Moonlighting is finally heading to streaming for the first time.
The classic 1980s series, which starred Cybill Shepherd and launched Bruce Willis’s career, will be available on Hulu beginning Oct. 10. All 67 episodes will be remastered from film to HD video for Moonlighting’s anticipated digital debut. It will also feature Al Jarreau’s Grammy-nominated theme song, along with other original music from the show.
In Oct. 2022, Moonlighting creator Glenn Gordon Caron announced that the journey to bringing the show – considered one of the first successful TV dramedies – into the streaming era had officially begun, acknowledging that the process would “take quite a while.” The nearly year-long project paid off, with classic TV fans and newcomers alike counting down to Moonlighting’s streaming premiere.
What’s Moonlighting about?
Created by Caron, Moonlighting was a popular one-hour scripted series that was credited with revitalizing Shepherd’s career and catapulting Willis to stardom. The influential detective series, named one of Time’s “100 Best TV Shows of All-Time” in 2007, originally ran for four seasons from 1985 to 1989 on ABC.
It followed former fashion model Madolyn “Maddie” Hayes (Shepherd), whose financial misfortunes find her knocking at the door of one of her last remaining assets, a struggling detective agency overseen by carefree David Addison Jr. (Willis). She decides to spare the company after David persuades her to run it with him, creating an unlikely partnership as they solve quirky crimes together as squabbling private detectives at Blue Moon Investigations. Allyce Beasley, Curtis Armstrong and Jack Blessing rounded out the main ensemble.
The show was also rule-breaking in its form, often breaking the fourth wall, infusing fantastical story elements and embracing musical numbers. Moonlighting welcomed a slew of famous faces for brief arcs or one-off appearances over its four-season run, including Mark Harmon, Eva Marie Saint, Ray Charles and Demi Moore, among other notable names. Moonlighting was nominated for 41 Emmys, and won 6 during the course of its run, which included Willis’s 1987 win for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
