History Trivia / Moonlighting

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: For ages, the show was unavailable on video and was withheld from syndication due to the low episode count (barely 60-some episodes) as well as the enormous pile of cash required to secure the music royalties. Anchor Bay released the pilot in the late 90s, but it wasn't until 2007 that the series FINALLY got a DVD release as all five seasons came out. Due to the aforementioned music issues, the series has not been released to Blu-Ray or streaming. In October 2022, Glen Gordon Caron [[https://twitter.com/GlennGCaron/status/1577763868771655680 tweeted]] that he was working on bringing the show to streaming. One year later it was added to Creator/{{Hulu}}. However, international viewers who can't access Hulu remain unable to watch.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: For ages, the show was unavailable on video and was withheld from syndication due to the low episode count (barely 60-some episodes) as well as the enormous pile of cash required to secure the music royalties. Anchor Bay released the pilot in the late 90s, but it wasn't until 2007 that the series FINALLY got a DVD release as all five seasons came out. Due to the aforementioned music issues, the series has not been released to Blu-Ray or streaming. In October 2022, Glen Gordon Caron [[https://twitter.com/GlennGCaron/status/1577763868771655680 tweeted]] that he was working on bringing the show to streaming, although he stressed that it would take some time to complete the process.

* CreativeDifferences: This was the first time Creator/CybillShepherd feuded with a showrunner (creator Glenn Gordon Caron) and eventually had him fired. [[Series/{{Cybill}} It would not be the last.]]

** Creator/CybillShepherd was reportedly burned out by the long filming times and production issues, coupled with the fact that she would be receiving new script pages the day they were to be filmed. Not helping matters was the fact that Caron blamed ''her'' for the delays in production, referring to her as a star who "already reached the top of the mountain". Things got to the point where, in the fourth season, Caron reportedly left the production for good because of the tension between Shepherd and himself, arguing that he believed the network would pick her over him if it came down to a corporate decision.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: For ages, the show was unavailable on video and was withheld from syndication due to the low episode count (barely 60-some episodes) as well as the enormous pile of cash required to secure the music royalties. Anchor Bay released the pilot in the late 90s, but it wasn't until 2007 that the series FINALLY got a DVD release as all five seasons came out. Due to the aforementioned music issues, the series was never released to Blu-Ray and will probably never make it to a streaming service in the foreseeable future.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: For ages, the show was unavailable on video and was withheld from syndication due to the low episode count (barely 60-some episodes). Anchor Bay released the pilot in the late 90s, but it wasn't until 2007 that the series FINALLY got a DVD release as all five seasons came out.

* CareerResurrection: For Creator/CybillShepherd. Although she was a popular film actress in TheSeventies (with roles in hits such as ''Film/TheLastPictureShow'', ''{{Film/The Heartbreak Kid|1972}}'', and ''Film/TaxiDriver''), her input steadily declined in the early '80s. This show's critical success and high ratings revived Shepherd's screen career, in addition to being a StarMakingRole for Creator/BruceWillis.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In 1985 ABC had a pair of relatively unknown comedic actors whom they were very high on and were looking for vehicles for. They also had two comedic pilots who needed a male lead. They were going to give one of them each show but considered both actors for both shows. One of those actors was Creator/BruceWillis, who got ''Series/Moonlighting''. The other was Creator/AlanThicke, who they cast in the other show, ''Series/GrowingPains''. But it very easily could have been Willis cast in ''Growing Pains'' and Thicke landing in ''Moonlighting''.

** Willis has noted in interviews that just prior to doing a screentest for the show, he flirted with Cybill in the elevator, which for him was the real audition. Shepherd supports this in her autobiography by claiming that they almost had 'a thing' but chose to keep it non-sexual. YMMV on whether or not any of this is true, because she claimed in the same autobiogrpahy to have turned down Creator/JackNicholson and Creator/RobertDeNiro, among others.

** While it was being produced, the series was one of the most expensive television programs ever made. As a result of overlapping, fast-paced dialogue between the main characters, the scripts often ran up to 120 pages, it cost more than $1.5 million dollars to film each episode, and production was almost always behind schedule (not helped by series creator Glenn Caron, who would often rewrite dialogue on-set during filming).

* CreativeDifferences: This was the first time Cybill Shepherd feuded with a showrunner (creator Glenn Gordon Caron) and eventually had him fired. [[Series/{{Cybill}} It would not be the last.]]
* DirectedByCastMember: Dennis Dugan who played Maddie's temporary husband Walter Bishop would go on to direct five episodes in season 5 and ultimately directed the series finale.

** Subverted and played straight with "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice"; ABC at first threatened to veto the episode due the fact that it switched to black and white for half the episode and even threatened to air the entire episode in color, against the wishes of the creative team. To get around this, they shot the dream sequences on black and white film rather than color film which would then be turned black and white to keep the suits from undoing the conversion process. However, the network forced them to do a disclaimer at the start of the episode, which led series creator Glenn Gordon Caron to hire Creator/OrsonWelles to do an introduction where he praised the show for doing the flashback sequences in black and white.
** "It's a Wonderful Job" was originally written to be the farewell episode for Cybill Shepherd (see TroubledProduction below), and would have had Maddie killed off at the end. ABC obviously did their best to ensure it never happened.
* HostilityOnTheSet: The onset conflict between Creator/BruceWillis and Cybill Shepherd has been well documented. His success with ''Film/DieHard'' further strained their relationship. He became a major film star, and bristled at being the second-billed actor on a TV series and resented her, blaming her for many of the shooting delays.

* RealLifeRelative: Creator/DemiMoore made a cameo appearance during season 5. She and Creator/BruceWillis were still married at the time.

** Allegedly (much like their characters), Creator/BruceWillis and Cybill Shepherd did not like each other, despite their in-show romantic involvement.

** Cybill Shepherd (who played Maddie Hayes) was reportedly burned out by the long filming times and production issues, coupled with the fact that she would be receiving new script pages the day they were to be filmed. Not helping matters was the fact that Caron blamed ''her'' for the delays in production, referring to her as a star who "already reached the top of the mountain". Things got to the point where, in the fourth season, Caron reportedly left the production for good because of the tension between Shepherd and himself, arguing that he believed the network would pick her over him if it came down to a corporate decision.

** When Shepherd returned from her post-pregnancy break, the writers forced her character into a storyline where she spontaneously married a random man she met on a train (in a bid to recreate the tension between David and Maddie), despite Shepherd herself vehemently protesting it. This led to a further ratings decline, and the series' eventual cancellation at the end of its fifth season.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Subverted and played straight with "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice"; ABC at first threatened to veto the episode due the fact that it switched to black and white for half the episode and even threatened to air the entire episode in color, against the wishes of the creative team. To get around this, they shot the dream sequences on black and white film rather than color film which would then be turned black and white to keep the suits from undoing the conversion process. However, the network forced them to do a disclaimer at the start of the episode, which led series creator Glenn Gordon Caron to hire Creator/OrsonWelles to do an introduction where he praised the show for doing the flashback sequences in black and white.

* CreativeDifferences: This was the first time Cybill Shepherd feuded with a showrunner (creator Glenn Gordon Caron) and eventually had him fired. [[{{Cybill}} It would not be the last.]]
* ExecutiveMeddling: Subverted and played straight with "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice"; ABC at first threatened to veto the episode due the fact that it switched to black and white for half the episode and even threatened to air the entire episode in color, against the wishes of the creative team. To get around this, they shot the dream sequences on black and white film rather than color film which would then be turned black and white to keep the suits from undoing the conversion process. However, the network forced them to do a disclaimer at the start of the episode, which led series creator Glenn Gordon Caron to hire Orson Welles to do an introduction where he praised the show for doing the flashback sequences in black and white.

* TroubledProduction: The series as fraught with production delays and on-set issues, to the point that its problems were lampshaded by ABC in an ad campaign:

** Allegedly (much like their characters), Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd did not like each other, despite their in-show romantic involvement.
** Bruce Willis has noted in interviews that just prior to doing a screentest for the show, he flirted with Cybill in the elevator, which for him was the real audition. Shepherd supports this in her autobiography by claiming that they almost had 'a thing' but chose to keep it non-sexual. YMMV on whether or not any of this is true, because she claimed in the same autobiogrpahy to have turned down JackNicholson and RobertDeniro, among others.