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List Price: $24.98 | | Label: Lions Gate
Salesrank: 266
Released: May 31, 2005 |
| Our Price: $12.99 |
| Used Price: $12.96 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Maddie Hayes (Cybil Shepard), a wealthy former model, discovers one morning that her business manager has stolen all the money she has in the bank. However, it turns out that she still owns some non-liquid assets -- money-losing companies which were maintained as tax write-offs -- one of which is a detective agency run by David Addison (Bruce Willis). Maddie meets with him to inform him that the company is to be shut down, but he persuades her to keep it open by convincing her that the detective agency can make money. Maddie becomes David's new boss and accompanies him on adventure after adventure. While their personalities clash, a sexual tension arises in the time they spend together. But the question always remains... will they or won't they?
Description of Moonlighting - Seasons 1 & 2:
Glamorous Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) is an ex-model with a problem--her accountant just ran off with her money. Granted, he did leave her with a few broken-down businesses. One happens to be a detective agency run by charming loudmouth David Addison (Bruce Willis). Her attempt to shutter the agency fails when they stumble across a crime and David convinces Maddie to help him solve it. And with that, one of television's most popular partnerships was born. Moonlighting made a star out of newcomer Willis and turned Shepherd (Taxi Driver), who had already found fame through fashion and film, into a bona fide TV star.
Created for ABC by Glenn Gordon Caron (Remington Steele), the romantic comedy/detective drama was a mid-season replacement that quickly became a hit. There were only six episodes in the first season, including the two-part pilot, but 18 were produced for the second. Rhyming receptionist Agnes DiPesto (Allyce Beasley) was a regular from the start, while Herbert Viola (Ray’s Curtis Armstrong) wouldn’t hit the scene until the third season (as with Paul Sorvino and Mark Harmon). The first two seasons attracted an eclectic array of guest stars, including Tim Robbins ("Gunfight at the So-So Corral"), Beasley's husband Vincent Schiavelli ("Next Stop Murder"), Dana Delany ("Knowing Her"), Richard Belzer ("Twas the Episode Before Christmas"), and Whoopi Goldberg ("Camille"), who earned an Emmy nomination for her performance. The most notable guest was surely Orson Welles, who introduces the black and white noir spoof "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice." It would be his final TV appearance. Moonlighting ran for three more years. While the Emmy-winning Willis would abandon TV for the big screen, Shepherd found subsequent small screen success with Cybill. Caron, meanwhile, would launch another mid-season replacement series which became a surprise hit: NBC's Medium with Patricia Arquette. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Moonlighting - Seasons 1 & 2 Reviews:
romance comedy 
2008-08-27 - This is a wonderful show to watch with someone special,I got it free with my pepsi points.
Funny and interesting 
2008-07-25 - My husband and I are trying to find shows that has little to no profanity. Moonlighting is a show that can be on when my little grandson comes to stay. It is lighthearted comedy and yet it is also interesting. Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepard make a good acting team. I bought the season one and two pack and I have not watched all of it, but so far there are no gruesome murder scenes or profanity. I gave these shows a 5 star because I feel it is a "family" type show. We need more shows like this.
The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice (Season 2, Episode 4)
2008-04-12 - Casual Moonlighting fans will likely remember "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice" as "the one in black and white." Operating as investigators on a dubious "unfaithful spouse" case, private investigators Maddie Hayes and David Addison (of the Blue Moon detective agency) are told about the notorious Flamingo Cove Murder, which involved a clarinetist, his songbird wife, and the new cornet player in their swing orchestra. The clarinetist was murdered, and the singer and cornetist (?) always swore that the other did the killing, right down to their dual executions.
Hayes and Addison instantly form opposing opinions as to who is "obviously" guilty, leading to an argument, after which each goes home and dreams his/her side of the story. It's fairly weak for a wraparound, but the dreams make it worth it.
Done in a film noir style, "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice" references films of the era (especially The Postman Always Rings Twice) in addition to being solidly crafted, designed, shot, acted, written, and directed. (That year saw the series nominated for sixteen Emmys, eight of them for this episode.)
Each's dream perfectly suits their personalities. Maddie's is more reminiscent of the expected style: straightforward, romantic, and melodramatic (with a nicely cathartic first kiss for Shepherd and Willis), while David's involves more ironic voice-over, wisecracks, and parodic fourth-wall breaking. (For those reasons, I prefer David's, although a tad more seriousness would have made it perfect.)
And how they did this, I don't know, but Orson Welles made his final filmed appearance by introducing this "Very Special Moonlighting." ("Television," he says with the ever-present glint in his eye, "is about to take a huge step ... backwards.") "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice" is my second favorite of the series; only the second-season finale "Camille," guest starring Judd Nelson and Whoopi Goldberg, tops it for pure entertainment value.
Good DVDs, so-so show 
2008-03-07 - The DVDs are very good quality and even the ripping to iPod MP4 format is smooth with no hiccups. That said, I forgot how irritating the constant bickering between the two lead characters is! I must have been much more tolerant in my teens watching this show, but it really grates on me now. I don't think I can stomach more than one season of 'Moonlighting'. I still vote 'Remington Steele' as my all-time favourite TV show from the 80's -- the relationship between the two lead characters is much more comfortable.
A blast from the past
2008-01-15 - This was actually a requested Christmas present for my 13 year old who had seen repeats on television and thought it was good. I caught it first time around when it was new and different, there really wasn't anything like that on TV. My son loves it but cannot believe the shoulder pads and the big hair; did we really dress like that?? Not to mention Bruce Willis with hair! If it's 80s nostalgia you're looking for, then this is the one for you.
