Spoilers

“Fetal Attraction”

This episode of Moonlighting kicks off the whole baby arc of the show leading to Dave and Maddie coming back to the same city, at least. Sure, Maddie has been pregnant for awhile, but the show started by tossing characters into Dave and Maddie’s orbit to add question to what would happen.

In this episode, we meet Terri, played by Brooke Adams, just as Maddie was preparing to return to LA from Chicago. She was a pregnant mother who Dave goes through Lamaze class with in order to get ready with the baby.

The relationship between Dave and Terri felt really pushed, as by the end of the episode, Terri was changing her tune about wanting a man in her life. Dave was understandably confused, but this still felt like a weak storyline.

Structure of this episode was weird too. We did not see Maddie show up until almost half way through the episode, which felt like it was only going to be between Dave and Terri.

Terri never stood a chance as a character on this show because she just did not belong on Moonlighting. The show was Dave and Maddie and not other characters shoehorned into the show. Brooke Adams is remarkably likable and a solid actor, but the fact is that she was here just as a way to get through the season with some conflict.

Maddie will soon meet Dennis Dugan (probably next episode) and that tosses things even more into chaos.

Knowing the end result of Maddie’s pregnancy makes these scenes, especially those with her parents, to feel all more more tragic, if not downright empty.

Spoilers

“Los Dos Dipestos”

“Here’s Living with You, Kid”

Back to back Miss Dipesto/Herbert Viola episodes? Wow. David (only in Los Dos Dipestos)and Maddie (not at all, actually) appeared in a combined 2 minutes (maybe) in these two episodes. 

This show did no favors for Allyce Beasley and Curtis Armstrong are clearly professionals and had to step up when Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd were unavailable for whatever reasons they were unavailable. Still, the show was all Dave and Maddie and when the supporting characters tried to be the leads, it never worked the way it was intended.

And… that does not mean that these two episodes were bad. In fact, they both had some charm to them. It was just that they were playing Dave and Maddie, but they were not Dave and Maddie. I would say that I enjoyed these two episodes considerably more now than I did back when they were on ABC and I was hoping for Dave and Maddie to show up.

The first episode we met Agnes’s mother, played by Imogene Coca- which, by the way, is perfect casting. Imogene Coca was wonderful as Agnes’s mom and the relationship with Viola was furthered. It just was not Dave and Maddie. Any time either Agnes or Bert broke the fourth wall, it just felt wrong.

Then, the next episode had some dream sequences including several scenes with Bert and Agnes in Casablanca. Again, the show had its moments, but you could feel the absence of the stars. 

This re-watch has helped me come to terms with my hatred for the character of Herbert Viola. I am sure a lot of my vitriol came from missing Dave and Maddie and directing that anger at him. Not at Agnes, who had been on the show since the beginning and I had bonded with. I also did not, and still do not, love the way Herbert is written. Making him such a blowhard and so obnoxious so often just made it even worse when it was not Dave and Maddie. Bruce Willis can be obnoxious and still be full of charm, but Curtis Armstrong could not pull it off like Willis. 

Both of these episodes were okay. They were probably really good by comparison to other shows. It just did not feel like Moonlighting.

Spoilers

“Take a Left at the Altar”

“A Tale of Two Cities”

“Cool Hand Dave Part I”

“Cool Hand Dave Part II”

“Father Knows Last”

A Sunday afternoon spent with the fourth season of Moonlighting is an enjoyable thing. Even with the fourth season being quite a step down, including much of the time where Dave and Maddie were separated between two cities.

Cybill Shepherd’s pregnancy caused some of these issues, but there were other problems that led to this season.

In retrospect, the fourth season was better than I remembered but so many of the things that happened that just did not work for Moonlighting. A lot of it was fine for any other network show, but for Moonlighting, it was just not the same.

This is a stretch of time when Bert Viola became practically unbearable. Prior to these episodes, he had been okay. During this time, he was obnoxious, taking over for Dave in the office, and being overbearing. I think part of my dislike of the character came from Dave’s reaction to him. He was snarling at Bert, rolling his eyes and wishing him leave. That made me think Bert wasn’t worth the time.

There was only one case during this time and it included Terry O’Quinn (John Locke from LOST). It was a typical Moonlighting case, but the chemistry with Dave and Bert during the chase scene just was not the same without Maddie.

The biggest issue with these episodes is that there is such an undercurrent of meanness to it. These characters who we love so much have such an anger and a bitterness to them that it just feels wrong.

In the Cool Hand Dave two part episode, Dave winds up in prison in one of the most convoluted manners possible. There is no way that it could have possibly worked this way, but there was a really fun musical number during it and Bob the Goon (Tracey Walter) from Batman ’89 was Dave’s cellmate.

In the end, these episodes are not great in comparison to the past seasons of Moonlighting, but watchable over all.

Spoilers

“A Trip to the Moon”

“Come Back Little Shiksa”

After the end of season three, with David and Maddie making love, season four went in a dark and downer direction with Maddie not sure where the relationship was going. So she ran off to Chicago.

This show just never worked well when it did not have David AND Maddie front and center.

I know part of it was Cybill Shepherd’s real life pregnancy as Maddie was hiding behind just about anything she could in these two episodes to hide her belly. Still, the way the story went, you just felt so bad for David, who was trying everything, and it was hard to understand what was going through Maddie’s head.

The two episodes had some fun things. There was a Honeymooners parody in a dream sequence with David as Ralph, Maddie as Alice, DiPesto as Trixie and Richie (David’s brother, played by Charles Rocket) as Norton. There was an appearance by Ray Charles singing in a dream sequence for David (“Hit the Road, Dave”). Episode two had a Claymation argument between Dave and Maddie, and Dave gets turned into a horny toad. John Goodman had a guest starring role. Dr. Joyce Brothers appeared to Maddie in the mirror too. 

There was just the magic missing. 

I know the fourth season is really a tough one. I hope on second watch, it will be better than I remember.

Spoilers

“Sam and Dave”

The soap opera Moonlighting continued with the episode “Sam and Dave” where Addison officially met Sam, Maddie’s ‘friend’ who was at her door last episode. Of course, Sam is played by Mark Harmon. 

I really don’t like the way this story progressed. It was just too dark for this show. Even the manner in which the show is being shot during these episodes make the mood much more dark. This episode drew a very negative comparison between David and Sam. It went out of the way to make Dave look bad and to made Sam look super-dooper. 

I was under the impression that David was an active drinker. I find it tough to believe he got as drunk as he did at the end of the show. 

Herbert Viola took another step to become the character I hate most on any show. He is such an annoying character and his treatment of Agnes is mean. I hated the ‘advice’ that David gave to Viola when Bert came to talk to him about women. 

The episode ended with a “To Be Continued” and it was clear that the show was moving along with this style.

Spoilers

“Blonde on Blonde”

The soap opera section of Moonlighting started with this episode. 

It also revealed another one of my least favorite TV characters of all time. Sam Crawford, played by Mark Harmon. When Mark Harmon suddenly was standing in Maddie’s doorway, blocking David from finally telling Maddie how he felt, he cemented his place among the most despised characters around.

Mark Harmon was a top notch actor and was playing a character who, by all accounts, was a wonderful person, but he the definition of wrong-place-wrong-time.

This also started, in my mind, the eventual downfall of Moonlighting. When the show turned from a romantic comedy investigating cases with Dave and Maddie verbally sparring into this example where they were separated, not working together and focused more on the darker side of their relationship, is when the show started a downturn. Sure the ratings would be high for these episodes and Mark Harmon had created quite a buzz with his shocking appearance, but they started to lose something that made the show what it was.

You saw the elevation of Herbert Viola to sidekick status instead of DiPesto love interest and that was another misstep.

Spoilers

“Poltergeist III- DiPesto 0”

At the end of the last episode, The Straight Poop, they promised a new episode next week. It was a new episode, but it was an Agnes DiPesto episode. Worse yet, it was the one that started the Herbert Viola downward spiral.

Miss DiPesto is unhappy when she heard that Herbert was getting case work at the office. When she confronted Dave and Maddie, they dismissed her, saying they needed her in the office. 

A case came in that, Maddie and Dave, agreed to turn down a case. Miss DiPesto overheard this and decided to do the case on her own. Herbert saw this and felt threatened and horned his way into the case.

It is a haunted house story, with Agnes and Herbert trying to Scooby-Doo this adventure.

Again, this episode was fine, but it just is not Moonlighting when they focus the main story on anyone that is not Dave and Maddie.

Spoilers

“The Straight Poop”

Rona Barrett shows up at the Blue Moon Detective Agency to do what only she could do… find out why there is no new episode again.

This was a clever episode that took the rumors and speculation about the on set feud between Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis and poked fun at the random release schedule of episodes. They use this set up to create a clip show of the best moments from the first two and a half seasons of Moonlighting.

Clip shows are a normal thing that happens during seasons when a show needs some extra time, and there was no show that needed time more than Moonlighting. Using Rona Barrett as the transition between the clips is a stroke of genius.

There were some fun cameos in the episode as well, including Pierce Brosnan as Remington Steele, a Moonlighting-type of detective show that was airing on NBC. They also interviewed Peter Bogdanovich, the director who worked with Cybill Shepherd on several of his movies which led to an affair between them and a several year relationship. The show joked about their relationship and how he took up with Maddie after the relationship with the other model went away. 

They added bloopers at the end over the credits which are always fun.

Moonlighting caught a lot of criticism from the public and the media for the amount of weeks where they did not have a new episode ready to go. There were several reasons behind it, but this is a funny and neat way to address it as well as remind everybody why they loved the show in the first place.  

Spoilers

“All Creatures Great… and Not So Great.”

Religion spurs and argument once again between David and Maddie and a priest comes to ask for their help in finding a woman who he had been speaking to in the confessional… whom he had fallen in love with.

This did feel like a second (if not first) season episode as there was no breaking of the fourth wall and the relationship between David and Maddie were the key to the episode.

I really liked the writing of this episode as it was a clever twist at the end and led to a classic fight at the end with a lightning strike from the heavens.

And this was the best way to use Herbert Viola, whom I mentioned last time how much I hate that character. He was a secondary character involved in a B story with Agnes. That was the way he should have stayed because that is what he was meant for. 

Spoilers

“Yours, Very Deadly”

This episode was the first of the episodes that lead to one of the downfalls of the series. It was the debut of Curtis Armstrong as Herbert Viola.

While Herbert Viola was not as obnoxious in this episode as he will become, he is one of my most hated characters in all of TV. He was brought on as a love interest for Miss DiPesto but he becomes such an obnoxious, unlikable character that is thrust upon us that I could never get into him.

Meanwhile, this episode had Miss DiPesto committing a lot of sexual harassments in the workplace, pinning Herbert down and kissing, groping him. Until, that is, he stands up and does not run from her advances and that upsets her. This is not how you start a relationship.

The case this week is an interesting one with a wife writing letters to another man she did not know, until things start to get dark. She hires Dave and Maddie to find the man and get him to stop writing.

As with all Moonlighting cases, things are not as they look. It is cool though that Dave and Maddie seem to be doing better in solving the cases and not just stumble into the answers. 

This had some fun but it is all a portend for bad days ahead. Thanks a lot, Mr. Viola.