"And Perennially Raised Eyebrow"

"The common criticism of Moore's approach to Bond is that he made the series sillier and less serious—which is thought to be what audiences were looking for in the dismal 1970s. The first part of this isn't really fair. The series was changing, it's true: the gadgets got bigger, the jokes got broader, and the action frequently moved to the United States, because of the size of the American market. (This last aspect proved temporary, thank God.) But all of these things are true of Diamonds Are Forever, in which Connery himself adopted a lighter take on Bond. If the series was going in that direction, it wasn't Moore's fault."

Isaac Chotiner in Slate writes an appreciation of Roger Moore, who died at age 89.