Moonlighting Moonlighting may refer to: * Side job, a job taken in addition to one's primary employment Entertainment * ''Moonlighting'' (film), a 1982 drama film by Jerzy Skolimowski * ''Moonlighting'' (TV series), 1985–1989 American television series, s ...

'' is an American

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

television show created in 1985 by writer

Glenn Gordon Caron Glenn Gordon Caron (born April 3, 1954), sometimes credited as Glenn Caron, is an American writer, director, and producer, best known for the television series '' Moonlighting'' in the 1980s and ''Medium'' in the 2000s. He lives in Los Angeles, Ca ...

. It centers on Maddie Hayes (

Cybill Shepherd Cybill Lynne Shepherd (born February 18, 1950) is an American actress, singer and former model. Her film debut and breakthrough role came as Jacy Farrow in Peter Bogdanovich's coming-of-age drama '' The Last Picture Show'' (1971) alongside Jef ...

), a former model who loses most of her financial assets due to her accountant's

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

but unexpectedly finds that she owns a detective agency. She teams up with cocky, chauvinistic investigator David Addison (

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and has appeared in over one hundred films, gaining ...

) to run the agency and becomes embroiled in various unusual cases. The show's other regular characters are Agnes DiPesto (

Allyce Beasley Allyce Beasley ( Tannenberg; born July 6, 1951) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as rhyming, love-struck receptionist Agnes DiPesto in the television series '' Moonlighting''. From 2001 to 2007, she was the announcer on Pla ...

), the agency's receptionist, and Herbert Viola (

Curtis Armstrong Curtis Johnathan Armstrong (born November 27, 1953) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the role of Booger in the '' Revenge of the Nerds'' films, Herbert Viola on the TV series '' Moonlighting'', Miles Dalby in the film '' Risky ...

), one of the agency's investigators, who was introduced in the third season and became a featured character in the fourth season. The show mixes drama, comedy and romance, and often incorporates fantasy sequences or breaks the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...

. The series premiered on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

in the United States with a feature-length

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...

on March 3, 1985. The series lasted 5 seasons, but only 66 episodes were produced, a low figure for American television, for which a full season normally includes at least 22 episodes. The show became notorious for failing to have a new episode ready to air each week, due to on-set problems including script issues and friction between actors and producers. Most episodes aired on Tuesday nights, although when the show returned in April 1989 after a two-month hiatus, the remaining episodes aired on Sunday nights. During its early years, the series was popular with viewers and broke into the top ten of the

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

in its third season. When Maddie and David ended more than two years of sexual tension by sleeping together in that season's highly publicized penultimate episode, "I Am Curious… Maddie", it drew an audience of 60 million viewers. The show was also a critical hit, receiving 16

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

nominations in 1986. Ratings declined, however, in the later seasons, and the show was canceled in 1989.

Series overview

Episodes

Season 1 (1985)

Season 2 (1985–1986)

Season 3 (1986–1987)

Season 4 (1987–1988)

Season 5 (1988–1989)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moonlighting Lists of American action television series episodes Lists of American comedy-drama television series episodes Lists of American crime television series episodes it:Moonlighting