From the first day I saw the series “Remington Steele” and saw Pierce Brosnan walk through the door of the famed detective agency, I knew we were looking at a future James Bond. Brosnan played the role of Steele for 5 seasons, and for a while I thought it wasn’t going to happen. It took a while, but the powers that be finally recognized the man for the job, and Pierce stepped into the legendary spy’s shoe for 4 films from 1995 – 2002. If you never saw “Remington Steele”, then you can thank the fine folks at Fox Home Entertainment for bringing the future Mr. Bond’s early beginnings to the DVD Market. The full run of 22 episodes from the 1st Season of “Remington Steele” is coming out this week, and sat high on my list of ‘gotta haves.’ There’s even a handful of extra features (always an added enticement), but I’ll get into those later. First I feel I should bring you up to speed on just what “Remington Steele” was for those of you uninitiated into the fold.

The series ran from 1982 til 1987, and starred Stephanie Zimbalist as Laura Holt, a hard-working detective with her own agency. Well, she’s LIKE to be a hard-working detective, but thanks to the male chauvinist attitudes of the time, no one seems interested in hiring a woman to do their private detecting. So she does what any self-respecting woman would do. She creates a fictitious boss by the name of Remington Steele, and changes the name of her company to reflect his ownership. Proving her theory correct, she suddenly finds that her agency has more cases than it can handle, and all is well. Until the day that he walked in.

Wandering in off the streets one day is a rather dapper Englishman claiming to be a special agent by the name of Ben Pierson. The two eventually partner up, with him taking on the identity of Steele, and alleviating her need to produce him when asked for. The understanding is that he is to be eye-candy only, but before you know it, he is worming his way into all of her cases.

I watched “Remington Steele” years ago and have fond memories of enjoying the series immensely. The two stars shared some great banter that now reminds me of another love/hate relationship between Maddie Hayes and David Addison Jr. (though “Moonlighting” came later – 1985). The show was exceptionally well written, and the premise intriguing enough to keep me on as a viewer for the full run of the series. Having it available on DVD now is just icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned.

The overall quality of the set varies from episode to episode, but this is to be expected from a series over 20 years old. Granted, a lot of work could have been done to restore it, but I’m sure the studio felt no need to go to such great lengths. After all, the episodes are still completely watchable. They did opt, however to add in some really nice extra features, which I prefer any day of the week.

There is a commentary on the 1st two episodes by series creators Michael Gleason and Robert Butler, both of which are quite interesting. Plus there’s an additional commentary on the episode “Vintage Steele” by Gleason and writer Susan Baskin. You’ll also find a short “Making of…” featurette about how the show came in to being. This also includes an interview with Brosnan. There are also some character profiles to be found on the second disc. My only disappointment to this whole set is how shabbily it seems to treat Stephanie Zimbalist. After all, she was the star of the show and she doesn’t show up anywhere in the extra features. She’s not even featured on the covers of the set, instead opting to have a solo shot of Brosnan. It really makes me wonder what’s going on there.

Admittedly, this is a big nit pick and I hope that the studio will give her some input into the subsequent seasons. It’s not enough to keep me from recommending this set, but certainly enough to mention.

Episodes:
License to Steele
Tempered Steele
Steele Waters Run Deep
Signed Steeled and Delivered
Thou Shalt Not Steele
Steele Belted
Etched in Steele
You're Steele the One for Me
In the Steele of the Night
Steele Trap
Steeling the Show
Steele Flying High
A Good Night's Steele
Hearts of Steele
To Stop a Steele
Steele Crazy After All These Years
Steele Among the Living
Steele in the News
Vintage Steele
Steele's Gold
Sting of Steele
Steele in Circulation

Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Stephanie Zimbalist
Extras: Commentary by series creators Michael Gleason and Robert Butler on "License to Steele" and "Tempered Steele", Commentary by Gleason and writer Susan Baskin on "Vintage Steele", Making-of featurettes, Character profiles
Specifications: Full Screen
Studio: Fox
Release Date: 7/26/2005
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give Remington Steele: Season 1 a B-.