TV & VIDEO - March 24, 1988

Producers of ABC’s “Moonlighting” said Wednesday the 18-day scriptwriters’ strike forced them to fill about 10 minutes of air time Tuesday night with an improvised skit featuring the cast singing and dancing to Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs’ 1965 hit “Wooly Bully.” Characters David Addison (Bruce Willis), Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) and Bert Viola (Curtis Armstrong) performed the skit with Viola dancing in a gaudy outfit and mouthing the words to the song. Shepherd improvised to the TV audience: “Yes, the show is short. But we don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say. You see there’s a writers’ strike going on, and our lips are tied.” During the song, the show’s five writers sat at desks waving picket signs to the beat and at one point, broke out dancing.