"boy am i glad christmas comes but once a year"

joseph gets killed.
mary has lost her baby son.
three kings are the detectives investigating from the justice department.

ok.
richard belzer stars as a racketeer getting revenge on a friend that sent him to prison. he gets killed but his wife and son disappear. she leaves him in agnes' laundry basket.
the racketeer catches up with agnes, the baby and maddie. dave comes down the chimney dressed as santa clause. they fight with toys against guns. when they run out of toys, the three kings come busting in the house dressed as santa clause to save our heroes.
the show ends when it begins snowing in the office. dave and maddie walk out of the office and right into the tv studio with the cast and crew singing "the first noel".

entertaining and cleverly written.

rating: 8

This was a great episode. I just thought it was so adorable and clever. The three kings part just killed me! :lol:

This was one of those really good character development episodes, too. If I remember correctly, Maddie shows a bit of her soft side for one of the first times. Aww. :p

the part i liked best was when david told maddie the specifics here. mary couldn't find a place to stay because all the inns were full, three kings, then he said all they needed was a camel. and then she offers him a camel cigarrette.
now that, was funny.

Maddie wasn't a b*tch like nearly 90% of the shows and showed that she is human and vulnerable
Richard's character got killed and didn't get the chance to clear his name but David and Maddie did end up clearing his name
The gun-toys epsidode was funny and the heros saved the day yet again
Loved the cast and crew singing at the end
Very moving and touching

Originally posted by EricIdlefan
Maddie wasn't a b*tch like nearly 90% of the shows and showed that she is human and vulnerable

Honestly, I absolutely loved Maddie's character. :nod: I think there was an amazing change of heart somewhere in the early years and from there on out, Maddie rocked out loud. :rock:

~Lauren

:sheep

this episode also featured dave telling maddie that if she ever found that she was going to have a baby, he would be there to help.
that whole conversation was sorta prophetic with the final seasons.

Originally posted by bry
this episode also featured dave telling maddie that if she ever found that she was going to have a baby, he would be there to help.
that whole conversation was sorta prophetic with the final seasons.

I was actually going to comment about that part. I wasn't sure it was in this episode, though. One of the best Maddie/Dave scenes in that first season, IMO. :D

Yes it was strange watching this ep again (just bought it second hand!) after knowing what happens in series 4 and 5. It was really adorable with Maddie and Agnes sitting in front of the xmas tree with the baby....

The bit with the cast and crew singing was cute too. Might be even better if I watch it in a coupla months time!!!


Mul
:cool:

I've got the end (the part where they start to throw toys and the scenes after that) on tape somewhere. But I can't remember where exactly. I'm looking for the tape over a year already so maybe I just taped over it.... I can remember bits of it. Like the kiss :D I loved that kiss, even if it didn't mean anything:D

I think these kisses mean a lot!
This is kissing without preparation without thinking about it, this is spontaneous!
I like this epi, the storyline with the X-mas characters is great.
And indeed Maddie melts holding that baby under the X-mas tree.
Beautiful moment.
Real good absurd humor in the toyfight, THAT is Moonlighting humor for me.
And ofcourse a very very sexy Santi Clause!;)

Years ago when ML was originally on TV, this was one of my favorite episodes prior to season 3. (BTW, in the USA we classify this episode as season 2...season 2 for us starts with Brother Can You Spare a Blonde and ends with Camille---you guys in England and Europe run seasons one and two together and call that season one).

"Twas" is funny, sweet, holiday charming, and clever clever clever in the allegorical elements. Glenn Caron wrote this one (he is credited 100% with it) and it sure has a smart script full on innuendo, wordplay and amusing Christmas references.

I too love the discussion in the car about Maddie and motherhood.

i love the maddie hayes character too. i do not think she's a b** or anything at all awful. i thought she was nuts in the last 2 seasons, but the first 3 i thought she was simply wonderful.

Explain nuts, pmarier.:confused:

didn't I read this somewhere before? I think I'm having a deja vu or something:confused:

Read what before, Steph?

the post from pmarier:rolleyes:

this is the only board i've posted on so maybe someone else agrees.
by nuts i mean...who was this woman in the last 2 seasons? she seemed unrecognizable to me. and david...talk about unfamilar.
in the first 3 seasons maddie always insisted on being in the thick of things and certainly didn't run from david. she did tell him to 'beat it' but she wasn't afraid of him.
in the first 3 seasons david might have had a front to cover his feelings, but he never allowed himself to be miserable for long.
i think the writers dropped the ball after the first 3 seasons.

Remember that Cybill's real life pregnancy dictated a lot of the 4th season so the writers had to go in a completely different direction than they otherwise would have. However, I don't think it was handled very well and Maddie's character suffered for it. As for the 5th season, they seemed to try to get back to the formula of the earlier seasons, but my suspicion is that behind the scenes issues influenced what we saw on screen. Just a guess though.

I think so too, I think we sometimes saw more of Bruce and Cybill than of Maddie and David.

But then Bruce and Cybill had a couple of good moments of their own! heheheh:D

I looked through some old tapes today and guess what I found. TWAS THE EPISODE BEFORE CHRISTMAS!!!!!

I knew I didn't tape over it! Oh and may I add that Cybill looked apsolutely BEAUTIFUL in this episode?:D Oh, and do ya think the last kiss, you know after the singing part, was written in the script?

Greets Stephie:D

I always thought that that one was SPONTANEOUS!:p

Yes, I agree with you... it was so natural... I seemed very spontaneous to me. It was something that all ML fans deserved!! Just a nice, loving kiss between them :D

And the parts that we see Maddie with the baby are so cute... And when David tells her she would be a great mother... Cute, cute, cute :D I adored this episode :wave:

so far the best written episode.

david setting up santa's hotline.
and then when maddie came into his office and he took a hotline call and said it was for her.
maddie:
no this is not mrs. claus!
manipulative, funny david:
well, i hope your happy.

they are closer and sexier in this episode. their fighting is more passionate and when they fight their faces are thisclose.

when they were fighting in the lobby and david was sayng the same words as maddie except when maddie said:
i hate you!
i think david said:
ya love me.

maddie to david:
just when i think you've sunk as low as you can go, you find a basement door.

when they are in the car at night, they seem to be very personal with each other. there's a genuine closeness that simply wasn't there before.

this is an episode that's destined to be a watched episode during christmas by me.

speaking of holidays, i'm going on one and will be back in a couple of weeks. so until then

:wave:

Marla, funny you should mention that this will be a holiday episode that you watch at the holidays....that is exactly what my son and I do. It is a Christmas Eve tradition in my household that we watch both of the Moonlighting Christmas episodes back to back....this one and It's A Wonderful Job (that one is coming up for you in season 3). We have done this everyyear since 1986...when Wonderful Job first aired. And the only time we have missed doing this is when we haven't been together on Christmas Eve or where we have been in some else's environment where we had to do activities including others.

But it just ain't Christmas at my house without Maddie and David.

Originally posted by CindyK
Marla, funny you should mention that this will be a holiday episode that you watch at the holidays....that is exactly what my son and I do. It is a Christmas Eve tradition in my household that we watch both of the Moonlighting Christmas episodes back to back....this one and It's A Wonderful Job (that one is coming up for you in season 3). We have done this everyyear since 1986...when Wonderful Job first aired. And the only time we have missed doing this is when we haven't been together on Christmas Eve or where we have been in some else's environment where we had to do activities including others.

But it just ain't Christmas at my house without Maddie and David.

Wow, what an awesome tradition! If I had those episodes, you'd better believe that every Christmas Eve, I'd be dragging my family in front of the TV and super-gluing them there so they'd watch with me. :D

Originally posted by marla
speaking of holidays, i'm going on one and will be back in a couple of weeks. so until then

:wave:

Have fun, Marla! We'll miss your insight around here!

Originally posted by Tazmania

And ofcourse a very very sexy Santi Clause!;)

I just watched this episode for the first time today (and voted for it to be on at Christmas). Love it :)

Maddie showing her softer side, David offering to help and as Santa :eyes: , the kiss under the miseltoe.
Not sure about the hymm singing - where did all these children come from? :confused:

But that kiss at the end :eek: could it have been real?

Tamm

The children that you see at the end are the children of the cast and crew of Moonlighting.... the persons singing the carol at the end are all of the people and their families who worked very hard every week to bring you Moonlighting. This was a very extraordinary and wonderful thing to do to show all of these fine people.

Sorry Cindy, didn't mean to be disrespectful. I guess its a cultural thing. We like a bit more grit and despair in our shows in the UK - if you have ever watched an Eastenders Christmas episode you'll know what I mean

from the moonlighting social club:

again, 97 really different people

really loved the receptionists in her red nightgown and her santa cap and the way the bad guy smiled at her in the laundry.

man in his twenties:
you know, agnes is kind of sexy and passionate in her own way. did you see the way she told the kid on the santa's hotline that he wouldn't be getting anything this year?

married couple in their thirties:
wife-have you noiiced you always answer questions with a question just like david does?
husband-i do?

14 year old young man:
my favorite part was the joke about a tight squeeze that david made after comming down the chimney in his santa outfit. and the fight with the toys.

two men who have had 'discussions' with the police on occasion:
first man: you know, that santa's hotline is a good idea! we should try that next year.
second man: not if we want to get someone like maddie.

group discussion:
was the kiss real at the end.
decision:
no because david had a mistle toe. and the hug at the very end was bruce willis hugging cybill shepherd. that was real.

group decision:
these two are very, very sexy together. and we are very, very jealous.

a belated merry christmas!