Remington Steele - Season 1 [DVD] [1983]

The name is Steele. Remington Steele.

Before the advent of reality TV and gritty cop shows, detective shows were apparently the thing -- and the 1980s show "Remington Steele" was a standout. The mixture of humor, romantic tension and high-gloss detecting is constantly entertaining.

Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) worked hard to become a private eye, only to discover that sexism was holding her back. So she invented a fake boss, Remington Steele, who was always conveniently absent when clients came to talk to his "assistant." The deceptive little system works perfectly... until Laura tries to protect a multimillion-dollar jewel collection, and runs into a man (Pierce Brosnan) who now claims to be Remington Steele.

The flesh-and-blood Remington Steele is dapper, intelligent, loves old movies, and is a master criminal. Laura can't expose him without exposing her own fraud, so she comes to a tenuous truce with him: She'll let him stay, and finance his apartment and living, if he behaves himself and doesn't mess around with her detecting. Her assistants Murphy and Bernice (James Read and Janet DeMay) don't like it, but they have to accept him.

But Steele doesn't want to stay in the shadows. He begins to take an interest in solving cases, and helps Laura find a missing video game genius, deal with a body in a winery, and encounter the Yakuza, murderous fellow P.I.s, B-movie queens, smut publishers, insomniacs, old lovers, divorce lawyers, and much more. All the while, Laura tries to figure out who Steele really is, as they try to figure out how they feel about each other.

Humorous detective stories are not an easy thing to do -- they can easily descend into slapstick or idiocy. "Remington Steele" straddled the line perfectly. The first two episodes are rather grim, but by episode three we have Brosnan's charming smirks and the slightly oddball cases that the show became known for. Okay, maybe Laura's on-the-run striptease was a bit much, but Steele's look of shock is worth it.

Surprisingly, not much has aged about this show. Sure, we have some ludicrous 80s hair and clothing, and computers were in their infancy. But the storylines are still hugely entertaining, the sort of stories that could be easily transferred (well, most of the time) to the 1920s, 2000s, or most places in between. And they're peppered with old movie references, courtesy of Steele's little obsession.

Pierce Brosnan, pre-Bond, gives Steele the right amounts of earnestness and smoothness, quoting old movies and enthusiastically needling Murphy. Zimbalist does an almost equal job; she gets a bit smug in some scenes, but overall carries it well as the Beatrice to Pierce's Benedick. The two stars have remarkably electric chemisty -- a shame they didn't like each other.

DeMay and Read aren't as good -- they were only in one season -- primarily because their characters seem rather one note. And the various guest stars are very good, whether old ladies or distinguished actors, such as Zimbalist's father Efram Jr. And keep an eye out for a young Sharon Stone in a very brief role.

A deeply entertaining and well-written series, "Remington Steele" managed to bridge the gulf between detective shows and dry comedy. Fun, tense and intelligent.

This was a truly stylish television show that tapped into the kind of Stanley Donen light mystery romance that is missing from the movies today. Pierce Brosnan and Stephanie Zimbalist were perfectly cast and the show only got better with each episode. The Henry Mancini theme music captured the feel of this light and sophisticated show tinged with humor perfectly. It was as evocative and as much a part of the show as his "Peter Gunn" theme had been decades before.

Laura Holt (Zimbalist) couldn't get her private detective agency off the ground in spite of her skills until she invented the phantom agency head, Remington Steele. Business was booming and everything was going swell until Pierce Brosnan shows up and assumes the roll of the nonexistent Steele, both around town and with clients. An uneasy alliance was formed that to the delight of fans moved more and more towards the romantic as time went by.

Brosnan's Steele was debonair and stylish, his past a shady mystery ala' "To Catch a Thief." Each season Laura discovered new things about his past in Ireland and his exploits in other countries. Steele was also a film buff and would make constant references to films of the 1930's and 1940's he would recall pertaining to the case. It made all us film buffs who knew just what he was talking about feel like we were insiders, and was one of the many charms of this wonderful show.

Brosnan and Zimbalist were a terrific screen couple in the tradition of all those ones we remember fondly. One could say they were our generations Nick and Nora Charles. There was a fun anticipation for viewers as week after week we watched the two become involved in a mystery while they danced around their growing affection for each other. And it was always fun as little tidbits of Steele's past were discovered by Laura.

This series was fun and sophisticated and always left you feeling good. This kind of entertaining film is missing from today's teen driven box office. It is also missing from the "reality" driven television we see so much of today. Remington Steele filled a void left for those seeking the kind of fun escapism which all but disappeared when the Hollywood studio system began to collapse.

Remington Steele was something really special in television. Every one of the episodes was enjoyable and finally, after years of waiting, the first season of this truly fantastic show is being released. Every lover of classic films was in love with this show. It was a refreshing reminder of what television could, and should be. I have this on my wish list to pick up and you'll want it on yours as well.

I don't remember the first time I watched an episode of Remington Steele, but I can tell you for sure what time of the week it was. Around 2004, one of the channels on Israeli television decided to put up an unannounced mystery show strip on Saturday afternoon. It would begin at about 15:30 with Remington Steele, go on with an episode of Murder, She Wrote and climax at about 17:15 with the holy grail of mystery TV, Columbo. It was through this strip that I got to know and love dear old Remington.

I don't think there's any particular need to elaborate on how and why this show is so good, giving the viewer a great mystery plot, wonderful comedy from the two leads, and don't forget that romance wasn't on short supply either. It's all you could ask for, really.

Now, regrading the actual product: I've read a review here that complained about the ugliness of the packaging. I, actually, got a bit of a kick out of it, since it quite closely resmebles the packaging of old commercial VHS releases, both in its size and in the way it opens. Just like seeing the show, it gives you a bit of time travel. I didn't expect the video or audio quality to be anything special, so I really don't mind that they really aren't. The one star I decided to knock down is for the lack of meaningful extras. You do get an audio commentary channel from the show's creators Robert Butler and Michael Gleason on a few episodes, and one of the discs contains some "featurettes" about the show, but my feeling is that it could have been better in this aspect. It's also a shame that this is the only season available on Region 2.

All in all, if you love this show, you'll love this DVD!