Favorite Episodes: Tell Us How You Really Steele!

[bigskygirl]

My favorite episodes was when Laura's family came to visit.  The one episode where the one guy who lived with Laura shows up asking for help and the dead body kept being moved.  The one story where someone(s) came up with the great tasting cookie with no calories, and the last one ends up being eaten by the mascot.

[MyrtleGroggins]

Oh man, you guys.  Can I just list every episode ever?  Except that one, you know.  But seriously, if I limit myself slightly, my (current) top favorites include:

"Steele Trap" because of Myrtle Groggins, natch.

"A Good Night's Steele" as RS grows increasingly sleep-deprived throughout the episode.

"Steele's Gold" with Murphy becoming disheveled and treasure hungry - whenever he manically shouts "GOLD?!?" with his wild-eyed stare, I collapse in a fit of giggles.

"Red Holt Steele" because I 100% legit replayed the song Laura plays on the piano until I was able to play it myself on my much less fancypants piano, so I could figure out what it was (ah, the days before Shazam)

"Steele Knuckles and Glass Jaws" because I love the mirrored fight scenes from the boxing ring and between RS and the bad guy.

"Steele Eligible" as the contest (and contestants) devolve into pure absurdity and obnoxiousness!  Plus, injury leads to hilarity.

"High-flying Steele" for "WOLSEY, WOLSEY, and ... NICKERSON!" Yes, your actual trapeze artist gets third billing, sure.

"Steele Sweet on You" when Laura wears the toothpaste costume? I die.  Also, "TIC.........douloureux."

"Elementary Steele" SO MUCH LOVE. Also, guest-star recycling!

"Steele Your Heart Away" with Mildred trying to conk RS on the head at every opportunity!

"Cast in Steele" because I swear to GOD that there was a Diagnosis Murder episode with this EXACT. SAME. PLOT.

Also the episodes with Major Descoine - so tense!  Even with frequent rewatching, they keep me on the edge of my seat!  Plus RS and his wacky running!

Basically, I could watch Season 2 on infinite repeat, and really would be delighted to watch any episode again, if it came right down to it (:

[Bastet]

"Steele Sweet on You" when Laura wears the toothpaste costume? I die.  Also, "TIC.........douloureux."

That was written by Susan Baskin, my favorite of the show's writers, and she said on the DVD commentary that her dentist brother or brother-in-law mentioned tic douloureux and she just knew that had to be part of an episode.

I love that episode, too, for so many reasons, not the least of which is MaryEdith Burrell as Frances.

[BkWurm1]

"Cast in Steele" because I swear to GOD that there was a Diagnosis Murder episode with this EXACT. SAME. PLOT.

 

I swear he did it more than one time too.  I didn't see "Death in the Daytime" which is the episode on Diagnosis Murder that you are talking about but I caught another episode where the exact same thing happened.  Same plot, even exact lines lifted from Remington Steele.   I remember watching it and feeling like I was going crazy. 

Sadly, I can't remember which episode it was.  It might have been the very episode where Stephanie Zimbelist guest starred.  (The Seven Deadly Sins) though maybe that was just the episode where they lifted the character of Remington Steele (jewel thief following jewels with dubious claims of ownership) and gave it to Stephanie to play, I can't remember, but I did discover that Michael Gleason was the guy behind both shows so...does that mean he plagiarized himself?

[Bastet]

"Steele Trap" because of Myrtle Groggins, natch.

I enjoy just about any take-off on Agatha Christie's Ten Little [insert Pejorative of the Times Here], and that episode is no exception.  It has a nice cast of characters, and I like their discussion about him arranging it so they'd be sharing a room, rather than just letting things happen.  (He certainly didn't learn his lesson that if he'd stop manipulating, they'd be sleeping together.)  I also like "Somebody else saw the movie" when faking "Myrtle's" death doesn't work.

"A Good Night's Steele" as RS grows increasingly sleep-deprived throughout the episode.

"Believe me, Laura, I'm not trying to sleep you.  I'm just trying to sleep with you."  This is one of my favorite instances of their going undercover.

"Steele Eligible" as the contest (and contestants) devolve into pure absurdity and obnoxiousness!  Plus, injury leads to hilarity.

"Someone is going around killing bachelors."  "In that case, Laura, will you marry me?"  I love this one, too, and his broken leg - then, legs - do make for some wonderful comedy.  I love when Laura returns to his apartment not knowing the ditz is gone and misinterprets the sounds she hears coming from the bedroom.  At first, she quietly leaves, but then she comes bursting back in.  Ha!

"Steele Your Heart Away" with Mildred trying to conk RS on the head at every opportunity!

Another one of my favorites.  "Mr. Steele, you're not Mr. Steele" is one of the series' best lines.  And the scene in the hayloft is certainly worth the price of admission.

Vintage Steele is my favorite, with Red Holt Steele an extremely close second.  No coincidence they're both Laura-centric.  I also love the Descoine episodes, and Dreams of Steele.  In fact, while I also quite like Elementary Steele, I think Dreams of Steele should have been the season two finale, since it calls back to the pilot.  Plus, it has Judith Light, one of TV's most underrated actors. 

Another favorite is Beg, Borrow or Steele.  I just love them getting progressively ripe and frustrated.  There are so many nice moments between them and so many funny lines (the entire "We seem to have misplaced Miss Holt's urn" scene is perfection) I completely wave away how stupid it is the bodies were conclusively identified and how their reported deaths didn't bring an hysterical Frances into the mix.  In other falsely reported deaths, I also really enjoy Premium Steele.

[BkWurm1]

Love all the ones listed. I'm also a fan of Suburban Steele when Remington volunteers them to babysit her sister' skids. I love the stakeout of the house with the fake baby radio and attacking the mailman. Oh and when Steele and Donald hide and bond in the back of the cosmetic's truck.

[Happytobehere]

"Cast in Steele" because I swear to GOD that there was a Diagnosis Murder episode with this EXACT. SAME. PLOT:

There are at least two Diagnosis Murder episodes that I have seen within the past couple of months on the Hallmark Channel where the episode was clearly a recycled RS episode, down to the exact same dialogue. In fact, the first one I saw was driving me crazy because I knew that I had never seen the episode, yet I knew exactly what was going to happen before it happened. It was not until half way through that I realized I had seen the same exact episode on RS. I wondered how they could get away with such a blatant rip-off, but I guess if the show writer was the same, double-dipping would not be actionable.

[GHScorpiosRule]

That's not odd. Stephen J. Cannell did the same thing. A plot he used on Riptide was used again in another if his shows starring Mario Van Peebles.

But since this show and Diagnosis Murder weren't run by the same people, I guess it is odd after all.

[BkWurm1]

There are at least two Diagnosis Murder episodes that I have seen within the past couple of months on the Hallmark Channel where the episode was clearly a recycled RS episode, down to the exact same dialogue. In fact, the first one I saw was driving me crazy because I knew that I had never seen the episode, yet I knew exactly what was going to happen before it happened. It was not until half way through that I realized I had seen the same exact episode on RS

 

Do you remember which episode it was?  I had the same experience but it was back when the show was still on the air and now it's driving me crazy since I can't remember which one it was.  I know it wasn't the Cast in Steele rip off. 

 

But since this show and Diagnosis Murder weren't run by the same people, I guess it is odd after all.

 

My understanding is that Michael Gleason was behind both shows. 



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You know, I don't really mind recycling a plot, but when they reuse actual quotes from the script, that is just too damn lazy. 

[Happytobehere]

Do you remember which episode it was?  I had the same experience but it was back when the show was still on the air and now it's driving me crazy since I can't remember which one it was. 

Sorry, I'm dreadful with names, people and shows. I just remember being dumbfounded at a blatant ripoff of a show that was not off the air for a considerable amount of time at that point.

[Rinaldo]

That's not odd. Stephen J. Cannell did the same thing. A plot he used on Riptide was used again in another if his shows starring Mario Van Peebles.

Yes, it even got some publicity at the time, that the Sonny Spoon episode "Never Attend Your Old High School Reunion" was the reused script "Be True To Your School" from Riptide three years earlier. In that case, a writers' strike had delayed the start of the fall season and the various series starting production were finding various clever ways to get around the unavailability of writers (the same fall, a reboot of Mission: Impossible said it would use scripts from the old series, though in the end they only used one or two). I don't know the story with Diagnosis: Murder, though.

[WendyCR72]

Huh, as a side note, I have the 2 reboot MI seasons on DVD (they are available if you didn't know), and I remember when ABC commissioned it. It did well enough post strike for a second season but then got shuffled to Sundays and got killed. But it was actually decent and had eye candy with Thaao Penghlis and Antony Hamilton, too.  :-)

[GHScorpiosRule]

Do you remember which episode it was? I had the same experience but it was back when the show was still on the air and now it's driving me crazy since I can't remember

Holy Crap! I'm watching the episode now- "Cast in Steele" and the Diagnosis Murder episode was "Death in the Daytime" that featured a few Young & The Restless actors playing themselves.

[BkWurm1]

Holy Crap! I'm watching the episode now

 

 

Kind of messes with your mind, doesn't it?

 

Cast in Steele" and the Diagnosis Murder episode was "Death in the Daytime

 

Keep your eyes open in the future too.  I hear there is another recycled episode out there.  

Edited August 31, 2014 by BkWurm1

[Happytobehere]

Yes! I remember the Y&R crossover. It was definitely one. Now that people know the name, they can look for it and do a comparison viewing.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Kind of messes with your mind, doesn't it?

 

Keep your eyes open in the future too.  I hear there is another recycled episode out there.  

 

If I hadn't watched the Diagnosis Murder episode a couple weeks ago, it would have gone straight over my head. So, since I don't have that show on DVD and it's not aired regularly on Hallmark Movie Channel, I tried Googling, which didn't help, so I imdb'd Gleason, and he wrote only 3 Diagnosis episodes: "Death in the Daytime, How to Murder Your Lawye, and the Bela Lugosi Blues", the plots of the last two, which don't ring a bell of having been Remington Steele episodes.

[BkWurm1]

I would never have known from the summary of Death in the Daytime that it was a  Steele episode either.  I may just one day have to break down and buy season 2 of DM since all three of those episodes happen then. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

I would never have known from the summary of Death in the Daytime that it was a  Steele episode either.  I may just one day have to break down and buy season 2 of DM since all three of those episodes happen then. 

 

To be honest, the only thing that was an EXACT rip-off, was Steele opening the door to Ms. Mayo's dressing room and having a moustachioed guy with a dead woman in his arms. And flashing back to that image when Steele was telling Laura about it. Oh, of course here, the dead woman was a blonde, and in Diagnosis Murder, she was a brunette. 

 

And because I haven't slept since Sunday night, I'm going to be all nitpicky.  The dialogue was not the exact same, because clearly, "Cast" was about preserving the archives for classic films and "Death" was about Amanda, getting to play a walk on role on a soap. "Cast" was Steele giving Mayo a plaque, and "Death" was Amanda (also played by Rowell) getting handed Victoria Rowell's script and opening Rowell's door to see this mustachioed man with a dead woman in his arms.

 

And the doctor getting paged.

 

And they both had that one person writing the letter or whatever.  But yes, if you watched the episodes back to back, or are a die hard Diagnosis Murder fan (pardon the pun) and knew every single episode, then you would know the latter ripped off this show.

[BkWurm1]

No, it's clearly an adaptation to fit DM but STILL!!!

[GHScorpiosRule]

No, it's clearly an adaptation to fit DM but STILL!!!

 

Oh absolutely! But I think a poster upthread said that "Cast" and "Death" were exactly the same, word for word with respect to the dialogue and plot. Which, yes, it's clearly an adaption/rip off, but not an exact replica, if you will.

[BkWurm1]

I think the poster upthread wase going for hyperbole,  but I do remember there being dialog taken word for word from RS appearing on DM because I remember quoting it BEFORE it was had been run for the first time on DM.  Not all of it, but enough to be noticeable.  Maybe it was Death in the Daytime but I could have sworn there was another DM episode that "adapted" a Remington Steele script. 

Edited September 3, 2014 by BkWurm1

[wolfsong1965]

My favorite episodes have to be: Red Holt Steele, where thugs from Enterprow Foundation blow up Laura's house and Remington let's us in on his past a little. Steele Threads, where Laura is shot while wearing a very special jacket and Remington believes she was killed. (The scene where Remington cries over Laura's lifeless body is very revealing.) Eligible Steele, where Remington' s injuries are hilarious and Remington offhandedly asks Laura to marry him. (I had to play that line a few times to be sure that's what he said.)

[Bastet]

Steele Threads, where Laura is shot while wearing a very special jacket and Remington believes she was killed. (The scene where Remington cries over Laura's lifeless body is very revealing.)

 

I love that scene -- everything he says to her, her saying, "I hate to quit while I'm ahead," the way she figures out why everyone wants the blazer and then hops up ready to get back to work, and the way he tries to play the whole thing off by casually wiping his eyes and declaring she takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

 

It's a good episode all around.

[BkWurm1]

Ah yes, Steele Threads ranks right up as my favorite. The foot rub scene? "Flesh, but not just flesh." Swoon.

[Bastet]

It's a bit frustrating that he dismisses what she's just spent minutes telling him - saying "no one" is ever going to think of her that way when she's just given him examples of the many times it has happened - but also realistic; men can choose to go through life not examining such things.  And it's nice if you convince yourself he honestly can't fathom someone regarding her as merely a piece of tail.

[Golden Kitten]

Steele Threads is my favorite.