"Warming Up" to Maddie

[witness]

As I've mentioned, I'm currently doing a rewatch with a friend who's never seen the show before. She's said on a couple of occasions that she hasn't yet "warmed up" to Maddie, although she is already a bonafide David's Girl. It's peaked my curiosity about all of you and at what point Maddie caught you.

For me, it was already in the pilot. Early on, Cybill was able to capture that combination of strength, determination, and vulnerability that make Maddie so special. That's my story; what's yours?

[myfairdavid]

By the end of the pilot, I was sold...TeamMaddie!!!

[goldilocks]

Awwww dear Witness thank you for asking! It is such a great question. Well for me it was already in the small commercial that was shown a day before 'The Pilot'. I loved how she slammed that door, how she yelled and...how she slapped David - a perfect woman! I think it was love at first sight.

[sandra]

Goldie, Witness -

agree with both of you girls!! Loved both of them right from The Pilot. We already caught a glimpse of the essentials of both personalities, and episode by episode the love for both grew deeper as we got to know them better.

[rose35]

I liked/Loved them both from the pilot too. I can't undersand how anyone can say they dont' like Maddie,i mean shes half of the chemistry of the couple they make up. But i understand being mad at her & not liking some of her decisions/attitude at times but ive always loved her & David! True i'm a David's Girl so yes i do love David more but you have to love them both to love this show i think. well it's JMO

[myfairdavid]

Jul 9, 2011 12:19:46 GMT -5 @rose35 said:

I liked/Loved them both from the pilot too. I can't undersand how anyone can say they dont' like Maddie,i mean shes half of the chemistry of the couple they make up. But i understand being mad at her & not liking some of her decisions/attitude at times but ive always loved her & David! True i'm a David's Girl so yes i do love David more but you have to love them both to love this show i think. well it's JMO

Co-signing this post!

[snappysara]

I think I found Maddie funny from the moment she threw the agenda out of his office window and the 'I am caaaaaaalm' moment in her kitchen. I really liked her when they got to the office and Dave was playing the harmonica and she leaned forward and smiled and I think I fell in love with her when she said 'Do you really think I'm cold?' That moment showed that she wasn't at all cold and stuck up and it was a glimpse of the 'will they/won't they' scenario. I guess that it would be possible not to like her as having watched and re-watched series 1-3 again and again, she always seems in a bad mood and doesn't laugh much but I could sympathize with her not wanting this guy that she didn't know following her everywhere and making her life hell. I didn't really fall in love with David straight away. I mean I found him amusing but it took a while to understand him.
Some people just don't get Moonlighting and this can be really frustrating when you want to share it with them. Only one of my close friends likes it and my boyfriend obviously (but he doesn't have a choice really). The others just think it's ok or don't like it as they didn't see it first time round. That is why i am so happy to have found you guys! ;D I had to stop forcing them to watch it. I have a friend at the moment who has never seen Moonlighting and says she won't watch it as she doesn't like Bruce Willis!! (Obviously because she has never met David Addison right?) I have some work to do on this friend! I am sure that your friend will warm to Maddie as she watches more and more shows. x

[myfairdavid]

Jul 9, 2011 13:48:19 GMT -5 snappysara said:

I think I found Maddie funny from the moment she threw the agenda out of his office window and the 'I am caaaaaaalm' moment in her kitchen. I really liked her when they got to the office and Dave was playing the harmonica and she leaned forward and smiled and I think I fell in love with her when she said 'Do you really think I'm cold?' That moment showed that she wasn't at all cold and stuck up and it was a glimpse of the 'will they/won't they' scenario. I guess that it would be possible not to like her as having watched and re-watched series 1-3 again and again, she always seems in a bad mood and doesn't laugh much but I could sympathize with her not wanting this guy that she didn't know following her everywhere and making her life hell. I didn't really fall in love with David straight away. I mean I found him amusing but it took a while to understand him.
Some people just don't get Moonlighting and this can be really frustrating when you want to share it with them. Only one of my close friends likes it and my boyfriend obviously (but he doesn't have a choice really). The others just think it's ok or don't like it as they didn't see it first time round. That is why i am so happy to have found you guys! ;D I had to stop forcing them to watch it. I have a friend at the moment who has never seen Moonlighting and says she won't watch it as she doesn't like Bruce Willis!! (Obviously because she has never met David Addison right?) I have some work to do on this friend! I am sure that your friend will warm to Maddie as she watches more and more shows. x

LOL, that is inevitable. I was SO hooked at the end of the pilot.

[witness]

Snap, I had the same idea about watching ML the first time it aired in our respective countries (I LOVE being able to say that!) being a major factor in the response to Madolyn Hayes. That being said however, I have an aunt who, when I showed her the pictures of Cybill and me remarked "I never liked her character on Moonlighting. She was always so EMOTIONAL." Uh, yeah! That's what makes her so damn funny, and so endearing, depending on the emotion. The comment really got my knickers in a twist.

My friend, on the other hand, is definitely enjoying the show. I guess she hasn't yet found affection for Maddie as a separate entity, but loves the dynamic and interaction between her and David. She understands that Maddie is half the chemistry that makes the show spark--and sparkle. And she may 'get' ML but obviously not in the same way that we on the forum do. That's what I love about this place. There must be some underlying quality within all of us that makes such deep appreciation for this work of fiction possible.

[beesnbears]

There was never a warm up period for me. I loved Maddie instantly because she wasn't afraid to face her problems head on. When she stood up to wise cracking David and told him to wipe the high school locker room grin off his face I was hooked.

Did/does she frustrate me when she appears cold or hides her feelings? Yes, but I have always felt her true nature was warm-hearted...found that out in Gunfight, Next Murder, Atlas, Every Daughter's, Big Man, Cool Hand II, the Sam eps, and yes, even Lunar Eclipse, to name a few episodes.

However, I would not argue that she keeps her warm heart to herself sometimes... like in a protective cocoon.

And I have to say I love David equally!

[sandra]

Jul 10, 2011 0:49:16 GMT -5 witness said:

There must be some underlying quality within all of us that makes such deep appreciation for this work of fiction possible.

Sure there is, Witness. We call it 'essedness.

[1987]

Love this question Witness.

Since Blonde On Blonde was the first episode I ever watched I think I have a different perspective. I loved Maddie from the opening scene. Watching her put make-up on and sashay to "Nasty Boys" in that black dress, I thought "she is the coolest!". She seemed bigger than life and such a force onscreen. I was loving Maddie immediately. I also identified with Cybill becuase she was a southern gal like me and she had dated Elvis, who I had an out of control obsession with at the time.

I actually had to do some warming up to David (shocking, I know). I remember Bruce's celebrity status was exploding at the time and with that kind of fame, he had good and bad press. For some reason (probably because I hadn't been watching Moonlighting) I remember more of the bad press. It took me all of 25 minutes to warm up to him though. I think it was around the time he got drenched by the car on the sidewalk in his grey raincoat.

Immediately after seeing this episode I went to our local video store and rented the Pilot, which was on VHS.

[treasmus]

Jul 10, 2011 18:31:21 GMT -5 beesnbears said:

There was never a warm up period for me. I loved Maddie instantly [...]

Did/does she frustrate me when she appears cold or hides her feelings? Yes, but I have always felt her true nature was warm-hearted...found that out in Gunfight, Next Murder, Atlas, Every Daughter's, Big Man, Cool Hand II, the Sam eps, and yes, even Lunar Eclipse, to name a few episodes.

I would not argue that she keeps her warm heart to herself sometimes... like in a protective cocoon.

This is such a brilliant observation!

I think Maddie is very much her mother's daughter, but she desperately wants to be like her father (she has her father's attitude and sense of responsibility). Maddie has her mother's warm-hearted nature, but it's buried way beneath the surface. Like her mother (and father), she pays attention to appearances; also like her mother, she's prone to denying her feelings. I seem to remember that Maddie's mother dealt with her husband's alleged cheating by pushing it out of her mind, building a wall around herself, but proceeding as if nothing had happened. Sound familiar?

I think part of Maddie's problem with showing vulnerability stems from the fact that she worships her father and constantly seeks his approval. She probably feels like she cannot be vulnerable around him (and, by extension, around others) because he appears (being the key word here) like such a strong, responsible, no-nonsense guy (I gather this from his interaction with David on the plane), so she feels that by letting herself be vulnerable she's letting him down in some strange, twisted way. It seems to me that Maddie acts like the tough guy mostly around father figures (her father, David). She softens around her mother (and around Agnes).

The funny thing about Maddie is that she's brilliant at reading David, but she is detached from her own emotions (denial, denial, denial). She doesn't want to expose herself. She's sort of like Dana Scully that way, who by the way also had a strong father figure in her life to whom she looked up, and a warm-hearted mother much like Virginia. But I think ultimately Maddie is a warm person who wants love just like anybody else (I will never get over the scene in "Big Man On Mulberry Street" where she "borrows half a shoulder" from David, rests her head on David's shoulder and lets herself be content for the moment).

That said, I'm a Maddie gal. I absolutely understand where she comes from because folks like us value reason over emotion. We don't just open up to people, unless we feel comfortable. We may seem cold, but we're not. We also don't like to be restrained in any way, shape, or form. Thus, I'm inclined to think Maddie would have enjoyed a short-term relationship with David, but in the long run he would have driven her nuts. True, they both enhanced eachother and opposites attract and all that jazz, but as a person who identifies with Maddie and shares at least some of her traits, I can tell you that she would have gone crazy if she were to have a longer relationship with David. The sad thing is, if Maddie had married Sam, their marriage would have been just like her mother and father's marriage: all pretense, gradual love, appearances, order. But if she'd stayed with David, she would have eventually felt suffocated (all those emotions that come with David, constantly dealing with emotions, and putting up with a man who never outgrew adolescence) and she would have run away eventually.

Jul 13, 2011 13:26:18 GMT -5 1987 said:

Love this question Witness.

Since Blonde On Blonde was the first episode I ever watched I think I have a different perspective. I loved Maddie from the opening scene. Watching her put make-up on and sashay to "Nasty Boys" in that black dress, I thought "she is the coolest!". She seemed bigger than life and such a force onscreen. I was loving Maddie immediately.

This, definitely. The opening scene in "Blonde On Blonde" is so Maddie, but mostly so Cybill. All woman in all the right places. I just love that she pretty much prepares for a spontaneous night out. That's so Maddie. But something bothers me about that episode. I'm not sure when this happened because I seem to remember that Maddie was a very sexual woman in the pilot (when David tries to suck up to her, he lists sex as something that binds them together because they both enjoy it), but somewhere along the way the writers decided to make her chaste (the show was hell bent on showing Maddie sleeping alone in her bed), culminating in this episode. I know this seems to ring true to Maddie's character because she's not usually spontaneous and she seems like the kind of woman who'd want a relationship first, but to me it also doesn't ring true because as an attractive woman (a former model at that), she'd have no problems finding dates. It just doesn't seem like she'd choose to be chaste. Another thing is, Maddie (and, perhaps even moreso, Cybill) exudes sexuality so it's just cruel on the part of the writers to write the character as chaste. No way you can believe it. Then again, maybe it does ring true because her standards are very high and virtually no guy can live up to them. Plus, if David is the irrational guy who screws around, they had to make Maddie the girl who sleeps alone (contrast). But yes, that's a fantastic scene.

[iluvdavid]

I think that in the pilot, David doesn't know Maddie yet so he wouldn't know anything of her sexual habits. I believe that his attitude toward women would lead him to believe that since she is so attractive she must be sexually active...although you don't currently have to be sexually active to enjoy sex! I also don't like the word chaste...I would say that Maddie was very discriminating and choosy. She wasn't the type of woman to just fall in bed with anyone. Maddie was a strong woman who didn't need a man to complete her. I loved Maddie from the beginning. She always seemed vulnerable behind her tough exterior. I loved her the most in Season 3 as her feelings for David started to come to the surface....

[beesnbears]

Welcome treasmus! Enjoyed reading your post! I do find this very interesting:

"I'm inclined to think Maddie would have enjoyed a short-term relationship with David, but in the long run he would have driven her nuts. True, they both enhanced each other and opposites attract and all that jazz, but as a person who identifies with Maddie and shares at least some of her traits, I can tell you that she would have gone crazy if she were to have a longer relationship with David. The sad thing is, if Maddie had married Sam, their marriage would have been just like her mother and father's marriage: all pretense, gradual love, appearances, order. But if she'd stayed with David, she would have eventually felt suffocated (all those emotions that come with David, constantly dealing with emotions, and putting up with a man who never outgrew adolescence) and she would have run away eventually."

I'm thinking this way...if Maddie had married Sam, that would have eventually driven her crazy. Yes, she certainly would have gotten her parents approval of Sam, but she would have become bored and suffocated, much like in her dreams with the "Pat Boone" David in "Tracks...". And speaking of approval, she certainly didn't seek Alex and Virginia's approval before or after she married Walter! (Kind of makes me think maybe their approval wasn't so important after all...but I won't go there...Maddie was in her flip out mode... )

But with David, she felt more alive and in love than she ever had with a man. He could drive her crazy and invigorate her at the same time! Running barefoot never felt so good.

And that's what scared her.