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Post by Lauryn on Jan 1, 2005 23:22:19 GMT -5
Since we’ve all been ringing in the new year, I wonder how Remington Steele would fare as a television premiere in 2005? (Imagine for ease of argument and peace of mind that Brosnan and Zimbalist are the same age as in ’83.)
Would it be re-engineered (more boardroom, less bedroom) in the vein of “The Apprentice” with Laura Holt auditioning cutthroat contestants to be the new face of Remington Steele Investigations? Who could deny the top spot to a mysterious conman who finagles you (gratis, no questions asked) the use of a private jet for a week? (You gotta admit, the camera loves him.)
We’re all, I suspect, old fashioned enough to hope that RS would, instead, be produced as a scripted one-hour show employing real actors, writers, and directors -- not just footage editors, LOL! (I hear everything old is new again, and if it costs more at least you have syndication.)
If not on NBC, it might find a home on cable, and Mr. Steele could drop articles of clothing as often as he does film annotations. Maybe his movie mania would be less benign and more dark, brooding, and obsessive. Laura would have gossipy gal pals to confide in about her love life (or appalling lack of same) who, after perusing the goods, would give Mr. Steele a sexually suggestive nickname.
A check of the last census shows 22,000 women are now employed as private investigators, some presumably without male figureheads – but we could still have a similar dynamic. If Steele were to insinuate himself into the picture LH would have to concede his worth as a one man publicity / client magnet and slap his name on the door.
The producers / writers might scuttle all those quaint Agatha Christie-style plots and go the CSI / Cold Case route. Since TV investigators seem to be lost without evidence bags and lab coats Murphy might not have gotten the ax after season one. (Someone has to fetch the autopsy reports.) As a crime fighting forensic babe, Laura would gaze longingly at Mr. Steele under black light but fear a mutual exchange of bodily fluids. It would contaminate the crime scene, no?
Of course none of this is really compatible with the whole glamorous. celebrity detective thing. That does seem so irrepressibly 80's, LOL! Steele could still take the bows, I suppose, while unidentified Laura squints at clues through a microscope.
I suspect the “will they or won’t they” could be arousing but without the entertainment value it had in the original -- foreplay and byplay between the sexes is nearly a lost art. Maybe they would cut to the chase sooner – or pretend (sublimate, sublimate) it’s all in the viewer’s imagination. RS did let the scenario go on far too long, IMO, but there was fun to be had – at least in the early days.
Oh, well. Don’t mind me. Just thinking out loud.
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Post by Ace on Jan 2, 2005 13:07:27 GMT -5
LOL! I could imagine a version of Laura interviewing potential "bosses" and putting them through their paces, but I couldn't see "Steele" actually playing along, sounds like far too much work for what for him starts out as an absolute lark.
I do like the idea of cable giving us more than his undone buttons but I really could do without any in depth forensics even if it meant Murphy keeping his job. I am all CSI's out and I hardley watch any of it's 86 versions on TV.
Ace
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Post by Yuliya on Jan 3, 2005 10:29:17 GMT -5
Actually, I can't imagine why Laura would interview prospective bosses. Are you implying in 2005 a fraud would have no need for secrecy?  But at any rate, Mr. Steele wouldn't be interviewed. He'd do something daring and unexpectable, just the way he did in the original series, or even Mildred did, too; he'll just assume the role the way Laura wouldn't be able to reject him. |
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Post by Myrtle Groggins on Jan 11, 2005 21:49:31 GMT -5
You ladies have a point. In today's world, it would be almost impossible to assume an identity the way Steele did......or is it?  Point made above about how both Mildred and Steele wormed their way into Laura's agency. Is it any wonder Murphy and Bernice got the ax? They weren't very creative. Bernice probably filled out an application!  And Murphy was probably invited in by Laura, after all, they did go to 'detective school' together and he was the most likely suspect.....I mean most available male to assist her in the agency. When a male is needed, Murphy will do in a pinch.  Too bad he couldn't fill the empty unused shoes of Mr. Steele. I would like to see the show as a husband and wife team. Meet in the beginning like they did, lust for each other for a few hours and off to Vegas for the hitching, then back to LA as a married detective team. That way, if the show was on cable, we could have some really steamy love scenes too. (Did I just say that?  ) I don't know why the powers that be think we wouldn't like a show if the couple were married. I know there have been lots of successful TV shows about married people. Of course if Steele is married, he can't date all the gorgeous guest stars we know this popular show would have. And Laura would have to kick away all the fabulous suiters.  I guess we can't have everything. Or maybe it could be a show about a detective agency starring Laura, Remington, Mildred, Murphy, Bernice, and George Mulch, and call it "Steele, Inc" or maybe "O*l*d F*r*i*e*n*d*s".  Just a thought. Or maybe they could dump the agency, let Steele be a nightclub entertainer with Laura as the housewife trying to worm her way into his act. It could be called "I Love Remington". ;D |
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Post by sparklingblue on Jan 14, 2005 14:48:58 GMT -5
Love your ideas, Myrtle. Very amusing! ;D
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Post by Lauryn on Jan 15, 2005 22:08:24 GMT -5
Not unheard of is it? Steele and Laura’s forebears Nick and Nora Charles did plenty of high-style detecting and canoodling and they seemed to be born married to each other. Quite partial, by all the subtle signs, Mrs. C, of a good, stiff, um, drink after dinner – or even breakfast.
The only area in which I’d feel they uncorked the champagne a bit early is by losing out on all that lovely sexual tension in season one of the show (at its glorious height then, it seems to me). Later episodes, though, have what has come to be known as a “Mr and Mrs Steele” married ease to them that played rather well. If it really meant we’d get a more adult (and I don’t mean just sexual) exploration of two strong-willed but interdependent characters and their relationship rather than having to endure the stunted, essentially childish, and finally exhausting “will they, or won’t they?” scenarios that played out from one season to the next, I’d be all for it. And I doubt too many would miss the double whammy of “Bonds of Steele” and the unfortunate fifth season.
I would miss, too, as you note, Mr. Steele being able to flirt with other women, at least with his bachelor’s eye for the main chance, but if the married Steeles were having HBO-style sex in every room of the house, I suppose that’s a nice trade-off. Did I read somewhere that Stephanie Zimbalist doesn’t do nude scenes? Not a problem I guess, for the show’s female audience. I expect their attention will be elsewhere.
I have to say I’ve never thought of them getting hitched that soon (a stretch, maybe, unless you intend that the characters are tweaked a bit). They’re both mysteries to each other, Steele in particular, from Laura’s POV, and neither as we know them is the marrying kind. Still, it could be done, with some imagination. I’m not averse to a v. similar armchair theory. I generally hold, at least in fanfic, to “no sex, please, it’s first season” but if there were ever “early onset” shagging, it would have to be in the time frame of “Tempered” as virtual strangers, before too much defensiveness / water under the bridge puts the kibosh on Laura's hormones.
LOL!!!! Since SZ has the musical pedigree, that might work better the other way round, but most anyone can learn to play bongos, so, yeah, I think PB could handle being Desi...
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Post by Lauryn on Jan 15, 2005 22:23:22 GMT -5
LOL! I could imagine a version of Laura interviewing potential "bosses" and putting them through their paces, but I couldn't see "Steele" actually playing along, sounds like far too much work for what for him starts out as an absolute lark. I guess the point is that he wouldn't. Play along, that is, but he'd still beat out the competition. Lucky you. My spouse watches all of them. CSI-Miami, CSI-New York, CSI-Poughkeepsie. CSI-Kalamazoo... You have to admit that Laura fits the profile. Stalwart professional. All work and no play. Social life perpetually on hold. Mr. Steele could certainly liven things up as long as he doesn't give in to his penchant for planting evidence on victims where there is none, LOL! |
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Post by Yuliya on Jan 17, 2005 12:45:51 GMT -5
I would miss, too, as you note, Mr. Steele being able to flirt with other women, at least with his bachelor’s eye for the main chance... Rreally? Why'd you have to miss it? He managed it well in Premium without irritating Laura. Providing it's done with taste and style, we wouldn't have to miss it. If the partners have enough trust for each other (which is a must for a married couple, at leats on TV), a certain amount of flirting can just be a part they both play. |
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Post by Ace on Jan 17, 2005 13:18:35 GMT -5
Premium might just be the best bit of flirting in the series; watching Mr Steele consciously use his sexual wiles to get his way withe Obit girl is a thing of beauty. It cracks me up everytime when he tells Laura they can all go out to lunch together. ;D
Ace
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Post by Myrtle Groggins on Jan 28, 2005 22:47:21 GMT -5
I didn't mean he couldn't flirt when the case called for it. I was thinking more of the dates Steele and Laura had with others. Remember there was one season where they attempted to date everyone in sight, seemingly to make each other jealous. Was it the thrid or fourth season? Personally, I prefer when Laura and Remington are with each other. I don't particularly care about their dating others. I agree about Nick and Nora Charles. Never could figure out why Nick and Nora could be a married couple and still gain audience interest, but as soon as any of the single detective pairs got together, the audience lost interest. I was never interested in the "will they or won't they?" scenario. I was always most interested in "when will they get together so they can get on with the stories". If the audience was no longer interested in the series once the couple "got together" a la "Moonlighting", then I guess the stories the series dealt with weren't that interesting. My opinion is that "Remington Steele" would have worked much smoother had the two gotten married right off, then worked together - including trying to hide his "secret identity". JMO  |
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Post by Ace on Jan 29, 2005 1:01:31 GMT -5
I have to agree with Lauryn, I can't see either of them marrying that early on. It just wouldn't fit either of the characters as written. They had too many relationship and trust issues to overcome, too much that level of commitment that early.
I had no desire to see them like Hart to Hart , too sweet, too rippleless, too settled. Nick and Nora are wonderful couple but really their films are based so much more around the mystery and while clever and funny they're hardly sizzling or sexy and their relationship wasn't adversarial the way Steele and Laura's often was.
There's no reason they couldn't have become lovers and been a couple (albeit with bumpy ride) though by the 2nd season. That they didn't strains credulity, especially by the 3rd season which is I guess why they felt the need to break them up because having them dating and not be lovers after all that time was silly.
I don't think having them lovers would have hurt the mystery or even lessened the tension, it might have just raised the stakes and thye'd have had new issues to struggle over and fight thorugh. Like how escalating intmacy affected their working relationship or how they behaved on cases when they had to go undercover, or even say flirt to get information.
They went backwards when they should have went fowards earlier. They just wound up frustrating and teasing much of the audience.
Ace
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Post by Lauryn on Jan 29, 2005 23:17:34 GMT -5
Interest doesn’t have to wane afterwards if the show’s writing and acting is up to the challenge. Whenever I hear the “Moonlighting Fallacy” invoked I want to cry to the heavens. It’s merely a convenient scapegoat. Viewer apathy had far less to do with a letdown after David and Maddie rolled around on the floor and more to do with Cybill Shepherd going AWOL after getting pregnant with twins and whole episodes being devoted by default to Miss DiPesto and her obnoxious boyfriend, with David popping in for a cameo appearance. (Imagine RS, for great stretches, virtually without Steele and Laura.) Not to mention "what the f***!!" scenarios like Maddie marrying some stranger on a train and other debacles.
The implosion of the whole enterprise was imminent due to burnout and all the rampaging egos, and not just those of the stars. Even the writers and producers sabotaged each others’ work. The results were too painful to watch and many, consequently, didn’t.
Moonlighting aside, and to speak to your other point, I don’t get the sense most viewers tuned in to RS for the mystery plots, or the overall quality of the writing, first season possibly excepted. They got hooked by Steele and Laura, first and foremost. They’re really the only element, IMO, that lifts the show above the ordinary.
To give an (admittedly imperfect) analogy, most modern readers would have only minor difficulty sussing out the solution to a Sherlock Holmes mystery, but are still fascinated by an indelible and thoroughly complex central character (though Conan Doyle’s depiction of time and place is part of the appeal there, too).
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Post by Lauryn on Jan 29, 2005 23:43:03 GMT -5
To be sure, the Nick and Nora parallel is by no means exact, though you can use it to play advocate, as I did then, for the proposition that married couples can work and play together in film and in fiction, without losing the spark. As you note, in the case of Mr. and Mrs. C, the mystery plot is more integral to the whole and I’d add that relationship-wise nothing is allowed to cut deep enough to spoil the breezy atmos. (But at least they're never boring, like Hart to Hart!) One-upmanship between the parties in The Thin Man series is mostly an excuse for a quip, cocktail glass in hand, at one or the other’s expense --- nothing remotely like the uncivilized gloves-off bouts that would be par for the course were the Steeles bound in the ultimate power struggle of matrimony. Notwithstanding their uber-competitiveness, Steele and Laura are knotty, complicated, often "yin and yang" characters that would end up in the loony bin or otherwise kicking over the traces if they ever tried any smooth as silk notions of marital bliss.
I’d agree here, as lovers, because I don’t really see marriage in the cards for the characters (as written) for some time. But they could plausibly have had a sexual relationship by some point in the second season or the third at the very least: with new conflicts and consequences, personal and professional (raising the stakes on all those fronts as Ace points out) and one with a dose of reality instead of contrivance. The refusal to take the leap, put up or shut up, in four years rather emasculates Steele and makes Laura, who’s supposed to be no easily crushed damsel, appear weak, neurotic, and fragile. The writers / producers also managed by the conspicuous lack of it, to make sex define the territory more than it should, and shortchanged other sides to their partnership and their individuality.
And how! And with Steele and Laura not allowed a natural progression the show’s writing was in the same boat. Possibilities were closed off in terms of the freshness of the show’s concept and storylines in favor of an increasingly cynical manipulation of viewers, by which time the thrill of a consummation devoutly to be wished had passed for many.
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And Murphy was probably invited in by Laura, after all, they did go to 'detective school' together and he was the most likely suspect.....I mean most available male to assist her in the agency. When a male is needed, Murphy will do in a pinch. 
Too bad he couldn't fill the empty unused shoes of Mr. Steele.
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