Lunar Eclipse (14 May 1989)

Director:

Dennis Dugan

Writers:

Glenn Gordon Caron (creator), Ron Clark

Stars:

Cybill Shepherd, Bruce Willis, Allyce Beasley

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Cybill Shepherd	...	Madelyn 'Maddie' Hayes
Bruce Willis	...	David Addison Jr.
Allyce Beasley	...	Agnes DiPesto
Curtis Armstrong	...	Herbert Quentin Viola
Virginia Madsen	...	Lorraine Anne 'Annie' Charnock
James Stephens	...	Mark Charnock
Joe Grifasi	...	Kapatkin
Mark L. Taylor	...	Walter Whitebread
George Wallace	...	Father (as George D. Wallace)
Dennis Dugan	...	Cy (as Walter Bishop)
Jack Blessing	...	MacGillicudy
Timothy Leary	...	Wynn Deaupayne
Fred E. Baker	...	Sargeant
Frank Noon	...	Workman
Jack Boyle	...	Man in Mall

Storyline

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Mystery | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 May 1989 (USA)

Filming Locations:

First Congregational Church - 540 S. Commonwealth Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Picturemaker Productions, ABC Circle Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

48 min 48 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Last show of the series.

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Soundtracks

"Park Avenue Beat (Perry Mason theme)"
Written by Fred Steiner

User Reviews

The end of the TV as we knew it

This writer testifies of being a big fan of the 5th season; if you know a bit about the series, then you know the 3rd season took a soap—opera turn and was, in its final third, the season of Sam and of the soap—opera. The 4th season was, in its entirety, that of the pregnancy, Lamaze and the marriage. Not a fan of Lamaze soap—opera? Me neither. The 5th season began abhorrently—with a merry spontaneous abortion, an abortion celebrated by song and dance and phony mythology. But the rest of the 5th season was cool, awesome. Even more, it has a special mellow charm that might even set it above the first 2 ½ seasons. For a while, the series seemed to have stopped moving aimlessly; the principle of the screwball and the slapstick is that the events leave the protagonists unchanged, etc.. A new episode doesn't have to deal with changes brought by a previous one (e.g., idyll and romance, marriage, pregnancy, etc.); with the pregnancy, MOONLIGHTING simply accommodated a change in Cybill's real life.

In a screwball, the reconciliation happens behind the stage. The romance happens after the movie's over. Found, shared love is not the subject of a screwball. Addison is more interesting having a hangover than taking Lamaze classes. He should tease Hayes, not send her pregnancy educational books.

So the MOONLIGHTING hardcore are the first 2 ½ seasons, and the final one. We're less interested into Hayes' miscarriages and the degenerates she chooses to marry. Those uninspired arcs defamed her.

By the time of the final episode of this series, true fans already became aware of the ANSELMO hints; Viola gave voice to what I believed—i.e., that he deserved his own spin—off, which, needless to say, he never got; and Addison kept inappropriately wisecracking about the end of the series. Addison's jokes about the series' end seemed entirely importune to me; and I have to confess that in these few last shows it was Viola who held the stage for me, Viola became the _unacclaimed leading comic of the MOONLIGHTING.