80s Television We Loved - Moonlighting
March 20th 2011 07:28
Created by Glenn Gordon Caron it starred Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis who together ran the Blue Moon Detective Agency which for better or worse took on the quirkier cases more sensitive TV executives and writers wouldn't dare to inflict on their cast.
Though plagued by production delays and erratic scheduling, the program survived not through its hashed storylines but through the growing sexual tension between the leading characters Maddie and David plus of course trademark one-liners such as "Maddie, Maddie, Maddie -- somebody needs to remind you that lightening up is not only something you do to your hair each month."
One of the most frequently mentioned aspects of "Moonlighting" was however the chemistry between Maddie and David, a chemistry so potent that it became legendary in the industry.
The cast and creator readily admit that it was the very real, palpable chemistry between the two leads that translated so powerfully on the screen--a flirty, feisty reaction to each other that permeated every scene they were in together.
We as viewers were on to their sexual subterfuge...we knew they were saying and acting one way while actually feeling another.
We felt like co-conspirators in their relationship and because of that shared an intimacy with the characters that made them seem very real and very vulnerable to us.
They charmed us completely and set the bar very, very high for any TV couple afterward.
Yet in spite of all this - the part of David was very nearly given to someone else with Bruce Willis being the very last of about 3,000 actors to audition for the role.
Generally remembered today as the show that made a star out of Bruce Willis, the weekly, hour-long Moonlighting was in its time regarded as the hippest, most innovative series on television, one which for an all-too-brief period completely redefined that entire "mystery and detection" genre but one which truly deserves a place in pop culture as 80s TV we loved.
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Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Comment by Mr Nice Guy
Pop Culturist
Pop Rock Factory
It certainly was a show for its time.
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Comment by James Rickard
unlucky_ fishermen.com
Angling Fish
Check this out...
In hand-cuffs Jillian: "Nice to see you again."
In the true wise guy manner David; "Nice to be seen."
BUT the coolest thing about this show is at Bruce Willis still had hair!
I remember reading somewhere that the banter in this show was so rapid fire that the scripts had to be fattened to accommodate Willis and Shepherd.
I can go on and on about this one!!! Better cut it here!!!!!!!