I was reminded yesterday morning of one of my favorite shows of all time–Moonlighting–which made me think of how this particular show (and television crime shows) have influenced me and my writing.
For those of you who are too young to remember, Moonlighting was a television show in the mid to late 1980’s, that starred Cybill Shepherd as Maddie Hayes, a wealthy retired supermodel, who had been completely wiped out by an embezzling accountant (or agent, or manager; I’m not sure I remember which clearly) and the only asset she had left was a private detective agency–which she had primarily invested in as a business loss to reduce her tax bill every year. Facing financial ruin, Maddie needs to turn the Blue Moon Agency into a source of income, which puts her squarely into conflict with fun-loving extrovert David Addison, the private eye who enjoys life, takes nothing very seriously, and has a joke for everything, and is the primary boss at the agency. David Addison was played by Bruce Willis–this role, along with Die Hard, made him a star–and he and Shepherd had the most amazing chemistry. The writing was whip-crack smart, sometimes breaking the fourth wall, with the two characters always arguing and talking over each other, kind of like classic comedies like His Girl Friday and Bringing Up Baby, and out of nowhere it became a huge smash hit. The first season was abbreviated–a spring replacement, with maybe four or five episodes–but season two was absolutely phenomenal. But the pressure on the writing and production staffs was incredibly difficult, the show always ran behind on filming, and it didn’t help that Willis and Shepherd hated each other. She also got pregnant during the run of the show, and they wrote the pregnancy into it.
Ironically, the chemistry between them was what drove the show’s success–kind of like Sam and Diane on Cheers–but once the show’s focus moved away from their cases and onto their relationship, the quality went down and so did the ratings. It’s a pity, because those first two seasons were pure gold.
One of my favorite things about the show was how every episode opened with David and Maddie arguing about something–and then over the course of the episode, the case made each other see the other’s side, and then at the end they had reversed themselves, arguing the opposite positions from the original argument….and sometimes, agreeing that they could the other’s point, and accepting that there’s another way of seeing everything.
I absolutely loved that. My goal, years ago, when I started the Chanse series was to make sure that Chanse learned something about himself by working on, and solving, whatever case came his way.
I really wish someone would buy the streaming rights to the show. I’d love to watch those first two seasons again. Like I said–all those episodes were pure gold.
I took yesterday afternoon off–I’d intended to work from home, after getting the mail and stopping at Rouse’s–and also started the lengthy process of trying to get my email inbox cleaned out, which is a Sisyphean task, to say the least. But progress was made indeed, and far now the rock is at least most of the way up the hill. I also sat down in my easy chair and read some more of Daphne du Maurier’s odd Gothic fairytale “The Archduchess” with Scooter purring in my lap and, as one is wont to do with a purring cat in your lap, fell asleep for about an hour. People rarely talk about how cats all possess that super-power; adorable little agents of Morpheus that they are. I did manage to read some more of the story, though–I’m interested to see where it’s going to go, since there’s such a dreamy, fairytale-like quality to the story, which is about the fall of the monarchy in a fictional little European county called Ronda. It’s weird that it’s taking me this long to read the story, but this is also my first full week of going to work at eight every morning, so there’s little wonder that it’s getting harder to wake up and harder to stay awake the further the week progresses.
But today is Thursday, and I only have one more day to get through before it’s the glorious weekend, and I really do need to get my shit together. I’ve got to get that Sherlock story done, I have to pay the bills, I need to get back to work on the Secret Project…there’s so much to do, so little time in which to do it, and I can’t keep wasting precious time.
On that note, tis back to the spice mines with me. Have a lovely Thursday, Constant Reader, and stay safe out there.
Queer and Loathing in America 