# "One Hit" Actors

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-actors/950569>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 12, 2021, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-actors/950569 "2021-09-12T23:02:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 14

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**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-actors/950569/262 "2022-02-07T14:34:29Z")

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> [@Cartooniverse](#):
>
> Being old, I watched “Moonlighting” in its original run. I loved the broken fourth wall elements. I laughed plenty- which as I look back now is as much a commentary on how that kind of sexist droll detached irony crap played in the sexist cocaine-drenched 1980’s as it is on my lack of maturity.

I remember _Moonlighting_, too. I’m not a big fan of the “they bicker because they really love each other” trope, but I wouldn’t mind watching it again. I thought Willis was good as the fast-talking bullshit artist. I still remember one of his verbal riffs:

> [@](#):
>
> You want to close the agency? Let me tell you about another business that was in trouble; a little roadside grocery, no customers, milk going bad in the cooler. Then one day Mr. Eleven says to Mr. Seven, “Sev, what do you say we open a little earlier, stay open a little later? I’ll let you put your name first.” And ba-bing, marketing history!

That’s from memory, so it’s probably not verbatim. The show did have a certain twisted cleverness to it which no other show of the time did.

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-actors/950569/263 "2022-02-07T14:54:18Z")

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I was a fan of Moonlighting but I remember reading at the time that the complex dialogue meant that the scripts were particularly long and that contributed to production difficulties. Some of the episodes were very inventive, like the one parodying The Taming of the Shrew.

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**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-actors/950569/264 "2022-02-08T05:39:06Z")

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> [@RickJay](#):
>
> Willis worked as John McClane because John McClane was a different sort of action hero. He was much more like Ellen Ripley.

That was the whole point of the McClane character. He was supposed to be the Everyman thrust into the role of action hero.

And Willis played that role well.

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