Remington Steele on DVD (2 Viewers)

[SamT]

....watching pilot of moonlighting. Hard to finish. I need 3-4 sittings to finish the pilot. It's not my cup of tea especially that Addison is a complete jerk. How I'm supposed to care about any of these characters I don't know. It's not going to fill Remington Steele's empty space.

 

[FanCollector]

If it's taking you multiple sittings to finish the pilot, skip the show. I liked the pilot, but it's definitely the best the series ever was.

 

[Nelson Au]

Well, if the show is that hard to watch, I agree with Lee.

I thought Moonlighting had some interesting episodes. It's definitely different from Remington Steele. Addison is snarky and not at all like Steele. Cybill Shepard's character is a unique character too. It's been a long time since I last saw Moonlighting. IIRC, she was pretty zany in many episodes with Willis being a good match to the shenanigans. I only have the pilot on DVD when it was released years ago. And I always liked the theme song.

The stand out shows were one that was a musical. Another was animated. And I liked the support characters. Definitely zany versions of Murphy and Miss Wolf.

After watching the entire Remington Steele series as you did Sam, I'm not surprised you were put off to Moonlighting. It might take a while to get it out of your system before you can sit down to watch Moonlighting.

By the way, I know this is a Remington Steel thread, but it brought to mind a recent film Brosnan did called November Man. I thought it was pretty good, though maybe not really unique, but it was a nice spy thriller with Brosnan being very Bondian at times and sometimes ruthless. Different from Remington for sure. I hope he gets to film another in the series.

 

[JayHink]

I've recently been picking up DVD sets that have gone out of print in recent years, many of which I had only purchased the first season back in the day. Just this week I found an affordable copy of Moonlighting S5 to complete my set. It will be interesting to watch the series for the first time as an adult.

The same goes for Remington Steele. I have only the S1 set & looking to start the process of completing it.

I find it an interesting (marketing?) detail that, at least on my own S1 set, it says "Also starring Stephanie Zimbalist" on the front cover, but it's a sticker and not part of the actual original cardboard case. I'm always curious as to what may have been the reason for such things; oversight? A later effort to eek out more sales by adding the other star's name to the front cover? A mistake, something that was left off the original printing? Legal issue concerning how the stars should be billed?

I have no clue of course, but still find it interesting.

 

[Nelson Au]

Just revisited the great Al Jarreau sung theme song for Moonlighting, the full version on YouTube.

Jay, I'm sure Lee or others will be able to explain the oversight with Miss Zimbalist's starring credit as a label. My understanding is at the time of the original DVD issues of season 1 of Remington Steele, the marketing people wanted to take advantage of Pierce Brosnan's fame as James Bond. They left Miss Zimbalist name off the box and the outcry from the fans forced the addition of the label to include Miss Zimbalist.

 

[SamT]

Yes what Nelson said and I think it's perfectly suited to the theme of the series. Stephanie Zimbalist was the star and Pierce Brosnan was secondary but he gets the credit.


The interesting thing is nobody asked how the last 2 episodes played out for me. I intentionally wrote nothing. Everyone acts like they don't exist and I like that!

 

[FanCollector]

Hi, Jay. Nelson's explanation was my understanding of the reason for the sticker. They previewed the package art early enough to respond to the dismay with at least the sticker. They could not, however, remedy Miss Zimbalist's total absence from the many bonus features on the first season set.

Sam, I'll ask what you thought of Steeled With a Kiss. I just thought "adios" was pretty final-sounding!

 

[SamT]

Yes, the final episodes are so bad that I didn't even feel the need to ask any questions about any plot points. I just don't care. It's even worse than I remembered.


I liked the Remington Steele origin story at the end but the rest is so bad that it leaves a bad taste. They badly handle even the good parts. At the end when our heroes are finally together we get Tony Roselli calling again and worse the phone keeps ringing over the credits! Give it a rest.


Overall when I think about it, more than anyone else it's Stephanie Zimbalist who is not happy being there. Pierce Brosnan even if he is not happy, doesn't show it much. He plays well his part. Stephanie Zimbalist is completely out of joy here.


I will never re-watch season 5 again and consider 4x22 the final episode. I have a new respect for the creators. They did not do any commentary for season 5 and their last commentary was 4x22 and at the end of it, they said goodbye like it's the last episode. I'm also glad they didn't do good transfers of season 5 like the rest. Michael Gleason briefly mentions season 5 in 4x22 and that they failed.


I finished the pilot of moonlighting. I think I can continue. It's just him calling a woman she doesn't know, "a cold bitch" was real bad and off-putting. I loved the end credits with the music and replay of the episode. I hate it when they do it at the beginning like Remington Steele but here at the end, it was magic. (I'm not talking about the Remington Steele opening credits, just the montage of the current episode).

 

[David Weicker]

I am a huge RS fan (one of my top two shows of all time). While I rarely revisit season 5, the finale had a few things going for it. Always like The Quiet Man references, and loved the Stephanie/Efram scenes.

As for Moonlighting, it is another favorite. However, I don't feel the pilot is the best episode. It hits it stride a few episodes in, and is quite entertaining (at least through season 3, and a smattering of episodes after that)

To me, Remington Steele is The Thin Man to Moonlighting's Bringing Up Baby

 

[FanCollector]

I like that analogy, David. (At least until Moonlighting turns into Magnificent Obsession!)

The Quiet Man scene is the highlight of Steeled With a Kiss, and maybe of the whole fifth season. Efrem Zimbalist is also very good in the finale. Apart from that, well...

As a fan, I do like that we got a moment of closure for Steele about his birth, and especially for Steele and Laura to get together at the end. Almost everything in that fifth season is a creative failure leading up to those things, but in that sense, I am glad it didn't just end with Bonds of Steele.

The phone ringing at the end shows that a) Laura has made her choice and b) MTM really wanted a full-season pickup or a sixth season renewal.

Michael Gleason had a whole plan for how the series would continue once they were married and really together. He proposed that Laura would say they could no longer work together because she didn't want to "mix business with pleasure," and Steele would open his own agency and then sneakily hire Laura to solve all his clients' cases. (You Castle fans out there will recognize a version of this scenario from the seventh season.)

A few years ago, Gleason was trying to get a Remington Steele novel published. In order to reset the scenario as he wished, he went backward to say that when Steele and Laura went upstairs at the end of Steeled With a Kiss, they did get interrupted and never consummated their relationship. His novel would pick up after that night, although I believe he dropped the whole idea of Tony Roselli.

 

[FanCollector]

Oh, and there was the series proposal NBC bought a couple of years ago to make a half-hour sitcom of Remington Steele, in which their daughter takes over the agency.

 

[Nelson Au]

Lee, didn't Pierce Brosnan was talk a few years ago about a potential theatrical film of Steele?

 

[FanCollector]

That's right, Nelson. I think that fell through because Brosnan didn't want to play Steele again. He just wanted to produce it and possibly play a small role in some other part. So it would have been a rebooting/rebranding/whatever with new actors restarting the premise, and there wasn't enough interest to bring all the necessary business partners together for that.

It usually goes badly, but I'd kind of like to see the two of them just do a TV-movie sequel to the show. I know they won't, but Michael Gleason is still around and I'd enjoy seeing him write one last story for them.

 

[SamT]

So many information.

The Quiet Man scene is the highlight of Steeled With a Kiss.

You young people with your old movie references! What is The Quiet Man scene in Steeled With a Kiss?

Lee,

How on earth you know his name is Lee?

b) MTM really wanted a full-season pickup or a sixth season renewal.

Sorry I don't see what that got to do with it. The phone keep ringing was just a bad idea.

Michael Gleason had a whole plan for how the series would continue once they were married and really together. He proposed that Laura would say they could no longer work together because she didn't want to "mix business with pleasure," and Steele would open his own agency and then sneakily hire Laura to solve all his clients' cases. (You Castle fans out there will recognize a version of this scenario from the seventh season.)

A few years ago, Gleason was trying to get a Remington Steele novel published. In order to reset the scenario as he wished, he went backward to say that when Steele and Laura went upstairs at the end of Steeled With a Kiss, they did get interrupted and never consummated their relationship. His novel would pick up after that night, although I believe he dropped the whole idea of Tony Roselli.

I think he was saying that half jokingly perhaps. Or at most it could work for few episodes perhaps.


What happened with the novel?


Have you read any of the fan fictions? I remember hearing about them a lot many years ago.

 

[FanCollector]

You young people with your old movie references! What is The Quiet Man scene in Steeled With a Kiss?


Sorry I don't see what that got to do with it. The phone keep ringing was just a bad idea.


I think he was saying that half jokingly perhaps. Or at most it could work for few episodes perhaps.

What happened with the novel?

Have you read any of the fan fictions? I remember hearing about them a lot many years ago.

The fight scene in the village with the heavily Irish music is an homage to a famous scene from The Quiet Man, which also takes place in an Irish village and centers on an American inheriting property in Ireland.

I just meant that having the phone ringing left a plot point open for them to pick up if the show were renewed. I would rather they hadn't done it that way, but they were definitely straddling the line between providing closure and trying to continue the show.

I agree that Steele secretly employing Laura would only work for a limited time, but Gleason was quite serious. He wrote a multi-page proposal about it for the executives at NBC when they were considering the show's fate.

The novel never came to fruition. I don't know if he couldn't make a satisfactory deal with a publisher or if Fox wouldn't let him use the characters.

I haven't read many fan fiction stories. I've seen a couple. It seems as though a lot of them are very concerned with bringing our heroes together in some way that the series never did.

 

[David Weicker]

So many information.


You young people with your old movie references! What is The Quiet Man scene in Steeled With A Kiss

The train station/asking for directions is almost a direct lift from the opening of The Quiet Man


And thanks for calling me young. Don't feel like that getting up in the morning [emoji53]

 

[SamT]

I like the Steele secretly employing Laura idea. It could be lots of fun.


My problem with the ringing is that Laura says goodbye, then he keeps calling back which makes no sense at all unless you are a serial killer in a Scream movie.


Unfortunately Pierce Brosnan has not aged well (my impression) and I don't believe he can play in any Remington Steele roles.

 

[Nelson Au]

This talk of Moonlighting got me to dig out the pilot film that was available on DVD way back before the series was on DVD. I really enjoyed watching it. The leads really worked well together.

It feels like Caron took the Remington Steele idea and distorted it so it's David Addison whose really like a twisted version of Laura Holt and Maddie Hays is the version of Remington Steele whose not really a detective but becomes one.

Miss Zimbalist really could wear that fedora as someone else has said, and Miss Shepard wore the 80's fashions so well. It was refreshing to see a young Bruce Willis when he was funny and snarky, he was the perfect actor for that part.

And again, a terrific theme song that was nicely sprinkled throughout the pilot.

These are totally different series. I'm curious to revisit Moonlighting once I find a deal on the season sets. First I'll venture through Steele.

The Thin Man? Wasn't that with Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers? .

By the way, interesting that Robert Butler directed both the pilots for Steele and Moonlighting. And Star Trek's first pilot, The Cage. And Gerald Finnerman who was the cinematographer on Star Trek and who gave it that signature look also was the DP on Moonlighting after the pilot as he was trained by the old school of lighting for depth and for making the ladies look their best.

 

[SamT]

You are right that Moonlighting is light on the plot compared to Remington Steele. Saw the second episode and Spoilers: it's about a killer that hires detectives, gives money to them to find another killer that he doesn't know just to tell him "quit before it's too late"! Makes no sense at all!


Contrary to Moonlighting, on Remington Steele I don't think they accepted any blood money from a criminal.

 

[MadmanTV]

With the recent discussion about Stephanie Zimbalist MIA from the Season 1 U.S. cover, thought I'd share the artwork for the forthcoming September Australian releases of the series. Ms. Zimbalist has been happily reinstated!