Remington Steele on DVD (2 Viewers)

[FanCollector]

Sorry! Didn't mean to be cryptic. She was married to executive producer Michael Gleason at the time.

 

[SamT]

I'm kind of against bringing real life families to the series. It kind of breaks the magic. The show could have done well without Brosnan's wife. Stephanie's father worked well considering the revelation at the end, but you still keep thinking, he is Laura's father!

 

[FanCollector]

I just love Efrem Zimbalist on the show. He gets the tone exactly right and is clearly having a great time. (He frequently cited his guest appearances on the show as the happiest experiences of his career, although presumably a lot of that was rooted in paternal pride.) All his appearances are marvelous, but he makes me laugh out loud in Blue Blooded Steele and Steele Searching.

 

[SamT]

I'm into season 3. It's fun to see the production has moved to Europe. You see many episodes outside of US. Gives an extra sense of adventure and it must have cost them a lot. It's kind of amazing the amount of episodes they shot outside.


Finished 3x06 Steele Your Heart Away, strange to see Harry ( ) give up that easily at the end. You would think he start to ask the people in that party and the village around about his father and not to give up like that in a second. Especially that they are private detectives!


He goes to Ireland find his father, then what's his connection with the bad guys and the horse? What happens he gets into all that and why they want to kill him?

 

[FanCollector]

Necessity turns out to be the mother of lavish spending. While it's true that MTM, although always a leader in quality television, was notorious for being very tight with a buck, the L.A. Summer Olympics left them with little choice but Steele and Laura's European Vacation. The local streets on which they did their location filming for the majority of each episode were just not usable that summer, so we all benefited. I liked the stories they did a lot, and the European filming made a big difference. (As long as they knew they were going, I wish they had waited to film Blue Blooded Steele over there, but one can't have everything.)

I agree about the ending to Steele Your Heart Away. In real life, for whatever that's worth, there were more avenues to explore before leaving. I think they just went for the emotional beat to end the show.

They want to kill him because he somehow stumbled onto the scam and, being a newly honest man, he would have stopped them. How did his investigation lead him to discover a horse scheme in the first place? I don't have a clue.

 

[SamT]

What do you mean about the Blue Blooded Steele? It looked like an Europe shoot to me.

The amnesia part was an excellent idea I wish they had developed more. So many opportunities in it both comedic and dramatic.

 

[FanCollector]

No, I think it was while they were still in L.A. Lots of Griffith Park shooting for the castle grounds.

Although the amnesia being cured by another bump on the head falls into the Gilligan's Island realm, I much enjoyed Laura's dilemma at getting him to remember a relationship she can't really explain even to herself. It was also a great insight into Steele's character, seeing the extent to which his problem-solving skills are inherent to his nature.

Did you enjoy Cast in Steele?

 

[SamT]

Cast in Steele?....That's 309, I'm on 306.

It was funny with the big fight they had on 301 "Steele at It" about being partners, Remington Steele immediately afterward is still disappearing without telling her anything!

Also Daniel Chalmers and Mildred in the same episode was strange because Mildred doesn't know Harry is not Remington Steele and Daniel keeps calling him Harry. How they worked that out I don't know.

One thing I noticed, there is probably a shift in tone starting with season 3. Their relationship in season 1,2 is fun and romance. With season 3 and what I remember until the end, it's bitter and fight all the time. So I try to enjoy it on different levels. Season 1,2 fun and romance. afterward, it's just comedy.

I remember hating Tony Roselli during my initial viewing. We will see how it is going to be this time!

 

[FanCollector]

I bet you still hate him...

 

[SamT]

307 A Pocketful of Steele. Stephanie Zimbalist does an amazing stunt in this. In high heels in one take she goes from street level up into a fire escape ladder and way high with no safety or anything. She would have hurt herself real bad if she fell. I'm comparing that to all the talk about Jurassic World and running in high heels and it makes me laugh. No way they would allow that kind of stunt today by the star of the show.

 

[FanCollector]

Weren't some of her stunts terrific? Like you, I thought of her when I first heard about the Jurassic "controversy." The dialogue addresses it directly in "Steele in the Chips," which Miss Zimbalist wrote, so I will take that as her final word on the high heels subject.

 

[Rick Thompson]

I enjoyed Remington Steele from the start. When you think about it, Remington Steele was really the first feminist cop/private eye show. "Now I do the work, and he takes the bows . . . As long as people buy it, I can get the job done."


It was quickly obvious that Pierce Brosnan was going to be a star (and also James Bond) one day, and so Stephanie Zimbalist got overshadowed somewhat, but without the chemistry between them Brosnan would not have made such a strong impression. Remington Steele would not have been a hit without her.


Not to mention that she was a major league fox!

 

[SamT]

3x08 Puzzled Steele, Laura almost got raped and they played it lightly. She didn't thank Remington or get a little emotional. Being experienced investigator, she should have been more careful than going alone to 10 half naked guys on a remote island.


What she did to Remington's boat at the beginning was like cheating. I didn't expect that from her. They said let the best investigator win.

 

[bronson]

307 A Pocketful of Steele. Stephanie Zimbalist does an amazing stunt in this. In high heels in one take she goes from street level up into a fire escape ladder and way high with no safety or anything. She would have hurt herself real bad if she fell. I'm comparing that to all the talk about Jurassic World and running in high heels and it makes me laugh. No way they would allow that kind of stunt today by the star of the show.

s03e07 A Pocketful of Steele.jpg

Do you really think that the producers would do something that dangerous to the main star?

I don´t think so. There was something on the ground, so that nothing serious would happen to Ms Zimbalist.

 

[SamT]

Do you really think that the producers would do something that dangerous to the main star?

I don´t think so. There was something on the ground, so that nothing serious would happen to Ms Zimbalist.

They did many physical and potential dangerous things. As I said the shot starts with the street level and nothing is there. They probably pushed something there during the shot but it's still not an easy stunt. Nobody would do that today. Caught another stunt in 3x08 Puzzled Steele. Again a very physical stunt that stars today wouldn't do and I'm still amazed they did it.

 

[SamT]

Watched 309 Cast in Steele. It was nice. I laughed when Remington giving his usual movie reference, stopped at 19 and didn't give the full year.


I didn't get the plot. She was killed on the night of the ceremony and the doctor "got" a call the same night to go to the patient to cover it up. But it was several days later it was announced she died of a heart attack.

 

[FanCollector]

It was two nights later that the news was announced, and the report said she was found "last night," I believe. Since they didn't get her home until very late the night of the benefit, I guess it's reasonable for her to have been found the next day.

Love how excited Steele is throughout the episode and Lloyd Nolan was a joy. In his eighties at the time, he apparently had a lot of trouble with remembering lines and he clearly has difficulty walking, but he is so funny in this episode.

 

[SamT]

I didn't recognize any of the old actors so I had no special reaction to them. I know mostly the movies made during and after 70s. I don't watch old movies that much.

I thought the plan was that the doctor received the fake call to go and declare her death the same night of the real death to make it all look natural.


It's a little late but I wanted to post this. In 301 Steele at It, Brosnan looks the most Bond like:

 

[FanCollector]

You're right and I'm wrong, Sam. I just looked at it again. All the events between the benefit and the announcement on the television news take place over the same 24-hour period. So it was the same night she was discovered.

 

[SamT]

3x10 Breath of Steele. Please correct me if I'm wrong, at this point even Remington Steele doesn't know his real name or birthday. How do they celebrate his birthday when they don't know his real name?


I can't tell you how much I hate the first segment where they summarize and show the whole episode in 1 minute. Spoils everything. I always skip it and don't watch it.