. Debuting in season three, he appeared in 36 of the series' 67 episodes.

    Recurring

  • Brooke Adams appeared in season four as Terri Knowles, a single mother for whom David volunteered as a Lamaze partner in preparation for the birth of Maddie's child.
  • Jack Blessing as MacGillicudy, a Blue Moon employee, he became a foil for Viola and a rival for DiPesto's affections. Debuting in season three, he appeared in 17 episodes.
  • Dennis Dugan as Walter Bishop, dates then marries Maddie.
  • Mark Harmon appeared near the end of season three as Sam Crawford, Maddie's romantic interest and a rival of David's.
  • Virginia Madsen appeared in season five as Annie Charnock, Maddie's cousin and a short-term romantic interest for David.
  • Charles Rocket as Richard Addison, David's brother
  • Eva Marie Saint and Robert Webber as Virginia and Alexander Hayes, Maddie's parents

    Guest

  • Barbara Bain as Emily Grayson, was in the season-two episode "My Fair David".
  • Billy Barty appeared as himself in the season-two episode "Camille".
  • Rona Barrett also was herself in "The Straight Poop".
  • Richard Belzer portrayed Leonard in the season-two episode "Twas the Episode Before Christmas".
  • Sandahl Bergman also appeared in "Big Man On Mulberry Street" in a "dream" dance sequence.
  • Peter Bogdanovich appeared as himself in "The Straight Poop".
  • Pierce Brosnan portrayed Remington Steele in the season-three episode "The Straight Poop".
  • Dr. Joyce Brothers was herself in the season-four episode "A Trip to the Moon".
  • K Callan was Carolyn Kandinsky in the season-two episode "In God We Strongly Suspect".
  • Ray Charles also appeared in a "A Trip to the Moon" as himself.
  • Imogene Coca was Clara DiPesto in the season-four episode "Los Dos DiPestos".
  • Randall 'Tex' Cobb was the "Big Guy in Gas Station" in "Sam & Dave".
  • Gary Cole as Alan McClafferty in the season-three episode "Maddie's Turn to Cry".
  • Dana Delany as Jillian Armstrong, appeared in the season-two episode "Knowing Her".
  • Colleen Dewhurst was Betty Russell in the season-five episode "Take My Wife, For Example".
  • Donna Dixon acted as Joan Tenowitz in the season-three episode "Blonde on Blonde".
  • Rick Ducommun portrayed one of David's friends in the season-three episode.
  • Brad Dourif was Father McDonovan in the season-three episode "All Creatures Great and... Not So Great".
  • Robert Ellenstein was Heinz in the pilot episode.
  • Bill Erwin as Duncan Kennedy, appeared in the season-five episode "Perfetc".
  • Mary Hart appeared as herself in the pilot episode.
  • Sterling Holloway was the narrator in the "Atomic Shakespeare".
  • C. Thomas Howell was a waiter in the season-two episode "The Lady in the Iron Mask", and as a postal worker in the season-three episode "Yours, Very Deadly".
  • Whoopi Goldberg was Camille Brand in the season-two episode "Camille".
  • John Goodman was Donald Chase in the season-four episode "Come Back Little Shiksa".
  • William Hickey portrayed Mr. Kendall in the season-three episode "To Heiress Human".
  • Jeff Jarvis appeared as himself in the season-three episode "Sam & Dave".
  • Michelle Johnson portrayed Mrs. Hunziger in the season-five episode "Plastic Fantastic Lovers".
  • David Patrick Kelly was McBride in the season-two episode "Somewhere Under the Rainbow".
  • Don King also appeared in "Symphony in Knocked Flat" as himself.
  • Dan Lauria was the lieutenant in the season-two episode "Portrait of Maddie".
  • Timothy Leary appeared as minister Wynn Deaupayne in the season-five episode "Lunar Eclipse".
  • Mark Linn-Baker as Phil West, appeared in the season-two episode "Atlas Belched".
  • Colm Meaney was one of Katharina's suitors in the season-three episode "Atomic Shakespeare".
  • Sam McMurray as Moe Hyman, also appeared in "Blonde on Blonde".
  • Demi Moore, Bruce Willis's wife at the time, was the woman in the elevator in the season-five episode "When Girls Collide".
  • Judd Nelson also appeared in "Camille" as a police officer.
  • Terry O'Quinn appeared as Bryant "Brian" Wilbourne also in "Take a Left at the Altar".
  • Amanda Plummer was Jacqueline "Jackie" Wilbourne in the season-four episode "Take a Left at the Altar".
  • Tim Robbins was a hitman in the season-one episode "Gunfight at the So-So Corral".
  • Liz Sheridan was Selma in the pilot episode.
  • Lionel Stander appeared as Max in the season-three episode "It's a Wonderful Job".
  • Paul Sorvino was David Addison, Sr., in the season-three episode "The Son Also Rises".
  • The Temptations appeared as themselves in the season-three episode "Symphony in Knocked Flat".
  • Cheryl Tiegs was herself in "It's a Wonderful Job".
  • Jennifer Tilly acted as Nurse Saundra in the season-five episode "Plastic Fantastic Lovers".
  • Orson Welles appeared as himself delivering the cold open in the season-two episode "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice". It was Welles' last appearance before his death.
  • Rita Wilson appeared as Carla in the season-five episode "Those Lips, Those Lies".
  • Robert Wuhl was the “Nut in Holding Cell” in "Blonde on Blonde".