Is the ‘Moonlighting’ Curse a Real Thing Anymore?

The Big Picture

• The “Moonlighting Curse” was blamed for a ratings drop after the show’s leads coupled up, but other factors involved: pregnancy and actors’ lack of dedication.
• Shows like Friends and Parks and Recreation have successfully brought their main characters together, proving the curse wrong.
• The audience cares more about realistic relationships that make sense, not whether characters are coupled up.

Every so often, you’ll hear something about “the Moonlighting Curse” as a reason for ratings dropping in the wake of the coupling-up of a television show’s leads. It’s a superstition that goes back to the highly watched hit dramedy Moonlighting, which premiered March 3, 1985, and ran for five seasons, ending May 14, 1989. The show rather infamously declined sharply in the ratings after its two main characters, Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) and David Addison (Bruce Willis), ended their romantic tension by sleeping together in the third season. Their will-they-won’t-they sexual tension fueled much of the dramatic and comedic content fans loved. Though the episode that brought the couple together was highly watched, viewership began to dwindle in Seasons 4 and 5. A show that at its peak ranked 6th in the Nielsen Ratings plummeted to 70th by the end of Season 5.

It would be easy to blame Moonlighting’s downfall on the most obvious culprit: the ending of the romantic tension between the main characters, but other factors significantly impacted the show’s decline. Shepherd was pregnant with twins during Season 3. In fact, she was pregnant while filming the love scene between Maddie and David. Their relationship started heating up at the end of Season 3. Because of Shepherd’s pregnancy, the show decided to film the two actors separately and create a storyline with Maddie going to her parents’ house in Chicago and David staying in Los Angeles. Most of Shepherd’s scenes were filmed during the summer hiatus and then worked into the show later. Almost the entire front half of Season 4 has its two leads separated from one another. Without their romantic tension and no partnership to drive the narrative forward, it’s no wonder fans began to lose interest; the entire dynamic of the show changed! During this time, Bruce Willis filmed Die Hard and was starting down a path to major movie stardom. By the time the show made it to the final season, neither lead actor was particularly dedicated to the show, which was reflected in the ratings.

So, the show didn’t suffer because the characters coupled up, but rather because of the real-life circumstances facing the actors and how the writers decided to handle them. It would seem that “the Moonlighting Curse” was never a curse, but a series of events that led the show past the point of no return. Numerous shows have coupled their characters very effectively and have become even more popular in the process.

Many Shows Have Broken “the ‘Moonlighting’ Curse”

One of the most compelling shows to bring its main characters together has to be Friends. From the first episode, Ross’s (David Schwimmer) feelings of unrequited love for Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) are palpable. With an adorable crush since high school, the show set the two up perfectly for a swoon-worthy romance, with audiences clamoring for a Ross and Rachel relationship. Even after the couple split, audiences loved the renewed tension between them and the on-again-off-again moments that finally culminated in their decision to get back together for good.

Ross and Rachel were just one of the successful couples to make it on Friends. Arguably, the more successful romantic relationship was between Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry). The two had been friends for years since Ross and Chandler met in college, and they seemed like an unlikely couple in many ways. Their one-night stand that carried forward into a secret romance was television gold, and audiences couldn’t get enough.

Another fan-favorite with multiple successful couples is Parks and Recreation. The hilarious mockumentary-style sitcom starring Amy Poehler as the excentric politics-loving Leslie Knope brought three couples together over its seven seasons. Though ratings were always a bit disappointing for the show, fans and critics loved the quick-witted dialogue, oddball characters, and hysterical intra-office dynamics seen through the lens of low-level local politics. The series successfully brought together Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott), April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) and Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt), and Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) and Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe).

Another successful show that certainly did not take a dive after its leads got together is Cheers. The quick-witted banter between Sam Malone (Ted Danson) and Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) was a hallmark of the long-running show. It was never quite clear if they loved or hated each other, but their chemistry was undeniable. The series brought them together for the entire second season and then had them in a Friends-like, on-again-off-again relationship until Long left at the end of Season 5. During that time, the rating didn’t take a dip, but viewership actually increased.

“‘Moonlighting’ Curse” or Not, Viewers Want Realism

Today’s audiences don’t seem to care if the leads are coupled off. What does matter, though, is whether it makes sense to put them together or to keep them apart. Suppose two characters are clearly drawn to each other, and every obstacle is thrown in their way to create unnecessary tension and keep them apart to avoid a ratings dip due to a bogus curse. In that case, audiences are likely going to be frustrated. While some flirting and romantic tension is fun to watch, it becomes less entertaining when you can see two characters are meant for each other, but they never end up together.

The couples in Friends, Parks and Recreation, and Cheers worked because they made sense. We could see why they got together, to begin with, and why they worked out in the long run or called it quits. When a show commits to the relationships between its characters, the audience feels and connects to it. If a show isn’t sure how to navigate romantic entanglements with authenticity and instead casts doubt, the audience is left feeling confused and alienated, and THAT is what hurts ratings.

Plenty of shows have managed to couple their characters with tremendous success. If the couple makes sense and is adequately supported within their shows’ narratives, there is no reason to think such a relationship will hurt ratings. The curse of Moonlighting was not in the bringing together of Maddie and David but rather in the lack of support for the characters once they did get together. With no scenes together and no replacement for the romantic tension that fueled the show’s plot, audiences were left with a void. And with that, the curse needs to be laid to rest. There are enough successful television couples to prove that audiences will not abandon a show simply because the lead characters are together as long as the romantic relationship narratives are supported.

Moonlighting is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.

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