Steele Watching

We're celebrating all things SEASON ONE! First we talk about our favorite (and not so favorite) parts of the first 22 episodes of Remington Steele and then we share our interview with camera assistant, Deborah Ellis. Her father, Don Weiss, was a prolific television director who directed two of our favorite episodes of the whole season! Her husband also worked on the show and she shares some of their wonderful memories of working with Pierce Brosnan and the gang. Finally, we each pick our favorite episode of the entire season. At least we think we can narrow it down to just one... Find out on this very special episode of "Steele Watching."Special thanks to Deborah Ellis for sharing her time and stories with us! She left the television industry in 2000 to pursue a career in finance and just published her first book "You and Your Money"! You can check it out here: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-You-Achieving-Financial/dp/1947937189/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=you+and+your+money+deborah+ellis&qid=1601675670&sr=8-2Thank you again Deb!

SEASON 1, Episode 22ORIGINALLY AIRED: April 12, 1983EPISODE SYNOPSIS:On the way to a Saturday client meeting at the agency, Remington stops despondent bank employee Alfred Hollis from jumping off a bridge to his death.Alfred is distraught because an innocent plan to help his girlfriend has gone terribly wrong. He thought he could “borrow” 2.3 million dollars for the weekend - it was scheduled to be shredded anyway - flash it to Angelica’s creditors and return it to the bank but Monday morning. The day before he had pulled off the heist and stashed the money in his car, but when his car is stolen from the bank parking lot he fears prison is his next stop.As the clock ticks down through the weekend, things go from bad to worse when Angelica disappears, Alfred is shot at and then runs off, and our detectives struggle to unravel the mystery.Just who is responsible for a scheme that was launched two months earlier when Alfred is unexpectedly promoted and Angelica first enters his life? It turns out it is a bank security guard, unhappy with his government retirement, who hatches a plan to blackmail Angelica into helping him steal the money and finger Alfred for the theft.

SEASON 1, Episode 21ORIGINALLY AIRED: April 5, 1983EPISODE SYNOPSIS:When London conman, Daniel Chalmers, cheats a crooked casino boss, the shady Mr. Hoskins follows him to Los Angeles to seek revenge. In a delightful turn that hints at Remington Steele’s own suspicious past, it turns out Chalmers was his mentor in the hustling game and the two team up to double cross Hoskins.Meanwhile, Laura is hired by Hoskins to track down Chalmers. And to make matters worse, Laura’s overbearing mother shows up unexpectedly to try to recover from a heartbreak.Laura, Murphy and even Laura’s mother are folded into the sting as Steele and Chalmers pull off an elaborate sports betting scam to take 50 thousand dollars from Hoskins and run him out of town.

SEASON 1, Episode 20ORIGINALLY AIRED: March 22, 1983EPISODE SYNOPSIS:Hired to guard valuable California artifacts at a lavish costume party, Remington, Laura and Murphy witness the murder of one-time gold prospector Dan Curtain. Although nothing was stolen from the collection, it is soon discovered that the historical journal of fellow prospector Arnold Dobbs is not only missing but contains directions to a long sought after treasure.On the trail of the journal (and the doubloons) our trio, along with a cast of diverse suspects all claiming to be the rightful owners of the treasure, head into the San Jacinto Mountains where they fall under the spell of gold fever - even Murphy turns into a crazed detective out to claim the gold as his.As several assumed identities, devious motivations, and a treasured movie reference are revealed, we finally learn that high-tech professional gold hunter Chance McCormick has the most to gain from killing the two prospectors in his quest to find the missing doubloons and save his business.

SEASON 1, Episode 19ORIGINALLY AIRED: March 16, 1983EPISODE SYNOPSIS:When Laura’s ex-boyfriend and bank investor, Wilson Jefferies, finds a dead body in a vat of Claude Vandemeer Cabernet, he panics. Fearful that a murder will ruin his deal, he begs Laura and Mr. Steele for help but the there’s one big problem - the body is missing.The body reappears, disappears and reappears again before Laura and Remington discover the dead man was the Abbott of Saint Costello’s Monastery.But who would want him dead? Could it be Claude’s meddling mother? The jealous winemaker next door Werner Shuman or a mysterious monk who’s taken a vow of silence? Laura and Remington finally deduce it is Claude Vandemeer himself who was stealing the Abbotts wine to pass off as his own.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 18ORIGINALLY AIRED: March 4, 1983EPISODE SYNOPSIS:When a series of pranks threaten the reputation of a local television station, the agency is called in to investigate under the guise of an on-air interview with the famous Remington Steele.While Laura admits to once wanting to be a foreign correspondent like her news idol and Spotlight News anchor Elliot Walsh, Remington must fend off probing questions about his mysterious past.After the murders of co-anchor Chrissie Carstairs and weatherman Uncle Tim, the remaining members of the news team become viable suspects. Although they each have valid reasons to despise their murdered colleagues, it is Elliot who is the culprit. A dedicated news man, he can no longer tolerate the trivializing of honest reporting with happy chatter and junk-food news.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 17ORIGINALLY AIRED: February 25, 1983EPISODE SYNOPSIS:When painter Rina Casselas’ studio is found blood stained, her husband Teddy and his mistress Marion are prime suspects for her apparent murder. Marion hires the Remington Steele Agency to uncover the truth. And unbeknownst to them Teddy hires down-and-out PI, Leo Blitzman.Laura soon discovers that Rina was going blind so she just staged her own death to drive up the price of her paintings before her talent waned.But when Rina is actually found dead, as well as her art dealer Nicholas Spriggs, an intricate plot gets untangled. It was art critic Noah Devereau that worked with Rina and then killed Spriggs to keep him from tattling about their deceptions. But who killed Rina? It was Leo Blitzman who wanted to make a quick buck by selling her paintings.

SEASON 1, Episode 16ORIGINALLY AIRED: February 18, 1983EPSIODE SYNOPSIS:While Murphy is attending his 10th college reunion, a body mysteriously appears hanging from the flagpole on the ROTC building. When it’s revealed that the building was locked down tight with no evidence of a break-in, Murph calls in Laura to help solve the case only to have the unwanted Steele also involved.In a series of flashbacks as told by the three remaining members of a campus dissident group intent on “revolution,” we learn that the dead man was also part of the group involved in the 1973 ROTC bombing that killed the group’s fanatic leader, Tom Donovan. Intent on solving the case separately, Laura and Remington agree to an interesting wager on who can find the murderer first. While he pursues the theory that Donovan’s ghost did it, she pieces together what happened 10 years ago until they simultaneously realize the killer is Tom’s sister, who has vowed revenge on everyone involved in the bombing all those years ago.

Season 1, Episode 15 ORIGINALLY AIRED: February 11, 1983EPISODE SYNOPSIS:Small time jewel thief Morrie Singer is hired by a shady character known as Considine to clean out Harrod’s jewelry store aboard the Queen Mary and give the stash to the mob. But when Morrie and his crew break in, everything has already been stolen. So- Morrie hires Mr. Steele to help him find the jewels and save him from the mob’s wrath. Meanwhile, the store owner asks Laura and Murphy to investigate and reveals that a very important priceless gem was among the contents that was stolen. He doesn’t want any bad press so he also doesn’t want Remington Steele involved.Unaware of the parallel investigations, Steele and Morrie and Laura and Murphy narrowly miss each other several times. Until Morrie’s two crew members wind up dead and Morrie fears he’ll be next if he doesn’t get Considine and the mob what their after.Once they realize they’re working on the same case, they all team up to steal the jewel back from the original thief who turns out to be.... Considine! He planned to pin the botched robbery on Morrie to cover his his own tracks so he could take the jewel for himself.

SEASON 1, Episode 14Originally Aired: January 28, 1983EPISODE SYNOPSIS:Posing as soon-to-be divorced couple Bob and Judy Pepper, Remington and Laura go undercover to catch whoever is trying to kill the famous divorce attorney, Malcolm Marcall. When Laura meets four angry ex-wives whose husbands all retained Marcall to obtain lucrative divorce settlements for themselves, our duo decides to separately question the women over drinks, each returning to the agency comically inebriated.It becomes apparent that the wives each have a motive - and method - to attempt the murder of Marcall. Citing the classic movie, “Murder on the Orient Express,” Remington believes all the women had a hand in the unsuccessful attempts. When Laura agrees with this premise, they gather the ex-wives for a meeting at the Marcall’s beachfront Malibu home.As the wives are exonerated one by one, it is Laura who realizes the connection between the murder attempts and the incessant barking of the couple’s dogs. For during all the attempts, the dogs have not once barked at the intruder thus revealing the culprit as - Mrs. Marcall!

SEASON 1, EPISODE 13ORIGINALLY AIRED: January 21, 1983EPISODE SYNOPSIS:When Dr. Sheila Marcus is murdered, her boss at the sleep clinic hires the Remington Steele Agency to investigate the crime along with a string of lab break ins, missing records and stolen morphine. To keep the investigation quiet, Mr. Steele and Laura go undercover as an insomniac and his doctor. Though at first it seems the culprit is the offbeat narcoleptic Ivan Turbell, it soon becomes clear he’s being framed but by who? Was it the head of the clinic and Sheila’s lover Dr. Linstrom? The smooth talking Dr. Wicker? Or the stern and enigmatic Nurse Blackwell?No! It was Steele’s roommate and aging executive Nestor Bickerman, who was desperately covering up his insomnia and morphine addiction to protect his corporate reputation.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 12ORIGINALLY AIRED: January 14, 1983EPISODE SYNOPSIS:Remington is invited to be honorary chairman of a committee to save the bald eagle when its wealthy patron Grace Stanton suspects he knows about biologist Amos Maxwell’s missing report concerning a piece of proposed sanctuary land.After Dr. Maxwell is murdered, we meet several “slightly shady” suspects including conservationist Congressman Oren Bishop, tax-evader Harry Swan and Grace herself As the principals are gathered at Lake Solitude, Laura uses fake evidence to smoke out the congressman as the killer. Bishop, who was planning to seek a senate seat, could not let the report be revealed because he feared his environmentalist supporters would dump him if they knew he was trying to sell his tainted property.

Season 1, Episode 11Originally Aired: January 7, 1983Episode Synopsis:The Remington Steele Agency is hired to find a missing person: aging B Movie Star, Veronica Kirk. But when they track her down, a new mystery comes to light - who killed Veronica’s husband, Edgar, in a Hollywood scandal almost 30 years old.There’s a tawdry cast of characters including a greedy producer, a publicist turned memoirist and a daughter who’s childhood stories rival “Mommy Dearest”.But when the publicist and the investigating officer wind up dead, Laura and Remington deduce that it was Ms Kirk’s confidant, Mickey Prentice, who not only killed Edgar but committed the other murders for fear his secret was about to be discovered.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 10ORIGINALLY AIRED: December 10, 1982EPISODE SYNOPSIS:When Remington and Laura's new client Dr. Arthur Bellows is found dead, the duo infiltrate the new tropical Devil’s Playground location hosted by club owner and Devil magazine publisher Ambrose Blinn.But as soon as they arrive, Blinn is also murdered followed by the grim deaths of each of his five guests until it is just Remington and Laura alone on the secluded island.With all of the suspects dead, the duo discovers it's Randi Russell, a Devil magazine investor and model, who set up the elaborate rouse. She murdered all of the attendees AND faked her own death to exact revenge on each of them who had done her wrong in various ways over the years.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 9ORIGINALLY AIRED: Dec 4, 1982EPISODE SYNOPSISWhen Laura and Murphy are invited to the reunion of Havenhurst Detective Agency hosted by their former boss, Alan Grievey at his extravagant country home, Remington feels left out and crashes the weekend.But when Alan is found murdered in the elevator the next morning, the 5 colleagues ask Mr. Steele to help oversee the investigation. Together they uncover evidence which implicates each of them and soon they are at each other’s throats.But its Laura that finally puts all of the clues together and realizes that Alan actually committed suicide and planted the evidence as one-last-gotcha to his team.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 8ORIGINALLY AIRED: November 26, 1982EPISODE SYNOPSIS:When Mike Ito hires the agency to find out who killed his brother Kenji, it's Remington who convinces Laura they should investigate. Although Laura once again accuses Remington of barging in on the case without knowing the facts, he insists that she teach him the “ropes” so that he can be more than a flashy “front man.”What follows has more twists and turns than a puzzle box as a cast of Japanese characters, along with an Army Special Intelligence officer and a star-struck medical examiner, parade through the plot. Until it’s revealed that Kenji has been leading a double life as a Yakuza and staged his own death to keep brother Mike safe from the Japanese underworld.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 7ORIGINALLY AIREDNovember 19, 1982EPISODE SYNOPSISThe Remington Steele Agency is unnervingly quiet during the holidays but when a popular romance novelist’s husband Mitchell Knight - falls to his death at a glitzy publishing party, Laura Holt springs into action.The novelist Charlotte Knight, her publisher Russell Forsyth and her agent Dennis Baker all believe his death was a drunken accident and Remington agrees with them while Laura doggedly pursues the truth. Then the duo discovers not only was Mitchell was the ghost writer of Charlotte’s novels but he himself had a ghost writer for the third book and suddenly its Steele that wants to catch the killer.At a party arranged under the guise of a Remington Steele book deal and with all of the suspects gathered, Mr Steele mistakenly accuses each of them before Laura deduces the murderer is actually.... Charlotte’s lover and aspiring novelist, Tony Dinaldo.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 6ORIGINALLY AIRED November 12, 1982EPISODE SYNOPSISCharacters abound in this episode involving the theft of a $200,000 antique coin collection. The agency's client, ex-con Bobby Shapiro has been charged with the crime though he claims to have legally purchased the coins from James Rubio with the sale notarized by Waldo Church. Mayhem and murder ensue and the case is further complicated when Shapiro's lawyer, Creighton Phillips, romantically pursues Laura. In a break from the norm, but once again in a meeting with all the main characters, Steele actually figures out the truth and confronts the murderer, the shifty lawyer Phillips.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 5ORIGINALLY AIREDNovember 5, 1982EPISODE SYNOPSISWhen her overbearing mother comes to visit, Laura avoids confrontation by burying herself in work and takes on a case that Remington Steele is dead set against - protecting a valuable painting entitled The Five Nudes of Cairo.Soon Laura finds out why Mr Steele is so nervous, he once stole this same painting- his mysterious past is catching up with him! And when it is revealed that the so-called museum assistant is actually Steele’s old flame and partner in stealing the painting, Felicia, Steele finds himself between a rock and a hard place. Will he go back to his old life of crime?Steele enlists Laura to steal the painting- saying that its the best way to protect it- and though she suspects he might take the painting and run, he doesn’t. He has left the painting in a safe place INSIDE the museum and ultimately upholds the reputation of the agency. And after getting caught up in some of the action, Laura’s mom finally understands, her nontraditional career choice.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 4ORIGINALLY AIRED October 29, 1982EPISODE SYNOPSISDesperate for help, CIA employee Sheldon Quarry hires Remington and Laura to find out why his own agency is trying to kill him on the eve of his wedding to Lucille.After visiting the CIA office, our duo learns that the spy agency has indeed been following Sheldon but only because they think he's involved in a cover operation - and not to kill him - meaning someone else is out to do him harm.At the wedding, Laura has a brief tussle with a blonde female suspect posing as Lucille's nurse leading to the discovery that the bride's father has been sending American secrets to foreign countries and had become fearful that his future son-in-law and the CIA were on to him thus necessitating Sheldon's demise.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 3ORIGINALLY AIREDOctober 22, 1982EPISODE SYNOPSISWhile Laura tries to entertain their new client, Emory Arnok, who has hired the agency to do a routine security profile of his supermarket chain, Remington Steele gets involved in a case more suited to his sense of adventure- the disappearance of millionaire video game designer George Kaplan. His partner Albee Fervitz begs Steele to help find Kaplan before a board meeting where their company will be sold to rivals Gruff and Reston Industries.With the clock ticking and a bewildered Arnok in tow, the investigation quickly turns serious when Kaplan’s mysterious ex-girlfriend and his co-worker wind up dead. With minutes to spare, they pin the crime on Albee and his wife who created the fictitious Kaplan in order to avoid the merger and take all of the money for themselves. Arnok- now taken with their exciting lifestyle- humorously offers to join the agency as a private investigator.

SEASON 1, EPISODE 2ORIGINALLY AIREDOctober 8, 1982EPISODE SYNOPSISRoger Dillon, President of Dillion Electronics Company hires the agency to discover who is stealing their research. Laura goes undercover as a hot-to-trot secretary to investigate a man she believes is behind the theft, but the suspect gets away when Steele barges in demanding an explanation of why his credit cards have been cut off.Enter Jim Meecham, a new investor in Dillon Electronics, who insists on having Steele personally involved in the case. While Steele plays polo, Laura investigates behind the scenes in the horse barn and uncovers shocking evidence. Together they reveal the murderer was actually Mrs. Dillon, Roger’s mother and widow of the company’s founder. Oh, mom....

SEASON 1, EPISODE 1ORIGINALLY AIREDOctober 2, 1982EPISODE SYNOPSISLaura Holt is a brilliant and clever private investigator at the Remington Steele Agency. But she has a secret- there is no Remington Steele. She made him up as a male figure to front her own agency.But her current client, Gordan Hunter, is nervous that the precious gems he’s hired the agency to keep secure will be stolen out from under them. To quell his anxiety, Laura promises that “Mr. Steele” will be on hand to make sure the gems are safe.Enter Ben Pierson a dashing South African official sent to take the jewels back to their rightful owners. He claims to know who wants to steal the gems but is he really who he says he is? Soon the real Ben Pierson turns up dead and much to Laura’s dismay, the imposter takes on a new persona- Remington Steele. It doesn’t take the smooth con man long to figure out that there is no real Remington Steele. And when he and Laura stop their own client- the cagey Mr. Hunter- from steeling the gems, the fledgling agency gains some much needed media attention. Laura and the imposter Remington Steele decide it would be mutually beneficial for them both to keep up the rouse.