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The Best Episodes of Moonlighting

Every episode of Moonlighting ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Moonlighting!

After being duped and going bankrupt, model Maddie is convinced by David to become a partner in a detective agency. Together they solve various cases,...
Genres:ComedyDramaMysteryCrime
Network:ABC

Best Episodes Summary

"The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice" is the best rated episode of "Moonlighting". It scored 8.3/10 based on 510 votes. Directed by Peter Werner and written by Debra Frank, Carl Sautter, it aired on 10/15/1985. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Atomic Shakespeare".

  • The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice
    8.3/10510 votes
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    #1 - The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice

    Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 10/15/1985

    Dave and Maddie each dream their own solutions to an unsolved 1946 murder case after hearing the story while finishing an investigation.

    Director: Peter Werner

    Writer: Debra Frank, Carl Sautter

  • Atomic Shakespeare
    8.3/10434 votes
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    #2 - Atomic Shakespeare

    Season 3 Episode 7 - Aired 11/25/1986

    A boy hoping to watch Moonlighting but forced to study Shakespeare instead daydreams about the cast performing their own version of The Taming of the Shrew complete with Petruchio Dave and Kate Maddie.

    Director: Will Mackenzie

    Writer: Jeff Reno, Ron Osborn

  • Twas the Episode Before Christmas
    7.8/10316 votes
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    #3 - Twas the Episode Before Christmas

    Season 2 Episode 10 - Aired 12/17/1985

    Ms. Dipesto finds a baby left in her apartment by a woman named Mary fleeing from the hit men who killed her husband, and Dave and Maddie quarrel over using the agency phones as a "Santa hot line."

    Director: Peter Werner

    Writer: Glenn Gordon Caron

  • Big Man on Mulberry Street
    7.8/10293 votes
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    #4 - Big Man on Mulberry Street

    Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 11/18/1986

    Maddie becomes consumed with curiosity when David announces he must fly back to New York to attend the funeral of his former wife's brother.

    Director: Christian I. Nyby II, Stanley Donen

    Writer: Karen Hall

  • I Am Curious... Maddie (4)
    7.8/10244 votes
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    #5 - I Am Curious... Maddie (4)

    Season 3 Episode 14 - Aired 3/31/1987

    Sam confronts Dave about Maddie, and tells him he's not good enough for her.

    Director: Allan Arkush

    Writer: Glenn Gordon Caron, Jeff Reno

  • The Lady in the Iron Mask
    7.7/10354 votes
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    #6 - The Lady in the Iron Mask

    Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 10/1/1985

    A mysterious veiled woman asks Dave and Maddie to find the man who disfigured her twenty years ago on her wedding day-so she can marry him.

    Director: Christopher Leitch

    Writer: Roger Director

  • The Next Murder You Hear
    7.6/10404 votes
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    #7 - The Next Murder You Hear

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 3/19/1985

    Maddie becomes infatuated with a radio talk-show host who has apparently been murdered while he was on the air.

    Director: Peter Werner

    Writer: Glenn Gordon Caron, Peter Silverman

  • Brother, Can You Spare a Blonde?
    7.6/10362 votes
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    #8 - Brother, Can You Spare a Blonde?

    Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 9/24/1985

    Dave's older brother shows up unexpectedly, flashing a big roll of money and determined to impress a bemused Maddie, unaware that he's pursued by a drug dealer who wants his money back.

    Director: Peter Werner

    Writer: Glenn Gordon Caron

  • Every Daughter's Father Is a Virgin
    7.6/10254 votes
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    #9 - Every Daughter's Father Is a Virgin

    Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 2/18/1986

    Maddie worries about her parents' strange behavior, so Dave tails her father to see if he's having an affair.

    Director: Christopher Hibler

    Writer: Debra Frank, Bruce Franklin Singer

  • It's a Wonderful Job
    7.6/10239 votes
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    #10 - It's a Wonderful Job

    Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 12/16/1986

    A depressed Maddie gets a chance to see what her life and the rest of Blue Moon staff would be like if she had sold the agency as she originally intended.

    Director: Edwin Sherin

    Writer: Debra Frank, Carl Sautter

  • Maddie's Turn to Cry (3)
    7.6/10213 votes
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    #11 - Maddie's Turn to Cry (3)

    Season 3 Episode 13 - Aired 3/3/1987

    Maddie feels more and more confused about Sam and Dave after an all-night stakeout with Dave ends in an early morning proposal from Sam.

    Director: Allan Arkush

    Writer: Jeff Reno, Ron Osborn, Roger Director

  • Pilot
    7.5/102,712 votes
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    #12 - Pilot

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 3/3/1985

    After an embezzling accountant leaves her penniless, ex-model Maddie Hayes decides to sell the few failing businesses she still owns, among them a detective agency. But private eye David Addison wants to keeps his job, so he persuades a reluctant Maddie to form a partnership. Their first case gives them little to go on: Maddie gets a broken watch from a dying man.

    Director: Robert Butler

    Writer: Glenn Gordon Caron

  • The Murder's in the Mail
    7.5/10357 votes
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    #13 - The Murder's in the Mail

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 4/2/1985

    Dave and Maddie find a dead body as they try to collect money for a collection agency, but it disappears without a trace when they try to report it.

    Director: Peter Werner

    Writer: Mary Ann Kasica, Michael Scheff

  • Knowing Her
    7.5/10319 votes
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    #14 - Knowing Her

    Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 11/12/1985

    Maddie fears David's old flame is using him when she returns and asks him for help with a bad marriage.

    Director: Peter Werner

    Writer: Jeff Reno, Ron Osborn

  • Witness for the Execution
    7.5/10254 votes
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    #15 - Witness for the Execution

    Season 2 Episode 15 - Aired 3/11/1986

    A sick old man asks Dave and Maddie to be the "expert" witnesses at his murder.

    Director: Paul Krasny

    Writer: Jeff Reno, Ron Osborn

  • Blonde on Blonde (1)
    7.5/10240 votes
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    #16 - Blonde on Blonde (1)

    Season 3 Episode 11 - Aired 2/3/1987

    Maddie's strange mood has David worried so he spends the evening following her, but ends up involved in a murder.

    Director: Jay Daniel

    Writer: Kerry Ehrin

  • Next Stop Murder
    7.4/10393 votes
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    #17 - Next Stop Murder

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 3/26/1985

    Maddie and Dave get trapped on a train filled with mystery buffs when they try to deliver Agnes on time for her big weekend solving a make-believe murder staged by a famous author.

    Director: Kevin Connor

    Writer: Ali Marie Matheson, Kerry Ehrin

  • My Fair David
    7.4/10317 votes
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    #18 - My Fair David

    Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 10/29/1985

    Maddie bets David that he can't act like a mature responsible professional for one full week while they deliver ransom money for the mother of a kidnapped concert pianist.

    Director: Will Mackenzie

    Writer: Bruce Franklin Singer

  • The Bride of Tupperman
    7.4/10261 votes
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    #19 - The Bride of Tupperman

    Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 1/14/1986

    Dave and Maddie compete to fulfill their client's unusual request: find him a possible mate fitting his very specific requirements.

    Director: Christian I. Nyby II, Will Mackenzie

    Writer: Jeff Reno, Ron Osborn

  • Funeral for a Door Nail
    7.4/10230 votes
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    #20 - Funeral for a Door Nail

    Season 2 Episode 17 - Aired 4/29/1986

    A depressed man hires a hit man to kill him after his wife dies, then desperately seeks Dave and Maddie's help to call him off when he sees his supposedly dead wife alive.

    Director: Allan Arkush

    Writer: Jeff Reno, Ron Osborn, Charles H. Eglee, Jonathan Lemkin

  • Symphony in Knocked Flat
    7.4/10227 votes
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    #21 - Symphony in Knocked Flat

    Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 10/14/1986

    Dave and Maddie agree to each arrange what they consider to be an ideal evening for the other, but the concert tickets Dave buys from a scalper get them into nothing but trouble.

    Director: Paul Lynch

    Writer: Dale Gelineau, Pauline Miller

  • Lunar Eclipse
    7.4/10186 votes
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    #22 - Lunar Eclipse

    Season 5 Episode 13 - Aired 5/14/1989

    Dave breaks it off with Annie when her husband comes to California, everyone attends the wedding of Burt and Agnes, and the agency closes its doors for a final time as everyone tries to figure out why it all had to end.

    Director: Dennis Dugan

    Writer: Ron Clark

  • Gunfight at the So-So Corral
    7.3/10485 votes
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    #23 - Gunfight at the So-So Corral

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 3/5/1985

    Dave and Maddie face a difficult situation when they have to tell their client that the son he hired them to find is a notorious contract killer.

    Director: Peter Werner

    Writer: Glenn Gordon Caron, Michael Petryni

  • Money Talks, Maddie Walks
    7.3/10313 votes
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    #24 - Money Talks, Maddie Walks

    Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 10/8/1985

    Maddie learns through the near-suicide of a friend where her embezzling accountant has fled to and immediately flies after him, determined to get her money back.

    Director: Christian I. Nyby II

    Writer: Ali Marie Matheson, Kerry Ehrin

  • Atlas Belched
    7.3/10259 votes
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    #25 - Atlas Belched

    Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 12/10/1985

    Dave busies himself finding an important phone index for a hapless young executive while Maddie mulls over an offer to sell the agency to a competitor.

    Director: Christian I. Nyby II

    Writer: Roger Director