‘Moonlighting,’ the ’80s Bruce Willis breakout series, will finally begin streaming, on Hulu
Cue the Al Jarreau! Cybill Shepherd hive, rise! Bruce Willis-zens rejoice! Moonlighters, make yourselves known.
The popular ’80s ABC dramedy series “Moonlighting” is finally making its streaming debut, on Oct.10 on Hulu.
The program, which premiered in 1985, starred seasoned actor Shepherd and up-and-comer Willis. For his breakout role in the show, the “Die Hard” actor nabbed a Primetime Emmy for lead actor in a drama series in 1987.
“Moonlighting” ran for five seasons, from 1985 to ’89, and garnered 41 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, winning six.
From disgraced producers to pharmaceutical giants, the reasons you can’t stream titles like ‘Moonlighting’ or ‘Dawn of the Dead’ are often surprising.
The show also starred Allyce Beasley, Curtis Armstrong and Jack Blessing. Popular guest stars included Mark Harmon, Whoopi Goldberg, Peter Bogdanovich, John Goodman and Demi Moore.
The series is centered on Maddie Hayes (Shepherd), a former fashion model who loses all her money to an embezzling investment advisor. He did leave her with some failing businesses, one of which is a detective agency, which she names Blue Moon. She initially contemplates selling the business to get some of her money back but decides to keep it after being quickly charmed by the agency’s employees (Willis as David Addison, and Beasley and Armstrong). She also finds the agency’s cases intriguing.
All episodes of the program will be available in remastered HD quality.
Peter Werner, a TV director known for ‘Moonlighting’ and more, is dead at 76. His brother, Tom Werner of the Carsey-Werner Co., told THR it was ‘sudden.’
The show will land on Hulu after a years-long battle by series creator Glenn Gordon Caron to get “Moonlighting” on a streaming service. The process for getting it to a streamer was held up by the high cost of clearing the rights to the large amount of music used in the show. Caron felt an even greater sense of urgency since Willis was diagnosed last year with frontotemporal dementia, ending his legendary career.
“I’ve been campaigning since about 2005, saying, ‘What can we do to get it back in circulation?’” Caron told The Times earlier this year. “It’s frustrating — there are bootlegs and stuff on YouTube, but the show has been almost impossible to watch. When I saw that Universal was able to get ‘Miami Vice’ out there — another show that’s larded with music — I thought, ‘Gosh, there’s got to be a way for us to do it.’”
Times staff writer Josh Rottenberg contributed to this report.
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