"I for one am glad that David and Cheryl Tiegs are getting married. It'll save two other people." - Cybill Shepherd as Maddie Hayes in "It's a Wonderful Job"
Moonlighting: Season Three DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
George, Elaine, Kramer, and Jerry test their self-control in "The Contest" (Seinfeld). Designing Women's Suzanne attends her class reunion in "They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?" and is shocked to discover that she is no longer considered "the pretty one" but "the fat one." While working as a cabbie, All in the Family's Archie Bunker gives Sammy Davis, Jr. a ride in "Sammy's Visit" . Mary Richards embarrasses herself at Chuckles the Clown's funeral in "Chuckles Bites the Dust" (The Mary Tyler Moore Show). These episodes are unforgettable, with fans and casual viewers alike happily reminiscing about them years after their initial broadcasts. Not many TV shows - even perfectly good ones - are fortunate enough to have even one similarly legendary, series-defining episode. Moonlighting: Season Three has three of them. Amazingly enough, these three episodes ran successively (although there was a one month gap between the second and third thanks to Moonlighting's scattershot production schedule).
In "Big Man on Mulberry Street," smart aleck Los Angeles P.I. David Addison (Bruce Willis) is called back to his hometown of New York to attend the funeral of a friend. When his boss (and former Blue Moon Shampoo girl) Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) learns that he hasn't actually seen or even spoken to this friend in ten years, she replies, "I don't mean to seem cold, but I think you could get away with sending a nice wreath." David finally admits that the deceased is no mere friend - he is David's ex-brother-in-law. Maddie is shocked. How could she not have known that David was once married?
As David flies off to New York, Maddie dreams of her partner's first meeting with his wife-to-be. This dream takes the form of a scene from a lavish MGM musical. Set to the tune of Billy Joel's "Big Man on Mulberry Street," the scene features David working in a highly stylized version of a Greenwich Village bar. There, Maddie's idealized version of his wife (Sandahl Bergman, who gives a sexy, sultry performance) literally dances her way into his life. Maddie imagines their courtship, marriage, and eventual breakup. Choreographed by Jacqui & Bill Landrum and directed by the legendary Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain, Charade, Two for the Road), this sequence is one of the series' highlights. We learn much about Maddie and her feelings toward David though it. We learn even more when she decides to follow him to New York in an attempt to both comfort him and discover the truth about his past. This episode highlights two of the series' strengths: unabashed exuberance (the dream sequence) and tender romanticism (David and Maddie sharing half of her blanket and half of this shoulder on their plane trip home).
The following week saw the premiere of "Atomic Shakespeare," an iambic pentameter-filled romp "from an idea by William 'Budd' Shakespeare." This riff on The Taming of the Shrew recasts the characters from Moonlighting into an adaptation of the Bard's classic play. Maddie is Katherina, a sharp-tongued shrew deemed unmarriable by her father. This is bad news for her popular, sunny, younger sister Bianca who, despite her many suitors, cannot be the first to be married. Blue Moon Investigation's ditzy receptionist Agnes Dipesto (Allyce Beasley) here takes on the role of Bianca. Things begin to look up for Bianca when David arrives in town as Petruchio, a fortune seeker who just might be nutty enough to tame her shrewish sis.
"Atomic Shakespeare" is brilliant in its mix of highbrow and lowbrow. Basing the episode on Shakespeare, writing it in iambic pentameter, and maintaining the Elizabethan setting is about as highfalutin' as one can get. Yet the episode still retains Moonlighting's usual sense of stupidity. Petruchio's horse wears sunglasses and a blanket with the BMW logo on it. At the end of a sword fight, Petruchio is attacked by four ninjas. Dumb and funny.
Viewers had to wait almost a month before the airing of the next episode, "It's a Wonderful Job." Almost every TV show eventually gets around to filming a lame holiday "tribute" to either A Christmas Carol or It's a Wonderful Life. Leave it to Moonlighting to finally get it right. It's the week before Christmas, but the employees of Blue Moon Investigations are already taking down the decorations. One of their clients is having an earlier than expected court date, and Maddie has asked for everyone to work through the holiday. Needless to say, the employees are not happy with the situation and are perfectly willing to say so. After a devastated Maddie learns that her aunt has died, more grumbling from the employees proves to be the last straw - she fires MacGillicuddy, wishes she had never kept the agency open, and storms out of the office.
While drowning her sorrows at a nearby bar, Maddie meets Albert (Soap's Richard Libertini), a kind but unusual man who claims to be her guardian angel. Soon, Albert is giving Maddie a tour of what life would be like had Blue Moon Investigations never opened: Jonathan Hart (from Hart to Hart) bought out the business to open Hart Investigations, Ms. Dipesto is a successful - but cold and cruel - business woman, and David is happily celebrating his engagement to supermodel Cheryl Tiegs. As for Maddie, without the agency and the influence of David and Dipesto, her life is considerably less happy. Can Albert put things back to normal, or has the die already been cast?
This episode manages to be funny ("Take your tree and shove it down your sack, mack.") and sentimental ("I miss David."), often at the same time. Like many Moonlighting episodes, it makes memorable use of '60s and '70s soul hits on its soundtrack, in this case "Sleigh Ride" by the Ronettes. Produced by famed "Wall of Sound" creator Phil Spector, this perky, jingly tune is a perfect counterpoint to the sometimes depressing events happening onscreen. It also manages to do what many other special holiday episodes cannot - rather than simply stopping the momentum of the series in its tracks, this episode tells us more information about our favorite characters.
Speaking of characters, season three adds to the cast Revenge of the Nerds' Curtis Armstrong as Herbert Viola, a temporary employee who fancies himself a junior agent. He also serves as a lust object for the heretofore virginal Ms. Dipesto. Some fans may look back fondly at the addition of "Booger" to the series, but in actuality, Herbert Viola's arrival upsets the delicate rhythm of Moonlighting. Ms. Dipesto's behavior - ravishing an unwilling Herbert on a desk, chasing him around the office, etc. - is uncharacteristic and lacks humor. Who thought it would be funny to watch a woman sexually harassing a man? In "Poltergeist III - Dipesto Nothing," Dipesto and Herbert team up to solve a case involving a supposedly haunted house. This episode might have been interesting had it tried to parody the Dave and Maddie working relationship. Instead, it is simply witless.
"Poltergeist III." exists because medical problems sidelined the series' stars for part of the season. Cybill Shepherd was in the midst of a difficult pregnancy. Bruce Willis injured his shoulder while skiing. Weeks would go by with no new Moonlighting episodes. "Poltergeist III." gave the show's producers a new episode while simultaneously sidestepping Shepherd and Willis' health problems. "The Straight Poop" is another episode in which the producers tread water while waiting for their stars to heal. This episode consists largely of clips from earlier episodes. Normally, these types of episodes are a real bore, but this one actually works thanks to its ingenious setup - gossip maven Rona Barrett arrives on the set to investigate rumors of discord and to find out when a new episode will arrive. She interviews Dave, Maddie, Agnes, and Herbert. The questions and answers lead into the clips. The excerpts are well chosen, and the bits with Rona Barrett include self-effacing jokes that capitalize on criticisms leveled at the series by the public and the press - the lack of new episodes, the overuse of diffusion filters when shooting Shepherd, etc.
Season three is schizophrenic. The first third consists of traditional mysteries: a man who murdered his wife hires Blue Moon to track her down when he starts receiving phone calls from the supposedly deceased woman ("The Man Who Cried Wife"), Dave and Maddie uncover an assassination plot when David buys stolen orchestra tickets from a shady scalper ("Symphony in Knocked Flat"), etc. The middle third includes the series' experimental episodes ("Big Man on Mulberry Street," "Atomic Shakespeare," and "It's a Wonderful Job") along with a few odds and ends ("The Straight Poop" and "Poltergeist III.).
The last third of the season contains the season's most controversial and hotly debated episodes as Mark Harmon (St. Elsewhere) guests as Sam, an astronaut who once dated Maddie and would like to rekindle their romance. Throughout these five episodes, Maddie is torn between stable, sensible Sam and goofy, immature David. This story arc culminates in what many fans were hoping for from the first episode: hot, sweaty sex between Dave and Maddie. Ah, but be careful what you wish for. Suddenly the clever banter and romantic flirtation are replaced by endless conversations about whether what they did was wrong and large helpings of soap opera angst. These episodes aren't terrible, but they are a definite sign of a show that has lost its moorings.
Guest appearances in season three include Paul Sorvino (Law & Order), Charles Rocket (Saturday Night Live), Brynn Thayer (Pensacola: Wings of Gold), Alley Mills (The Wonder Years), Don King, Richard Beymer (Twin Peaks), Brad Dourif (Deadwood), Kenneth McMillan (Rhoda), Colm Meaney (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Sterling Holloway (Winnie the Pooh), Lionel Stander (Hart to Hart), Lucy Lee Flippin (Little House on the Prairie), Ian Abercrombie (Seinfeld), Sam McMurray (Freaks & Geeks), John McCook (The Bold and the Beautiful), Donna Dixon (Bosom Buddies), Robert Wuhl (Arli$$), Randall "Tex" Cobb, Gary Cole (American Gothic), and William Hickey (The Adventures of Pete & Pete).
The fifteen episodes that make up Moonlighting: Season Three are divided onto four discs. The discs are housed in clear plastic holders that are "bound" together book-style. The silver-hued cover features Shepherd and Willis standing in front of a giant moon overlooking a cityscape. Each disc is imprinted with a moonscape paired with a character photo. A pocket on the inside back cover holds an episode guide.
The disc menus - featuring incidental music from the series - allow viewers to play all of the episodes or choose an individual one. The episodes are divided into chapters, but there are no scene selection menus.
