For no particular reason, I was thinking of the old TV show Remington Steele today. Remington Steele, for those of you unfamiliar with it, was was about a female private investigator (Laura Holt) who wasn’t taken seriously and so created a fictitious male partner named Remington Steele. Enter Pierce Brosnan, the man who walks in and takes on the mantle of Mr. Steele.

The thought crossed my mind that they should do a remake of that show. It has an interesting and straightforward story that would be made more interesting with the passage of time. Namely, keeping Steele’s identity in the information age. It’s been long enough that a remake wouldn’t feel so forced. It’s exactly the sort of crime-show-that’s-not-a-cop-show that does really well with women. It has a built-in romantic angle. This would be a far better idea than the Ironside remake ever was.

So imagine my surprise when I google the show and find that NBC is considering doing a boot! For once, NBC was doing something right! Except not. It’s not a remake; it’s a sequel starring the daughter of Holt and Steele. And worse, it’s a half-hour sitcom.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The show was never popular or iconic enough to attempt a sequel-reboot (the way that Dallas was, for example). The show about the daughter of the guy who came in and assumed a fictitious identity isn’t nearly as interesting as the guy who came in and assumed a fictitious identity or the woman who created the identity. Unless they regurgitate the plot. In which case, what would be the point?

NBC could, as my mother likes to say, screw themselves out of a free lunch.