Moonlighting-Seasons 1 and 2 (1985)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Not Just A Day Job-The Story Of Moonlighting: Part One Featurette-InsideTheBlueMoonDetectiveAgency: StoryOf Moonlighting Pt2 Featurette-The Moonlighting Phenomenon
Rating
Year Of Production	1985
Running Time	1051:00
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (5)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Allan Arkush Burt Brinckerhoff Robert Butler Kevin Connor
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Cybill Shepherd Bruce Willis Allyce Beasley
Case	?
RPI	$49.95	Music	Alf Clausen Lee Holdridge Richard Lewis Warren

    It takes a pretty unique TV show to breathe life into a fading model/actresses' career whilst setting an unknown bartender onto a trajectory towards Hollywood superstardom. Moonlighting wasn't just any TV show though - for a few years in the mid eighties it was one of the shows to watch on television. It was 'must see TV' before it became a catchphrase.

    Moonlighting centred on the Blue Moon Detective Agency which was owned by the unlikely and almost bankrupt ex-model Maddie Hayes, played brilliantly by Cybill Shepherd. Her private investigator and tormentor was played by the fresh faced Bruce Willis in his break-out role.

    Part murder mystery, part romance with a lot of comedy thrown in Moonlighting was critically acclaimed and a commercial success.

    Sometimes the pacing of the show is painful and the wardrobe is laugh out loud funny for the worst of 80s fashion, but the comedy is first class and it's a lot of fun to see Bruce Willis find his feet in Hollywood.

    Definitely worth checking out.

    Season 1

    Disc 1

    Gunfight at the So-So Corral (47:59):  Maddie and David don't know how to tell a client that the long lost son he hired them to find is now a dangerous contract killer. Guest stars Tim Robbins

    Read the Mind...See the Movie (44:15): Maddie believes a psychic is stealing a client's design secrets for revenge.

    The Next Murder You Hear (48:23):  Maddie becomes infatuated with a late night radio program host who has apparently been murdered while he was on the air.

    Next Stop Murder (48:23):  Maddie and David get caught on a train for murder mystery fans, then find they have a real mystery to solve when a famous writer is murdered.

    The Murder's in the Mail (41:12) :  Maddie and David investigate the disappearance of a body of a person they had been hired to find for a debt collection firm.

    Season 2

    Disc 2

    Brother, Can You Spare a Blonde? (46:17): David is jealous when his older brother suddenly comes into town, flirting with Maddie and spending big money that belongs to a drug dealer

    The Lady in the Iron Mask (43:30): A mysterious veiled woman wants Maddie and David to find the man who disfigured her years ago---so she can marry him...?!

    Money Talks...Maddie Walks (45:30): No case to solve here but Maddie learns the whereabouts of the man who swindled her and flies to Buenos Aires to confront him.

    The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice (47:35): The case here is set in the past with most of the episode in flashbacks.....after hearing the facts in an unsolved murder case from 1946, Maddie and David dream their own versions of what happened. Guest stars Orson Welles (he passed away a week after filming his scene.)

    My Fair David (48:14): Maddie bets David that he can't act like a mature, professional adult for one full week (no chance he can win!) Meanwhile, the mother of a kidnapped concert pianist wants David and Maddie to deliver the ransom money.

    Disc 3

    Knowing Her (47:25): Maddie fears David will be burned again when he takes up with an old girlfriend who once jilted him and who now desperately wants out of a bad marriage. Her life is seemingly being threatened and David wants to protect her. Dana Delany guest stars.

    Somewhere Under the Rainbow (45:33): A young Irish woman hires David and Maddie to protect her from a man following and threatening her. She claims it is because she is a leprechaun and he is after her pot of gold. There is a memorable chase through an airport.

    Portrait of Maddie (45:40): No case, but a strange suicide. Maddie uses the agency's first profits to purchase a portrait of herself, painted by an artist she never met and never will because he killed himself after completing the painting.

    Atlas Belched (47:05): Maddie gets a lucrative offer and considers selling out to a corporate detective agency, and David hopes to quash any deal by solving a big case involving a stolen phone index with unusual numbers--like the Pope's.

    Twas the Episode Before Christmas (39:24): Miss Dipesto finds a baby that was hidden in her apartment by a woman fleeing from thugs. Meanwhile, Maddie and David argue over his use of the agency's phone number as a Santa hotline (for shameless profit.)

    Disc 4

    The Bride of Tupperman (47:40): Blue Moon is a detective agency, not a dating agency so a client has an unusual request: he wants David and Maddie to find his idea of the perfect mate.

    North By North Dipesto (46:48): Miss Dipesto gets a chance to solve a mystery when she accepts a slip of paper from a mysterious man, believing it to be his phone number.

    In God We Strongly Suspect (43:59): An escape artist's widow hires Maddie and David to "body-sit" her husband's corpse until he's cremated because he swore he would come back from the dead to kill his unfaithful wife

    Every Daughter's Father is a Virgin (42:07): Maddie suspects her father is having an affair so she asks David to follow him, but David is sure she won't like what he finds

    Witness for the Execution (47:26): A sickly old man arranges his own murder and wants Maddie and David to be the expert witnesses to the crime

    Disc 5

    Sleep Talkin' Guy (47:26): David becomes the talk of the town after solving a number of big cases with information provided by a prostitute with a very important client who talks in his sleep.

    Funeral for a Door Nail (44:20): A man wants Maddie and David to stop a contract killing he paid for--his own.

    Camille (46:49): A con artist trying to evade an investigator inadvertently saves the life of a politician. David convinces Maddie that this woman would make a great employee for Blue Moon. Guest stars Whoopi Goldberg and Judd Nelson

Video

    The series is presented in its original TV broadcast ratio of fullscreen 1.33:1 and is presented in PAL format.

    I was really impressed at how good this set looked for a TV show that aired 20 years ago. Unlike a lot of shows from that era, Moonlighting was shot on film and it has aged well.

    Considering its age the picture was sharp and quite well defined.

    There was little to no grain. The print was obviously cleaned up pretty well because I don't remember any noticeable film artefacts.

    Colours were quite natural (even the terrible 80s wardrobes looked ok), skin tones looked good and shadow detail was excellent.

    Yet another TV release without chapter breaks is disappointing though.

    Overall a great transfer for an 80s TV show.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio track is English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s).

    There is nothing really stand out or disappointing about the track - it is fairly middle of the road and probably what you would expect for a 20 year old TV show.

    The dialogue tended to be a little soft and not as clear as I would like. Because dialogue is very important for this kind of show I found I had to keep hiking up the volume.

    Music added a lot to Moonlighting, whether it be the catchy opening theme by Al Jarreau or many of the Motown hits that were used and they came out sounding good.

    There was no surround use or sub-woofer.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio & Animation

Featurette

    Not Just a Day Job - The Story of Moonlighting: Part One (14:50)

    The creator and writer of Moonlighting, Glenn Gordon Caron details the birth of the show. There is a bit of background info from different directors, producers and writers from the show. ABC wanted a bit of Hart to Hart and Remington Steele. Caron initially wasn't interested but wrote a comedic boy meets girl detective story with Cybill Shepherd as the female lead. A real treat is an early screen test of Bruce Willis. It's really impressive at how many of the cast and crew they get to come back 20 years later to talk about it.

    Inside the Blue Moon Detective Agency - The Story of Moonlighting: Part Two (15:36)

    A continuation of a really interesting look back at Moonlighting. Amazingly, the show was always behind schedule shooting and occasionally scenes were shot on a Tuesday morning for an episode that was going to air that night! It focuses more on the second season.

    The Moonlighting Phenomenon (11:36)

    Not as good as the other featurettes but looks at the cultural impact that the show had.

    Disappointingly this R4 release misses out on a few things that the R1 release has;

    The R1 version includes the pilot. Ours does not include the pilot, it picks up from the first episode Gunfight at the So-So Corral. The pilot is available in R4 as a separate release.

    The R1 version has select episode commentaries including Glen Gordon Caron, Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis as well as other cast and crew.

    The R1 is a 6 disc set, R4 is 5 disc.

    Why do R4 fans miss out? It's not too much to ask for a complete season 1 and 2 set that has the pilot.

    The commentaries are a lot of fun..... shame we have to miss out.

    I personally recommend the R1 release.

    That said though I have seen the R4 'pilot only 'disc for $6.95 at one store. So if commentaries are not your thing, you might want this set plus the cheap pilot disc.

    Overall, this is a pretty nice set for a 20 year old show.

    The show is hilarious and worth checking out.

    The video is great.

    The audio is decent.

    Special features are good, but why no pilot or commentaries for R4 fans?

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall