Moonlighting (TV series)
Moonlighting was a mystery TV series that aired from 1985 to 1989.
The series revolved around cases investigated by Blue Moon Investigations and its two partners, Madeline 'Maddie' Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) and David Addison (Bruce Willis). The show, with a witty mix of mystery, sharp dialogue and palpable sexual tension between its two leads, introduced Bruce Willis to the world and brought Cybill Shepherd back into the spotlight.
The show's storyline begins with the reversal of fortune of a former model, Hayes, who finds herself bankrupt after her accountant embezzles all of her liquid assets, leaving her saddled with several failing businesses formerly maintained as tax write offs, one of which is a detective agency helmed by the devil-may-care Addison. In the pilot episode, he convinces Hayes to keep the business and run it in partnership with him.
It was one of the first successful examples of dramedy. The show made use of fast-paced, overlapping dialogue between the two leads harkening back to classic films, such as those of director Howard Hawks, but which also led to chronic delays in writing production during the series' five-year, off and on run.
One of the innovations Moonlighting brought to television was breaking the fourth wall in the mainstream of television entertainment. Fourth wall refers to the wall between the television program and the audience, meaning that at least within the confines of the show, the events and characters being presented are "real." Moonlighting broke with this convention, with many episodes including dialogue that made direct reference to the scriptwriters, the audience, the network or the series itself. Although a few TV series had broken the wall before, usually by airing a short segment at the beginning or the end of an episode so the stars could wish the audience a Merry Christmas or announce a milestone episode, Moonlighting was the first television series to weave self-referential dialogue directly into the show itself.
