Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* AscendedExtra: For just the series finale, background office staffer Julie gets a couple of scenes with dialogue.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* PostKissCatatonia: In "Take My Wife, For Example," David tests out his kissing abilities on some of the female employees of Blue Moon. His first subject faints as a result of their kiss.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ScoobyDoobyDoors: Happens in "Los Dos DiPestos"
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ContinuityCavalcade: In "Cool-Hand Dave (Part 2)," ABC is seen [[ItMakesSenseInContext auditioning new actors for David]]. The potential replacements are all quoting David's lines from previous episodes, and some are dressed as boxer David from "Symphony in Knocked Flat" and Shakespearean David from "Atomic Shakespeare."
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 83 (click to see context) from:
* MysteryOfTheWeek: Of course, being a SpiritualSuccessor to Series/RemingtonSteele. Though the mistery got increasingly irrelevant once the romantic and personal plots of the characters started getting more convoluted (mostly during Season 3), and by then the show tended to [[DenserAndWackier change its format rather randomly]].
to:
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: "Somewhere Under the Rainbow" deals with a woman claiming to be a leprechaun. Though David digs up a rational explanation for the existence of her pot of gold, [[spoiler:the two somehow end up with it by "capturing" her just after the bad guy seizes it, suggesting she may have had magical properties after all.]]
* MysteryOfTheWeek: Of course, being a SpiritualSuccessor to Series/RemingtonSteele. Though themistery mystery got increasingly irrelevant once the romantic and personal plots of the characters started getting more convoluted (mostly during Season 3), and by then the show tended to [[DenserAndWackier change its format rather randomly]].
* MysteryOfTheWeek: Of course, being a SpiritualSuccessor to Series/RemingtonSteele. Though the
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 16,17 (click to see context) from:
This 1985–89 series on Creator/{{ABC}} was arguably the coiner of the term {{Dramedy}}. It starred Creator/CybillShepherd as Maddie Hayes and a then-relatively unknown Creator/BruceWillis as the wisecracking David Addison.
to:
This 1985–89 series on Creator/{{ABC}} Creator/{{ABC|US}} was arguably the coiner of the term {{Dramedy}}. It starred Creator/CybillShepherd as Maddie Hayes and a then-relatively unknown Creator/BruceWillis as the wisecracking David Addison.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 22,23 (click to see context) from:
It's perhaps best known for being the classic example of how a show can fall apart when UnresolvedSexualTension is resolved (in fact, outside of this wiki, ShippingBedDeath will occasionally be known as the "''Moonlighting'' Curse",) or how a hit show collapses due to a perfect storm of behind the scenes chaos. When the fifth season was shortened due to a TV strike, ABC put the show down.
to:
It's perhaps best known for being the classic example of how a show can fall apart when UnresolvedSexualTension is resolved (in fact, outside of this wiki, ShippingBedDeath will occasionally be known as the "''Moonlighting'' Curse",) or how a hit show collapses due to a perfect storm of behind the scenes chaos. When the fifth season was shortened due to a TV strike, ABC put the show down.
down. It was also finally released on streaming for the very first time via Hulu in the fall of 2023, gaining it new and nostalgic viewers alike.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 24 (click to see context) from:
(Not to be confused with ''Series/Moonlight2007'', a 2007 VampireDetectiveSeries.)
to:
(Not to be confused with ''Series/Moonlight2007'', a 2007 VampireDetectiveSeries.)
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* TheAlcoholic: David's basically a functional alcoholic. Almost every time in the series where he's down in the dumps, he goes out to a bar and gets blackout drunk and most of the time, Maddie finds him in his office with a hangover the next morning.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* HeroicBSOD: Poor David has a complete emotional breakdown when an elderly man approaches them and asks for an assisted suicide and he finds that he just can't go through with it, but when he goes to stop the old man, he's too late and thinks ''he's'' the one that killed the old man. He stumbles into Maddie's place a complete wreck and she comforts him just before he goes on the run, as one person at the hospital saw him and thinks he killed the old man. It's genuinely one of the saddest moments of the series.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Deleted line(s) 90 (click to see context) :
* PrettyInMink: Maddie has at least one fur coat and moral implications aside, it is rather pretty.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* TheEighties: There are plenty of signs all over the place, but the easiest way to tell is Maddie's fashion. She has very teased up hair and wears nothing but pastels, which was a trend at the time, instead of solid, dark or primary colors.
Added DiffLines:
* PrettyInMink: Maddie has at least one fur coat and moral implications aside, it is rather pretty.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 49 (click to see context) from:
* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Now, granted, this wasn't unusual for the 1980s, especially for screwball comedies, but Maddie slaps David ''in the face'' a startling number of times in the series. He usually does something to earn it, but modern audiences might get uncomfortable when they notice just how ''many'' times Maddie slaps David in the face. And hard, no less. But the show treats it as if it's not anything unfair or abusive.
to:
* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Now, granted, this wasn't unusual for the 1980s, especially for screwball comedies, but Maddie slaps David ''in the face'' a startling number of times in the series. He usually does something to earn it, but modern audiences might get uncomfortable when they notice just how ''many'' times Maddie slaps David in the face. And hard, no less. But the show treats it as if it's not anything unfair or abusive. Note that one of the only times it's not simply glossed over is during an episode where Maddie and David have been arguing about a case where the client did something in a fit of passion--namely, bashing his wife in the head and killing her--and David argues he lost control while Maddie insists that's not true and everyone can regulate their own emotions. At one point, their argument about something separate gets so heated that Maddie slaps David, and ''hard'', enough to make him actually ''bleed,'' and she is instantly sorry and begs his forgiveness when she realizes that there ''is'' a such thing as losing your mind in the heat of the moment.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ComplexityAddiction: In the episode where David's first love returns, we find out [[spoiler: she shot her husband in the park and left his body in the car, then called David to meet up with her and then pretends to go to send her husband away, telling David that her husband pulled a gun and she grabbed it and shot him by accident in the struggle. The problem is...if she had lured her husband to the park, but not already killed him, ''then'' confronted him with the gun and shot him with David too far away to see the details, then she actually would've gotten away with the scheme. The way she does it in the show results in David only hearing one shot, not two, and when she tries to gaslight him about it, he realizes she's playing him. It was an overly complicated way to do it, frankly, and it gets her caught in the end.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* EtTuBrute: David's first love, played by Dana Delany, stumbles into his life again. She has been trying to leave her husband and comes across as a DamselInDistress to David, who suspects her husband is stalking her with plans to kill her. [[spoiler: Then we find out she was manipulating David the entire time; they meet at the park and she "sees" her husband's car across the clearing and goes over to send him away. She says he pulled a gun on her and she grabbed it and accidentally shot him, which David only sees at a distance. Then the police ask David about the fact that the corpse had ''two'' bullets in it, not one. David ''knows'' he only heard one (and so did the audience), but then she insists he misheard it. That triggers David into this trope and he finally realizes she just wanted a witness so she could kill her husband and get away with it.]]
Added DiffLines:
* {{Gaslighting}}: In the episode mentioned above with David's former lover played by Dana Delany, after the cop tells David the body had two bullets in it but he only heard a single shot, she then gaslights him to try to get him to think he heard two shots. It doesn't work; the audience only hears a single shot as well, so David then realizes [[spoiler: she set the whole thing up to get away with killing her husband.]]
Added DiffLines:
* PlotHole: The pilot has one. The plot is centered around a watch that reveals the wheareabouts of some stolen Nazi diamonds, so there are two creepy Mooks after it. Maddie accidentally acquires the watch when another party who wanted it is running from one of the Mooks, but gets stabbed and shoves it onto her wrist before he drops dead. The Mooks track Maddie and David back to her place and tie them up, demanding the watch. Maddie says she gave it to the police, but it turns out David switched the watch out with his own so he could find out why it was being looked for. The plothole is that after the Mooks do all their scary threatening, they say they will leave and find out if the cops do indeed have the watch. After they're gone, David reveals ''he's been wearing it the entire time.'' The plot hole? ''The Mooks tied them up.'' That means they would've seen the watch on David's wrist! They seem to already know what it looks like, so it's a FailedASpotCheck of titanic proportions. What's also confusing is the Mooks are a single episode only adversary and don't come back after they confront the police about the watch, so it's kind of two plotholes in one.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Deleted line(s) 106 (click to see context) :
* StuntCasting: Like most sitcoms, they had several guest stars appear each season. Notable ones are a very young Gary Cole, Whoopi Goldberg, Judd Nelson, and special mention that David has an ImagineSpot with Ray Charles himself.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* StuntCasting: Like most sitcoms, they had several guest stars appear each season. Notable ones are a very young Gary Cole, Whoopi Goldberg, Judd Nelson, and special mention that David has an ImagineSpot with Ray Charles himself.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
* TheBigDamnKiss: David and Maddie kiss several times in either dreams or fantasy sequences, but the first canon kiss between them is a big damn kiss. What's great is it's so abrupt that one probably wouldn't expect it to come in the scene and it's handled exactly how you'd think: they both go into immediate denial that it happened so they don't have to face the consequences.
* DefrostingIceQueen: The series is one long one for Maddie with this trope. She is repressed, rigid, and a prude when the show starts, but as the zany shenanigans happen and she falls for David, she starts to loosen up and have fun and not be so mean.
* TheGadfly: Nothing makes David Addison happier than pestering everyone around him, but ''especially'' Maddie since she gives him grief constantly. He practically gets out of bed in the morning just to infuriate her as much as possible.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: David does actually have a heart, but it's just buried under a thousand layers of sarcasm and faux-misogyny. He basically wears a facade to protect himself from emotionally investing in anything since it could turn out poorly for him. It's the main reason Maddie refuses to accept the romance--he hates being vulnerable or nice around her. The best example that David is a good person, but just pretends to be a misogynistic lech, is when an old man comes to them asking for an assisted suicide and while David passionately defends the old man's reasoning to Maddie, he ultimately finds that he can't go through with killing the old man. After the old man ends up dead anyway, David goes to Maddie's place and has a tearful breakdown about it.
** You can also argue this for Maddie. She is repressed and often very moody and rude to her coworkers and she strings David along for a ''while'' during the later parts of season two and three before they finally have sex. She also flies right into denial after they consummate their relationship and David gets incredibly frustrated that she is fine sleeping with him in secret, but still acting like they're not together everywhere else. However, it is very apparent she tries to do the right thing most of the time, but her hot temper with David usually gets in the way.
** You can also argue this for Maddie. She is repressed and often very moody and rude to her coworkers and she strings David along for a ''while'' during the later parts of season two and three before they finally have sex. She also flies right into denial after they consummate their relationship and David gets incredibly frustrated that she is fine sleeping with him in secret, but still acting like they're not together everywhere else. However, it is very apparent she tries to do the right thing most of the time, but her hot temper with David usually gets in the way.
** To be brutally honest, David and Maddie count as well. There are several cases where their involvement meant that they did something illegal like breaking and entering, but worse still are episodes where a client asked them to do something, they didn't do it or they didn't do it right, and the ''client ends up dead.'' And since this is a dramedy, the show never really goes out of its way to remind you they got someone killed since it would get too dark. But anyone who's seen up to season three knows there are several people who wouldn't be dead had David and Maddie not been involved in their case.
Changed line(s) 97 (click to see context) from:
-->'''Agnes''': Ms Hayes? Mr Addison? There's a man here to see you.
to:
-->'''Agnes''': Ms Ms. Hayes? Mr Mr. Addison? There's a man here to see you.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 36 (click to see context) from:
* BetaCouple: Agnes and Herbert.
to:
* BetaCouple: Agnes and Herbert.Herbert in the later seasons.
Changed line(s) 45,46 (click to see context) from:
%%* {{Dramedy}}
%%* DreamSequence
%%* DreamSequence
to:
%%* DreamSequence
* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Now, granted, this wasn't unusual for the 1980s, especially for screwball comedies, but Maddie slaps David ''in the face'' a startling number of times in the series. He usually does something to earn it, but modern audiences might get uncomfortable when they notice just how ''many'' times Maddie slaps David in the face. And hard, no less. But the show treats it as if it's not anything unfair or abusive.
* DreamSequence: Maddie and David both dream about an unsolved case about a jazz singer and a trumpet player who have an illicit affair that ends with the husband dead, but yet both of them insist the other person killed him. David's dream has Maddie as the killer and Maddie's has it vice versa. It's also notable for being the first kiss between them of the series, but it's naturally a dream with no real life consequences for their relationship.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Paragraph removed per wick cleanup.
Changed line(s) 34 (click to see context) from:
* BeautyIsBad: In "The Bride Of Tupperman," a man looking for a bride asks David and Maddie for help; they each pick one (David's is ''much'' hotter than Maddie's) and he winds up picking both... only for one to die in an accident. [[spoiler: It's the hot one, and it turns out to be a BIG aversion, because the plain one is just as bad as... Tupperman himself.]]
to:
* BeautyIsBad: In "The Bride Of Tupperman," a man looking for a bride asks David and Maddie for help; they each pick one (David's is ''much'' hotter than Maddie's) and he winds up picking both... only for one to die in an accident. [[spoiler: It's [[spoiler:It's the hot one, and it turns out to be a BIG aversion, because the plain one is just as bad as... Tupperman himself.]]
Deleted line(s) 56 (click to see context) :
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
Changed line(s) 70 (click to see context) from:
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: David and Maddie, for [[Main/TheEighties the 80's]] anyway. [[PlayingWithTropes Played with]], since they had very traditionally gendered attributes (David is more of a clown, Maddie is mature; he's strong and adventurous while she's delicate and down-to-earth), but also a basic personality more akin to the other gender, shown specially on the Season 3 finale: while [[spoiler: after sleeping together]] Maddie wants to pretend nothing happened and starts evading David, he wants to shout to the wind they're [[spoiler: in love]]. One would have expected ''the opposite'' situation, given Maddie is more of a traditionally feminine [[spoiler: prude]] and he's more of [[spoiler: TheCasanova]].
to:
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: David and Maddie, for [[Main/TheEighties the 80's]] anyway. [[PlayingWithTropes Played with]], since they had very traditionally gendered attributes (David is more of a clown, Maddie is mature; he's strong and adventurous while she's delicate and down-to-earth), but also a basic personality more akin to the other gender, shown specially on the Season 3 finale: while [[spoiler: after [[spoiler:after sleeping together]] Maddie wants to pretend nothing happened and starts evading David, he wants to shout to the wind they're [[spoiler: in [[spoiler:in love]]. One would have expected ''the opposite'' situation, given Maddie is more of a traditionally feminine [[spoiler: prude]] [[spoiler:prude]] and he's more of [[spoiler: TheCasanova]].[[spoiler:TheCasanova]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacGuffin: The plot of the pilot episode is kicked off when a thief is stabbed in an elevator while he's trying to escape a professional killer with a stolen watch. When the elevator door opens, he faces Maddie, spits the watch out in her hand, then drops dead.
Added DiffLines:
* RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic: The show pioneered the use of overlapping dialogue, specifically when David and Maddie argue at each other without stopping to listen to the other one, or take a breath.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 82 (click to see context) from:
* RhymesOnADime: Agnes, if her answering machine messages are any implication. Dave has proven he can do this as well. When Maddie asked how he's able to do so, he replied, "Gotta read a lot of Creator/DrSeuss"
to:
* RhymesOnADime: Agnes, if her answering machine messages are any implication. Dave has proven he can do this as well. When Maddie asked how he's able to do so, he replied, "Gotta read a lot of Creator/DrSeuss"Creator/DrSeuss".
* RiddleForTheAges: What actually ''was'' the Anselmo case, anyway?
* RiddleForTheAges: What actually ''was'' the Anselmo case, anyway?
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 69,70 (click to see context) from:
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Davdi and Maddie, for [[Main/TheEighties the 80's]] anyway. [[PlayingWithTropes Played with]], since they had very traditionally gendered attributes (David is more of a clown, Maddie is mature; he's strong and adventurous while she's delicate and down-to-earth), but also a basic personality more akin to the other gender, shown specially on the Season 3 finale: while [[spoiler: after sleeping together]] Maddie wants to pretend nothing happened and starts evading David, he wants to shout to the wind they're [[spoiler: in love]]. One would have expected ''the opposite'' situation, given Maddie is more of a traditionally feminine [[spoiler: prude]] and he's more of [[spoiler: TheCasanova]].
* MysteryOfTheWeek: Of course, being a SpiritualSuccessor to Series/RemingtonSteele. Though the mistery got increasingly irrelevant once the romantic and personal plots of the characters started getting more convoluted (mostly during Season 3), and by then the show tended to [[WackierAndDenser change its format rather randomly]].
* MysteryOfTheWeek: Of course, being a SpiritualSuccessor to Series/RemingtonSteele. Though the mistery got increasingly irrelevant once the romantic and personal plots of the characters started getting more convoluted (mostly during Season 3), and by then the show tended to [[WackierAndDenser change its format rather randomly]].
to:
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Davdi David and Maddie, for [[Main/TheEighties the 80's]] anyway. [[PlayingWithTropes Played with]], since they had very traditionally gendered attributes (David is more of a clown, Maddie is mature; he's strong and adventurous while she's delicate and down-to-earth), but also a basic personality more akin to the other gender, shown specially on the Season 3 finale: while [[spoiler: after sleeping together]] Maddie wants to pretend nothing happened and starts evading David, he wants to shout to the wind they're [[spoiler: in love]]. One would have expected ''the opposite'' situation, given Maddie is more of a traditionally feminine [[spoiler: prude]] and he's more of [[spoiler: TheCasanova]].
* MysteryOfTheWeek: Of course, being a SpiritualSuccessor to Series/RemingtonSteele. Though the mistery got increasingly irrelevant once the romantic and personal plots of the characters started getting more convoluted (mostly during Season 3), and by then the show tended to[[WackierAndDenser [[DenserAndWackier change its format rather randomly]].
* MysteryOfTheWeek: Of course, being a SpiritualSuccessor to Series/RemingtonSteele. Though the mistery got increasingly irrelevant once the romantic and personal plots of the characters started getting more convoluted (mostly during Season 3), and by then the show tended to
Added DiffLines:
* ThrillerOnTheExpress: In "Next Stop Murder", Agnes wins a place on a train journey hosted by a famous murder mystery writer. David and Maddie (who got struck on board while dropping Agnes off) get roped in to investigate when the writer is found dead.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 70 (click to see context) from:
* MysteryOfTheWeek: Of course, being a SpiritualSuccessor to Series/RemingtonSteele. Though the mistery got increasingly irrelevant once the romantic plots started getting more convoluted (mostly during Season 3), and the show tended to [[AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent change its format rather randomly]].
to:
* MysteryOfTheWeek: Of course, being a SpiritualSuccessor to Series/RemingtonSteele. Though the mistery got increasingly irrelevant once the romantic and personal plots of the characters started getting more convoluted (mostly during Season 3), and by then the show tended to [[AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent [[WackierAndDenser change its format rather randomly]]. randomly]].
**Most notably, almost every MysteryOfTheWeek has to do with a romantic story.
**Most notably, almost every MysteryOfTheWeek has to do with a romantic story.
