Moonlighting

Moonlighting TV Show

Moonlighting was an award winning drama-comedy that ran from 1985 to 1989 on ABC, and was a pioneer of the genre, mixing romance, drama, and comedy into one show.  The show starred Bruce Willis as David Addison and Cybill Shepherd as Maddie Hayes, both private investigators.  It was also one of the earliest shows to break the “fourth wall”, whereby the action would often address the audience directly, or show set changes, or guest actors out of character (the main characters always remained “in character”).

Fans of this show will remember that model Maddie Hayes (Sheppard), after being bamboozled by her broker, is left with only her home and a fledgling private investigation firm called "Blue Moon."  The one P.I. on staff, David Addison (Willis), convinces her to take an active role in the business, whereby they go about the business of solving crime and dancing around a relationship.  The show would sometimes take a turn into fantasy land, exemplified by the season two black and white episode titled “The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice”, where the two protagonists dreamed about how a murder took place in the 1940’s.