The Chronic Consumer

I was a huge fan of the Moonlighting TV series when it was on in the late ’80s, and have wanted to grab the DVD collection for quite a while now. I picked up Seasons 1 and 2 when the combo set was first released a couple years ago, but I was so disappointed in the result that I took my time buying Season 3. Unfortunately, the disappointment continues with this box set as well.

First of all, this isn’t going to be a review of the episodes themselves. I’m just talking about the DVD collection here. For such a beloved, popular show that did some really cutting-edge stuff on primetime television two decades ago, this is a pretty cheesy box set. From the cheap packaging to the distinct lack of worthwhile extras, I can’t believe that this is the way I’ll be forced to remember Moonlighting .

There were only 16 episodes produced in Season 3, so this collection consists of four discs in plastic holders within a flimsy cardboard shell. Each disc is printed with the face of a main character against the backdrop of a gray moon: Maddie Hayes on Disc One, David Addison on Disc Two, Anges DiPesto on Disc Three, and Herbert Viola on Disc Four. There’s also a scant two-page printed guide telling you which episodes are on each disc.

There are just a couple of extra features included in this collection: audio commentary for four episodes (“Big Man on Mulberry Street”, “Atomic Shakespeare”, “The Straight Poop”, and “Sam and Dave”) and a 28-minute segment called “Memories of Moonlighting”.

I haven’t listened to the commentaries yet, so I won’t say anything about those, but I did see the “Memories of Moonlighting” featurette. That was pretty good, except that I wish Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd had had more to say. As it is, creator/producer Glenn Gordon Caron and other execs dominate the segment — and they mostly just talk about how the show was constantly plagued by production delays and how the network was constantly on their butts to get more episodes out. Kind of boring, really.

Anyway, as a Moonlighting fan, I’m glad that I have all these episodes at my fingertips and can relive Maddie and Dave’s adventures whenever I want. But at the same time, I can’t help but be a little sad that there wasn’t a lot more to this collection. Hell, I’d pay up for a really nice Moonlighting box set with all five seasons and tons of extras, and I think many other people would too. I guess it’s just too bad that we’ll never have that option!