Remington Steele ('Film' Friday)

If you are my facebook friend, then you have most likely seen my new profile picture, showing Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan in the NBC show Remington Steele. The reason that is my current profile is because I am regretting the fact that I have now watched every Steele episode available on Hulu. There is a fourth season and 2 wrap-up movie style episodes, but they are currently not avaliable on Hulu (I'd love to see them though, I'm trying an inter-library loan search).

First, what started me on my Steele addiction - I was looking for a gift for my dad for his birthday. My dad really likes the Rockford Files. (another fun show, stars James Garner) I was looking for something similar to that. My mom suggested Remington Steele, and all of a sudden I had a new obsession!

The Remington Steele opening sequence for the first season sums up the show fairly well - it goes like this, narrated by Laura Holt, one of the main characters:

"How's this for a deep dark secret? The great detective Remington Steele? He doesn't exist. I invented him. Follow - I always loved adventure, so I studied and worked and apprenticed, and put my name on a office, but absolutely no one knocked down my door. A female private investigator seemed so 'feminine'. So, I invented a superior. A decidedly masculine superior. Suddenly there were cases around the block! Until the day that he walked in, with his big blue eyes and mysterious past, and before I knew it, he'd assumed Remington Steele's identity. Now I do the work and he takes the bows. It's a dangerous way to live, but as long as people buy it. We never mix business with pleasure - well, ALMOST never. I don't even know his real name!"

So, that sums up the plot! The series advances along with their relationship. Laura's two friends who helped her start the business leave after the second season, and then they have to keep up their facade for the new secretary. In the third season, Remington has become more of an equal partner, but they can only solve mysteries together if they put their personal lives aside (meaning they cannot date one another). In the fourth season, the couple starts discovering more about his mysterious past as Remington opens up to Laura.