Customer Reviews

Remington Steele: Season Three

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The debonair ex-con-man and strait-laced detective return in the third season of "Remington Steele." This smart, funny detective series was one of the last of its kind, wonderfully odd and full of sometimes all-too-realistic crimes to be solved, and this season solidifies its tight storytelling.

During a trip to the Riviera, Laura (Stephanie Zimbalist) decides to go the distance with Steele (Pierce Brosnan) at last -- only to have him enmeshed in a web of blackmail, murder, and a precious dagger. Needless to say, that puts a damper on her romantic plans. Questions about his past crop up again when he turns up in Ireland, suffering from amnesia, after trying to discover his origins.

But Steele's past isn't the only thing on these detectives' minds: a no-calorie cookie, a dead body that has to be kept hidden, restauranteurs trying to kill a savage critic, teenage pickpockets, baseball camps, obnoxious neighbors, Maltese treasure, and three aging movie stars ask for help in finding out who is trying to kill them.

The comedy is still firmly in place: There are sinister plots centering on murder, embezzlement and Steele's attempt to redeem a teenage pickpocket, who reminds him of himself many years before. But woven in those is plenty of barbed humour, such as corporate bigwigs scrabbling on the floor for a fat-free cookie.

Having gotten a solid formula in the second season, "Remington Steele" chugged along with more odd mysteries. Okay, few of these mysteries resemble real crimes (a comic strip inspires attacks on the cartoonist?), but they are often funny, witty and intelligent.

We only get a few hints about Steele's past -- he may be from Ireland, but not much more than that. In one episode, Daniel Chalmers ropes Steele into an old scam, where Steele pretends to be the new Duke of Rutherford. Steele's reaction to this shows how far he's come, and how honest he's become over time.

At the same time, Laura has become more sensitive to his murky past, and his attempts to overcome his criminal past. Sure, Zimbalist and Brosnan disliked each other in real life, but they had electric chemistry in many of these episodes. And Mildred (Doris Roberts) gradually becomes less of a maternal figure, and more of an equal to her younger cohorts.

This season also has returning characters like Daniel Chalmers and Rocky Sullivan, and several new ones like Mulch, a bumbling entrepreneur who is always seeking the Big Moneymaker. Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Lamour and Lloyd Nolan also appear as themselves in one episode, and appear to be having lots of fun.

The third season of "Remington Steele" is steele solid and entertaining, with more exploration of the mystery detective, and quite a bit more comedy.

Mystery and film lovers were delighted when Remington Steele returned for a third season. This stylish show filled the void for those fond of the light mystery and romance Stanley Donen had brought to the big screen. Season three was fun in the extreme, offering lovers of sophistated television all the fun they could handle.

Pierce Brosnan and Stephanie Zimbalist were back in September of 1984 and so was the opening theme by Henry Mancini. The season opened with a bang on the French Riviera and before the season concluded the attractive stars would become involved in cases that would take them from Ireland to the Island of Malta.

Steele's references to classic films reached new heights when three huge stars from Hollywood's golden age appeared in "Cast in Steele." There was an episode where Laura had to travel to Ireland to help Steele recover his memory, and another which took place at a baseball camp. "Steele in the Chips" was a wildly fun episode involving the formula for a no-calorie chocolate chip cookie.

Guest stars like Lloyd Nolan, Geena Davis, Jean Smart, Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Lamour, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (Stephanie's dad), and Michael Constantine, who appeared in two episodes, added flair to an already great show fans had grown to love.

"Remington Steele" was never about the guest stars, however, but rather Steele and Laura themselves. Brosnan was terrific as the debonair man of mystery with a somewhat shady past and Stephanie Zimbalist was truly wonderful as the founder of the detective agency that couldn't get off the ground until she invented Remington Steele. The anticipation of their romance kept viewers coming back each week just as much as the mysteries.

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.

Here are the cleverly titled episodes from season three: STEELE AT IT - LOFTY STEELE - MALTESE STEELE - SECOND BASE STEELE - BLUE BLOODED STEELE - STEELE YOUR HEART AWAY - A POCKETFUL OF STEELE - PUZZLED STEELE - CAST OF STEELE - BREATH OF STEELE - LET'S STEELE A PLOT - GOURMET STEELE - STRONGER THAN STEELE - HAVE I GOT A STEELE FOR YOU - SPRINGTIME FOR STEELE - STEELE IN THE FAMILY - DICED STEELE - NOW YOU STEELE IT, NOW YOU DON'T - ILLUSTRATED STEELE - STEELE IN THE CHIPS - STEELE TRYING - STEELE OF APPROVAL

There are only a handful of shows in the history of television so beloved by fans. "Remington Steele" was a reminder to us all just how enjoyable and entertaining it can be. You always felt good after watching an episode of "Remington Steele" and now you can do so at your leisure with the complete season from 1984. It was a very good year for TV.

I'm so glad that the release dates between each season isn't taking forever.I have bought the first 2 seasons and passed them on to friends to watch.We have all enjoyed watching this great show with our kids and not having to fear them seing the kind of graphic violence and gore that so many shows feature today.I've just pre-ordered season 3 and I am really looking forward to enjoying it.I'm really hoping they will also release the further seasons of Hart to Hart in as timely a fashion.Hart to Hart and Remington Steele are two classic T.V. shows I remember fondly from my childhood.It's so great having something for the whole family to enjoy avaliable at last.Now if only they'd release Scarecrow and Mrs. King on DVD.

There should be separate star ratings for dvds--one rating for the show itself and one for the dvd special features. I can't bear to give the third season of Remington Steele any less than 5 stars, but the dvd special features have a lot to be desired.

The show itself is as delightful as ever. The witty banter and clever but light-hearted mysteries that characterized the series are all back in full force in the third season. And the writers continue to string us along with Laura and Mr. Steele's relationship, as Steele's attempts to entice Laura into a romantic vacation are constantly thwarted, often by Laura's own fear and skepticism. Although the pseudo love affair is a bit of a tease, the show continues to charm me as much as it did when I was an adolescent.

A few reviewers have mentioned that RS goes on location a lot in this season, which is usually a sign that a show is jumping the shark. However, that is not the case with this season. The on-location episodes are some of my favorites, especially the ones in Las Vegas and San Francisco. And the show continues to stay grounded in Los Angeles despite a fair amount of traveling. (As I recall, when the show finally did jump, the episodes were on location.)

My only complaints about the Season 3 dvds are related to the special features. The set includes three featurettes-"'Steele Trio' Revealing Character Profiles," "The Baking of Steele in the Chips," and "Steele Michael"-and three episode commentaries: Michael Gleason, Doris Roberts, and writer Jeff Melvoin on "Diced Steele"; Michael Gleason and writers John Wirth, Brad Kern, and Jeff Melvoin on "Now You Steele It, Now You Don't"; and Michael Gleason and Stephanie Zimbalist on "Steele in the Chips."

The problem is that none of the people interviewed or doing commentaries has seen the show for 20 years. This is certainly understandable, but why don't the producers of the dvds give them a few episodes to watch ahead of time to jog their memories so they will have more intelligent and interesting things to say? This lack of preparation is especially a problem on the episode commentaries because none of the people commenting have seen the episodes they're supposed to be talking about, and they can't follow the plot at the same time that they're talking. So it ends up with commentary that has almost nothing to do with anything going on on the screen. Also, Michael Gleason tends to tell the same stories over and over again, so if you have the Season 1 and Season 2 dvd sets, be prepared to hear anecdotes for the third, fourth, or fifth time. And the #1 sin of dvd commentaries-the repetitive praising of actors-gets committed over and over.

Not that the special features aren't worth watching. The featurettes are pretty interesting. It's nice that they were able to get all three of the actors for interviews. And the commentaries have a few interesting tidbits if you can stand to sit through all the rambling. One very nice treat is that we get to hear a lot more from Stephanie Zimbalist than in previous season sets, particularly in the commentary and mini-feature on the cookie episode, which she co-wrote with a longtime friend who later went on to be hired as a staff writer on the show. I have to admit that, despite my childhood crush on her, I never thought I would like SZ much in real life, but on the commentary she is quite charming and has a lot of interesting things to say. There is also another guy (can't remember which one) on the "Now You Steele It, Now You Don't" commentary who keeps trying to steer the conversation toward something relevant and occasionally succeeds.

I just wish they would put a little more thought into it if they're going to bother doing the extra features. It would also be nice if they addressed some of the issues and challenges they faced putting the dvds together. For example, all the music they had to cut. Also, I wonder why they chose to put the episodes on the dvd in the order they were aired instead of the order they were filmed. The current order removes all continuity from the development of Laura and Mr. Steele's relationship. I know the fact that I care about that makes me a big geek, but hey, geeks who sit around watching dvd commentaries are their audience, and they should be aware of that.

I thoroughly agree with the many reviewers who have praised this release and Remington Steele in general. I've been watching TV from its early days in the 1950s through the present and am convinced that Remington Steele was as good as general audience TV gets. No its not Shakespeare, but I don't think that most of us who watch TV really want weekly doses of Shakespeare. Remington Steele was a suberbly done combination of action, adventure, and romantic comedy with very good scripts and fine acting by attractive and appealing people. It was -- and still is -- consistently entertaining and no other series was better. I agree that the addition of Doris Roberts as Mildred Krebs made the second and third seasons (as well as later seasons not yet available on DVD) even better than the first season, and I thoroughly enjoyed the first season. If you are a fan of Remington Steele you've probably already bought the DVDs of the first two seasons and you'll love this third season too. If you've never seen Remington Steele or have forgotten how good this show was, please do yourself a favor and get this DVD set now. And, like so many other Remington Steele fans, I beg the studio to give us the remaining seasons on DVD as quickly as possible.

Having these great eps. on DVD has been such a treat. The writing is just so smart and the actors' chemistry sparkles. The show looks great on DVD and the extras and commentaries are worth viewing.

My only complaint is this -- the San Francisco ep. from season three, "Steele Trying," is missing the original Tony Bennett tunes. I understand that those music rights must have been very costly, but it's such a loss. The original music was elegant, fitting, and sublime. The replacement is just schlock.

SEASON 1: Wonderfully funny with a lot of quick wit, incredible acting for a TV series, and classic plots. All around a great opening season for a classic show.

SEASON 2: Great story lines, very different plots, thickening of the chemistry between Remington and Laura with lots of cliff-hanger moments. The addition of Mildred Krebs in Season 2 was the best move that the show producers made.

SEASON 3: TOPS the first two seasons. It's hard to hold back and not watch all the episodes in one sitting. The most disappointing thing about season 3 is that you know there are only one and a half season left of this great, classic show. Laura (Stephanie) and Remington (Pierce) are really just starting to get into the groove of their ever-messy, non-relationship, relationship, and Mildred (Doris) is just starting to blossom as an actual "Gumshoe". It is really too bad that this show ended after only 5 seasons.

The good news in all of this is that you can watch the shows over and over and not get tired of them. I would highly recommend purchasing Seasons 1-3 (because I've seen them already), as well as the final set of discs (Seasons 4 & 5), even though I have not yet watched them (I'm trying to drag it out and make the show last longer!).

One MAJOR down-side (not with the show itself but with the DVD discs) is that we have experienced some technical errors with the discs--stopping completly, skipping to the end or back to the beginning, skipping chapters, etc. One disc will not even play in our computer, which was disappointing because we only figured that out once we were in Africa for 4 months and trying to watch the show one night to relax. It's too bad that they don't take more care transfering great shows like this to quality DVD's for years of non-skipping enjoyment. The same disc didn't have as much trouble playing in our actual DVD player once we were back in the States, but still skipped from time to time.

Overall Show Rating: ***** (5 Stars)

Overall Disc Rating: *** (3 Stars)

The only thing I didn't like was that the Tony Bennett songs in the "Steele Trying" episode were replaced with one song by some other singer. The reruns of the show that aired on A&E in the 90's had the original songs (so why not the DVD) and each had lyrics that reflected what was happening. I had no where else to complain about this as the FOX TV on DVD site appears to have no forum.

Not sure, but I also think that pocket watch did not play the correct irish tune in the "Steele Your Heart Away" ep, it should have been - When Irish Eyes are smiling


Otherwise the show is excellent as always.

A brilliant & literate, show with great acting by Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan. The stories are wonderfully written and the directors excellent. Ms. Zimbalist and Mr. Brosnan have a wonderful chemistry and are great foils for one another. Brosnan's ability at physical comedy is unsurpassed. Ms. Zimbalist's bravery at doing everything is unsurpassed. The two can act and make interesting choices in everything they do. Michael Gleason created a great show with great characters. This is my favorite show and I wish they could have done more of them. I must admit the only disappointment was the last episodes in Season 5 when they brought in Jack Scalia. It wasn't worth Pierce Brosnan's loosing the 'Bond' role and the writers lost their way about the lead characters relationship and conflicts. I wrote a better last screenplay called "Steele Dreaming of a Holt Christmas," which was funny and left everyone in tact, including Efram Zimbalist, Jr. as Daniel Chalmers, a terrific character that we were cheated of. I can't say enough about the intelligent and brilliant leads, producers, writers, directors, stunt people, camera people, costume and set designers and all involved in this unsurpassed comedy/drama. Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant! Buy it at once and enjoy over and over again.

Thank you.

Paula

Season Three was the best season of the show. Why? Because of all the locations they filmed in that year. Episodes were shot on the Riviera in France, on Malta, England, Ireland, Mexico, San Francisco and Las Vegas.

All this extra expense made the show even classier.

Steele's mysterious past plays a larger role in this season than before, as he is often seen trying to unravel the story of his own life.

The humorous episodes play very well in this season, especially "Steele in the Chips".

I won't on more about the show itself, because I've said it all in my reviews of the first two seasons, but I highly recommend Season Three even above the others.

As for the dvd's, my copies are in top shape, and they have some very interesting behind the scenes stories once again.

Great tv, they don't make 'em like this anymore.