Steele Watching

SEASON 1, EPISODE 13

ORIGINALLY AIRED: 
January 21, 1983

EPISODE 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 12

ORIGINALLY AIRED: January 14, 1983

EPISODE 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 11

Originally Aired: January 7, 1983

Episode 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 10

ORIGINALLY AIRED: December 10, 1982

EPISODE 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 9

ORIGINALLY AIRED: 
Dec 4, 1982

EPISODE SYNOPSIS
When 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 8

ORIGINALLY AIRED: November 26, 1982

EPISODE 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 7

ORIGINALLY AIRED
November 19, 1982

EPISODE SYNOPSIS
The 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 6

ORIGINALLY AIRED 
November 12, 1982

EPISODE SYNOPSIS
Characters 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 5

ORIGINALLY AIRED
November 5, 1982

EPISODE SYNOPSIS
When 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 4

ORIGINALLY AIRED 
October 29, 1982

EPISODE SYNOPSIS
Desperate 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.