Here’s the best of the live twatter from our first evening with Remington Steele. We fawned over Pierce’s hair, worshipped Stephanie’s fedora and planned future drinking games about old movie references. Good times were had by all.
INITIATE REMINGTON STEELE Vol. 1 LIVE TWEET DIGEST
Welcome to the debut broadcast of #Bond_age_TV: Remington Steele. We’re beginning the series with the first two episodes. Together they establish the premise and foundation of the show to follow. Remember to follow the #Bond_age_TV hashtag on Twitter. And feel free to scatter in some #SteeleTweet to clue bystanders in on our gig.
#Bond_age_TV presents REMINGTON STEELE
Remington Steele: S1 E1 – License to Steele – 9:00pm ET
On Wednesday, June 1st, #Bond_age_TV welcomes a new show into the family. If you’ve been following our dialogue on Twitter for any amount of time, you probably know that this has been a long time coming. After giving good twatter to the Pierce Brosnan Double Feature of Taffin and Tailor of Panama a couple weeks ago, I realized that I needed more Fluffy in my life. So I went ahead and booked Remington Steele for our first open Wednesday.
Introducing the newest #Bond_age_TV live tweet series: Remington Steele.
I remember rather vividly staying up to watch Remington Steele with my parents. This would have been 1983. I can date this quite precisely because my first prime time television memories are Remington Steele, The A-Team and Mr. Smith. If you need a refresher about Mr. Smith, I don’t blame you. Mr. Smith was a sitcom about a talking orangutan that first aired during NBC’s fall season of 1983. It lasted only 13 episodes and was cancelled by the end of the year. It will live in infamy as a famously terrible show, but I found it hilarious. I was 5. Talking orangutans are funny. Maybe one day we’ll live tweet Mr. Smith. (Don’t hold your breath.) That these shows have been inextricably linked in my brain probably has nothing to do with Brosnan’s hair. Probably.
Remington Steele meanwhile first aired on October 1st, 1982 and starred the dashing young Bond-to-be Pierce Brosnan and Stephanie Zimbalist, daughter of American TV actor Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. who also popped up in a recurring role on Remington Steele. (We’ll be seeing him shortly.) The show concerned Laura Holt, a licensed private investigator, who struggled because clients refused to hire a woman. To solve her problem, Laura creates a fictitious male boss to sell to potential clients. An unnamed con man discovers her secret and assumes the role of Holt’s boss, Remington Steele.
As you’ll see if when you revisit the series with #Bond_age_, the show has aged very well. Unlike many shows from the era, RS‘ blend of comedy and crime procedural still feels fresh. Part of that is due to the timeless charm of a 29-year-old Pierce Brosnan, but it’s also due to the show’s ties to classic Hollywood. The creation of Robert Butler (longtime Emmy-winning TV director) and Michael Gleason pays homage to the classic screwball comedies, film noir and detective stories of the 30’s and 40’s. Furthermore, the show subverts the homogenous, male-centric TV detective genre by telling its stories from the point of view of a young, professional woman. Remington Steele is also credited with pioneering the now-standard “will they or won’t they” romantic subplot that has buoyed television drama of all genres.
On Wednesday, June 1st #Bond_age_ live tweets the premiere episode of Remington Steele called “License to Steel” and the 2nd episode “Tempered Steele” — these fist two episodes combine to establish the series’ premise. After that I’ll handpick episodes based on crucial narrative developments and/or choice guest stars. I’m going to be using Pamela Fallon Thornley (@fallonthornley) as a special consultant for this series of live tweets because she is a certified Steele fanatic. 🙂
Join us! Wednesday @ 9pm ET. Follow #Bond_age_TV hashtag. Scatter #Steele in there for good measure. Embeds for each episode will appear on the website the day of the live tweet.
I hadn’t heard this song in a long time. “Sour Times” hails from album Dummy, released in 1994. I was obsessed with this record. That might be putting it mildly, however. I kept this album in my car until roughly 2002 — when my car, including my Portishead record was stolen. I got the car and my golf clubs back. Not so much the Portishead CD. I happened across “Sour Times” on XMU during my morning drive and I thought, “Holy shit that would be a great Bond song.” I tested it with a few of the slower, more methodical Bond titles but I liked it best with Spectre. I really wanted to finally match up something with For Your Eyes Only, but then I remembered why I’ve never matched anything with For Your Eyes Only — Sheena’s silly head singing along with the lyrics. C’mon Sheena. Down in front. Some of Portishead’s lyrics synced nicely with the Spectre visuals so I let it ride. The oddity here is that the credit sequence has a longer runtime than the song. I manipulated the pacing of specific sequences in the video for better overall timing. The result? Another blissfully Sam Smith-free version of the Spectre titles. It feels like low-hanging fruit to keep replacing Sam Smith, but I think you’ll agree that this specific replacement was well worth the effort.
Directed by Brian de Palma and starring Tom Cruise, this shiny new reboot of the Mission: Impossible TV franchise had been earmarked on many calendars. I remember my own anticipation in the weeks leading up to the Wednesday release date. I don’t remember if I skipped school or we just happened to have that day off, but I remember vividly arriving at the theater that morning for a noon screening with my friend Sarah. Our junior year of high school was winding down so either option would have been plausible. Inside the lobby of the theater was a gargantuan cardboard standup advertising the film. These are insignificant details, but I’m painting a picture here you see. The theater lobby was largely empty. Eventually the theater filled up with devoted noontime moviegoers, but I made sure I was there plenty early.
I’d seen a couple episodes of Mission: Impossible, but the series’ history wasn’t a driving force in my expectations. For me this was a Tom Cruise movie. This was also a Brian de Palma movie. de Palma, a director whose output I’d just begun to explore properly. I’d just watched Dressed to Kill for the first time. And to a young cinephile that particular film is profound eye candy. I was also a massive fan of U2. And the fact that Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton had composed this new theme for the movie contributed in no small part to my obsession with Mission: Impossible. Even before the release of the film. At 17, I wasn’t the #Bond_age_ Guy. I was just an equal opportunity fan of movies. If you’ve forgotten the specific track, here’s a reminder:
When I think back on the films for which I’ve built massive pre-release expectations, Mission: Impossible resides in the Top 10. I wasn’t disappointed. I bought tickets to see the film again during the coming weekend. Mission: Impossible went on to break Terminator 2‘s record for a Wednesday opening and become the third highest grossing film from 1996. Critics generally embraced the reboot though their often backhanded praise fell short of unbridled fan enthusiasm.
Stephen Holden of the New York Times addressed the film’s hyper-convoluted plot: “If that story doesn’t make a shred of sense on any number of levels, so what? Neither did the television series, in which basic credibility didn’t matter so long as its sci-fi popular mechanics kept up the suspense.” The kinetic narrative glossed over narrative reason in favor of showy misdirection and entertainment value. Subsequent viewings (at least for me) revealed the frayed seams of logic, somewhat diminishing the film’s luster. And yet Mission: Impossible holds a special place in my history of treasured cinematic experiences. Do you recall the profound silence where Tom Cruise repels into the heat-sensitive computer terminal? No one in the theater dared breathe. For this scene alone, Mission: Impossible left an indelible mark on cinema — and not just of the action variety.
The success of 1996’s Mission: Impossible spawned a two decade franchise (and counting). This seems rather insignificant in the shadow of fifty years of Bond. But let’s consider that Tom Cruise has been playing Ethan hunt for 20 years now. No Bond actor ever entertained that kind of longevity. And though the M:I franchise has been full of fits and starts (rather than purposeful execution of the brand) as Cruise pursues other projects and personal eccentricities, the actor’s dedication to the series deserves praise. 5 movies. 5 different directors. Consider further that the series peaked (arguably) with the fourth entry – Brad Bird’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. How often can that be said?
To celebrate these twenty years of Mission: Impossible, #Bond_age_ is going to go back to the beginning. Over the next couple months, we’re going to live tweet each Mission: Impossible film starting Wednesday, May 25th at 9pm ET. For each film follow the #Bond_age_ hashtag.
Mission: Impossible Live Tweet Schedule:
5/25/16: Mission: Impossible (1996) 20th Anniversary Live Tweet (#MI20)
Join us over the next months for every Impossible Mission. If you have any memories or thoughts you’d like to share about the franchise, feel free to share your reminiscences. We’ll post any and everything we receive as part of our three month celebration of Mission: Impossible.
