Moonlighting - The Pilot Episode

Starring:Cybill Shepherd, Bruce Willis, Allyce Beasley, Robert Ellenstein, James Karen, Rebecca Stanley, Dennis Lipscomb, Frederick Coffin, Mary Hart, Henry G. Sanders, Liz Sheridan, Dennis Stewart, Jean Adams, Rachel Bard, Blake Clark, Suzanne Fagan, Sam Hennings, Joan McMurtrey, John Medici, Brian Thompson
Director: Robert Butler, Allan Arkush, Gerald Perry Finnerman
Studio: Anchor Bay
Product Type: DVD

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Some television ages well, some doesn't. For every Mary Tyler Moore Show that still rocks, there's a Family Ties that's painfully mired in its era. One would think this would be the case for Moonlighting, the detective series of the mid-1980s starring Cybill Shepherd (on a career rebound) and Bruce Willis (then unknown). The ingredients are all there: '80s fashion, hourlong TV mystery plots, Wayfarer sunglasses... Fortunately--and gloriously--this is not the case. As fresh as it was when it first aired, Moonlighting is a prime example of groundbreaking television at its peak and a timeless lesson in the science of star chemistry. Shepherd, as the ice-queen model Maddie Hayes, and Willis, as the "do bears bear, do bees be?" hipster-doofus David Addison, were the quintessential match made in hell, thrown together under dubious circumstances. In this pilot episode, Shepherd, having discovered that her accountant has left her broke, proceeds to liquidate her assets, including the City of Angels Detective Agency, headed up by Willis. However, thanks to a dead body that pops out of an elevator, the two pair up to solve a case involving a broken watch and some pilfered Nazi loot, hoping to get some publicity (and cash) for their newly rechristened Blue Moon Investigations. The plot is negligible, involving a dead jogger, a mohawked hit man, and a sadistic henchman, but the mystery was never Moonlighting's selling point--it was the sparring, the swearing, the sparks that Willis and Shepherd created together. Watching these two at their best (before the series slid downhill when they finally slept together), you'll realize that neither has ever been paired with a better costar; they bring out something in each other that's undiluted antagonism mixed with irresistible attraction. Discounting some of Shepherd's fashion choices and hairstyles, and Willis's, well, hair (he had some), this is timeless farce and screwball comedy in the tradition of His Girl Friday, snappily penned by Glenn Gordon Carron. Also featuring Allyce Beasley as rhyming secretary Agnes DiPesto, the only supporting character in the series who could intrude upon the Shepherd-Willis repartee without upsetting their rhythm. --Mark Englehart

Customer Reviews:

FYI.......2006-01-31

SEASON TWO AND THREE STARTS WITH THE PILOT,SO WHY BY THE PILOT IF YOU DONT HAVE TO????????

No flies on Dave and Maddie in the "Moonlighting" pilot.......2005-06-19

With the first two season of "Moonlighting" now out on DVD, the demand for just the pilot episode will be considerably less than before. But there is still something special about our introduction to Dave and Maddie, especially since it is more fun to remember the beginning of the series than to recall how it all ended. Written by Glen Gordon Caron and directed by Robert Butler, the "Moonlighting" pilot aired as a two-hour television movie on March 3, 1985 (in retrospect the "in like a lion, out like a lamb" idea certainly fits this show). The chief charms here were both the amount of dialogue that Caron was cramming into the script and the sparks that were flying between the two stars. Little did we know there would be much more of both in the future. At this point we were simply excited by the idea that not having flies on you is a good thing and that if you are being questioned by the police bringing a pair of sunglasses or ordering pizza with your one phone call would be good things.

Maddie Hayes (Cybil Shepherd) is a famous ex-model known as the "Blue Moon Girl," because of the ads she did for a shampoo. When her accountant embezzles her fortune, Maddie has to sell off the few failing businesses she owned as tax write offs. One of those is the City of Angels Detective Agency, run by David Addison (Bruce Willis), who wants to keep his job, his staff and his company car(s) (not necessarily in that order). So he tries to talk Maddie into forming a partnership. The only problem is that, at least at first, they cannot stand each other. He thinks she is a "blonde piece of fluff" and she considers him a "sissy fighter." So the question is can they make it through the pilot without falling in love with each other. The catalyst becomes the case they stumbled on when a dying man produces a broken watch from his mouth and slips it onto Maddie's wrist before he drops dead, courtesy of a knife in the back. Whether she wants to or not, Maddie Hayes is going to find out what it means to be a detective.

When I watched the pilot again for the first time in about a decade I kept thinking that there was something a little strange about it, but I simply dismissed such thoughts because like any pilot the actors are just starting to find their characters. Then it suddenly dawned on me why the episode sounded strange but still looked great after twenty years: Dave and Maddie are talking to slow in this pilot. At the time we were all marveling at how fast they talked on "Moonlight," but they are not yet up to warp speed in this first effort. This was also before the show become an example of postmodernism, primarily through its self-reflexivity, but even from the start you can see that this series is a dramedy. Remember, this was a show that was being nominated for Emmys as a dramatic series while being considered a comedy by the Golden Globes. Both, of course, were right. Today the idea that "Designing Women" or "Gilmore Girls" are situation comedies even though they are hour-long programs is not a radical idea, but it sure was twenty years ago.

In terms of the supporting cast in the pilot, Allyce Beasley as Agnes DiPesto is only on the cusp of becoming endearing because besides answering the phone in rhyme and having a bucket fall on her head she is really just background in this one. Among the guest stars the two who stand out are Dennis Lipscomb as Simon, whose slow and measured cadences stand out quite well in marked contrast to the speedy delivery of the two stars. Plus he appreciates the finesse of the word "duress." Then there is Jim McKrell as Dr. Spellner, Maddie's dinner date, who is wonderfully oblivious that his smooth condescension is not going over well with anybody, let alone Maddie. For familiar faces the guy with the blond Mohawk, whose name is apparently Klaus Gunter, is Dennis Stewart from "Grease," while Allistair, Simon's Man, is Brian Thompson, who goes on to be Luke and then the Judge on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (the television series, not the movie). Die hard fans of the series are going to want the entire show on DVD, but for those who just want to remember how "Moonlighting" was such a breath of fresh air, this pilot episode certainly suffices.

No Way!!.......2005-05-26

There's no way I would pay more than $20 for this dvd. I will wait to purchase this. Just like all dvd's this will be released again and with a new digitally remastered transfer. The prices for this is bordering on robbery. Just my 2 cents.

THE GREATES NEWS FOR THIS YEAR.......2005-05-17

MOONLIGHTING SEASONS 1 & 2 ON DVD AS SOON AS I GOT THE EMAIL FOR PREORDER I ORDERED IT

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can't Wait for the DVD's !!!!!.......2005-03-12

I hope its true that Moonlighting is FINALLY coming to DVD. It seems every crappy show on TV is now out on DVD. I can't stand most of the garbage currently on TV. Moonlighting is one of the few shows that I used to never miss. Even when it went into reruns. Havent seen it in reruns in a few years now. I understand they have some great outtakes and im hoping they include every single piece of video they have in the DVD box sets. Moonlighting was laugh out loud funny and other than the clothes they wore, (which looking back now they probably laugh at) the jokes and the writing was not "dated" material and people will still find funny today.
I'll be one of the first in line to buy this box set when it finally comes out.

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