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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!

Binge this in 2d 3h•Peaking at 8.4/10

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, while getting comfortable with each other.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Moonlighting Season 2 Episode 4 - The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice
    8.4/10(587 votes)

    #1 - The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice

    S2:E4

    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
    Writers:Debra Frank, Carl Sautter

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  2. Moonlighting Season 3 Episode 7 - Atomic Shakespeare
    8.3/10(500 votes)

    #2 - Atomic Shakespeare

    S3:E7

    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
    Writers:Ron Osborn, Jeff Reno

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  3. Moonlighting Season 3 Episode 6 - Big Man on Mulberry Street
    7.8/10(346 votes)

    #3 - Big Man on Mulberry Street

    S3:E6

    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.

    Directors:Christian I. Nyby II, Stanley Donen
    Writer:Karen Hall

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  4. Moonlighting Season 3 Episode 14 - I Am Curious... Maddie (4)
    7.8/10(294 votes)

    #4 - I Am Curious... Maddie (4)

    S3:E14

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

    Director:Allan Arkush
    Writers:Glenn Gordon Caron, Jeff Reno

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  5. Moonlighting Season 2 Episode 2 - The Lady in the Iron Mask
    7.7/10(424 votes)

    #5 - The Lady in the Iron Mask

    S2:E2

    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

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  6. Moonlighting Season 2 Episode 10 - Twas the Episode Before Christmas
    7.7/10(385 votes)

    #6 - Twas the Episode Before Christmas

    S2:E10

    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

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Moonlighting

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  7. Moonlighting Season 2 Episode 14 - Every Daughter's Father Is a Virgin
    7.7/10(307 votes)

    #7 - Every Daughter's Father Is a Virgin

    S2:E14

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

    Director:Christopher Hibler
    Writers:Debra Frank, Bruce Franklin Singer

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  8. Moonlighting Season 1 Episode 1 - Pilot
    7.6/10(2850 votes)

    #8 - Pilot

    S1:E1

    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

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  9. Moonlighting Season 1 Episode 4 - The Next Murder You Hear
    7.6/10(483 votes)

    #9 - The Next Murder You Hear

    S1:E4

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

    Director:Peter Werner
    Writers:Glenn Gordon Caron, Peter Silverman

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  10. Moonlighting Season 2 Episode 6 - Knowing Her
    7.6/10(372 votes)

    #10 - Knowing Her

    S2:E6

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

    Director:Peter Werner
    Writers:Ron Osborn, Jeff Reno

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  11. Moonlighting Season 3 Episode 8 - It's a Wonderful Job
    7.6/10(290 votes)

    #11 - It's a Wonderful Job

    S3:E8

    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
    Writers:Debra Frank, Carl Sautter

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  12. Moonlighting Season 3 Episode 11 - Blonde on Blonde (1)
    7.6/10(292 votes)

    #12 - Blonde on Blonde (1)

    S3:E11

    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

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  13. Moonlighting Season 3 Episode 13 - Maddie's Turn to Cry (3)
    7.6/10(261 votes)

    #13 - Maddie's Turn to Cry (3)

    S3:E13

    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
    Writers:Roger Director, Ron Osborn, Jeff Reno

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  14. Moonlighting Season 1 Episode 6 - The Murder's in the Mail
    7.5/10(428 votes)

    #14 - The Murder's in the Mail

    S1:E6

    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
    Writers:Mary Ann Kasica, Michael Scheff

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  15. Moonlighting Season 2 Episode 1 - Brother, Can You Spare a Blonde?
    7.5/10(429 votes)

    #15 - Brother, Can You Spare a Blonde?

    S2:E1

    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

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  16. Moonlighting Season 2 Episode 15 - Witness for the Execution
    7.5/10(311 votes)

    #16 - Witness for the Execution

    S2:E15

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

    Director:Paul Krasny
    Writers:Ron Osborn, Jeff Reno

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  17. Moonlighting Season 1 Episode 5 - Next Stop Murder
    7.4/10(463 votes)

    #17 - Next Stop Murder

    S1:E5

    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
    Writers:Ali Marie Matheson, Kerry Ehrin

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  18. Moonlighting Season 2 Episode 5 - My Fair David
    7.4/10(372 votes)

    #18 - My Fair David

    S2:E5

    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

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  19. Moonlighting Season 2 Episode 11 - The Bride of Tupperman
    7.4/10(313 votes)

    #19 - The Bride of Tupperman

    S2:E11

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

    Directors:Will Mackenzie, Christian I. Nyby II
    Writers:Ron Osborn, Jeff Reno

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  20. Moonlighting Season 2 Episode 16 - Sleep Talkin' Guy
    7.4/10(301 votes)

    #20 - Sleep Talkin' Guy

    S2:E16

    Dave uses information passed on to him from a prostitute with an important client who talks in his sleep to solve several big cases.

    Director:Christopher Hibler
    Writers:Debra Frank, Carl Sautter

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  21. Moonlighting Season 2 Episode 17 - Funeral for a Door Nail
    7.4/10(287 votes)

    #21 - Funeral for a Door Nail

    S2:E17

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

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  22. Moonlighting Season 3 Episode 3 - Symphony in Knocked Flat
    7.4/10(280 votes)

    #22 - Symphony in Knocked Flat

    S3:E3

    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
    Writers:Dale Gelineau, Pauline Miller

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  23. Moonlighting Season 1 Episode 2 - Gunfight at the So-So Corral
    7.3/10(585 votes)

    #23 - Gunfight at the So-So Corral

    S1:E2

    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
    Writers:Glenn Gordon Caron, Michael Petryni

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  24. Moonlighting Season 2 Episode 3 - Money Talks, Maddie Walks
    7.3/10(370 votes)

    #24 - Money Talks, Maddie Walks

    S2:E3

    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
    Writers:Ali Marie Matheson, Kerry Ehrin

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  25. Moonlighting Season 2 Episode 9 - Atlas Belched
    7.3/10(315 votes)

    #25 - Atlas Belched

    S2:E9

    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

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Best Episodes Summary

"The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice" is the best rated episode of "Moonlighting". It scored 8.4/10 based on 587 votes. Directed by Peter Werner and written by Debra Frank, Carl Sautter, it aired on 10/15/1985. This episode scored 0.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "Atomic Shakespeare".