Moonlighting: Season 03 (1986) Reviews

Only 15 episodes of Moonlighting were produced during season three, down from the previous season's 18. The series' producers and stars made no secret of the fact that the production delays were being caused by backstage personality clashes; indeed, beginning in mid-season, each episode opened with an amusing "explanation" as to why the series was yielding so few new episodes. However, those episodes that were completed remain among the series' best. Highlights include the season opener, in which private eye David Addison (Bruce Willis, who won an Emmy for his work during season three) is uncomfortably reunited with his scapegrace father (Paul Sorvino); an elaborate It's a Wonderful Life takeoff spotlighting David's partner and erstwhile girlfriend Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd), featuring Lionel Stander reprising his role as Max from the earlier detective series Hart to Hart; a hastily assembled "clip" show, produced to fill a huge production gap, in which Pierce Brosnan recreates his earlier TV character Remington Steele, and which also features "commentary" by Cybill Shepherd's former mentor (and lover) Peter Bogdanovich; the increasing prominence of Curtis Armstrong in the role of Herbert Viola, David and Maddie's nebbishy junior partner at the Blue Moon Detective Agency; another thrilling solo "caper" for the agency's flighty receptionist Agnes DiPesto (Allyce Beasley), this one set in a supposedly haunted house; and a four-part story arc in which Maddie is torn between her growing affection for David and the romantic overtures of her new suitor, yuppie Sam Crawford (Mark Harmon). The most memorable of the season's episodes is a riotous spoof of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, replete with faux Elizabethan dialogue. But the biggest event of the entire season occurs at the very end, when after three years of verbal and physical fencing, David and Maddie finally consummate their relationship. ~ Rovi