(Detective-Drama-Comedy)

The following is gleaned from "The Complete Dictionary of Primetime TV Shows" By Brooks and March, 1988.

First telecast:
March 3, 1985

Last telecast:
May 14, 1989

Broadcast history:
March 3, 1985, ABC, Sunday 9:00-11:00 PM
March - April 1985, ABC, Tuesdays 10:00-11:00 PM
August 1985 - March 1989, ABC, Tuesdays 9:00-10:00 PM
April - May 1989, ABC, Sundays 8:00-9:00 PM

Regular cast:
Cybill Shepherd ........... Maddie Hayes
Bruce Willis ................. David Addison
Allyce Beasley ............ Agnes DiPesto
Curtis Armstrong ...... Herbert Viola
Jack Blessing .............. MacGillicuddy
Charles Rocket ........... Richard Addison
Eva Marie Saint ...........Virginia "Ginny" Hayes
Robert Webber ............ Alexander Hayes
Paul Sorvino ................ David Addison, Sr.

Theme:
Lee Holdridge and Al Jarreau, sung by Al Jarreau

Synopsis:
One of ABC's few hits in the mid 1980's. It was a "hip" romantic, comedy, which was as much a TV "in-joke" as a normal detective show. Maddie was a successful, glamorous, and somewhat icy, top fashion model who had fallen on hard times. Her manager had cheated her out of most of her life savings. While looking at her remaining assets, she found she still owned the "City of Angels" detective agency, a notably unsuccessful business designed as a tax dodge. When she visited this business to close and liquidate its assets, she met David Addison, its main employee.

To save his job, the cocky Addison conned her out of closing the business. He then managed to get her involved in the business. It was renamed "Blue Moon" after the shampoo that Maddie was a well known spokesperson/model for. The wisecracking David and the strong-willed, reserved Maddie became a detective team.

David also lusted for her (demonstrated through wolf whistles, wisecracks, and 1960s girl watching song lyrics). But Maddie resisted his overtures. This "courtship" became the underlying theme of the show. By the end of the 1985-86 season, David had finally won a kiss in the parking garage when Maddie thought David was leaving for good to avoid arrest for a death for which he had been set up to take the blame.

Not until the end of the 1986-87 season did they make love. In a parody of the film "Body Heat" he broke into Maddie's home and made love to her on her living room floor. In the meantime, their rocky relationship survived many breakups, including a visit by Maddie's college boyfriend Sam (Mark Harmon). Sam was an astronaut, also strong-willed and reserved. Dave and Maddie each got counseling, she from Dr. Joyce Brothers and he from Ray Charles.

Moonlighting's constant and widely publicized production problems resulted in numerous repeat episodes. New episodes were eagerly anticipated and often inventive. For example, the 1986 take off of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew", with Cybill as Kate and David as Petruchio, made fun of their relationship. It was a dream sequence where the characters looked at the camera and commented on their real life problems.

In 1988 Maddie found out she was pregnant (timed to coincide with Cybill's real life pregnancy). The baby could have been David's or Sam's (though only later the viewers know it is David's). Maddie ran home to Chicago and then married a near stranger on the train trip back to LA. Later the baby was stillborn and Maddie got her marriage annulled. The series never recovered from this ill received storyline.

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