A friend recently reminded me of this TV gem, that time back in the ’80s when a one-hour TV detective show did a version of Taming of the Shrew. This wasn’t the first or last time that the series Moonlighting (1985-89) played with different formats, themes, and styles. It had an extended 1940s dream sequence in black and white, musical numbers were included in various episodes, and characters often talked directly to the camera. This particular episode in season three was titled “Atomic Shakespeare” and came about because one of the writers, Jeff Reno, had the idea to write a whole episode in iambic pentameter.
The regular characters of the show played the parts from Shakespeare’s play, so there was a double layer of meaning. In Moonlighting, Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) and David Addison (Bruce Willis) had a tempestuous relationship that morphed easily into the play’s Katerina and Pertrucio. Their usually ditsy receptionist Ms. DiPesto (Allyce Beasley) gets the sweetly romantic role of Bianca, paired with coworker and love interest Herbert Viola (Curtis Armstrong) as Lucentio. The episode is framed as a kid wanting to watch the TV show Moonlighting but he has to read Taming of the Shrew as homework. Ironic then, that taped copies of “Atomic Shakespeare” were later used in plenty of schools (including mine) to teach Shakespeare!
While the whole series was notorious for attention to detail in filming and production, “Atomic Shakespeare” is rumored to have been the most expensive hour of TV filmed at the time, more like Game of Thrones today, which was unheard of. You’d think that if a TV show with a contemporary setting did a Shakespeare episode, it would just rent historical costumes, right? Not Moonlighting! The series’ regular costume designer Robert Turturice created the 16th-century style ensembles worn by Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis and some of the other regulars (at least 8 more costumes he did are documented here). Turturice even won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Costume Design for a Series because of this episode.
The costumes do give a reasonable Renaissance impression, clearly inspired by the 1967 Taming of the Shrew. That ’60s movie, in turn, was probably inspired by late Italian Renaissance fashions the 1520s through 1530s (the episode has a title card saying it’s set in 1593 Padua, but the costumes are way too early for that). This is when the sleeves get HUGE, waistlines inch down to a ‘natural’ waist, and headgear becomes bulbous. It’s a very over the top look, and Moonlighting adds anachronisms like sunglasses to camp it up further.
Petruchio also mixes it up at the wedding — it looks like he’s wearing a 1530s doublet underneath a modern tuxedo jacket with a modern top hat. In spite of Katerina’s ropes and gag, she’s wearing a more standard historical gown.
Katerina gets a couple more gowns like this blue one with big slashed sleeves:
But the grandest is this burgundy red damask ensemble for the episode’s finale, where Pertrucio gets a coordinating outfit with gold trim (upgrading from his previous dull brown):
Her hair is up and in a pretty little jeweled cage. Hairstylists Kathryn Blondell and Josée Normand won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Series because of this episode, and I guess it’s for her hair, not the goofy wig on Bruce Willis.
The big sleeves say “1530s” to me, even if each dress’s shape doesn’t. Compare with…
These ladies have their hair up in a crown shape, accomplished by tying and braiding, and then covered with either a veil or a balzo, the round headgear reminiscent of a turban.
Unlike Katerina’s hair cage, Bianca wears the more obvious balzo style, though oversized for theatrical effect.
Unfortunately, Moonlighting never had enough episodes for syndication, and DVDs were only briefly available. The series isn’t currently available for streaming anywhere because getting rights to all the music used in the show is prohibitively expensive (although rumors that it’ll happen have popped up recently). But “Atomic Shakespeare” can be found on YouTube for now, so enjoy this trip down memory lane while you can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijUr6p8xSBM
Do you remember this episode of Moonlighting?
I love this episode so much. Mr. Armstrong is my favorite — I think he has the best hat; he handles the iambic pentameter beautifully (as he should with a drama degree) and thus he is stuck with the exposition.
I’ve never seen Moonlighting, but I’m impressed by the work that went into this! I always find “set in the past” episodes of tv shows interesting, because they really run the gamut effort-wise. Boy Meets World did a few, Charmed, and Leverage are what I can think of off the top of my head, but I know there were more.
This was one of my favorite episodes! Too bad that Moonlighting jumped the shark once David and Maddie started sleeping together (see also Northern Exposure). :)