Was Annie supposed to be a D&M catalyst?

[davnee]

I've always wondered if Annie was meant to be the new Sam - the catalyst for a new direction in Maddie and David's relationship. Sam was a plot point to raise the emotional stakes between David and Maddie. I have to believe that Annie was meant to be the same. That she had to be the punch to Maddie's gut that was needed to get her to chase David once again, and the realization for David that no woman, however fun or beautiful, would ever mean more to him than Maddie. I'd like to believe that if the sudden cancellation of the series hadn't interfered, Maddie and David would have tried to reconcile on the heels of Annie's departure. That that was where the writers were going with Annie all along. But the thing that gnaws at me with this convenient interpretation of the meaning of Annie, is that the emotional beats being played in this storyline don't comfortably fit the Sam mold.

David never seems remotely interested in Maddie while he is with Annie. Okay, he seems a little interested on the trio's first night out together, but he goes gaga over Annie pretty quick. Yes, David gets preoccupied in spots with proving Maddie wrong about the depth of his feelings for Annie and for contrasting Annie's fun-ness with Maddie's stick-in-the-mudness, but it just isn't the same kind of emotional desire that Maddie so clearly exhibited for David while she was with Sam. I mean Maddie practically begged David to give her a reason to leave Sam for him. That doesn't happend with David and Annie. In fact, David is downright mean to Maddie at times during this arc. I hated that. And when David gives up Annie, it appears to be more for Annie's own good than for any conflict on David's own part. Maddie gave up Sam because she couldn't commit to only him, because she had feelings for David and knew that wasn't fair to Sam. Maddie seems to be an afterthought in David's break-up with Annie. It looks like he gives her up because her husband is a good guy and can offer her more than a fun-loving, somewhat irresponsible guy like him. You have to stretch a bit to interpret David's belief that part of why the husband can offer Annie more is that David has unresolved feelings for another woman - Maddie.

So what is it folks? Was Annie an aborted attempt to jumpstart a reconciliation between David and Maddie or was it another awful sharp stick in the eye of the audience, another chance to spit on us for caring? I tend to think it had to be an attempt at the former. But how sad that the writing/directing was so bad at this point that we can't even be sure that the powers that be understood that Maddie and David were always meant to be, that we can't trust that that is where they were headed before they got tossed off the air.

[diane]

Thank goodness......a kindred spirit!

I am always reluctant to state my feelings on the "Annie" episodes, because she is so universally hated by all.

I totally agree, the writers were trying to bring resolution to M&D's situation. But due to the fact that they WERE the 5th season writers, and didn't do much of anything right, they screwed this up too.

I could write volumes about this, but time is not on my side tonight. I just wanted to get my affirmation of your theory in, before all the Annie hate starts flowing. Annie was a means to end that didn't pan out, nothing more.

TO BE CONTINUED

[honeyblondenoggin]

Yes, Annie is universally hated by all, but Davnee is right on in her assessment of the "Annie Arc." And I hope this thread doesn't just turn into a forum for Annie-bashing. While she deserves as much bashing as we can dish out, this thread shouldn't be that place.

I do not think (maybe it's that I can't let myself think!) that the writers intentionally wanted to "stick it to the viewers." I do believe that the Annie plot was a device to get Maddie and David out of "Pal-dom" either by making them realize that they were the ones for each other, or that their relationship was finally, once and for all, done. I think the cancellation cut that short.

Diane, I also think you are SO right on, as well, about the ineptitude of the season 5 writers. They couldn't get anything right. What always strikes me is that if WE, mere mortal fans can come up with scores of alternate endings or pages and pages of discussions about what made M&D M&D, why couldn't these PAID PROFESSIONALS do it?

I could go on and on, but since I don't work for Blue Moon Investigations, my motto at work can't be "no work AND pay!" (that is, my morning cup o'joe is done and I gotta get working!) But I think what I said above pretty much sums up my feelings on the most despised character in all of television

[lin212]

Agree, agree, agree. I too think that the Annie arc was a means to an end that was never realized. Look forward to your thoughts, diane.

[davnee]

I agree honeyblondenoggin that Annie was a means to an end to get rid of the ambiguity in Maddie and David's relationship. What is sad to me, and what you alluded to, is that it isn't at all clear whether the Season 5 writers meant to clarify their relationship through the Annie arc by resetting the romance and the sexual tension, or by once and for all establishing that Maddie and David were only ever going to be interested in being pals. I wouldn't put the latter past the Season 5 creative staff. They might have been foolish enough to think that Moonlighting could ever work as something other than a romantic comedy.

So how does the evil ending of Lunar Eclipse play into this? The last scene is basically the "network" chastising the "show" for being dumb enough to think it could ever work as anything other than a romantic comedy. So there was some self-awareness there among the writers that pal-dom was a failure. And they were in the thick of the Annie arc when they got cancelled and wrote that scene. Does that mean we should assume that the Annie arc was heading to romance, that the writers had learned their lesson, just not in time to save the show? Or was cancellation the cold bucket of water on them that woke them up to the fact that pal-dom was not acceptable?

[Frontier]

That's why I think that Moonlighting needs a closure; thank goodness for all you people - and especially davnee - for bringing this up

The whole story is simply unfinished. Would it make sence to close it 18 years later; you betcha![/i]

[honeyblondenoggin]

Davnee ~ I almost mentioned LE in my last post. I don't think the writers ever intended D&M to be mired in "pal-dom" forever. Here's one scenario, one that I do not necessarily subscribe to, but plausible. I think everyone involved in ML at this point (actors, writers, network) knew that, no matter what, ML was done with season 5. Not just because of the ratings drop (though the nose-dive they took accelerated the end), but because, mainly, Bruce Willis' massive and instant film success and the fact that this story, this "will-they, won't-they, will-they-again?" had just run its course. So it could have been completely thinkable (is that a word??) that the writers planned to end the series at the end of the season with D&M realizing it was over for them, and maybe best for them to move on in their lives. Kind of ending as it began, maybe with David trying to convince Maddie to keep Blue Moon open, but this time Maddie doesn't cave to charming ol' Dave. Or maybe this time it's **David** convincing Maddie it's time to close the agency. So, close the agency, get out of each other's lives, "stop hurting each other," as Maddie had noted in season 4. Hell, it's an ending, not the ending I would have chosen, but better than the crappy way that LE ended the series, with no real end at all, as Frontier alludes to.

Of course I WANT to believe that the end of the Annie arc was leading our beloved D&M to romance, and that the series was going to end with everyone living happily ever after. David and Maddie didn't even have to get married, or even engaged (though how awesome would THAT be, have the show end with a proposal?) But it would have been nice for the show to end on a happy note, that D&M were going to be OK, were going to have a happy ending.

[diane]

I don't love Lunar Eclipse either, like any good ML fan, but I don't think that the series would have ended truly had it ended in an engagement or a wedding for Maddie and David. Even though I am firmly convinced that they were destined to be together, I think had they married at that point, they would have been in divorce court a year later. They had just been through too much to just move on......like any good relationship, I think it would have needed a great deal of work before they had any business getting married.

I think that they needed a fun, non-conventional Maddie and David ending! I just always wanted the hint that they understood they needed to be together, and that they were going to work it out...and that we, the audience felt that as the screen faded to black.

I may make some people mad, but I think it diminishes us as fans when we turn every thread into a "Why can't we get a reunion?" thread. I think we have a really good, analytical discussion going here, and I would love to get back to some of that.

[honeyblondenoggin]

I really should be working, but I popped on here for a second and feel like I **have ** to respond....

Diane ~ I am a hopeless romantic when it comes to these two, so in my heart I always "dream" of the happiest of endings. Of course, when I listen to my head, I see that these two had millions of dollars of therapy to wade through before they even THOUGHT about getting married.

I also wasn't trying to make this about a reunion. You have your opinion, and I have mine, and I totally respect both your post shouldn't make anybody angry as it was thoughtful and non-threatening and respectful. I was trying to make the point that I thought the Annie arc was leading to the end of the series, is all. I never intended on this being about a reunion movie or whatever. There are plenty of other threads to take care of that talk.

I may have gotten a bit sidetracked, but I do think that the Annie character was much like the Sam character, not really fleshed out much in-and-of-his/herself, but more as a vehicle for M&D's relationship. In both cases, D&M were at "get off the pot" moments, so to speak, and it always seems to take some external force to get them to move.

There's my 2-and-a-half cents, whatever it's worth

[lucy]

I may have gotten a bit sidetracked, but I do think that the Annie character was much like the Sam character, not really fleshed out much in-and-of-his/herself, but more as a vehicle for M&D's relationship. In both cases, D&M were at "get off the pot" moments, so to speak, and it always seems to take some external force to get them to move.

oh yeah...totally agree!but I even thought that maybe the story should have been developed better.I mean...ok,there's a annie having an affair with david, but D&M didn't have enough time to work things out and realize what was happening to their relationship because the season (and the whole series) ended up too soon!

honey...this ones were my two cents...for what it worth!

[diane]

I understand you were not talking about a reunion, Honey, although I do respect the opinions of anyone interested in one. But it was mentioned elsewhere in the thread, and I was just expressing the opinion that we keep this thread on topic.

Back to the topic at hand......the purpose of the Annie episodes:

I once read a discussion of soap opera writers, who stated that it is an accepted writing technique that a leading character who has caused great misery or pain to the other leading character is almost required to do a form of penance......to suffer as much as the other person so that their offenses sort of cancel each other out.

It seems to me that this is what the writers were doing.......introducing Annie, and taking David and Maddie far apart so they could bring them back together. I think that supports the fact that the episode "Perfetc" was probably intended to be the season finale....before the cancellation happened. Once the cancellation happened, I don't think there was much thought about how to end.....but rather to get it over with.

Sad......so sad.

[davnee]

I never wanted a conventional romantic ending for David & Maddie. They were way too incompatible for a traditional "happily ever after." Sure, 5 minutes of romance here and there might be sweet. 14 straight hours in bed, of course, a must. But I'd never want them to go longer than that between a fight. No, what I really wanted was to see their passion for each other restored. Their passion, imo, is what drove the show. That he could make her explode with a cock-eyed grin. That no matter how many doors she slammed in his face, he couldn't help but come back for more. That every moment between them was laced with a wild and irrepressible innuendo. That passion was a pale shadow of what it had once been in Season 5 and the show felt adrift and pointless. That was the problem with the Annie arc. It was too flat. They cared for each other, but they didn't crave each other anymore. The emotional stakes just weren't high enough between them. They had love still, but no more passion. But love was not the point of Moonlighting. The chase was the point of Moonlighting.

Diane, I like the point you brought up about soap opera and "penance." I do think Maddie needed to chase David at some point in order to really lay the 4th season to rest and reset their relationship with a fresh start, a fresh chase or dance or whatever you want to call it. I just think they botched the attempt to do that with Annie.

In truth, despite my speculation and questioning above, I really do believe that Annie was a means to an end of a Maddie/David reconciliation. It just didn't work, and it got cut short besides. I guess the more interesting question about the Annie arc is not was it supposed to restore the zing, but rather why did it fail to restore the zing?

I've got 4 possible hypotheses (Can you tell that I am procrastinating a work project big-time? But hey, I've got 20 years of theories/thinking built up!!)

1) The arc got cut short by cancellation and it would have worked given the chance.
2) The writers/producers/directors were, take your pick, inconsistent/incompetent/out-of-tune with what Moonlighting was really all about.
3) The actors had checked out on their performances and/or the personal chemistry had collapsed between them.
4) It was true, after all and much to my chagrin, that the show jumped the shark when they had sex. You can't narratively sustain passion once a passion has been fulfilled. And since passion was the key to the show, decline and fall was inevitable following I am Curious.

I don't really buy 1 at all. I think the show was over after Season 5 regardless, and quite frankly it was a dead man walking throughout Season 5, and I think the Annie arc wasn't going to save it even if it ran its course. But it probably would have let the show go out on a somewhat more dignified and satisfying note if they had gotten through it and at least tried to get D&M all hot and bothered for each other once again.

I do buy to varying degrees 2-4. I suspect all were at play. But admitting to 4 is hardest for me, because I don't like to subscribe to this "conventional wisdom." I could go on and on about this jump the shark issue and whether Moonlighting deserves its almost mythical status on this point, but I've got work to do right now. But if anybody wants to chew this one over some, I'm game.

[davnee]

Diane, was Perfetc originally meant to be the season finale? I always assumed that the cancellation was sudden and that they only had an episode or two's notice and were already in the thick of the Annie arc when the axe fell. But if Perfetc got moved up, that would have meant they knew how short their leash was much earlier than I realized, which puts an interesting spin on the Annie arc and makes LE that much crueler. I always gave them a little leeway for those colossal mistakes because of the time issue.

[honeyblondenoggin]

Davnee ~ First of all, your post was AWESOME. Thank you for procrastinating

I just have to note that my hopelessly romantic version of "happily ever after" includes every single bit of this:

5 minutes of romance here and there might be sweet. 14 straight hours in bed, of course, a must. But I'd never want them to go longer than that between a fight. No, what I really wanted was to see their passion for each other restored. Their passion, imo, is what drove the show. That he could make her explode with a cock-eyed grin. That no matter how many doors she slammed in his face, he couldn't help but come back for more. That every moment between them was laced with a wild and irrepressible innuendo.

Sweetness is what gets me initially hooked. When I first watched the show as a 'tween, I really didn't get too much out of the 14 straight hours in bed, but I do now But it is their passion and innuendo that made me a loyal ML fan. And season 5 sucked the life out of all of it.

I'm totally into scenarios 2 and 3 that you put forth. Especially 3. I think the actors, especially Bruce, we're just going through the motions. In fact, IMHO I think Cybill DOESN'T want it to end, there seems to be such desperation in her performances. Not just throughout the Annie arc, the way through the end. SHE's the one who says that she can't imagine "not seeing [David] again tomorrow."

I don't necessarily think that sex killed the show. But the story after they "did it" needed to be carefully crafted. And with all the other stuff going on, everything conspired against ML to continue on with inventive, fresh television. If any show could survive the aftermath of the "release" of all that sexual tension, it would have, could have, SHOULD HAVE been Moonlighting.

Back to Annie. I think why we all hate her is because David was REALLY MEAN to Maddie throughout his relationship with A. And, at least for me, I project that out onto A. Though I think she sucks as a cousin to ever, EVER go out with David. Even if she didn't know the whole story between them, it wasn't rocket science to figure out. Not to mention that she was MARRIED, I won't even go there. Yes, the writing device concerning one main character having to pay penance for their sins against the other makes total sense. And after all the crap Maddie put David through, she deserved a little penance. But what is so startling about David's actions is that 1) he is really MEAN to Maddie. Maddie was thoughtless, selfish and played with David's emotions. But I never saw her as being deliberately hurtful to David. And 2) with David being portrayed as being pretty pathetic and a doormat to Maddie's whims in season 4, his abrupt turn of character into this cold, heartless "pod-person" (as one post-er here describes 5th season David) is pretty shocking.

And, Davnee, in regards to your response to Diane, if that is true, that Perfetc was meant to be the season (but not series) finale, then IMHO the writers didn't mean for D&M to be pulled apart so they could get back together. My opinion (at the moment anyway, always subject to change ) is that they meant to end ML with the dissolution of M&D as a couple. And I don't mean Brooklyn for "this solution." It was a pivotal moment for them, the whole Annie thing. But with the passion being gone, the writing being garbage and the actors going through the motions, it's looking like maybe we're LUCKY to have gotten the hastily-put-together clip montage at the end (I say that with tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek).

Ah, if I had only given this much thought and analysis to MY projects at work today...

[maddieaddisonjr]

Eww, I’m getting depressed about the 5th season again reading these posts and it’s been several weeks since I’ve watched it and had gotten over the ‘fresh kill.’ Anyway, if David had shown more feelings for Maddie which conflicted with his fling with Annie then the arc would have been more interesting. I call it a fling because personally I didn’t think David was head-over-heels about Annie. She seemed to be something better to do than nothing so I never really bought that coupling as a threat to D/M. What was a threat was mentioned before: David and Maddie’s lack of romantic interest in each other. Where was the sizzle? Pals don’t sizzle. D/M sizzled from the start.

I have a problem with what was a rush job with Lunar Eclipse because of the apparently unexpected sudden cancellation. I mean, the M/D/A story plays out like the writers were told about the cancellation the day before and they just scribbled whatever. I’ve read posts here and read some of Virtual Moonlighting and as mentioned before, if unpaid fans can think up such good storylines and story endings, then why couldn’t these professionals hired to write for this popular and special show do it some justice? Not to be mean or anything but what they wrote was like crap from folks who aren’t writers at all and didn’t even care about or know anything about the characters and the show. I can’t understand that.

Also, I see why this is not called show art but show business. If it was ‘show art’ then even if cancellation was imminent, the suits would insist on the end of the story being told well – even if it meant several more episodes - even if the ratings were very low. Finish telling the story you began - and then it’s over. It wouldn’t be ‘This is the last episode. It doesn’t matter what you write. Start taking the signs off their dressing rooms.” If Annie was the new Sam, then the writers should have been given the episodes they needed to tell the story. The fans gave that station 60 million viewers (meaning 'lots of money') during the Sam/Big Bang arc. And Lunar Eclipse is the thanks we got? (Quite a few stuck around for a long time afterward that so I don't buy that D/M coming together was a shark jump. In fact, if they had dragged the 'is you is or is you ain't' along any further they might have had heart attacks - and me along with them. So that was by no means the end of the sizzle. The writing was.)

I say again ML is a romantic dramedy. Romantic dramedies (and comedies) are supposed to end happily. It doesn’t have to be so-called conventionally happy (although that’s what I like) – but unmistakably positive such that there’s no doubt the couple is together or ends up together. In LE we got not only a negative ending but actually no ending at all. I mean, watch it sometime and see if you can tell me what the end of David and Maddie's story is. It's one big blank, isn't it? And that's just unheard of for a popular ground-breaking show like ML was. Deliberate? Those who know will probably never tell. I would love to be able to say all these years later 'Frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a - ' but I can't.

This is all just my humble opinion, folks.