Neeney

Neeney

However, I and my chocolate(there goes the diet!) are ready!

Neeney

By the way, I'll be sipping hot chocolate...It's 35 freakin' degrees here!!! Won't be posting till tomorrow, though. The kids are sleeping over at grandma's house, so... 

But me and my chocolate are gonna watch all the episodes.

Neeney

I really like this one, lots of cute moments...but you all will see that we've left the land of "pilot" and are now into the nitty gritty of filming a weekly TV series. 

Pierce and Stephanie are making their first tentative steps with their characters...the writers, Michael are settling in for what they hoped would be a long and successful run. Here too are the "Caron" episodes. Enjoy.

DCZinger

thought this was a cute one.

I love the plot of this episode. And writer Lee Ztloff (or however you spell his name) does a great job of incorporating comedy and romance into it. (Remember, LZ was the one who gave us Red Holt Steele, too!) Loved their first kiss (sigh) and how Remington could fluster Laura with just being honest. I always thought Steph was at her best when she was vulnerable. I love the power struggle between the two...And the fact that he's really trying to sink his teeth into the role of Remington Steele instead of just being a "flashy front-man". 

Loved the relationship between Steele and Manuel. Loved the talk they had. Remington getting advise from the young Latin youth was hysterical...Thought it was a wonderful twist. And how funny was seeing our ever dapper, debonair, sophisticated Mr. Steele doing the hand shake before sending Manuel on his way? 

Izzy creeped me out. LOVED that!!! I always wondered if that was the genius of the writer, director, actor or all three. It always makes me cringe when I see poor Laura almost getting felt up. Just when was she going to stop him?!?!

The actor who plays Emery Arnock (can't remember his name right now) does an outstanding job! Truly excellent. (You can hardly recognize him later in season four as the hard-boiled detective in Steele In The Spotlight.)

Funniest moment: When George's girlfriend catches Remington on the bed and thinks he gay! 

Had a love/hate thing going on with wardrobe this episode. Laura's simple dark sweater and pants looked beautiful on her. Simple and classic. The ruffled shirt and light jacket was hideous. Didn't dig the plaid jacked on Remington, either. 

More to say, but I think I'll see what everyone else thinks first. So for now...

Toodle-Loo! 

I think you covered stuff pretty well. What do you do? Take notes? LOL As for the first kiss.....it was classic! :D even if it was just a pose!

Neeney

This leads to one of my favorite moments when Steele is trying to convince her of taking the case and Laura has this sqeaking exasperated wail of "I can't function like this" while he's still soft soaping her into doing what he wants. Priceless.

"Why is it always the gorgeous ones?" -- a great line for just a very fun and funny interlude. Steele caught crawling across the bed and the looks they give each other are just hysterical. The bed sequence shows off Pierce's fabulous ability at phsyical comedy.

I love Steele with Manuel and Emory. It shows how he can interact with anyone -- no matter age or background and not only fit in but ingratiate himself. I love the hand bit with Manuel becaue it's so effortless on Steele's part -- he just knows it-- and their talk is just great. Then there's Emory who is completely angry and frustrated and yet Steele leads him on so charmingly until he's caught up in the web. I love that little moment at the end during the reveal where Steele thanks his staff. It's actually the first time I noticed he wasn't just thanking Laura but Emory when he gives him a little pat on the thigh and Emory gives a satisfied smile. I wonder how they talked him out of moving Millie and the kids to LA? And agreed, the actor is wonderful and it's a testement to the actor's talent that he's almost unrecogniable in Spotlight as the hard bitten surly creep of a detective.

Laura so single minded she disturbs a man's toilet and seemingly doesn't recognize anything wrong about that until Emory asks for a towel and she's about to give him one on the glass door which would removed their last visual barrier and then suddenly blanches and gets one from another place. LOL

The kiss on the docks is great -- thier first. Seeing Laura flustered by the kiss always makes me smile (as does Steele's amused and pleased realization that she is flustered) Though having just watched Season 5 it also made me a bit angry because we see her that flustered with someone else and it makes it seem a little less special. :(

The face touching -- completely inappropriate and real in it's uncomfortableness and Laura feeling like she couldn't tell him though she had more than every right too. I've had a similiar situation myself once, and the person touching my face was taking far longer than a couple of others had in the same situation (and I knew them much longer before they asked) But I'd have stopped it by the time he got down to my neck and was leading into my chest. Yikes!

Speaking of Yikes -- the biggets fashion don't goes to a guest star -- Peter Scolari. His outfit as Alby Furbitz (love the way Steele says that the first time when he reads it off the card as if with a speech impediment) where he's conducting a meeting with Steele and Laura and he's wearing this short gold chain around his neck and his shirt is unbuttonned to his navel. What the heck? They should have known he was guilty right then!

The first time we are treated to seeing Steele and Laura lounging on the floor of his apt with champagne! And there's no discomfort from Laura as if it's not the first time it's happenned.

Neeney

We have Brosnan’s first “James Bond” moment….using that silly cigarette lighter in the garage… Let’s all have a brandy and some tortillas, shall we? 

Peter Scolari. At that point the only thing I knew of him was from the TV sitcom he did with Tom Hanks, Bosom Buddies. Who remembers THAT show? I had no idea that he was the guilty party until the very end. 

Gruff and Weston…a cute play off of Gulf and Western. Did they own NBC at the time?

October 20 1982…Steele Waters begins a month after Steele’s infamous Dinner with Nadine. Wonder what happened in those four weeks prior.

Loved the way they had Mr. Arnock takes on our role as the “audience” that comes along for the wild ride. And we came along for the ride too. I wonder if thats where the germ of Mildred came from? You know...the detective in training who becomes our delectible duo's sidekick?

Fashion: I like Bernices purple outfit much better than Laura’s grey suit with the maroon piping. Laura’s grey fedora…fantastic. Lots of people wearing grey in this episode. Grey WAS an “In” color in 1982. I remember wearing lots of grey and pink that year. Steele's delightfully silly robe and cravat, as well as his three piece suit. 

Lines/ Actiing: Steele’s consternation that Laura doesn’t believe him when he says he was abducted by Latin youths. He's telling her the truth and she's not buying it. Oh, the pain. 
Brosnan’s delivery when asked if he knew what he was doing’ “Just, barely”. 
Brosnan’s excellent acting with his body on the docks, as he walks angrily, then puts his arm around Laura ( stiffly and at arms length) because they are “posing” as lovers. Zimbalist was right ON when she said that Brosnan was a great “physical” actor who used all of his long lean bod to make a point. I see the street theatre/John Cleese Of course, that morphed into his delightfully sinuous, sleek James Bond and Thomas Crown. I really haven’t seen him use that aspect of his talent in his more recent films. Pity. Note in that scene Steele gallantly takes his jacket off for a chilled Laura, but in San Fransisco for "Steele Trying", he doesn't. Someone should have mentioned that and had Brosnan repeat the gesture for continuity's sake.

More Lines/Delivery: Stephanie's scene that starts off with her trying to be professional and reminding Steele of their roles, which degenerates with her whining “ WHY WHY don’t you DO this?" and her final resigned "We just can't function like this", is wonderful acting. She really captured Laura's professional and sexual frustration with her creation. Dr. Frankenstein losing control of her creation. 

Direction: Nice transition from Anock screaming at Steele over the phone to the security noise at the Ratooie wearhouse. 

That one line: "Toodleloo". I remember falling outta my chair laughing the first time I saw this scene. Believe me NO ONE was writing like this in 1982! It’s still funny. Ah, yes. The “cute” deaths that MG spoke of, which of course, went out of fashion by the time Miami Vice entered the TV lineup. Cute deaths weren’t so funny anymore, and Steele tried to compensate for it in Season Four. Such a shame. Those "cute" deaths were darkly funny. 

Murphy's line: "You don't mean you're really letting him work on a case?" is a prime Murphy moment. Especially so when it seems we're ALSO letting the Steele agency's potential client and a grocery store magnate ALSO work on the case. Thank goodness, because Arnoch's assessment of what Gruff and Weston would do if they found out that Ratooie's company assets were stripped solved the case.

Soo.. did the Steele agency eat the fees associated with this case? Their client was the guilty party! Did Gruff and Weston ever pay the fees? The Steele agency did save them 5 million bucks. Or did Henry Arnoch give them that lucrative contract which put them in the black big time? 

“Conquistala!” “Con mucho gusto” I remember seeing the Manuel kid on an old kiddie show set in the future. Did Steele REALLY go onto Manuel's turf with the limo? 

Abigail is right…Laura doesn’t really look good with her hair UP like schoolmarm. Liked it much beter down and swingy or half up, half down. 

Note that both Steele AND Laura had their top shirt buttons undone and were ON THE FLOOR enjoying their champagne when Arnock interrupts them. Were they doing a little more “posing?” I wonder. 

DCZinger 

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Note that both Steele AND Laura had their top shirt buttons undone and were ON THE FLOOR enjoying their champagne when Arnock interrupts them. Were they doing a little more “posing?” I wonder.

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Neeney, still waiting on your comments!
 

Moreover they also often twisted stereotypes on their heads. They really weren't a "gang" but a group of guys doing their boss a favor, one of whom rather cooly sat there and gave Steele relationship advice. Or the Japanese gardner is really an industrial spy, or the Mexican American guy stealing the car is really in the repo business, or that stuffy proper British Dowager is really an evil old bat ordering people to bash in heads like they were rabbits. The uptight greedy banker wasn't evil but the supposedly underdog salt of the earth farmer was an arsonist and murderer. The old man isn't senile or a slow old duffer -- he's a mastermind engineering a complex plan of revenge against a murderer. Etc.

Frankly I thought Steele was pretty polite considering he was kidnapped (which voids all PC considerations in my book) and a bit roughed up, that and he also offered them brandy. :D

Great analysis guys! I'm really gonna sit there with a pen and paper next time just to put in my two cents worth!

Neeney

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Brosnan’s excellent acting with his body on the docks, as he walks angrily, then puts his arm around Laura (stiffly and at arms length) because they are “posing” as lovers. Zimbalist was right ON when she said that Brosnan was a great “physical” actor who used all of his long lean bod to make a point. I see the street theatre/John Cleese Of course, that morphed into his delightfully sinuous, sleek James Bond and Thomas Crown. I really haven’t seen him use that aspect of his talent in his more recent films. Pity. 

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From Wikipedia: Malmgren was a key figure at the Drama Centre, London; his teaching approach drew from the applied psychology of movement developed by Rudolf Laban, with whom he collaborated. Malmgren's method of character development is concerned with a technique for expressing the inner state of a character through movement. 

As for recently, I think he used his body wonderfully as an essential part of his characteriation as Julian Noble in The Matador, from the walk (rather cocky and ambling, far less refined and at times wobbly from inebriation) to his entire body posture. There's one scene of him sitting on the bed with that ridiculous hat on his birthday and the way his shoulders slump and he hangs his head slightly that says more than a thousand lines of dialogue. Then there's the scene of him dancing with Bean, before and after where he does so many wonderful things phsyically that listing them would make this post even longer and more off topic. :D

Oh and yes Steele most definitely should have put his coat on Laura on the boat in Trying. She looked like she was freezing. She would have had to be wearing it when the scene started though because there wasn't time enough to put it on her with that short scene and it would have messed with the pace of the punchline "You were the professional in the relationship" ;) 

Julian Noble was definitely one of Pierce's best roles. I was thrilled that he was nominated for a Golden Globe for it, and disappointed when he didn't win, or when he didn't get at least an Oscar nod. Oh,well. Perhaps with Butterfly on a Wheel? I'm looking forward to seeing Pierce do sociopathic nutcase. 

I agree that in the boat scene in Steele Trying, having it START with Laura already wearing Steele's coat could have been fine. 

DCZinger

Ace, you're right about the stereotypes. I guess the tortilla thing just struck me as being a "no-no" just as Mildred's comment did about having the Latino cab driver's green card revoked in another episode. But you're right about them also breaking the typical stereotypes, too. Good point. 

I also agree with you Zinger that Pierce should do more physical comedy. He's truly brilliant. (My favorite physical comedy RS episode is probably "Second Base Steele". Not a good episode in terms of romance, but Pierce's physicality and body language makes it so wonderful to watch. I laugh my butt off every time I see it!) I SO want him to re-make Cary Grant's "To Catch A Thief". How perfect would he be in that role?!?! Pierce, are you listening?!

Also, a minor point to bring up here...I think Steele Waters was the first -- and only -- time they used a hand-held camera in RS. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, please. It was very subtle -- nothing like the overdone crap they did in NYPD Blue, which admittedly was ground-breaking, but never-the-less over-kill and anoying as hell -- but they did it. 

Xenos

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Ok, maybe I know next to nothing about romance, but is the floor the best place to be drinking? I mean they spent a LOT of time on that floor, when there was a nice couch they could have made use of. Guess it was easier to film on the floor.

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As for the floor thing, thanks for clarifying! LOL

Neeney

Debra

Neeney

I really like this episode. The Laura-Steele bickering is classic RS. I love that at first Steele thinks the thugs who capture him were sent by Laura!

I love how the case mirrors Laura's situation, with the creation of a fictional person for business purposes. Boy, did they screw up when they chose the Remington Steele agency!

I love the transformation of Bow Tie, aka Emory, from a grouchy grocery guy to wannabe sleuth. (And I had no idea he appeared again later in a different role!) The fact that Steele can win him over shows so much about his character. Even though he's faced with an angry old man who obviously doesn't like him, he just goes along in his careless way as though they're best buds. It's the essence of charm.

As always, I love the fact that Steele doesn't carry a gun. The lighter thing is hilarious.

I love the truth/lies theme that runs throughout the episode. Steele is so amazingly adept at spinning lies. Every time Laura is trying to explain something that looks bad, he jumps in with an excellent lie, leading her to conclude "you're not big on the truth" and to be stunned when he seems to be speaking honestly.

I found the kiss to be a bit anti-climactic. I guess it's appropriate for their first kiss to be an act, but I guess I would have liked it to be a bit more meaningful. One thing I thought of this time was how Steele says he's with "a beautiful woman." As someone on this board pointed out a while back, there's a similar line in Season 4, except he says "here with you." At this point Laura is still essentially just A beautiful woman, not THE ONE.

I love how Steele practices his apology for Manuel, but overall I'm not a fan of all the ethnic stereotypes. They give the show a very dated feel and make me go ugh. That kind of "humor" is just not funny to me.

Re fashion: I think we are supposed to know Peter Scolari is evil because of his outfit. What a sleaze! However, I have to disagree with most people's assessment of Laura's outfits in this episode. As far as I can recall, I really liked them all, including the ruffle shirt, and especially her hair up. I find that old-fashioned (but not specifically 80s) look to be very fetching, especially the soft upsweeps. 

About them being on the floor, sitting on the floor is just sexier than sitting on the sofa. I'm not sure why. 

Finally, did anyone else notice that this is a relatively Fred-heavy episode? First he gets to do the eye roll, and then he gets to make the boating joke. Go Fred! I also like how at this point Fred is skeptical of Mr. Steele and is reluctant to follow his orders.

Just as sititing on a couch together is more intimate than sitting at a table, sitting on a floor trumps the couch. That and they often don't just sit on the floor, they stretch out, sprawl and lay down -- which is infinitely sexier and more intimate. Now a couple could sprawl together on a couch but room is limited and I'm not sure Laura would sprawl in those positions much to Steele's chagrin. ;-)

They may have started out posing as lovers on the dock, but that kiss was no pose. It was a real kiss. I think that once Remington took off his jacket and put it around Laura's shoulders, neither of them was posing any longer.

Debra

And Laura's stammering reply was the best! .

Since I'm the one who brought up the floor thing, thanks for all the clarification! LOL Since my brain does NOT seem to be working on anything logical these days it just didn't process the floor thing. Now, however, its working on OVERDRIVE! So, thanks for the images! 

Neeney

Neeney

Neeney

It always bugged me too - until I looked at the script. There were a few seconds of that scene that didn't make it into the final cut. After the "you're the professional in the group" line, they look out at Alcatraz and:

R: I can see why you love this city, Laura.
L: The company has a lot to do with it, Mr. Steele

and the camera shoots from behind them as the ferry heads towards Sausalito. She snuggles closer to him. He puts his arm around her. ISN'T IT ROMANTIC? plays softly under.
 

(And note to FOX - that's TONY BENNETT singing the song, and the Bennett songs are SPECIFICALLY mentioned in the script - for a reason! but that's another thread.)

The worse part of losing the Bennet songs isn't the loss of such beautiful music but that the music and the kyrics are tied into the storytelling in away that wasn't done on Steele in any other episode. And when that specific music is changed then part of the story telling is changed as well. It's just as bad as editing out entire scenes, maybe worse because it occurs though the entire episode. Bah.

Neeney

Hey, Mick! Glad you're here, girlfriend! And just so you know, we're all pissed at FOX  and now refer to them as "WOLF". Heh-heh-heh!

Xenos

And I agree, picac. The best part of that episode was not hearing Tony Bennet's voice (though it's fantastic, don't get me wrong), it was the way each piece of each song fit the scene perfectly. My husband finally took me to San Fransisco last year (I'd wanted to go ever since I saw this episode as a child). When we rode the cable cars, I couldn't get the line "The morning fog may chill the air, I don't care, my love waits there" out of my head. If I'd known the rest of the Alcatraz scene, I probably would have had "Isn't it romantic?" stuck in my head when we rode that ferry too. 

Julean...Dang, you've got a wonderful hubby! Bet it was one heck of a romantic trip! LUCKY YOU! 

Xenos

Neeney

The only RIGHT things the Wolf Network did was putting the DVD's out such as they were and having Corinna and her company work on the commentaries. 

DCZinger

Mick! HELLO?!?! We're Steele waiting for you to post and stop teasing us!!!

REMINDER: "Signed, Steeled and Delivered" is tomorrow night's feature! Get out your notebooks (this means you, Neeners!) and start posting!

Neeney

I may not get to SIGNED, STEELED tonight, but should get to it this weekend....

Xenos

Neeney

Debra

Debra

Neeney