Rebooting Remington Steele

RemingtonSteele

 

I wanted to be Laura Holt as a teenager. I wore the hats. I had the style, and I may have mimicked the persona in that I was driven and not easily swayed romantically.  Hmmm Apparently, I was channeling her well into my early 40s, as well.

So, my initial reaction to learning from Deadline.com that Hollywood was rebooting Remington Steele was “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”  Ahem.

I will admit that there was a little part of me that thought, if they keep the same noir-ish style of the first season, I could finally put that spec work I did when I was 15 to good use. I’m sure my parents could find it in a box somewhere.

Now, I realize that this is the next generation and not a reboot of the original series. BUT what made the original series, at least in the early years, work so well is that unusually strong female lead. It dealt with sexism in the workplace head on. There were real social issues in play beyond that, particularly in the first couple of seasons. Is that going to be the case here, or is she just a detective with a quirky love life?

Will mom and dad make an occasional appearance? And tell me, did any of you think that Laura and “Harry” would actually marry and have kids? I’m not sure I ever did. I kind of pictured them running around the world solving jewel heists forever.

I know I shouldn’t judge before I read it. But I was just in a room with a lot of talented, innovative writers with strong, original ideas for television, and this pains me a bit. Now I’m going to console myself by watching my DVDs of the first season.

“So I invented a superior… a decidedly masculine superior…”

5 comments on “Rebooting Remington Steele”

  1. Dee Murray

    Noooooooooooooooooooo!! That would be nearly as scandalous as re-making the Sound of Music!!!!! Oh, wait….dammit. Please….do not desecrate Scarecrow & Mrs. King!!!!

  2. Heather

    I’m so glad you wrote about this: I feel the same way you do. I do think it did a lot to teach the world women can be smart — I’d like to think we don’t need to prove that any more. And no one but Pierce Brosnan could ever be Remington; no one but Stephanie Zimbalist could ever be Laura. It is the way God meant it to be.

  3. KateDating

    It was such a surprising announcement to me. It feels like they are trying to trade on the nostalgia without actually knowing what made the show work (when it did work– because that certainly wasn’t always the case).

  4. Dee Murray

    When you think about it, we really HAVE “come a long way, Baby…” when it comes to “traditional” ideas being blown out of the water…Laura Holt having to invent a male boss now seems insulting…Charlie always had to tell the Angels what do to…the Mary Tyler Moore still needed a Georgette around…and yes, the loveable but goofy Mrs. King always had some girlishly momish (smalltown home-remedy-ish, if you will) ideas about how to get the job done…Francine, on the other hand – she was seen as almost bitchy for being such a career gal. Sidney Bristow would kick her a** then take Will out for a double vodka after. And that was STILL 10+ years ago! I can’t see how this one is going to work, unless it’s all about the “decidedly rich” part…

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