Full Article Text
By MICHAEL GILTZ
WENTY years after it de-
buted, "Moonlighting" is
still a constant presence for
stars Cybill Shepherd and Bruce
Willis ald show creator Glenn
Gordon Caron.
Shepherd and Willis, who shot
to fame on "Moonlighting," fa-
mously had their ups and downs
- with their own lives and with
each other - during the show's
storied run.
The third season of "Moon-
lighting," which some consider
the show's best - and a season
fraught with interruptions, de-
lays and agita on the part of ABC
execs - is being released Tues-
day on DVD (Lion's Gate).
"I think we'd be fine working
together," Shepherd says. "Peo-
ple sure want Bruce and I to
work together again. They want
the'Moonlighting' reunion, obvi-ously, but Glenn doesn't know
how to do it.
"He feels like we shouldn't re-
visit it because we did it so well.
fust leave it in the past," Shep-
herd says.
Tuesday's DVD release re-
minds everyone of one, of the
most tumultuous, nerve-wrack-
ing, controversial and exciting
seasons for any show in TV his-
tory.
"I do have a diary that I kept,"
says Shepherd. "I dictated it into
a cassette recorder. And I
wouldn't want that published."
Everyone knows about the on-
set fighting, the delayed scripts,
the weeks between original epi-
sodes'and the prints - delivered
to ABC so late the nights they
aired, the network saw the new
episodes the same time as Amer-
lca.
And, in the midst of it all,
Shepherd gave birth to twins."Oh, how in the world did I do
that?" laughs Shepherd, just back
from Sundance with her new
movie "Open Window." "I really
don't know how."
The show only produced 15 ep-
isodes in that third season.
thanks to that pregnancy, a ski-
ing accident with Willis and the
lenghy delays as Caron crafted
scripts. But the results were leg-
endary.
One episode began with a
Movietone newsreel story about
the lack of episodes. Another ep-
isode - a stop-gap clip job -
featured gossip queen Rona Bar-
rett on the set talking with cast
members about their squabbles.
And then there's Maddie get-
ting married to a dweeb she
barely knew, Dave ald Maddie
finally sleeping together and per-
haps the most famous "Moon-
lighting" episode of all: "Atomic
Shakespeare," their re-telling of"The Taming of the Shrew"
The fights ("I once threw a di-
rector's chair against a wall," ad-
mits Shepherd) didn't get in the
way. In some ways, they helped.
"When we met, Bruce and I
had this great sexual chemistry
and also the idea of sending each
other up," says Shepherd.
"We would see the absolute
worst in each other as charac-
ters, as David and Maddie. We
fought before every sc€ne in
which we had a fight.
"At some point, I realized it
and mentioried it to Bruce and he
said, 'Yeah, you're right.' That
didn't change it."
The twins Cybill gave birth to
played a big role, too.
"When we did the interviews
and commentary for the DVDs,
Bruce thanked me profusely for
getting pregnant because it made
it possible for him to do 'Die
Hard."'
WENTY years after it de-
buted, "Moonlighting" is
still a constant presence for
stars Cybill Shepherd and Bruce
Willis ald show creator Glenn
Gordon Caron.
Shepherd and Willis, who shot
to fame on "Moonlighting," fa-
mously had their ups and downs
- with their own lives and with
each other - during the show's
storied run.
The third season of "Moon-
lighting," which some consider
the show's best - and a season
fraught with interruptions, de-
lays and agita on the part of ABC
execs - is being released Tues-
day on DVD (Lion's Gate).
"I think we'd be fine working
together," Shepherd says. "Peo-
ple sure want Bruce and I to
work together again. They want
the'Moonlighting' reunion, obvi-ously, but Glenn doesn't know
how to do it.
"He feels like we shouldn't re-
visit it because we did it so well.
fust leave it in the past," Shep-
herd says.
Tuesday's DVD release re-
minds everyone of one, of the
most tumultuous, nerve-wrack-
ing, controversial and exciting
seasons for any show in TV his-
tory.
"I do have a diary that I kept,"
says Shepherd. "I dictated it into
a cassette recorder. And I
wouldn't want that published."
Everyone knows about the on-
set fighting, the delayed scripts,
the weeks between original epi-
sodes'and the prints - delivered
to ABC so late the nights they
aired, the network saw the new
episodes the same time as Amer-
lca.
And, in the midst of it all,
Shepherd gave birth to twins."Oh, how in the world did I do
that?" laughs Shepherd, just back
from Sundance with her new
movie "Open Window." "I really
don't know how."
The show only produced 15 ep-
isodes in that third season.
thanks to that pregnancy, a ski-
ing accident with Willis and the
lenghy delays as Caron crafted
scripts. But the results were leg-
endary.
One episode began with a
Movietone newsreel story about
the lack of episodes. Another ep-
isode - a stop-gap clip job -
featured gossip queen Rona Bar-
rett on the set talking with cast
members about their squabbles.
And then there's Maddie get-
ting married to a dweeb she
barely knew, Dave ald Maddie
finally sleeping together and per-
haps the most famous "Moon-
lighting" episode of all: "Atomic
Shakespeare," their re-telling of"The Taming of the Shrew"
The fights ("I once threw a di-
rector's chair against a wall," ad-
mits Shepherd) didn't get in the
way. In some ways, they helped.
"When we met, Bruce and I
had this great sexual chemistry
and also the idea of sending each
other up," says Shepherd.
"We would see the absolute
worst in each other as charac-
ters, as David and Maddie. We
fought before every sc€ne in
which we had a fight.
"At some point, I realized it
and mentioried it to Bruce and he
said, 'Yeah, you're right.' That
didn't change it."
The twins Cybill gave birth to
played a big role, too.
"When we did the interviews
and commentary for the DVDs,
Bruce thanked me profusely for
getting pregnant because it made
it possible for him to do 'Die
Hard."'