Between the mostly comedic Moonlighting and the dark, gritty crime shows of the 21st century like CSI and Criminal Minds, crime series' like this portrayed the scathing wold of diabolical crime and murder without being too grim and intense, unlike crime shows of the past couple decades. Wagner's Jonathan Hart was a superhero level fighter, and also a refined gentleman, very manly, but too humble, dignified, and willing to show his feelings to be macho and Jennifer was just as plucky, self-reliant and quick-witted; the quips and cute jokes made this show much more lighthearted than other crime shows, especially today's. Their laid-back, fun-loving butler gave a good amount of the laughs with his comedic deliveries. They were very wealthy and lived a glamorous lifestyle but didn't lose sight of what mattered in life and wouldn't hesitate to help anybody. Which is why they were amateur detectives in the first place. Their wealth, plucky resourcefulness, and street smarts gave them clearance to go on any caper and often made them targets for the nefarious villains. I have wondered why they never had children, I did think that was somewhat sad: one time there was a young boy who claimed to be Jonathan's son, a situation that came together by one of Jonathan's old loves and an unstable father where they were both very kind, devoted and protective parents who grew attached to the boy in season 1. Another attractive quality of the show is their cute little shaggy dog and how he was written as one of the family and one of the detectives. Most shows don't seem to write animals as that versatile and central to the story unless the show is about the animal. The episodes write suspense together nicely with creepy two-faced characters and setups and the culprits evil deeds and preying so close by all the noble, likable heroes.
