I ve been re-watching the first two seasons again and i noticed the other night that to begin with neither Maddie or David wear seat belts whilst in the car but by around about seasons 2 and 3 they have them on everytime.

When did wearing seat belts become law in the US ?, i`m pretty sure that in the UK it was around the early to mid eighties.

Good question Laura, I have wondered about that too. I think you are probably correct about the UK, I vaguely remember when it became law for back seat passengers to wear seat belts. I was a teenager so it must have been the 1980s

Good question Laura, I have wondered about that too. I think you are probably correct about the UK, I vaguely remember when it became law for back seat passengers to wear seat belts. I was a teenager so it must have been the 1980s

If I remember correctly, there were issues made about this very topic......both with Moonlighting and TV shows in general, and public opinion influenced this.

Another "hot topic" was smoking.......I'm not sure I remember much smoking after the first two years...probably for the same reason.

Thanks for the info.
It was one of those little niggle questions that intrigue me .
Do most US shows keep up with current trends and laws to make them feel more life like.
In regards to the smoking issues , if i remember correctly didn`t Bruce make a direct referrence to this in the commentary for My Fair David. Something like " it would never be allowed on TV these days".
JUst going back to the seat belts thing briefly, you would have thought that even when it it hadn`t become law yet they would have have buckled up anyway espeically during one of their many high speed car chases.

JUst going back to the seat belts thing briefly, you would have thought that even when it it hadn`t become law yet they would have have buckled up anyway espeically during one of their many high speed car chases.
That would certainly seem to be in character for Maddie but perhaps not David