If you’ve never seen Moonlighting, now’s the time to fix that—especially since it’s streaming free on Tubi TV.
The classic 1980s dramedy follows Cybill Shepherd’s character, Maddie Hayes, a wealthy model-turned-detective agency owner after her fortune is wiped out by a scheming business manager.
Forced to team up with the wisecracking David Addison (Bruce Willis), the two stumble into hijinks, solving crimes and clashing personalities.
But let’s add a modern twist. Imagine Elon Musk—yes, that Elon Musk—starring in his own Moonlighting-style fall from grace.
What if the world’s most polarizing billionaire lost everything and had to run a failing bookshop instead of launching rockets or reinventing Twitter?
Would you still root for him? Or would his track record of controversial tweets, brash behavior, and questionable business practices make his tumble all the more satisfying?
Elon’s Rise and Fall:
Musk has built a reputation as a visionary, sure, but also as a lightning rod for controversy.
Remember when he called a rescue diver a “pedo guy” during the Thailand cave incident?
Or when he tweeted misinformation about COVID-19 and compared shelter-in-place orders to “fascism”?
And the time he “joked” about why other people weren’t being shot at?
Add to that his penchant for laying off employees via impersonal emails and demanding “hardcore” work commitments, and it’s easy to see why his likability might not hold up without the billions.
Enter the Bookshop:
In this alternate reality, Musk wakes up broke, with nothing to his name except a failing bookstore he doesn’t even remember buying. It’s a dusty tax shelter tucked between a vape shop and a laundromat, staffed by a crew of misfits who could turn Downton Abbey into a sitcom.
Greta is the store manager who refuses to stock anything popular, insisting that bestsellers are “too mainstream.”
Sheila, the cashier, spends her shifts writing Twilight fan fiction and arguing about whether vampires or werewolves make better protagonists.
And then there’s Bryce, the conspiracy-loving clerk, who proudly sports a platinum-infused tin foil hat with blinking LEDs to “ward off 5G signals.”
Day-to-Day Hijinks:
Running the bookstore is no walk in the park. Musk’s first order of business—automating the shop’s ancient espresso machine with Tesla parts—ends in a comical fire alarm fiasco.
Greta uses the chaos as an excuse to replace the romance section with niche philosophy books nobody wants to read.
Meanwhile, Bryce launches a line of “Foil-Fi 2.0” hats, claiming they’re quantum-proof.
To Musk’s frustration, they outsell every book in the store. Sheila capitalizes on the buzz, writing a fan fiction saga about a misunderstood billionaire turned reluctant bookshop owner. It quickly becomes the shop’s best seller.
Would You Still Like Him Without the Billions?
Here’s the kicker: without his fortune, is Musk still likable? His wealth has often shielded him from consequences, but in this fictionalized world, he’s just a guy scrambling to keep the lights on while arguing with Sheila about whether they need more cat-themed calendars.
For readers, the idea of Musk tripping over a book display or losing an argument with Greta about stocking self-help titles might be the perfect dose of karmic humor.
Whether you loved Moonlighting for its chemistry or its chaos, the idea of Elon Musk in a similar scenario is comedy gold. Maybe he could use a little humility—or at least a cup of coffee that doesn’t require a Tesla-powered machine to brew.
Who knows? If this idea takes off, we might just pitch a spinoff:
Moonlighting: The Musk Chronicles.
