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On March 31, 1987, Moonlighting released its penultimate episode of the third season, “I Am Curious… Maddie.” After almost three full seasons of David and Maddie having clear sexual tension, while often sparring with each other, they two finally gave in and slept together. It was exactly what the fans wanted to see, and it ruined the series.
Moonlighting Proved Its Better Not to Give Fans What They Want
In the Moonlighting episode, “I Am Curious… Maddie,” the storyline had seen Maddie dating a man named Sam (Mark Harmon), and he previously asked her to marry him. This episode had Maddie finally make her decision and she realized she wasn’t ready to get married yet. After David and Sam got into a fight about the time they spend with Maddie, she finally broke things off with him because she loved him and David. However, what she didn’t realize was that she was talking to David, who was there and said that Sam had left.
This led to the huge moment where David and Maddie finally spelt together. This was something that fans had been waiting on and hoping for since the first season, but there was one huge problem. The entire fun of watching Moonlighting was the sexual tension between Maddie and David, and once they slept together, it ended the “will they or won’t they” storyline, and that was he death knell for the show. While, at the time, it was one of the most memorable moments in television history, it ruined the future seasons.
The Season 3 finale had Maddie and David feeling awkward about it and she wanted to act like it never happened. David rejected this notion and they slept together again. This then led to another case, but things were different between the two, and the show never recovered. When Season 4 started, the two had been sleeping together for a month, and the storyline then changed to how they should deal with their new relationship. It just wasn’t the same.
That third season of Moonlighting had its highest ratings, hitting ninth for all shows that year. However, in the fourth season, it dropped to 12th and then in the final season, it cratered out at 49th and that marked the end of the series. The show’s decline began immediately after David and Maddie slept together, and while there were other reasons the show began to lose popularity (including Bruce Willis’s new movie career), that is the biggest reason fans point out. it also started what is known as “The Moonlighting Curse.”
