BettyHale

I'm still in the process of watching the series and so far, the Raffin character seems, at least to me, similar to Laura Holt. We may have to agree to disagree on this series as I see Raffin's character as Laura Holtish. What I've seen of the character so far, still looks and sounds like a Holtish character, now my opinion may change as I continue to watch the series, but not at this point (about 2 hours in). I saw the series when it was broadcast in 1988 and was then, and continue to be now, very disappointed that they had not chosen Ms. Zimbalist to play the role of Casey. I understand that, as Bastet as already noted, the powers that be may not have wanted people tuning in and expecting to see a re-match of the Steele and Holt characters. Nevertheless, I think that the series would have benefited from S.Z.'s participation. I'm sure that the main draw was, and still is, Pierce Brosnan, but he's always so much more interesting to watch when he's matched with actors that are just as good or better than he is. If you remember the series, Brosnan was interesting to watch when he was playing against Denholm Elliott or John Rhys-Davies; with Ms. Raffin, not so much. For one thing, there's nowhere near the chemistry with Raffin that he had with Zimbalist. I mean, being able to watch Brosnan, especially the younger version of the actor, is never hard work; it's just so much more fun to watch him act/react when he's working with really good actors.

I've never watched Batman: The Animated Series and I didn't know that Stephanie was the voice of the DA. I'm not surprised that she was good as she has a lovely speaking voice; one of the things that I really liked about watching her play the role of Laura Holt.

I never saw that, but if Pierce was in it and it was 1988, I think it would have been too soon to pair them up again; it would be difficult not to see Laura and Steele rather than the characters they were playing. Yes, you're right in that people tuning in to see Noble House would be seeing/expecting to see Steele and Holt and not the characters that Clavell wrote. Having said that, so far the character being played by Deborah Raffin is so Laura Holtish(?) that she may as well have played it. Except that I would have found Stephanie Zimbalist more believable in the role than Ms. Raffin.

I agree, in that I think she's a very good actress. I also got to see her on stage when she was touring with Tommy Tune in "My One and Only" and thought she was terrific. I'm being selfish in wanting to see her in other roles. I've decided that this conversation has given me the chance to play casting director for Ms. Zimbalist as I would have loved to have seen her in a number of roles. For example, she could have been cast as the female lead in the 1988 NBC mini-series "Noble House." As it happens, I'm just starting to watch it and am enjoying the 80's version of Pierce Brosnan very much. Now, the lead in that series was Deborah Raffin, who in my humble opinion, was bland as butterscotch pudding. She plays the character, Casey Tcholok, who is the romantic lead for the Brosnan character. Ms. Raffin is sort of bland in the role, and as I'm watching it all I can think is, how much better would the series have been if they had re-teamed her with Brosnan? I'll tell you how much better; it would have been great! I saw this mini-series when it was first shown back in 1988, and had forgotten all about it until just recently. As an aside: I started watching Remington Steele, which has now given me an appetite for the 80's version of the world. So, now, when I'm not watching Steele, I'm watching Riptide/Magnum P.I., etc. And this is what led me to watch Noble House. In any case, I think that Zimbalist would have been terrific in that series and am only sorry that she didn't end up in the role of Casey. And that series is just right off the top of my head, as I think she would have been terrific in lots of other film/tv roles. What about you Bastet, are there any roles that you would have liked to see Stephanie play?

While I agree that it was far from being fair to Stephanie Zimbalist, I don't know that losing the role of the female lead in Robocop, was so terrible. Don't get me wrong, I think that Ms. Zimbalist is a very good actress, but to be honest, I never understood why she auditioned/was cast in that role as I actually thought it wasn't much of a role. I mean, Nancy Allen ended up in that role and what good did it do her career? And the director of Robocop is Paul Verhoeven, who's claim to fame was/is "Basic Instinct" and "Showgirls." I've always thought that she had a narrow escape not working with that director as over the years; he always gave off a 'creepy vibe.' Again, I'm not saying that she didn't get a raw deal by NBC deciding that they wanted them back to film that lousy '5th season', but I don't know if that film would have advanced her career. I do think that the role that she missed out on, and not her fault, was that of Marion in "Raiders of the Lost Ark." If I remember correctly, she wasn't given the role because George Lucas and/or Spielberg didn't think she was right for the part (am I right?). If that's the case, then Lucas/Spielberg were wrong, wrong, wrong. She would have been terrific in that role and Lucas and/or Spielberg were obviously out to lunch in not considering her for the part. I mean, Karen Allen did a really good job as Marion, but can't help thinking that Stephanie Zimbalist would have might have given it that extra 'oomph,' And, of course, Raiders turned out to be a mega-hit, so being cast in that movie might have been big deal for her and might have given her access to other film roles.

I understand what you're saying, and there's a part of me that can go along with that, but after the first few episodes he/Butler, et al must have seen how great Zimbalist and Brosnan were together. And he could have built on that going forward, and that's certainly the feeling I got during the first season. That is, that we were going to be shown two adults, who are going to be romantically involved with each other, and that aspect of their relationship wouldn't get in the way of their being able to work together. We sort of got some of that, but it really would have been a kick to see Holt and Steele in a fully evolved, fun adult relationship. Oh well, woulda, shoulda, coulda:) And I agree, while I like/liked Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers, I never really got the sense that their Hart characters really had anything to do during any specific episodes. Of course, I have a vague recollection of the series as I haven't seen it in years, but I do remember thinking that there was something missing there. And maybe it was the so-so writing, or the predictable action that was going to take place at any given time, who knows? In short, I don't believe that Holt/Steele were ever going to be as 'boring' (apologies to anyone who is a Hart to Hart fan) as that couple/show was for me. But, again, I'm biased towards really liking the Holt/Steele characters and the actors who played them.

Hi Bali: while I have the dvd's, these days I'm opting to watch it for free on the dailymotion.com site. It's just easier for me to access specific episodes/seasons whenever I want and wherever I happen to be. And Bastet, I also agree with you on the ridiculous notion that two adults who are so sexually attracted to each other would continue to be celibate . I used to have a good opinion of Michael Gleason's writing/thinking about this series, but reading his proposal on how he wanted to continue the series is just so disappointing. He/Butler and other writers involved in this series wrote Holt and Steele as being smart, witty, sexy, sophisticated adults who were madly and wildly attracted to each other. And as it has been previously mentioned, on numerous occasions, while it sort of made sense to have them be apart in the first season, taking into account Laura's issues with people leaving her, it made no sense to continue to keep the characters apart. Which again doesn't make sense to me as Gleason and/or Butler appeared to be fans of classic movies; if that was the case, why couldn't they see that their lead characters could be emotionally and sexually involved and still be appealing to the fans? I've watched the Thin Man movies and love the idea that Nick and Nora, while being married, still have the 'hots' for each other and it doesn't take anything away from the case/cases they're investigating. I think that the writers/show runners missed the boat by not going this route; they short-changed the characters and the fans by having it end in such a lacklustre and emotionally disappointing way.

Interestingly, I stumbled on another forum discussing this series, and one of the 'member's posted some interesting information about the ending of the series. The comments are a few years old, and probably not news to a lot of people here, but it's sort of new to me and iI find the information/opinion very interesting so I'm re-posting it here. The post/information was put forward by someone named FanCollector at: https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/remington-steele-on-dvd. 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. 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 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. Me: what do you think, about the above? Personally, I like the idea of the two of them being married and carrying on the detective agency; after all if it worked for Nick and Nora Charles, why wouldn't it work for Holt and Steele? I don't care for the idea that Gleason had about having the relationship remain unconsummated; really? Why would fans go along with that premise?

That's the episode. Thank you for letting me know, and I'll put it on my list to watch it this long weekend. So were we, as the audience, wrong in thinking that Steele and Laura were going to spend the night in the stable doing something else besides bunking up with the horses? If so, why then, let us infer that they're having a sexual relationship but not actually have the characters acknowledge it?

I totally agree with you on this, and I think that story line set out above would have definitely worked better. I also didn't understand why the writers wouldn't give the Steele character closure re: what is name was; details about his mother/childhood, etc. before having Daniel die. I mean what does that say about how the writers of that last season felt about the Steele character? I thought it was mean-spirited that they didn't give Steele the closure on this matter and another example of how the writers had basically given up on the show. They sat around their pools, with drinks, and phoned in their 'scripts' to NBC (at least that's how I picture the scene in my mind). On a different subject/episode, did I imagine that Steele and Laura ended up in a stable/barn door, could have been raining, and they shut the door and the inference was that they were going to spend the night there, together? Or am I just remembering this happening in some great fanfic that I read? I want to say that it happened in Steele Spawning, but I'm not 100% sure as I haven't seen that episode in a while and haven't yet re-watched it. Would someone be able to confirm that this happened, or is this an early morning, pre-work, hallucination? Any feedback would be very appreciated . I am getting a real kick out of being able to talk about the ins and outs of this series even after all these years. It's liberating being able to talk about the series with people who care about the characters/show as much I apparently still do.:)

Sorry the episode wasn't Sensitive Steele, but Forged Steele. I was so caught up in writing the response, that I got the episode titles mixed-up:)

I totally agree with you regarding the Roselli character; shnore is right. I mean why offer Laura 'hamburger' when she already had 'sirloin steak'?? The introduction of Roselli, was a non-starter as he really had nothing to offer Laura besides being sort of attractive (although not my type at all). Why make her/Steele 'work' for 4+ years to get to a point where they were actually in sync and not only loved, but liked each other, and then throw in that 'nothingburger' Roselli? I mean Roselli was never going to be Laura's intellectual or her emotional equal; that role was already taken by Steele, so why bother? Oh I know, it was to piss off the fans of the show . My opinion was, and continues to be, that the writers were trying to get back at NBC for wanting to dump the series, and so decided to screw with the behaviours of the characters. I think I read somewhere that Michael Gleason stated that he was sorry about how the series ended, but that never cut any ice with me. He was the show runner and he could have chosen to end the show with the characters being married and continuing to be the detectives/investigators we had grown to love, but he/Butler decided otherwise. And, colour me bitter, but I still don't understand why they had opted to have Steele not tell Laura about his immigration problems; that still sticks in my throat. In the episode Sensitive Steele, we watched him tell Laura that he was being framed for a robbery that he didn't commit and she believed him and helped him/them resolve the issue. But a couple of episodes later, I'm supposed to now believe that he can't tell her that the immigration department is after him and that he needs help if he wants to stay in the U.S.? Nope, not buying it, no way, now how. And Bastet, I also love the episodes that you mentioned.

Until I started to re-watch the series, I hadn't thought about it for years; and then the pandemic hit and I thought that maybe re-watching older tv series might help me get through the never-ending days and the stress that is part of my Covid-19 experience. I remembered that a friend had bought me all the episodes/seasons of Remington Steele and I thought to myself, why not go back in time and experience the series again. And I'm glad that I did, as I'm having fun watching the interplay between the Holt and Steele, not to mention his linking his knowledge of old films to nearly every case they investigate. I'd forgotten just how much I liked the Steele and Holt characters and their version of Los Angeles. And you're right, in the beginning, he would get the wrong solution, based on a film, and Laura would come up with the right answer. I also like the same episodes that you mentioned: the one where Laura's house is blown up and she ends up at Steele's place; where they steal the painting from the museum, and the episodes filmed in Acapulco. I just finished re-watching the episode, filmed in Ireland, where Steele loses his memory, and thinks he's either Orson Welles, Otto Preminger or Joseph Cotten, and which is tied to a 'crime' he's trying to remember seeing. I like it very much, as both Steele and Laura are working together to solve the case and I can't forget the lovely Irish scenery. And I also love the Mancini theme and agree that the themes of series set in the 80s were good. Just as a side note: during one of my trips to Los Angeles, we rented a car to drive to Century City and got to see the Century Plaza Towers as I wanted to see where Laura's 'offices' were located. I had a great time checking out the building.

Hi Thomas Crown: (love the reference:) One of the things that first drew me to this series, outside of the fact that Brosnan and Zimbalist were both so good-looking, was the idea that Laura ran the agency and the fact that Steele was someone who loved old movies and referenced them whenever he could. Since I am a huge fan of classic movies, he had me at "Death Takes a Holiday, Evelyn Venable, Paramount, 1934." Don't get me wrong, I very much appreciated that Steele happened to be played by the very beautiful-looking Mr. Brosnan, but just based on the fact that the character loved movies, he could have looked like James Cagney, and I would have loved him. I also remember reading that they were looking at rebooting the series and making it a 'comedy' with the lead being the daughter of Laura and Remington and am glad that it never took off. In case the people behind the idea of a reboot had forgotten, the whole 'hook' of the show was the two leads. The chemistry between Brosnan and Zimbalist was off the chart (not including that horror show of the fifth season), which was magic and something that doesn't happen every day. Besides, I appreciated that the show was acted by adults who played smart and witty adults. Adults who led a somewhat sophisticated life-style, which I appreciated then, as I do now. At this point, I have watched the series up until almost the end of Season 3, but have gone back and forth between favourite episodes in Season 1, 2 and 4. I find episodes like "To Stop A Steele", in Season 1, or "Have I got a Steele for You" in Season 3, funny and romantic. In both those episodes we have Laura and Steele actually acknowledging their feelings and acting on them, which is always fun to watch. Do you have any favourite episodes or seasons?

That's great, thanks. 🙂