Remington Steele | |
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Logo of Remington Steele
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Genre | |
Created by |
Robert Butler Michael Gleason |
Presented by | MTM Enterprises |
Starring |
Stephanie Zimbalist Pierce Brosnan Doris Roberts |
Narrated by | Stephanie Zimbalist in character as Laura Holt (Season 1 titles only) |
Theme music composer | Henry Mancini; incidental music by Richard Lewis Warren |
Opening theme | "The Remington Steele Theme", composed by Henry Mancini |
Ending theme | "Laura Holt's Tune", composed by Henry Mancini |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 5 |
No. of episodes | 94 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Michael Gleason |
Producer(s) | Kevin Inch Gareth Davies Richard DeRoy |
Location(s) | Los Angeles |
Running time | 60 minutes (including commercials) |
Production company(s) | MTM Enterprises |
Distributor | 20th Television |
Release | |
Original network | NBC |
Original release | October 1, 1982 | – April 17, 1987
Remington Steele is an American television series co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from 1982 to 1987. The series blended the genres of romantic comedy, drama, and detective procedural. Remington Steele is best known for launching the career of Pierce Brosnan.
Remington Steele's premise is that Laura Holt, a licensed private detective played by Stephanie Zimbalist, opened a detective agency under her own name but found potential clients refused to hire a woman, no matter how qualified. To solve the problem, Laura invents a fictitious male superior she names Remington Steele. Through a series of events in the first episode, "License to Steele," Pierce Brosnan's character, a former thief and con man (whose real name even he proves not to know, and is never revealed), assumes the identity of Remington Steele. Behind the scenes, a power struggle ensues between Laura and Steele as to who is really in charge, while the two carry on a casual romantic relationship.
Other recurring actors included:
Guest stars included:
Remington Steele is best known for having launched the career of Pierce Brosnan and for serving as a forerunner of the similar, edgier series Moonlighting, and was also an influential part of television history in its own right. Recent evaluations, in the wake of the show's full release on DVD, conclude that Steele was solidly crafted, well-acted and groundbreaking in its own way. Other recent evaluations have also noted that series has aged better than some other series of its time and genre.
Remington Steele referenced film noir in the mystery storylines. It subverted 1970s detective show conventions by telling its stories from the point of view of an independent, professional woman. At a time when hour-long series were serious and half-hour series were humorous, Steele incorporated multiple styles of comedy into the standard detective format. It pioneered the slowly evolving "will they or won't they" relationship arc that is now common to television drama of all genres.