5 thoughts on “Please Don’t Mention Cancellation to Remington Steele

  1. from my memory you missed the most important part of the story. the reversal had nothing to do with fan outcry.

    Very soon after the cancelation, it was announced Pierce Brosnan was cast as Roger Moore’s replacement as James Bond. NBC decided having the next James Bond would be a ratings plus and reversed the cancelation.

    But the film company executives decided they did not want a cuttent TV actor and reversed the Bond casting.
    Makes being upset over how cancelation happen even funnier.

    However considering the relative box office of The Living Daylights and Goldeneye probably Brosnan came out ahead. I think someone said it is better to replace the person that replaces the star.

  2. They reversed the cancellation before any announcement of Brosnan being cast as Bond. It was certainly something NBC would have liked, as well, but it wasn’t the reason for the cancellation reversal.

  3. IIRC correctly Holt didn’t hire Steele, he just wandered in one day and claimed to be the real Steele and she was unable to get rid of him.

  4. Backstory — Steele wasn’t hired – he “assumed Remington Steele’s identity.” Originally, he was a con man attempting to steal some precious jewels that the Steele agency had been hired to protect. Posing as a South African agent named “Ben Pierson” (play on Pierce Brosnan?), he slowly figured out there was no real person called Remington Steele. It was all a con and what better to attract a con man than another person who’s running a con — Laura Holt. The romantic attraction was there from the beginning. So, through a series of mistaken identity and opportunity, he wormed his way in and basically dared her to out him. Laura couldn’t without sinking her agency so she reluctantly (?) allowed him to continue, much to the chagrin of Murphy and Bernice — the other employees of “Remington Steele.”

  5. Brosnan said in retrospect, he didn’t think he was “ready” to be Bond in 86 and considering what his wife went through around that time until her death in 91, he was pretty certain his tenure would have suffered had he taken the role at the time.

    I concede the latter, but disagree with the former. He showed flashes of Bond during RS and the Season 5 arc was a discount Bond story. He always had the charm, humor and physicality for the role.

    It is a shame NBC did him dirty because he missed out on two solid scripts (Living Daylights and License to Kill), which likely would have solidified him as #1 of the non-Connery Bonds.

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