Steele Here (in English)

05-06-2006

Old Article From The Chicago Tribune

The article below comes from the Chicago Tribune. It was published in February 1986 when Remington Steele was in the middle of the fourth season. It's about couples in TV series.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SEXUAL TENSION TEASES STARS AND VIEWERS

By Noel Holston, Orlando Sentinel

Sunday February 9, 1986

Private eye Laura Holt said it in the final scene of the first "Remington Steele" episode, and it can be taken as the unofficial motto of a new generation of series built on the premise of attractive opposites resisting the magnetic tug of romance.

When her secretary asked her how she felt about her mysterious and debonair new partner, Laura smiled suggestively and purred one word.

"Itchy." The itch is all over prime time now, rampant but seldom scratched.

In the beginning, there were Laura (Stephanie Zimbalist) and Remington (Pierce Brosnan) on "Remington Steele" and Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) and Sam Malone (Ted Danson), the barb-tossing barmaid and bartender of "Cheers." A season later, in 1983, along came "Scarecrow & Mrs. King," where in spy Lee Stetson (Bruce Boxleitner) and his homemaker helper, Amanda King (Kate Jackson), share cases and occasional longing looks but never a bed. That same season brought the premiere of "Hotel," where in the sexual tension between manager Peter McDermott (James Brolin) and his assistant, Christine Francis (Connie Sellecca), has been tightening ever since.

"Who's the Boss?", which throws together businesswoman Angela Bower (Judith Light) and housekeeper Tony Micelli (Tony Danza)), arrived in 1984. The spring of 1985 brought "Moonlighting," wherein supercool do-wop detective David Addison (Bruce Willis) lusts openly, if jokingly, after his icy boss, former model Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd). Maddie can't decide whether she'd like to jump in the sack with David or put one over his head.

Lovers who wonder are the hottest non-items in prime time. Even Mary Tyler Moore's recent return to sitcomedy on "Mary" came complete with a boss (played by James Farentino) to whom she's attracted against her better judgment.

The creators of these series don't profess to know what's behind the popularity of their noncommittal couples, but in a series of telephone interviews, they were willing to take a flyer.

"Maybe America's in the mood for romance," said "Cheers" co-creator Glen Charles. "There was an absence of it for quite a long time."

Michael Gleason, who created "Remington Steele" with Robert Butler and remains its executive producer, attributes the popularity of indecisive romantic couples to "the way movies have gone. They show everything. They tell everything. Nothing is left to the imagination. People say hello, and they're in the sack after five minutes."

"The audience subconsciously was looking for the cleverness that writers used in the '30s and '40s motion pictures, when the production code was in effect, when you had to find ways around the censor to show that people wanted to go to bed with each other," Gleason said.

Several of the producers acknowledged a debt to movie comedies such as "Woman of the Year" (1942) and "Adam's Rib" (1949), with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and "His Girl Friday" (1940), with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Charles said the "Cheers" creators looked for a Tracy- Hepburn chemistry when they cast their leads. Gleason and "Moonlighting's" executive producer, Glenn Caron, got themselves in the creative mood by screening "Bringing Up Baby" (1938), "Monkey Business" (1952) and other screwball classics by director Howard Hawks.

Caron, who wrote several early "Remington Steele" installments before moving on to develop "Moonlighting," suspects that the appeal of such series "has something to do with the love and affection being unrequited. Dramatically, this has always been a strong thing to play. There's a sense of destiny about the relationship, yet the destiny at the moment that we peek in on it is unfulfilled."

How to keep relationships interesting and honest is the trickiest element of producing a continuing series in which romantic tension is a critical element, the producers agreed.

In his Oscar-wining movie "Annie Hall," Woody Allen observed that a relationship is like a shark--it has to keep moving or it dies. The repetitious relationships in series such as "Moonlighting" and "Scarecrow & Mrs. King" run the risk of becoming contrived and coy. On the other hand, commitment would fundamentally alter the relationships, perhaps destroying what made them popular.

More than one producer brought up the case of the 1970s sitcom "Rhoda," whose blockbuster-level early ratings started slipping as soon as the title character (played by Valerie Harper) got married. A divorce put Rhoda on the rebound but not the show's Nielsen numbers.

In some viewers' eyes, "Cheers" lost its snappy first-season stride when Sam and Diane consummated their relationship in the second season.

"We've been very careful," said "Remington Steele's" Gleason. "There were certain people at the network (NBC) who wanted them (Laura and Remington) to go to bed the first year--for the November ratings sweeps. I said, 'Wait a minute. Once they're married, or once they've made love, what do you do with them?' "

"The last thing we want to do is trivialize the idea of sex," said "Hotel" producer Geoffrey Fischer.

Noting that "Remington Steele" is in its fourth season, Gleason indicated similar changes for that show: "There does come a point when you have to commit (yourself) one way or another. And without giving away any trade secrets, I think the end of this season will take us a long way to some sort of resolution."

Blake Hunter and Martin Cohan, the co-executive producers of "Who's the Boss?", would like to sustain the sexual tension in their second-year sitcom for at least another season.

"Moonlighting's" Caron is unworried about trying viewers' patience with David and Maddie's hot and cold-running hormones. The series has the luxury of being new, as Gleason pointed out, but Caron insisted that a teasing relationship is risky "only if you're calculating about it."

Although the relationship between Amanda and Lee has warmed this season on "Scarecrow & Mrs. King," the show's executive producer, George Geiger, is in no hurry to take it further.

 According to Geiger, there are no risks in altering the status of romantic characters.

"There are consequences," Geiger said. "Good and bad consequences."

[Source: David & Maddie]

04-25-2006

Old Article From The New York Times

Here is a 1986 article from The New York Times. It deals with the revival of Remington Steele for a 5th season to be aired from September 2006 while the show was cancelled in May of the same year.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'REMINGTON STEELE' GETS REPRIEVE

By STEPHEN FARBER, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES

Published: July 24, 1986

''Usually a cancellation is the final word,'' said Michael Gleason, the executive producer and co-creator of the series. ''It is tough to make a network change its mind.''

There was, however, a precedent to cite. Two years ago, CBS, responding to viewer protests, revived the defunct ''Cagney and Lacey,'' and the revamped series scored a resounding success. The producers of ''Remington Steele'' argued that their show also deserved another chance.

NBC said it was swayed by the number of protests from fans of the series, which stars Pierce Brosnan and Stephanie Zimbalist as a pair of elegant, bantering sleuths. ''We got over 10,000 angry letters and phone calls since the cancellation,'' said Warren Littlefield, NBC's senior vice president in charge of series. ''There were even pickets outside our building. We're still getting 200 to 300 letters a day, and that's a very strong response. We rarely have that kind of interaction with the audience.''

In addition, the show's ratings improved in summer reruns; the series had moved from the mid-40's during the main season to the top 20 in the last month. ''I attribute that rise to the fact that the loyal audience for the show had simply not had enough time to discover it in its new time period on Saturday night,'' said Tom Palmieri, vice president of operations at MTM Enterprises, the company that produces the show for NBC. Midseason Replacement.

''Remington Steele'' had never been a smash in the ratings, but it had performed respectably during its first three seasons and, as in the case of another MTM series with mediocre ratings, ''St. Elsewhere,'' demographic surveys showed that it was watched by the 18- to 49-year-old audience that appeals to advertisers. But last season the show's ratings began to plummet.

Mr. Littlefield attributed the decline to competition from ABC's successful new series ''Moonlighting,'' which also featured a pair of sophisticated, sparring detectives. Although ''Moonlighting'' was shown at 9 P.M. and ''Remington Steele'' at 10, he said, he felt the popularity of ''Moonlighting'' cut the number of viewers watching NBC on Tuesday nights. Earlier this year, the network moved ''Remington Steele'' from Tuesday to Saturday night, but its ratings did not improve. In May, NBC scuttled the series.

''Remington Steele'' has now been ordered as a midseason replacement series for next season. Six episodes will be shot and the network will then evaluate the ratings before deciding whether to order more.

One last complication remains to be resolved. Exactly when the show goes on the air depends on whether Mr. Brosnan also stars in the next James Bond movie, ''The Living Daylights.'' He has been mentioned as the most likely successor to Roger Moore in the popular series, but United Artists has not yet named a new Bond. A studio spokesman said a casting announcement would be made shortly.

Mr. Brosnan's contract with MTM runs two more years, but MTM and NBC have told the actor they will delay production to allow him to play Bond.

Mr. Gleason pointed out that this would benefit the series as well as Mr. Brosnan. ''Obviously, it would enhance the show if we could promote it by saying we have James Bond as Remington Steele,'' Mr. Gleason said. ''Now we're waiting for UA to make their decision. They keep telling us they'll let us know tomorrow. This is like sweating out the renewals for the fall series all over again.''