Remington Steele (1982–1987)

Of all the man-woman detective adversaries that came up in the '80s - and yes, I'm including the "Moonlighting" team - Remington Steele was the best, the best written, the best acted, with the best chemistry. Unfortunately for Pierce Brosnan, there aren't a lot the debonair, light comedy Cary Grant roles being written today - this was Brosnan's milieu and his role as "Mr. Steele" deservedly made him a star. That Stephanie Zimbalist, because she committed the unforgiveable crime of turning 40, is no longer considered a star is pathetic. Where Moonlighting suffered from writer changes, problems on the set and a certain amount of disorganization and had to depend more and more on ad libs, techniques like talking to the camera and often started filming without a script, Remington Steele delivered a tight, well acted script week after week and, as the years went on, only got better and better. Glad to see it in re-runs and probably garnering more and more new fans but I miss the show. As Mr. Steele said to his secretary when he began his biography, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." She then interrupts him and says, "Excuse me, Mr. Steele, don't you think it's better to say 'it was the best and worst of times'"? Whatever it was, Remington Steele was a part of it.