At the ripe old age of 35...

[skipsquat]

Ever notice how frequently they mentioned Maddie's age on the show? The ripe old age quote is from Witness to an Execution, but there have also been other references. In Father Knows Last, Maddie's father refers to her as his 36 year old child. I know there was at least one other reference in another episode, which I can't recall just now.

My question is why was it so important to repeatedly remind the audience of her age? I don't recall them ever once mentioning how old David (or anyone else) was.

[Frontier]

As I recall, David on "To Heiress Human" told her "Now I understand why you are 36 years old and still single" (or something like that, but I remember the age), after breaking their "pact" and before making a new one

I do think that making a comment about the leading woman's age (remember: Moonlighting was Cybill's show with Willis, but she was the main character - that's why the theme music plays only while we see Maddie) was something done on the intention of making a point regarding the strong female character of Maddie: she was 36, not married (probably she did not want to get married), not having a family of her own - quite the opposite of most women on her age that time.

I have to check the writer credits on those episodes, so that I can understand better why this was done.

[skipsquat]

Sounds logical enough to me. Thanks, Frontier!

[maddieaddisonjr]

Hey, I never noticed that the theme music only plays when Maddie is onscreen. Hmmm.

[Turbo Grom]

Me neither! Tnx for this conclusion, I must now pay attention while watching ML

[lin212]

I'm not sure if that's necessarily true (about the music only being played for Maddie). I seem to recall the theme being played during Season 4 with David, say for instance, at the end of the second episode after David smashes the beamer and then returns to the office and puts his head down on the desk, looking at the phone. I'll have to re-watch to check it out, though.

[Turbo Grom]

Well, Bruce became popular during this show, maybe they changed a little the main idea where Cybill would be in the center of attention?

[Frontier]

Actually, if you pay attention at Season 4 episodes, the Moonlighting theme music - the one that plays only when something is about Maddie or if Maddie is on screen - plays either at the start or at the end of each episode. This is just to remind us that Maddie is still on the show, albeit not together with David.

David has another "theme" music - the one played with the harmonica - which is more of a sad side, in order to make us understand his pain and anxiety for Maddie. This is usually repeated when something dramatic is about to happen or just before the episode ends and when the "Executive Producer" credits appear - when we hear Maddie's ML theme again.

On Season 5, at the end of each episode, Maddie's theme is much shorter, alas something is "missing" between Maddie and David.

It's just something I've noticed after viewing these episodes a couple of times ;D

[skipsquat]

I have noticed and love David's harmonica theme. Maddie's light piano theme is equally nice, although I do remember being thrown off by a particular scene in which she is alone in her office impatiently waiting for David to return from a case she didn't want them to take. A time at which I, at least, would expect to hear her usual theme. Instead , they played "Waiting for a Girl Like You", which was a big surprise, but really did a lot to raise the tension level of the scene.

So ends my little observation.

[Tamm]

and who decided that 35/36 is a ripe old age? Downright rude