Scott Ryan - Moonlighting: An Oral History

Moonlighting: An Oral History 2021 Scott Ryan

All Rights Reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without the authors permission is strictly forbidden. This book is a scholarly look at Moonlighting and has no affiliation with ABC, ABC Circle Films, or Picturemaker Productions. All photos and/or copyrighted material appearing in this book remain the work of its owners.

Cover design by Scott Ryan

Photo courtesy of ABC Promotions

Inside photos courtesy of ABC Circle Films & ABC Publicity Photos,

IMDb, Debra Frank, Jay Daniel, and Don Giller

Edited by David Bushman

Book designed by Scott Ryan

Published in the USA by Fayetteville Mafia Press

Columbus, Ohio

Contact Information

Email: fayettevillemafiapress@gmail.com

Website: fayettevillemafiapress.com

Follow the Publisher at

@fmpbooks

ISBN: 9781949024265

eBook ISBN: 9781949024272

Also by Scott Ryan

Scott Luck Stories

(2014)

thirtysomething at thirty: an oral history

(2017)

The Last Days of Letterman

(2019)

But, Couldnt I Do That? Answering Your Questions about Self-Publishing (with Erin ONeil)

(2021)

Fire Walk With Me: Your Laura Disappeared

(2022)

Edited by Scott Ryan

The Women of David Lynch

(2019)

The Women of Amy Sherman-Palladino

(2020)

The Blue Rose Magazine

(2017-2021)

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Dedicated to Joyce Ryan. She forced me to watch the pilot of Moonlighting in 1985 and, in doing so, sent me on the path to becoming a writer. Thanks, Mom.

Glenn Gordon CaronCreator, Executive Producer, Writer

Jay DanielExecutive Producer, Director

Roger Director Writer, Producer, Season 4 Showrunner

Cybill ShepherdCast Member Maddie Hayes

Allan Arkush Director

Bob ButlerPilot Director

Curtis Armstrong Cast Member Herbert Viola

Allyce Beasley Cast Member Ms. Agnes Dipesto

Suzanne Gangursky Production Coordinator

Ron Osborn Writer, Producer

Reuben Cannon Casting Agent

Jeff Reno Writer, Producer

Debra Frank Writer

Melissa Gelineau Assistant

Chic Eglee Writer, Producer, Season 5 Showrunner

Peter Werner Director

Sheryl Main Postproduction

Karen Hall Writer

Neil Mandelberg Editor

Will MackenzieDirector

Dennis DuganCast Member Walter Bishop, Director

Chris LeitchDirector

Mel HarrisActress

Dana DelanyGuest Star

David Patrick KellyGuest Star

Sandahl BergmanDancer

Bill LandrumChoreographer

Margie ArnettMaddies Stand-in/Photo Double

Ray Wise Guest Star

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Isnt it nice to know a lot? And a little bit not. Stephen Sondheim

I Know Things Now Into the Woods

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Television in 1985 was very serious. It was serious about money on Dallas and Dynasty. It was serious about crime on Murder, She Wrote and Spenser: For Hire. Tom Selleck may have flashed a smile in his shorty shorts and Hawaiian shirt on Magnum, p.i., but he always took his investigations very seriously. Television was even serious on its sitcoms. Family Ties was getting serious about alcoholism with guest star Tom Hanks. When Natalie wouldnt date Tooties cousin on The Facts of Life, it turned into an intense lesson about racism. Television had no space for shenanigans of any kind. In the middle of a decade known for collecting the most toys, the viewing population had no appetite for sillybut that was about to change. Enter writer Glenn Gordon Caron and his creation of the television show Moonlighting (1985-1989). Suddenly it was pie fights, rhyming secretaries, and chase scenes. Television was about to get a much needed Boink.

Moonlighting was a detective series (sure it was) starring real-life movie star and model Cybill Shepherd as Maddie Hayes. Maddie was a model turned detective. (Wait, what?) There sure is nothing serious about that idea. She was saddled with unknown real-life bartender Bruce Willis as David Addison. David was a wisecracking detective who may or may not have ever solved a case. Somehow ABC heard this pitch and gave the keys to a network television series, along with a blank checkbook, to Glenn Gordon Caron, whose main credits up to that point were as a supervising producer/writer on Remington Steele and the TV adaptation of Breaking Away. He decided to do a detective series in which the cases wouldnt be front and center. Instead, it would be an old-fashioned 1940s screwball-comedy love story between the two main characters. Everything old became new again.

The series premiered on March 3, 1985. It was a midseason replacement, so the first season contained only six episodes. These first episodes were normal detective stories in the sense that there was a mystery and they mostly solved them, but it was the dialogue and chemistry between Maddie and David that sparked viewers interest.

The first-season finale included an average scene for a detective series at that time, but ended up being anything but typical. The detectives went undercover to try to stop an assassination. When David approached the security guard for entry into the party, he said, Were looking for a man with a mole on his nose. The guard asked, What kind of clothes do I suppose would be worn by a man with a mole on his nose, who knows? David immediately responded, Did I happen to mention, did I bother to disclose, this man that we are seeking with a mole on his nose, Im not sure of his clothes, or anything else, except hes Chinesea big clue by itself. Howd he do that? Maddie and viewers wondered. Gotta read a lot of Dr. Seuss, Addison quipped. That was the kind of banter that Season 1 brought to the small screen. This was revolutionary. Trust me, Jessica Fletcher didnt rhyme.

In Season 2, the series became a bona fide hit. It continued with the traditional case format, but started to up the antics in the chase scenes, a staple of detective series in the eighties. On Moonlighting, the criminals and detectives slid across hallways in soapsuds and had a car chase in a hearse, and characters rode around the luggage carousel at an airport. This season contained the Black and White episode, which was introduced by legendary film director Orson Welles. The main characters also started talking to the camera and acknowledging the plot right in the middle of scenes. David and Maddienot Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherdintroduced an episode by reading letters from viewers. They danced with the Temptations in another and apologized for a 3D episode gone awry, all before the opening credits. In 1985, prime-time series were not doing cold opens. They didnt include scenes during the end credits. Television shows existed only between the credits. There were rules that prime time followed. Well, someone forgot to tell that to the