ABC | Release Date: March 3, 1985
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
7
Negative:
2
Watch Now
Stream On
90
Kansas City StarBarry GarronSep 28, 2023
Season 1 Review: It is Mr. Willis who elevates the show from good viewing to outstanding entertainment. [03 Mar 1985, p.3K]
80
Philadelphia Daily NewsDan GeringerSep 28, 2023
Season 1 Review: Moonlighting is a sleuth-and-smoocher that is very funny and so downright friendly you keep wishing these people were real so you could hang with 'em on the corner, talkin' trash and lookin' sly. [01 Mar 1985, p.67]
75
San Diego Union-TribuneDon FreemanSep 28, 2023
Season 1 Review: MOONLIGHTING IS a quirky comedy, offbeat and free-floating and rather beguiling and very, very talky, which by the way I find refreshing. [26 Mar 1985, p.E9]
75
Sioux City JournalBruce MillerSep 28, 2023
Season 1 Review: With a little elbow grease, some long hours and good support from Willis (who should have been in a series long before this) Moonlighting could well go into overtime. [01 Mar 1985, p.B13]
75
New York Daily NewsKay GardellaSep 27, 2023
Season 1 Review: This romantic comedy is good fun, albeit a little nutty, as the two principals keep things going for the entire bout. If ABC is awaiting a decision; both fighters are winners and Tuesday's rematch is eagerly awaited. [01 Mar 1985, p.77]
70
Los Angeles TimesLee MarguliesSep 27, 2023
Season 1 Review: While not without flaws, the two-hour premiere contains enough laughs, style and action to suggest that ABC has a shot at success too. [02 Mar 1985, p.12V]
70
Orlando SentinelNoel HolstonSep 27, 2023
Season 1 Review: Moonlighting does not have a style and charm all its own. It borrow those important intangibles from NBC's Remington Steele. But it borrows more from the early Steele than the cutesier current incarnation, and that's good. [01 Mar 1985, p.E3]
60
The GuardianNancy Banks-SmithSep 27, 2023
Season 1 Review: If wit is what you don't expect or even if wit isn't, the opening of Moonlighting is a funny sequence. [30 May 1986, p.10]
40
Baltimore SunBill CarterSep 28, 2023
Season 1 Review: It's just not very good. [03 Mar 1985, p.3D]
40
Arizona RepublicBud WilkinsonSep 27, 2023
Season 1 Review: ABC's programming team must be either extremely desperate or extremely short of original ideas, and I'll wager both notions are accurate. [02 Mar 1985]
40
Detroit Free PressMike DuffySep 27, 2023
Season 1 Review: Moonlighting is in desperate need of a chemistry lesson. [03 Mar 1985, p.3C]
40
Miami HeraldSteve SonskySep 27, 2023
Season 1 Review: Why go for the imitation when you can have the original? Stick with real magnetism and Remington on Tuesdays. [06 Mar 1985, p.5B]
40
Philadelphia InquirerLee WinfreySep 27, 2023
Season 1 Review: Moonlighting is a series that looks creatively exhausted as soon as it stumbles out of the starting gate. [01 Mar 1985, p.6D]
37
Chicago TribuneJon AndersonSep 27, 2023
Season 1 Review: When Shepherd radiates any emotions at all, they are narcissism or depression or, worse, both at once. [02 Mar 1985, p.15]
25
NewsdayHarriet Van HorneSep 27, 2023
Season 1 Review: In general, pilot films fall into three modes -- promising, bearable and for imbeciles only. Moonlighting is definitely in the last class. [01 Mar 1985, p.20]