Info:
DVD Release Date: February 7, 2006 (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
Color/1986-87
MSRP: $39.95
Number of Discs: 4
Number of Episodes: 15
Running Time: 775 Minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: approx 195 minutes
(including commentary)
Audio: English: 2.0 Dolby Stereo Sound
Closed Captioned
Special Features:
*Memories of Moonlighting 30 minute documentary about
the 3rd season
*Commentary on Select Episode with Glenn Gordon Caron,
Cybill Shepherd, Bruce Willis, and more!
Introduction:
Relive the unforgettable double-talk and witty
foreplay as Maddie Hayes and David Addison unlock the
mystery to sidesplitting laughter as TV’s sexiest
private detectives in the third season of
Moonlighting!
Starring a then-unknown Bruce Willis and Cybill
Shepherd, Moonlighting was one of the highest-rated
shows on television during its run on ABC from
1985-89. As the recipient of six Emmy® Awards and two
Golden Globe® Awards during its impressive run, this
1980s beloved television series is brought to you now.
Golden Globe®-Winner Cybill Shepherd stars as Maddie
Hayes, a former high-fashion model who discovers one
morning that her business manager has stolen all the
money she has in the bank. However, it turns out that
she still owns some non-liquid assets money-losing
companies that were maintained as tax write-offs.
Planning to shut his detective agency down, Maddie
meets with David Addison (Golden Globe® and Emmy®
Award-Winner Bruce Willis), and a fast-talking private
eye, who persuades her to keep his business open.
Maddie becomes David’s new boss, and while their
personalities clash, a sexual tension arises in the
time they spend together. But the question always
remains… will they or won’t they? The show also stars
Allyce Beasley as the receptionist at the Blue Moon
detective agency.
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
All the episodes in this season are great - this is
easily the highpoint of the series. After this
season, it’s just downhill. When the show had an
episode, it was good. Top episodes below:
The Son Also Rises: David’s estranged father makes a
surprise visit to announce his upcoming wedding and to
introduce his bride-to-be, who comes as a shock to
David.
Big Man on Mulberry Street: Maddie becomes consumed
with curiosity when David announces he must fly back
to New York to attend the funeral of his former wife’s
brother. And also features the great dance sequence
to Billy Joel.
Atomic Shakespeare: A boy hoping to watch
“Moonlighting” but forced to study Shakespeare instead
daydreams about the cast performing their own version
of The Taming of the Shrew, complete with Petruchio
Dave and Kate Maddie.
It’s a Wonderful Job: A depressed Maddie gets a chance
to see what her life and the rest of the Blue Moon
staff would be like if she had sold the agency as she
originally intended.
The Straight Poop: Rona Barrett investigates the
rumors about the discord among the principals at the
Blue Moon Detective Agency.
Blonde on Blonde: Maddie’s strange mood has David
worried, so he spends the evening following her, but
ends up involved in a murder.
Sam and Dave: Dave and Maddie quarrel over Sam as they
keep watch on a man for his mistress, who’s convinced
he’s two-timing her.
Maddie’s Turn to Cry: Maddie feels more and more
confused about Sam and Dave after an all-night
stakeout with Dave ends in an early morning proposal
from Sam.
I Am Curious…Maddie: Sam confronts Dave about Maddie,
and tells him he’s not good enough for her.
To Heiress Human: Maddie tries to ignore the previous
night as she and David tackle a new case: a woman
wants evidence that her fiance loves her and not her
father’s money.
List of Guest Stars:
Paul Sorvino (Law & Order): The Son Also Rises
Charles Rocket (Saturday Night Live) The Son Also
Rises; It’s a Wonderful Job
The Temptations: Symphony in Knocked Flat
Don King (Legendary boxing promoter): Symphony in
Knocked Flat
Colm Meaney (Star Trek: The Next Generation/Deep Space
Nine): Atomic Shapespeare
Rona Barrett (Well-known Gossip Columnist): The
Straight Poop
Donna Dixon (Bosom Buddies): Blonde on Blonde; Sam &
Dave
Mark Harmon (Navy NCIS): Blonde on Blonde; Sam & Dave;
Maddie’s Turn to Cry; I Am Curious…Maddie
Robert Wuhl (Arli$$): Blonde on Blonde; Sam & Dave
Packaging:
The box is a continuation of the rather unique style
packaging from the first release. As opposed to
going with a Digipak which are what most studios use
for releases this size; they’ve bound two
free-swinging double-sided disc holders to the spine
of the box itself, creating a book-like package. The
graphics of the box are done in a color-change
reflective style - the box changes color depending on
how light hits it. The front of the box is rather
simple, featuring a standard shot of David and Maddie
appearing in front of a moon above the skyline. Unlike
the first release, the moon is a fixed part of the box
art. There are four discs total. The first disc is
home to the first 4 episodes. The disc art on #1 is a
picture of Maddie on the right, with a moon on the
left. Disc 2, keeping up the theme, features the
moon on the left half of the disc, while there’s a
shot of David on the right half in grayish blue. This
disc holds episodes five through eight. The third disc
holding episodes 9 through 12 - again features a
moon on the left half, while the blue-hued photo on
the right this time is a shot of Agnes. The final disc
holds episodes 13-15 and the documentary and features
new cast member Herbert (Curtis Armstrong).
Menu Design and Navigation:
Menus are excellently done, and are once again a
marvel to behold. Lionsgate should continue to be
very proud of their work on them. For all four discs,
you gradually fly into the nighttime view of the moon
and city. In the main menu, various clips from the
episodes on the discs play inside the moon on the left
side of the screen, while the menu options are on the
right side. The long version of the slow-paced music
that was used as the opening theme on the pilot
episode, as well as background music in various
scenes, plays in the background on a loop with the
clips. Episode selection menus, after an animated
transition from the main menu (the animations exist on
menu-out regardless of which option chose) feature
small images and episode titles inside the moon taking
up the left half of the screen. Main Menu is
selectable in the bottom right corner. The episode
title serves as the menu options for most episodes.
Episodes with commentary tracks appear slightly
differently. The episode title is no longer selectable
on those episodes…Play Episode, and Play Episode with
Commentary by [x], [y] and [z] are the selectable
options. The menus are essentially carryovers from
the first set, but this time changed to a blue-ish
tone. The color’s different, so that fulfills my
need for change for the set.
Video and Audio Quality:
Video looks amazing. It’s that simple. No grain.
Colors look perfect. There’s no obvious edge
correction. No compression artifacts. It is simple
and perfect. The episodes were Digitally Audio sounds
awesome. The show once again comes in a Dolby Digital
2.0 setup and the audio sounds just as good as before.
The awesome Al Jarreau theme is loud and crystal
clear - fairly evenly mixed across both the left and
right channels. Sound effects have the right volume
and impact for a given situation - as do dialogue and
music. The audio balance is just perfect. Chapter
stops once again at fade-to-black.
You guys know the drill by now: Runtimes. As we’re
reviewing this set late, obviously any news about
syndication edits would have leaked out by now. Some
episodes DO run shorter, but it’s nothing
ridiculous…and given the script problems the show
often had, episodes running at strange times relative
to one another make sense. Here though ARE runtimes.
Episode Runtimes:
The Son Also Rises: 50:05
The Man Who Cried Wife: 47:03
Symphony in Knocked Flat: 44:37
Yours, Very Deadly: 46:39
All Creatures Great and...Not So Great: 49:46
Big Man on Mulberry Street: 48:54
Atomic Shakespeare: 49:27
It's a Wonderful Job: 49:28
The Straight Poop: 47:51
Poltergeist III - Dipesto Nothing: 49:49
Blonde on Blonde: 48:25
Sam and Dave: 48:52
Maddie's Turn to Cry: 47:55
I Am Curious Maddie: 50:01
To Heiress Human: 49:22
Special Features:
Big Man on Mulberry Street: Commentary with Jay
Daniel. Jay produced this - and every other - episode
of Moonlighting. Solo commentaries are always an
interesting thing. The restaurant in the open is
across the street from ABC's LA offices. This is just
a...interesting commentary. You've got to hear this
for yourself. I'm kind of rushing through this one,
because... [47:51]
Atomic Shakepeare: Glenn Caron, Jay Daniel...Cybill
Shepherd and Bruce Willis! Cybill and Bruce are on
the same commentary track! This is possibly the most
fondly remembered episode of Moonlighting. Idea for
episode came from Glenn seeing Taming of the Shrew
being performed. Among the first 44 Moonlighting
scripts, most scripts got rewritten by Glenn
(contributing to the delays), but this one didn't.
Incidentally, Glenn insisted this episode actually be
written in Shakespeare-esque iambic pentameter. They
shot for 11 days, plus 5 days of secondary filming.
Shooting should have taken 7-8 days. The costs to make
this episode were so astoundingly high that no one
even remembers anymore. Everyone - and I mean
everyone - takes notice at the appearance at Colm
Meaney, something I happened to think was nice.
Cybill wasn't completely thrilled with the concept at
first - hindsight she loves it. You can keep track
of what was shot as the A and B material based on
night and day - and the entire team keeps you apprised
of the shoot time. And that was just the first 9
minutes of commentary. This show runs 49:27.
Straight Poop: Fan commentary from fans Diane Hopkins,
Cindy Klauss, Hazel Hart, Vicky Briasco and Lizzie.
No new episode for weeks before this one aired. If
you want to see an INTERESTING commentary, this is it.
The rarely-heard fan's perspective gets heard. I
apologize if I misspelled anyone's names; this is
getting written at 3 AM. Runs 47:51
Sam and Dave: Glenn Caron and Mark Harmon. Glenn
called Jeff Jarvis from People Magazine and he agreed
to do Moonlighting to talk about what was going on at
Moonlighting (this is part of a multi-episode arc).
Eating up time was important on Moonlighting. Wow
Mark Harmon was young back then. And Bruce Willis
had hair. Glenn was certain Mark wouldn't do the show.
But Mark did the show. And now Mark's doing the
commentary. There was no script for this. Runs 48:52
Memories of Moonlighting: Glenn Caron, Bruce Willis,
and Cybill Shepherd appear together in a new
retrospective piece that runs 29:11. Outside
interviews feature Jay Daniel, Allyce Beasley...How
the hell did Moonlighting blow SIXTEEN
nominations?!?!. It's still amazing that Moonlighting
never got a full 22 episodes in the can. And guess
what: Atomic Shakespeare is the most popular
Moonlighting episode, but was the lowest rated of at
least the season.
Total Runtime of Special Features: 2:55:49
Final Comments:
I love this show. I just wish there was more of it.
15 episodes just does not make a season. Regardless,
I love this show. There’s nothing I can really say.
Given the relative scarcity of actual episodes,
perhaps for the 4th and 5th season releases, perhaps
they could do more commentary tracks (say on ALL
episodes) or more documentary-type features.
Even with the problems in later seasons, I can’t wait
for the 4th and 5th seasons on DVD. If you haven’t
gone out and bought the show yet, buy it now, you
won’t regret it.
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars - How our point system works)
Video Quality: 5/5
Audio Quality: 5/5
Special Features: 3.5/5
Menu Navigation/Design: 5/5
Overall: 4.5/5
-- Reviewed by Seth Thrasher on 02/19/06
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