The Importance of Being Flippant

Never underestimate the importance of snappy repartee.

I’ve been watching Moonlighting.

To tell the truth, I was never a big fan of the show — which ran for five seasons, I learned to my surprise when I was trying to find some information on it for this blog. I’m watching seasons 1 & 2, and apparently I never saw many episodes in season 2 let alone the subsequent ones.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the premise, Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) is a former fashion model who gets ripped off by her business manager. She loses everything she struggled for, and one of her only remaining assets (besides going back to her lucrative modeling career) is an unsuccessful detective agency run by a smart-ass goof-off by the name of David Addison (Bruce Willis). So Maddy and David reluctantly enter into business together and try to turn the agency into a working proposition. It’s a potentially funny gimmick, and funny is what the show was all about.

Screwball comedy was the name of that gig. Yes, there were mysteries but they were clearly merely the framework to hang the comedy — and to a lesser extent, the romance between Maddie and David — on. In fact, the mystery stuff is so bad, it’s occasionally even irritating — it’s worse than Remington Steele. Heck, it’s worse than Charlie’s Angels!

In the episode I’m watching now, a great deal of fuss is made over the fact that a man in a wheelchair can actually walk. Maddie goes on about the way — the direction — the slippers were positioned beside the bed: the way a man might leave them if he was going to get up and walk away, blah, blah, blah. Hello? Are the soles of the slippers scuffed or not?

The pilot is absolutely insane for incredible, nonsensical, implausibilities — which, okay, but it’s also got some violent sort of scary stuff…so we’re expecting a little more here. I am, anyway.

And the romance between David and Maddie — well, all that bickering is funny, but they don’t seem to ever progress, to learn, to grow…and that becomes a little tiresome. It’s the danger of writing romantic mysteries. If a large part of the appeal is based on the romantic tension, the writers either have to artificially prevent the couple from getting together (which really annoys the audience after a time) or find a way to get them together but still keep it fun and fresh, a la The Thin Man. And that is easier said than done, Mrs. Charles.

Anyway, none of this really matters because the characters of Maddie and David are engaging, and the banter (David’s lines in particular) are so funny, that I find myself laughing anyway, and going along with the general silliness. Yes, it is at times Laugh Out Loud funny, and that is something I rarely do — at least watching television. At least when the writers intend me to.

This is a show that was defined by the dialog.

Soooooo other great examples of witty repartee? Doesn’t have to be male and female — who has the best dialog in mysterydom? Whose words would you like to put in your character’s mouths?

14 Responses to “The Importance of Being Flippant”

1. I, too, have been watching the show on dvd, and I watched most of the episodes for all 5 seasons, so it’s rather a pleasure for me to see them again. I always thought the nuances of attraction between the 2 of them were very nicely done, and rather sensibly done, in that it was David’s attraction to Maddie that came first, and it was after he’d shown deeper facets of his character to her, then she was able to start appreciating his potential. His character really was cleverly written, and Bruce Willis did a great job on his interpretation. Wait ’til you get to the famous Taming of the Shrew episode - it’s awesomely good TV entertainment.

   A show that most people problem won’t think of as having witty repartee, is 21 Jump Street. The reason for this is that really only 1 character was written to be a bit of a smart mouth. Peter DeLuise is often the best reason to watch an episode, and although he’s never given much room to be really witty, he does the best he can within the tiny bits of screen time he had. When Richard Grieco joined the cast, the two of them were often quite amusing together, IMHO.

   by Kate Hathway on February 4th, 2008 at 9:36 am
   
   

2. I remember loving Moonlighting (and I’m not so sure I want to watch it again for fear I won’t still love it - like with Remington Steele.) The Taming of the Shrew episode was classic.

   I’m stumped this morning for other shows with witty repartee. I’ve been watching the show Reba in reruns lately, and she’s got some awesome zingers. Plus the way she bounces lines back and forth with the son-in-law character Van cracks me up. Crossing Jordan has some repartee between Jordan and Woody, Jordan and Garrett (well, Jorden and everybody, really). Bones has some too.

   But nobody comes close to David and Maddy.

   by B.E. Sanderson on February 4th, 2008 at 9:51 am
   
   

3. The only one I can come up with in my jet-lagged brain is I Spy with Robert Culp and Bill Cosby.

   I remember watching Moonlighting. That’s when Bruce Willis had real hair.
   I used to enjoy the show.

   by Will Bereswill on February 4th, 2008 at 10:34 am
   
   

4. Can’t think of anything from tv. As for mysteries I can’t come up with anything beyond The Thin Man. The Kennel Club Murders, maybe? Also with William Powell.

   But I can think of a few non-mysteries. The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday, Auntie Mame, The Lion In Winter. The list goes on.

   I’d like to think that the art of banter hasn’t disappeared from film, but I haven’t seen a lot of it, lately.

   by Stephen Blackmoore on February 4th, 2008 at 11:10 am
   
   

5. I faithfully watched & laughed at “Moonlighting” & “Remington Steel” too. It’s definitely hard to top the “Thin Man” series, but I’ve been thinking of other shows I enjoyed, and here’s my (long)list of great TV dialogue favorites:

   For nonmystery snappy repartee I’d have to vote for the characters in M*A*S*H, especially that between Hawkeye & Trapper John.

   For a spy series, I enjoyed the banter between Emma Peel (when played by Diana Rigg) & John Steed in “The Avengers”. Pretty sexy stuff, too, for its time!

   Another of my all-time favorite Brit sit-coms with hilarious smart dialogue is “Absolutely Fabulous” (aka AbFab) which starred Joanna Lumley (Patsy) & Jennifer Saunders. (Edina) Those shows still make me LOL.

   As for TV mystery series, there are several winners in my book:
   “Nero Wolfe”, with the pompous detective Wolfe himself & his always witty, charming & debonair right-hand-man Archie Goodwin, esp. in the 1st series when Archie was portrayed by Lee Horsley. (swoon)(But I got used to Timothy Hutton);”Spenser: For Hire”–it was great fun to see the detective trade barbs with his sparring partner & sidekick Hawk.

   Getting back to the British for more good dialogue: The erudite Morse & his faithful Sgt.Lewis in the “Inspector Morse” Series; (I could kill for Morse’s old Jaguar); “Lovejoy” (Ian McShane, swoon again) for the rogueish divvie himself and Tinker, his watch-dog/barker, along with Jane & Charlotte for love interests; “Rumpole of the Bailey”(The curmudgeonly Rumpole traded bon mots with anyone, including his wife, Hilda, aka She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed) & “Maigret” for the philosphical French Inspector’s chats over late dinners with his ever-patient wife, Madame Maigret.

   I’m sure I’ll think of more later, but that’s what comes to mind at the moment. Fun topic, Diana!

   by Texas Lynn on February 4th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
   
   

6. I always thought the nuances of attraction between the 2 of them were very nicely done, and rather sensibly done, in that it was David’s attraction to Maddie that came first, and it was after he’d shown deeper facets of his character to her, then she was able to start appreciating his potential. His character really was cleverly written, and Bruce Willis did a great job on his interpretation.

   Kate, you’re right. That piece of the show is very well done. And the writers did a good job of creating characters that really did have a lot of genuine and believable conflicts — but still had that electrical connection.

   Oh, wow, you are bringing back the memories with 21 Jump Street. That’s a show I’d love to see again, to see how it holds up.

   by Diana Killian on February 4th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
   
   

7. But nobody comes close to David and Maddy.

   B.E., you should allow yourself to watch again. The dialog is so damn funny. Mr. Thrilling says he can hear me laughing from upstairs.

   by Diana Killian on February 4th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
   
   

8. The only one I can come up with in my jet-lagged brain is I Spy with Robert Culp and Bill Cosby.

   Good call, Will! That’s a show I’d like to see again too. It was a favorite with my parents — I’ve never seen all the episodes, but I remember what I did see was great.

   by Diana Killian on February 4th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
   
   

9. But I can think of a few non-mysteries. The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday, Auntie Mame, The Lion In Winter. The list goes on.

   Great choices, all! His Girl Friday and The Philadelphia story manage to be funny and romantic — not easy!

   I’d like to think that the art of banter hasn’t disappeared from film, but I haven’t seen a lot of it, lately.

   Witty dialog does seem to be a lost art. I’m trying to remember the last film I saw with genuinely witty dialog…

   by Diana Killian on February 4th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
   
   

10. Oh, Texas Lynn, so many great ones in that mix! Lovejoy — I LOVED Lovejoy.

    Do you know, I’ve never seen Absolutely Fabulous. I wonder if it’s on Netflix….

    by Diana Killian on February 4th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
    
    

11. Yep, Netflix has the first season of Ab Fab, so you can watch the early ones in order. Diana, you have *got* to get it!
    (BTW, the whole show consisted of 36 episodes, done in 5 short seasons)If you love wicked Brit humor, you’ll adore Ab Fab! I have them all on old well-worn VHS tapes—we used to have Ab Fab parties when the show was still running. Must upgrade to DVD soon!

    by Texas Lynn on February 4th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
    
    

12. For current shows, Pushing Daisies has some great dialogue and repartee–the whole cast has chemistry with each other which I enjoy.

    Then there’s Psych which uses many of the Moonlighting tropes but omits the sexual tension. The mysteries are completely silly but no one cares if the characters are funny enough. It took a while to grow on me and now I really enjoy it, waiting for the asides between Shawn and Gus.

    by Heidi on February 5th, 2008 at 3:26 am
    
    

13. Okay, Texas Lynn, you’ve convinced me! I always loved Joanna Lumley from The New Avengers anyway.

    by Diana Killian on February 6th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
    
    

14. Hey, Heidi, I watched a couple of episodes of Psych finally, and one episode in particular really did crack me up. It was their investigation of the Spanish soap opera. That really was pretty darned funny.

    by Diana Killian on February 6th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
    
    

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