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Post by adyjdy on Sept 16, 2006 12:47:32 GMT -5
What do you all think? I think David communicating with Maddie via letter was a fairly decent way to make the best of a bad situation (i.e. Cybill's time off for the pregnancy.) That said, it makes me seriously wonder why, oh why, we couldn't have seen more of Cybill doing her acting through voiceover and Maddie writing to David. I started thinking there must be half a dozen ways for the two to communicate that don't involve Cybill having to shoot a scene in a studio. I think THAT alone would have gone a long way to make me, at least, more sympathetic toward Maddie's character. Just to hear her side a bit. I mean really, if Cybill can walk around and interact with her parents in a few scenes, presumably she would have been healthy enough to speak into a microphone. Thoughts?
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Post by lin212 on Sept 17, 2006 14:31:24 GMT -5
I have spent the last week watching and re-watching Season 4. I can now say that I have a visceral dislike for Maddie. Even though Cybill's pregnancy started the slide down the slippery slope, I think that the writers could have done something to keep the magic alive. They had to deal with her absence, but I believe could have done it in another way. I have to say that Season 4 has left me with an overwhelming feeling of sadness. We watched David's pain during her stay in Chicago. That was tough enough, but they (the writers) decided to keep the pain going with her marriage to Walter and her insistence that the baby was Sam's. As a result, the whole season left me with a really dark feeling and a dislike for Maddie.
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Post by rose35 on Sept 18, 2006 19:43:06 GMT -5
Lin , agree again with you. i always sided more on David's side. I always felt Maddie was unfair in lots of things she did to him. I still feel that way all these years later. I know David wasn't perfect but Maddie really treated him badly. Granted this was the writers fault to portray MADDIE THIS WAY.
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Post by adyjdy on Sept 18, 2006 23:18:42 GMT -5
I read your comment earlier today and didn't really give it another thought... UNTIL I watched "Tracks of My Tears" this afternoon and found myself yelling (along with David) at Maddie when she tells him to wait. I'm not a big fan of Season 4 because this is when I really start--well--hating Maddie. (As much as it pains me to say it.)
No argument that the writers, creators, producer are largely, if not entirely to blame for the decisions that demonize her as a character. That said I don't think anyone should be surprised that what many say was a concious attempt to turn the audience against Maddie worked... like a charm. Sigh...
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Post by lin212 on Sept 19, 2006 6:58:35 GMT -5
Just one other observation - Maddie almost seems to take delight in hurting David. In one of the episodes she tries to get David to tell her how he feels about the bomb she dropped and she actually is smiling when she asks. Here this guy has had his guts torn for 4 1/2 months and declared to her father that he would give up his life for her and she seems to think the whole thing is no big deal. I don't think "hate" is too strong a word, adyjdy.
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Dave
1st Level
Dirty Dave
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Post by Dave on Sept 19, 2006 7:04:17 GMT -5
it is really refreshing to read of women supporting David's case on season four. One can hardly understand why Maddie became so indifferent towards him and acted as if it was one of those things. I feel though that in real life this happens with people in many cases. For some reasons none can explain the soup gets cold and everyone sorta goes his or her own way. That must have been the reason that Moonlighting kinda lost its ratings, due to the fact that since Maddie was progressively losing interest to David people got angry with her. And when David turned a new leaf the ratings went down even further. People lost interest as the characterslost interest to each other.
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Post by lin212 on Sept 19, 2006 10:26:06 GMT -5
I agree, Dave. What I don't understand is why the writers would sabotage their own show. After all, this wasn't real life and they had control over what happened. There could have been many fun and sexually tense moments between them as a couple. I think that Virtual Moonlighting does a great job of exploring that.
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Post by rose35 on Sept 20, 2006 19:32:06 GMT -5
I hate when shows think once you get a couple together it gets boring. Well if they are supposed to be writers they can write anything to keep it exciting. I know lots of things factored into why the show went it the direction it did and it is so sad it did. It was the best show ever in my opinion for the first 3 years . It should have gone on longer or they could have ended the show on top in ratings if they did things different. Even when ratings were declining fast and they were, they didn't do anything to turn it around. Very sad.
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Post by robertanderson on Sept 26, 2006 11:33:07 GMT -5
I wish the show could have continued primarily as a detective show the way it was in seasons 1-2. They should have concentrated on writing better plots for cases rather than turning it into a soap opera. However, I still think it was one of the best tv shows ever, at least through season 3 (haven't yet watched season 4, just got the DVDs yesterday in the mail!).
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graycav56
3rd Level
I can't imagine not rewatching with you next week.
Posts: 948
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Post by graycav56 on Nov 9, 2006 10:39:08 GMT -5
Rose knocked this one out of the park. Since it is well known that the actors on the show had almost zero authority to improvise their lines, the fault of these unfortunate plot turns have to fall on the heads of the production people. There was absolutely no reason to make either Dave OR Maddie out to be the bad guy in Season 4. (As I type this I have only rewatched up to Take a Left at the Altar, so my memory of the rest of the year is still fuzzy). They could have maintained a balance so as not to alienate either character or those who identified with them. Alas, they decided that the desires of the customers....the viewers, was not the paramount factor to consider.
In the commentary on Come Back Little Shiksa, they make it clear that Bruce was playing hardball to get the Jimi Hendrix tune for the BMW destruction scene. It is disturbing that they didn't acquiesce to Cybill's similar demands to eliminate the entire Walter Bishop marriage angle. It is painfully obvious that she was 100% correct in her belief that it would turn out to be a Jump the Shark moment. I know it was for me.
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Dave
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Dirty Dave
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Post by Dave on Nov 21, 2006 6:23:19 GMT -5
yes, once in for all, I do believe that the Walter Bishop marriage was if not a jump the shark moment, at least taking a leap over some very possibly skark infested waters. It really tested out bad with many ML fans.
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Post by maddieaddisonjr on May 6, 2007 20:51:51 GMT -5
I agree with all of you for the most part. I don't mind the soap opera part of it (in fact, I enjoyed it very much! ), but the two principals should have been together onscreen solving cases for the majority of the episodes. It's too bad TV programming is mostly about making money and not mostly about creating works of art - or at least cohesive storylines. Ideally, the show's producers should have waited for Cybill to have her twins before filming any part of season 4. True, I know next to nothing about the entertainment business and it could probably be explained why this would have been next to impossible. However, I don't think skipping a season would have lost the show its fanbase and money the way writing awkward disjointed main-character-assassination plots most certainly did. It annoys me to read repeatedly that David and Maddie’s consummation ruined the show. I don’t know about anyone else but ML was about more than the ‘is you is or is you ain’t?’ tension between them. (I so like that David quote!) Just because finally the answer was ‘you is is’ the chemistry didn’t end and quite frankly there was a lot more character study to be done, independent of as well as intertwined with the romantic tension. Either somebody was deliberately trying to mess up for whatever reason, didn’t care about the show anymore for whatever reason or by listening to naysayers (for whatever reason) killed their own creativity. And in the case of a great show like Moonlighting it’s an extra d*m shame.
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Post by missingmymoonlight on Jun 11, 2012 22:55:35 GMT -5
The writing was a reflection of the disdain a lot of people on the show had begun to feel for Cybill Shepherd. She was FURIOUS about how Maddie was being portrayed (as early as BMOMS, according to her autobio, she fought with Glenn about a cut he made when Maddie found out David's ex was in bed with a woman; she wrote that the cut made Maddie seem uncaring and cold). Really, so much blood had been shed on that set, it's a miracle Maddie's plane to Chicago didn't go down over Arizona! Makes one wonder how the GGC and Cybill feud would have served the show if the "him or me" or "her or me" scenario had left us viewers with Glenn. Well, I don't have to wonder THAT hard. David and Maddie were our hearts; I don't think the show would have worked without the actors who created/personified them. Ah, GGC and CB ... if they could turn back time ... not just for us fans ... but for them.
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