|
 Moonlighting was a very popular show in the mid to late ‘80s, and I remember it as such, but for whatever reason, I don’t see it remembered by its fans as an American classic. I wouldn't suggest that everyone look on it with such reverence, but I will say it’s a better show than I remembered. I should admit here that I was only a casual Moonlighting viewer during its initial run and never watched it in syndication so perhaps I wasn’t as wellversed in my knowledge of the show as I should have been before I sat down with this season set. Nevertheless, I found quite a bit to like and had only minor complaints.
Moonlighting centered around the activities at Blue Moon Investigations, a private detective firm operated by former model Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) and resident wiseguy David Addison (Bruce Willis). This hour-long comedy/drama spent much of its time focused on the relationship between these two characters. And what a relationship they had. The banter, innuendo and sexual tension between these two was something to behold. Shepherd and Willis had an amazing chemistry and the writers took advantage of it every chance they got. One of the hallmarks of this show was the amazingly fast-paced dialogue between these two characters. At least once in every episode there would be an extended sequence where they had entire conversations where neither stopped talking. The resulting overlap in dialogue was quite impressive.
 At least 90% of most episodes featured either Maddie, David or both, but there were a handful of other characters to enjoy. Agnes Dipesto (Allyce Beasley), the mousy receptionist who always answered the phone with a rhyming poem was consistently funny. I always wondered why she wasn’t given a bigger part in the show. Season three introduced a love interest for Miss Dipesto in Booger himself (Curtis Armstrong) as Herbert Viola, the ever shy temp employee who is eventually given a permanent position at the firm. Booger is always awesome and never disappoints, which means he was a great, if underutilized addition to the cast.
While it was primarily a detective drama and certainly featured some dark story lines, Moonlighting was as silly a show as you’ll ever see. One of the best aspects of this show was that it never took itself seriously and it constantly took jabs at itself. Another hallmark of the show was that at least once per episode - and sometimes several times - one or more of the characters would break the 'fourth wall' in creative and unexpected ways. Characters would make references to the writers, for example, and there were often jokes about rumored problems on the set. These moments really lightened the tone of the show and helped make some rather mundane situations interesting.
 Speaking of problems on the set of Moonlighting, it’s no secret that the show had its share of production difficulties throughout its run. The writers had tremendous difficulty coming up with complete stories, Shepherd became pregnant and Willis broke his collarbone in a skiing accident. All of these things resulted in numerous delays in filming and constant reruns of old shows, which frustrated fans. The third season produced just 15 new episodes, which is low for a prime-time network show in the 1980s, but it was not unusual for this show as there were only 67 episodes produced in five seasons. The writers would often make light of this by inserting self-referential jokes which would take swipes at their own inabilities to keep the production going.
Lions Gate has released all 15 of the third season’s episodes on a four disc set. Some of the more noteworthy episodes include:
 Episode 1, The Son Also Rises - David’s father (Paul Sorvino) shows up to announce he’s engaged to be wed. It’s no big deal until David learns his father’s fiancée is a woman with whom he previously had an affair. This leads to an interesting confrontation between David and the woman which ends in a somewhat surprising twist. This episode is most memorable because of Sorvino, who is always a pleasure.
Episode 2, The Man Who Cried Wife - David and Maddie investigate mysterious phone calls a man is receiving from his wife, his wife he was under the impression he’d killed and buried in the forest. How could she be alive if he buried her? This episode is most fun because there’s real mystery to the story and a terrific twist ending.
Episode 5, All Creatures Great and…Not So Great - A priest (the always amazing Brad Dourif who we’ve most recently enjoyed as Doc Cochrane on Deadwood) hires Maddie and David to find a woman he’s been hearing in confession. The problem is he’s fallen in love with her despite having no idea what she looks like. I enjoyed this episode a lot because it also had some great mystery elements and another great twist ending.
Episode 7, Atomic Shakespeare - An interesting concept episode featuring the cast acting out a very loose adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew with Maddie as Kate and David as Petruchio. I’ll freely admit I’m something of a dullard and I don’t really get Shakespeare, but this episode was very cool. The entire episode was done in iambic pentameter and it was replete with intentional anachronisms. And it has Colm Meaney in it. What more could you need?
Episode 10, Poltergeist III – Dipesto Nothing - I said above that I always felt Miss Dipesto deserved a bigger role in the show, but this wasn’t it. In this episode, Agnes attempts to solve her own mystery in an effort to impress Booger. I admire her intentions. Who wouldn’t want to impress Booger? But this episode only briefly featured David and Maddie and felt like something of a cop-out. Miss Dipesto was a great comic character, and she was one of Moonlighting’s true strengths, but she was not meant to carry a whole episode.
Episode 11, Blonde on Blonde - Maddie’s acting strange, but won’t tell David what’s going on so he decides to follow her, thinking he might figure it out. Problems arise when it turns out David followed the wrong blonde and ends up involved in a murder. That issue gets settled so David goes to Maddie’s house with the intention of finally telling her how he feels about her only to find someone else answering her door. Who answers her door? Mark Harmon. Who expected Mark Harmon to answer the door? I didn’t. This episode marked the beginning of a four episode story arc where Harmon played an astronaut love interest of Maddie’s.
Episode 14, I Am Curious…Maddie - Mark Harmon’s character, Sam, decides to confront David and tell him he’s not good enough for Maddie. In a great scene at David’s house, David sits there silently while Sam tells him in detail why he’s wrong for her. It’s a great scene for the simple reason that David says nothing and Sam ends up looking like the loser. This eventually leads to David and Maddie finally getting together after three seasons. I surprisingly liked how the Sam story arc culminated in what everyone knew would eventually happen. It’s really well executed.
Video
In a word, yes. Unlike most mid-‘80s shows which were shot on videotape, Moonlighting was shot on film. It’s evident here because the higher quality film allows for excellent detail. Images are generally pretty sharp and colors are solid. I noticed film grain on more than a few occasions, but it’s never distracting.
Audio
It sounds fine. Music sounds good and what’s most important is that you’ll never have any issues understanding the many instances of overlapping dialogue. It’s a clear audio transfer.
Extra Features
I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of extra features on this set.
 On the fourth disc we get Memories of Moonlighting (29:11). This is a little better than the average reunion documentary not because the participants really had much to say, but more because it was so impressive how many people they got for it. Virtually every producer, writer and director who worked on this season is interviewed here. And all four of the principle actors including Booger were there. And as a bonus, since he doesn’t really have anything else to do, Mark Harmon was there, too. Cool stuff.
On the second disc, there’s Audio Commentary on Big Man on Mulberry Street by co-executive producer Jay Daniel. This commentary was actually more interesting to me than the episode itself. Daniel liked the episode himself, but he never really explains why he thinks it’s good. He mostly just talked about the things he liked, which was interesting enough, I guess. The most enlightening item from this commentary was the revelation that the six and a half minute dance sequence in the middle of the episode was directed by none other than Stanley Donen, who also directed Singin’ in the Rain and one of my five favorite films of all-time, Charade. It’s too bad they didn’t get Donen to join him on the commentary because Donen’s commentary on DVD for Charade is perhaps the best audio commentary I’ve ever listened to.
Also on the second disc, there’s Audio Commentary on Atomic Shakespeare again by Daniel, but this time he’s joined by creator Glenn Gordon Caron and stars Shepherd and Willis. This is the best of the four commentaries in this DVD set because it simply has four people reliving what was obviously a fun experience. This was an extremely creative episode and the people involved certainly enjoyed it and recall it fondly. I just wish Booger had joined them for the commentary because he was great in the episode.
On the third disc we have Audio Commentary on The Straight Poop by four fans of the show. These fans, all female, were apparently the people behind the effort to get Moonlighting released on DVD and the people behind the website MoonlightingDVD.com. I have no problem with allowing fans to record a commentary for a DVD. I actually think it’s a good idea. But they chose the wrong episode here. This episode, just the 34th produced in the series, was a flashback clip show used to fill time because the writers couldn’t come up with new shows. The problem with this commentary is that the fans recognized each clip and which episode it was from and they basically did nothing but gush about how great they thought the show was. Again, I don’t think it was a bad idea, but I wish they had done the commentary on an episode which had some depth.
Also on the third disc is Audio Commentary on Sam and Dave by Caron and episode guest star Mark Harmon. An interesting choice to have a guest star do a commentary for an episode, but it works pretty well here. Caron and Harmon discuss the genesis of Harmon’s story arc and how well it played in the series. It sounds like Harmon really enjoyed his experience on the show.
Also on the fourth disc we get trailers for two other Lions Gate TV show DVDs, one for the first season of a show called Wildfire which I’ve never heard of, and another for the first season of Weeds, which is a show I enjoy.
Packaging
It’s nice. Four discs inside a case which opens like a book with a disc on each page. The packaging is very shiny and quite susceptible to fingerprints. Inside, there’s a four page booklet with information and a brief synopsis on each episode. And in what was perhaps the best surprise in the whole set, you’ll find that Booger gets his own disc art on the fourth disc. Booger should be king.
 Parting Words
I can’t say that Moonlighting was ever a favorite show and it likely never will be, but I enjoyed this DVD set far more than I expected I would. There are a lot of good episodes in this season and the show stands the test of time very well. There will always be a place for a silly comedy/drama with sharp wit and even sharper dialogue. Dedicated fans will be very pleased with this release as Lions Gate has come through with a solid group of extra features. And the casual fan will like it as well because there’s a lot of good programming here. Did I mention that Booger gets his own disc? Yes, I did, but it’s worth mentioning again because you can never reference Booger too many times, can you? With a suggested retail price under $40 and readily available online for less than $30, I heartily recommend this set.
|
