I couldn't agree more. The "Taming of the Shrew" episode was monumentally exemplary, too Funny thing, though... apparently, that episode "had the least viewership". I guess primary audiences were too dense to even begin to comprehend the comparison, style, etc. 🙄 I guess they all thought "West Side Story" was its own thing and same with "Kiss Me, Kate", lmao.

The writing and acting were cutting edge for the time. The show was a true joy to watch.

true for sure

He’s staying cool even with dementia, according to his family’s Instagram. 👏

Its amazing considering how much they hated each other in real life. Its legendary about the on set stuff that went down between those 2-it was okay the first couple years but when Bruce blew up with Die Hard it went crazy.

Everyone is mortal. And despite all the writers, costumers, make-up artists, lighting designers, editors, directors, and more... if it ain't old age, it's gonna be ailments of various yet heinous types. Still... at least he had an extremely lucrative and popular career.

Me too

I was a REALLY young kid when "Moonlighting" aired. But ironically enough, I knew WTF was going on from the moment I saw S1E1. And once the "Taming of the Shrew" episode galloped on it seasons later, I had utterly been blown away from every performance. Cybil was gorgeous yet mysterious and interesting; vulnerable but assertive; classy yet still rough and tumble. I mean, what the HELL?! WHO ELSE IS LIKE THAT EVEN TODAY?! And Bruce's character was charming and aloof but also a complete jerk for a cheap laugh. This was PERFECT to chisel away at the "Maddie Hayes, supermodel, business queen, real estate tycoon" motif. 😂 What a crazy but celestially FUN show.

Good call

No doubt. And you know what's funny? Over the decades, I've been in these "writers" groups online. Every single occasion where I'd mention this show, people in these groups either never heard of it, or they hid behind some thin veil of haughty disdain, claiming that the writing was sheet. 😂 I was always replying "ARE YOU DAFT?! Do you have any idea how successful that show was? Season after season?" Meanwhile, I'm an award-winning author and creator of my own series now, and I can't say I've heard hide nor hair from those finicky folks in those so-called "writers" groups. 🙄 Must give us pause. 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨

The show was him, the show was her. Without either one of them that show wouldn't have happened. Regardless if people didn't like either one, you can't deny that. I've racked my brain who else could've played Maddie, Channing Tatum, Candace Bergen, Kathleen Turner and the chemistry wouldn't have been the same. Plus I admit I loved it when Maddie (Cybill) would loose her shit, that high pitch girl screech would send me cackling.

@@idarivera1308 Channing Tatum? Maybe you mean Stockard Channing?

@@s13rr4buf3 Damn I wrote that so fast with out proof reading I'm pretty sure I got Candace name wrong too 🤣 Stockard Channing is definitely who I meant

Yes, the writing and the production were groundbreaking. That wasn't Bruce Willis's doing.

​@s13rr4buf3 His acting was top tier. Hence, he became Hollywood A-list movie actor. I hate his political association though. Sucks

@@sipnog3528 It's not good to hate. ;) ... and Bruce has always been classy about his politics, never trying to ram his ideas down anyone's throats as so many in Hollywood do. Also, from all I've ever seen he's generally just been a proponent of freedom insofar as his outspoken politics are.

Magnum PI ain't bad

Another exemplary show where the writing was A+++ grade schtuff!

She always insisted it was a Howard Hawks comedy. She imagined herself Katherine Hepburn. Caron didn't even know what that was. It was for the first 40 episodes a Marx Brothers movie. Willis was Groucho. Depesto was Harpo with rhymes. CS was the stiff stuck up broad. Eventually Curtis Armstrong was brought in to be Zeppo so Bruce could have a junior buddy.

​​Even now, but especially in the '80s, nobody was interested in women trying to directly be the funny one. It was smarter to cast her as the straight man, which she was, and did great at. I'm not saying this is the way I want it to be, but a lot of people over a lot of years have been saying that our society just can't handle a funny lady. Maybe Lucy is the one exception. It's disruptive to people's ideas of gender roles for women to show off their brains, which is what being witty is. They're supposed to be about youth, body mass index, and racial and sexual purity, classically. That's how we've defined beauty and value in a woman. They're not supposed to challenge men on brains or wittiness. That's not considered to be attractive.

@@s13rr4buf3 watch the reverse. "The Lady Vanishes" Hammer remake in the early 80s. She's the goof and Elliott Gould is the straight man. You are right...that didn't work...however despite Caron saying he had never seen it, he must have as the last sequence of the Pilot on the clock tower seems awfully similar to the speeding train hijinks. I thought Bruce Willis did a better Bill Murray than Bill Murray.

@@s13rr4buf3 I doubt all the sociology musing you did entered into the producers. People often give TV hacks more credit for planning or 'a cunning plan' than they merit. They just wanted funny. Remington Steele, same producer the immediate years before, had the razor sharp intelligent woman...as did Honey West and The Avengers in 1964.

@tj Bruce was superb in this. But he needed Cybill Shepherd as his foil. Her performance as Maddie Hays allowed Bruce to do his thing. She doesn't need a charismatic performance for this role. Bruce was a relative nobody, a bartender/ comedian and singer who's only previous credited role was as a villain on Miami Vice. He needed this role to kick start his acting career at 29. Yo can tell in seasons 1-3 he put his all into it. Hollywood noticed. CS still goes down as one of the highest paid TV actresses across her career. TV worked out better than film where she was a bit of pretty blonde fluff who just happened to work with legends like Scorsese and Peter Bogdanovic (RIP) Cybil is unluckly not to get more film roles but her contemporaries are Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon! On a side note Bruce was so good looking back then.

I think the script writers needed as meaty a part for Cybill.

Needed to write a more meaty part for Cybill. Women actresses get short changed.

@@thomasitataylor6450 It started as a comedy-drama show so this wasn't the vehicle for a meaty part. Meaty role wouldn't have worked. "New" star Bruce Willis got most of the best lines as character got most of the dialogue and was the funnier role. It obviously was a star making role for him as Cybill was already very established.

@@michelleannor6944 I wonder how Cybill’s part would have been shaped by talented female writers.