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Intro 00:06
Mildred, follow that car! You got it! (tires screeching) I'm starting to think that we're the only two people in the whole state who have yet to make love in that car. (gunshot sound) I think someone's shooting at us. Why?! Because we're kissing. Someone always shoots at us when we're kissing! Look out! (tires screeching)
80s TV Ladies Theme Song 00:39
80s TV Ladies, I’m so sexy and so pretty. 80s TV Ladies, I’m steppin out into the city. 80s TV Ladies, I been treated kind of sh#*ty. Working hard for the money in a man’s world. 80s TV Ladies!

Susan Lambert Hatem 00:42
Hello! And welcome to 80s TV Ladies. I'm Susan Lambert Hatem. And my favorite cars are my Kia Niro and my old college car, the 1980 Toyota Corolla Wagon.

Sharon Johnson 00:56
And I'm Sharon Johnson. My favorite car that I've owned is a 1989 Eclipse. And the favorite car that I've ever driven is my brother's Aston Martin.

What?

Yes, we took it on the highway. I went over 100 miles an hour.

Get out of town...

...Fast. Get out of town fastly. That is amazing!

Awesome.

It was so much fun.

What does it feel like to drive an Aston Martin at 100 miles an hour?

Well, terrifying for me, because I'm not used to driving that fast and it wasn't my car. So I wanted to make sure that nothing happened to it. (Laughs)

Be a little careful.

That's right. But other than that, it was exhilarating.

That is amazing. I'm trying to think of the fanciest car I've ever been in. But I can't right now. But maybe, maybe we'll be able to find it. I certainly hope that where you are, you're finding joy wherever you can. Whether it's in an Aston Martin going 100 miles an hour, or in your little Kia Niro driving past the gas station goin', "Never have to be there again." Um. Hopefully um, you are also enjoying, finding joy listening to us. Today we have a really cool guest stopping by.

We've talked a little bit about cars of Remington Steele before but we wanted to take a closer look.

So I called my friend Evan Ball, who is a TV Writer and Producer. And he's a huge car guy. Evan loves cars and TV and Movies and the cars that are in TV and Movies.

Evan was a writer on Star Girl and most recently on Colin in Black and White, the drama about Colin Kaepernick during his high school football years and how he became an activist.

Alright, welcome Evan to 80s TV Ladies! We're so happy to have you on the show.

Evan Ball 02:45
Oh, I'm happy to be here. This is ah, when you brought it up to me initially I was like, Oh, yeah. Cool. I'm excited about coming on your podcast. That'd be fun. Have a good little chat. And then coming in here and seeing that you have the entire setup! Multiple microphones, multiple computers, sound engineer, producer, all the whole thing. This is a much more professional setup than I was prepared for. And still I am pumped!

(Laughs) Well, we want to make you feel like you're coming to some place, you know, that's ah, pulling out the stops.

(Laughs)

Evan Ball 03:16
Yeah. Well you are....

Just for you. Just for you.

Uh. How are you doing? And what's your what's your story, Evan?

Evan Ball 03:19
... You're doin' it.

Evan Ball 03:23
Oh, my goodness, my story. Well, you and I know each other because I've worked with your husband Rich on the show called Titans. A show that was originally on DC Universe, that's now HBO Max. And we got along very, very well there. And I've since done many a movie screening and hanging out and all that. And that's where I got to know you. And it's been absolutely fantastic! And I initially wanted to only write feature length screenplays. And it wasn't until I was in school that I realized that TV was super fun. And I think as our discussion may prove, it's a really interesting way to explore characters and dynamics and depth over a long time. You know, movies are great to kind of hit a key point or tell a concise story, but you only have two hours, I mean. But with television, you know, you have anywhere from 6 to 22 hours, which is probably too much for a Season of Television. But a lot of these 80s shows lean into that! So we get to have some fun there and it allows you to really, really deep dive and explore and play with theme in ways that I think you don't get to as much in movies. So I'm a wholehearted TV lover now. And then I worked on Colin in Black and White, the Colin Kaepernick show on Netflix. Then I worked in a couple, you know. You do Mini-Rooms and things that kind of don't go anywhere. I'm learning that there's a lot of that.

Evan Ball 03:23
A lot, a lot of streaming rooms like that.

Evan Ball 04:51
Yes, exactly.

Let's talk about the favorite car you've ever owned or currently own.

Evan Ball 04:58
Oooo, ever? Okay. Well, currently and ever. This may fit in with this podcast, I have a 1987 Mazda RX7 that I've owned for about 20 years now. And it barely runs, and I'm throwing way more money at that car than it's worth. Like I said, I bought it for 400, I could probably sell it right now without an engine for I don't know. Let's say 6000? Because it's a niche market now. There's a lot of people who are into it. But I probably have at least 25,000 invested in it, and it still doesn't run. So this is the project of my life.

(Laughs)

Ha Ha Ha! I love it.

Evan Ball 05:43
It's straight out of the 80s. Like all the shows you guys talk about.

What is it about this car that makes it your favorite? What is it that speaks to you about this car?

Evan Ball 05:51
Okay, well, there's two things. One, I'm a big fan of the Mazda rotary engines. And that was, that's like a unique thing that they do. It's kind of a small, high revving engine that you could kind of get a lot of power for a small engine, but it's a quirky thing. And I think I like the quirk of it. But the main thing, too, is that when I when I got it, and I got in a little bit over my head, I didn't have the money, I couldn't figure out how to do it. And during my time of production and all that there were a lot of times where I just like, I was struggling to pay rent, and I was trying to figure out what to do, and it kept coming up. Okay, do I sell this car? Do I sell this car? And I never wanted to do it. Because I was like, if I sell this car right now to pay this month's rent, and then next month, I'm struggling for rent money. I'm just gonna be mad at myself, that I gave up on this thing that I've been wanting to do this whole time. So I promised that, you know, when I quote unquote, made it, I was going to restore this car to like the max capacity. And so I've really kept it with me as kind of a symbol of, I'm gonna get, I'm gonna get there. And it's kind of come along with me as I, as I've moved different places and tried to make this career happen. And now that it's finally unfolding and my career is working the way I want it to and it's progressing. I'm like, yeah, now it's time to treat the car and fulfill that promise to myself. So it's very sentimental.

Oh my god, that is so beautiful. It's like the, this, the the car is a metaphor.

My favorite thing for television.

Evan Ball 07:17
(Laughs)

Evan Ball 07:18
A very physical metaphor. Yes.

It is. It is a special. It's a symbol. Right?

Evan Ball 07:24
Yeah.

The symbol of the struggle. And struggle is real.

Evan Ball 07:29
It is and it, it looks like you can see the struggle all over the car. (Laughs).

(Laughs)

And I love that it's from the 80s.

Evan Ball 07:36
Yes. Just like me.

In the 80s cars and vehicles were one of the special effects.

Evan Ball 07:43
Yeah.

Right? And if you were gona, you know, be cool. You wanted to flip a car, burn a car. I don't know, throw a car.

Evan Ball 07:53
You have to highlight a car. Your car has to talk to be super cool. Something like that. You got to have the rolling sexy car shots. It was it was definitely a big thing. I mean, it's weird because I, you know, I was I was born in the 80s. And even my, my parents were surprised that I was so much of a Miami Vice fan throughout my life, because I remember it from when it was first aired. And I mean, not when it's first aired, it was probably in syndication, but I remember it from when I was very, very, very young. And they could never understand. They're like, you weren't really paying it. How did you know? You were literally two, three years old or whatever. And I just remember the Testarossa. I just loved the Testarossa and so for the rest of my life, I was, it brought me back to Miami Vice and so I mean, now I've watched the whole series so many times. But it, things like that Knight Rider for example, with the, with KIT, the TransAm. That was something that got me as a kid as well. And it was like okay, cool. Yeah, the guy with the talking car. I want to watch that show. Yeah, cars. That era, specifically. A-Team stuff, where they had, you know, the big 18 vehicle everybody's in and out, supposed to be utility, but you know, like. There was something about that era that was really highlighting the cars in a really cool way. And it just spoke to me.

I totally get that. I mean because there was. I was a total A-Team fan. A little bit older than you but you know, that's okay. But also, Hardcastle & McCormick. I love that friggin’ car that apparently was like paper. They just could not keep that car together.

Evan Ball 09:26
Oh wow.

The car in Hardcastle. Do you know the car in Hardcastle & McCormick?

Evan Ball 09:29
No.

It was this like racecar. He's a racecar driver. Right? So a retired judge teams up with a convicted ex-racecar driver, who's been repossessing cars. Gone to jail for that, because sometimes it's always not legit. And so the judge is gona basically track down people who got out of his courtroom on a technicality. And he's going to get them on a new crime so he can send them to jail because they're bad people.

Evan Ball 10:00
The premise of that show sounds so Reagan "War on Crime" like era. (guffaw) So, and so much of it when you think about, the the pairing between cars and detectives.

Yes

Evan Ball 10:12
Was very leaning into, we gotta, we gotta stop these people at all costs! And we're gona to look cool while we do it! Yay police in all ways.

Yes. And and I will be my own justice.

Evan Ball 10:24
Yes, exactly.

Because I am an old white man. (guffaw)

Evan Ball 10:26
I could go vigilante with it. That's perfectly acceptable as long as I get the guy who did the minor crime, whatever.

You would love the car stuff, though.

Evan Ball 10:34
Oh, yeah!

They I, I think it was the first TV show to do the under, the the, uh...

Evan Ball 10:40
Under the truck?

Under the truck. Under the, it was pretty impressive.

Evan Ball 10:44
That's amazing to, to do that practically. And at that time, and if this car, if this car was built like paper like you're saying, that is incredibly dangerous! Because they should be having full heavy roll cages in them.

I am blanking on the star of the show, who I love dearly. He's great.

The judge? Or the..

The judge.

Brian Keith.

Brian Keith is fantastic in that show. Brian Keith is fantastic in that show.

Evan Ball 11:07
I'm gona have to watch this...

You have to watch this show. It's great. And he hated that car 'cause he had to you, there, the doors. It was a race car. So...

He's a big guy.

You had to climb in. He had to climb and he's a big dude. And he was 70 when he did the show. (laughs)

Evan Ball 11:22
And he had to do that every time?

Every time they jumped in the car to race after the bad guys!

Evan Ball 11:26
(Laughs) Oh, man.

That is literally the show that Rich and I were watching during Pandemic. In the early days of Pandemic when we were watching 70s and 80s shows that I was loving so much, but I was also mystified. I love Stephen Cannell shows of the 80s, the A-Team Hardcastle & McCormick, Riptide.

Evan Ball 11:46
Oh, Riptide.

There are no women in those shows. There are women that start off in those shows, a few little side characters. And by the end of the First Season, they're gone! They've packed up and moved to help their sister or they're just kicked out of the van because George Peppard didn't want to hang out with them. I don't know. And I was like, Why could he not have cool women in these shows? It would, it was make me sad because I love these shows. But there are no women in their shows.

Evan Ball 12:14
There's something about the the detective car thing that is just... You, you realize you're just watching masculine fantasy over and over and over again.

But then along comes Remington Steele. And Laura Holt and her cars. Because I realized when when I was sort of prepping this I'm like, Oh my gosh! All the cars in the show that are you know, part of the lore of the show... Not, not the one off guest star cars... belonged to Laura Holt.

Evan Ball 12:47
Oh, they were all her personal cars.

Well, they were all her personal or business cars....

Evan Ball 12:51
Oh yeah her character cars...

So because she owned the agency. The cars belonged to her.

Evan Ball 12:57
Yeah, that makes, I just, I guess that's not some'm that you would have to put together. But that's perfect. Yeah, that's great.

I got very excited because I was like, I think it's the only one that I know of.

I can't think of another one.

Evan Ball 13:08
I can't think of anything else.

Yeah.

I'm gonna say Cagney. & Lacey. They had, they had their own police cars, but they belong to the police department.

Right.

Evan Ball 13:14
Yeah, they weren't hers. Her, like her character's property, her business.

So should we talk about the cars and Remington Steele? Because because they're kind of characters. They're kind of, you know, they're story, definitely story points to them. And they're, and they're a little bit character defining, at least. I would say.

Evan Ball 13:31
Yeah. It was a, speaking of which, it was really funny when I was rewatching because it's kind of hard to stream right now. So I had to go through, we'll say, grey area channels.

Methods?

Evan Ball 13:46
To to try to get to stream it. And so where I was, where I was watching the episodes to kind of avoid copyright issues, the whole episode was mirrored. So I'm watching, I'm watching these episodes, and I'm like, Why is everybody driving on the right side? And it took me a second. I'm like, oh, it's because they're flipping the screen. Funny thing.

That is so funny. And that goes in and out. There's some places you can see Season One and Two, but none of the others.

Evan Ball 14:09
Yeah. And it's never consistent. It's like some some, whatever network or streaming platform will have it for a short amount of time. And so if you try to get watching, and you don't just burn through it really fast. Next thing, you know, it's gone and off of that platform. And now you're just like, Okay. I have to find somewhere else again.

Well, because we, especially since we've gotten so used to everything being available somewhere. And that is just not the case with all of those shows, especially from the the 80s and the 70s, to a certain extent. But I did find all the seasons of Remington Steele on DVD. ...Yes, I still have a DVD player... at the library.

Evan Ball 14:44
Oh, that makes sense. It hits all the things I love about this type of the genre. Right? It has a really fun comedy to it and like a really, like a very specific kind of clever wit that you feel like you're always on the inside joke. As a, as an audience member that I just really appreciate. Because you know, they're they're, whether they're like double entendre style dialogue, or to things that aren't as corny as James Bond. But they're like adjacent, in some ways. Like, you can see how Pierce got a lot of practice at delivering these kinds of lines before he becomes Bond. But then also in the initial watch just being like, Oh, yeah! There's, there's some cool cars in this. Like this, this is a legit detective spy thing in the way that I was telling you. I was drawn to those types of stories before, like when we're talking about other 80s shows.

Yeah. And again, it's not flashy, like, you know, like the A-Team or Hardcastle & McCormick or the Knight Rider. It's more subtle. But what I liked, so the car that Laura Holt her personal car. Right? I looked it up, because I wouldn't know from the outside because I'm not a car person. But basically, it was a Volkswagen Rabbit convertible. Which is not again, a Sexy car. Right? It was a fun car. It's a fun car.

Evan Ball 16:06
The Rabbit's kind of legendary.

Is it?

Evan Ball 16:08
Yeah! It has like a low key cult status.

Okay!

Evan Ball 16:11
Because they, so I mean, look the Volkswagen Rabbits were something that at the time, were that kind of affordable, sporty coupe thing. Right? And so it was something that just, like a lot of people could get their hands on and have fun with. They were like beach cars and they were things to like cruise around on the highway with and have a good time. So there's, it's weird. Volkswagen always has a kind of like diehard group of people who are just like fans forever and know everything in and out and all that. But yeah, if you look at, from old Beetles, to Rabbits, to... what was the other?

The vans. The, the...

Evan Ball 16:50
Yeah the buses, the Volkswagen Buses. Like I think it's in there. It's not quite as esteemed as those two but there's there's definitely a whole Rabbit fan base out there.

A whole Rabbit fan base. I'm excited.

I had no idea.

I wouldn't know that either. What I will say that we learned from Stephanie Zimbalist, Laura Holt when we interviewed her, the car was what she was driving. They just basically said, Oh, that! That looks cool. Laura Holt would be, would be driving that car. I don't know if it was her personal car because they do trash it a lot. Particularly I think in Season One.

Evan Ball 17:22
I'm sure at some point, it was just like, Okay, we gotta get a car for the show. Like a show car. Yeah.

But I liked that it felt like, it defined Laura Holt's character in a way, in a specific way that was very Los Angeles. And that was one of the things in rewatching the show that I realized like, Oh! This is like a...

Evan Ball 17:38
... super LA.

It's super LA! It's super LA, and it's so exciting.

And it felt kind of cool. Like a cool little car for Los Angeles. It didn't you know, wasn't it wasn't just a sedan. It wasn't. It was cool, but not flashy, if you will. You know, it wasn't like some convertible sports car kind of thing. It felt, and maybe you just felt like her. Maybe it just felt like Laura. I'm not sure.

Yeah, I think so too. Because it's not Magnum PI. We're not going Ferrari. It, we're going like a very practical car, and yet sporty and cool.

Evan Ball 18:12
So I have, I do have a little thought on that. And this is this is me, probably putting things together that didn't exist. But the show is very clearly a fan of a lot of Film Noir. And those pieces constantly referencing Bogart movies and stuff like that. And if you look at a lot of the Film Noir movies set in the 40s, and things like that, there's a ton of convertibles. There are a ton of just like mellow convertible sedans that are just around because that was like the thing to have.

I never thought of that....

Evan Ball 18:43
And so, it actually makes sense to me that she drives around in like the 80s ish version of something like that. That's not the sportiest of the sports car, but it's just sporty enough that you're like, Yeah! A detective would drive that.

Now that you talk about that, I'm thinking of like. What's the Cary Grant movie with the plane?

Evan Ball 19:01
North by Northwest.

North by Northwest. He drives, he he gets drunk in the convert. They send him, try to send them off the road in the convertible. I'm like, Oh you, you're right.

Evan Ball 19:09
I mean, maybe a happy accident. But it was one of those, it's one of those things like, Oh! That's cool.

It's also easy to film with a convertible.

Evan Ball 19:14
Yeah! (Chuckles)

You can see a character.

Evan Ball 19:20
Much easier.

Much easier. Um, I love that. Okay! I think we have to take a little break. And then we're gonna come back and talk about what I think are the two other very important cars in the show. But then I also realized in the Pilot, there's a whole car story! We'll come right back.

And we're back. We kept talking about cars and television shows during the break. We didn't stop.

Evan Ball 19:46
No.

There's so many cars in Television shows to talk about, but Remington Steele and Remington Steele cars.

But you had a thought. What was your thought?

Evan Ball 19:54
I did have a thought. Because we were talking about that, and I was thinking about how even growing up as a kid, how many shows where there was always an iconic car. Right? There's always the Batmobile. There was like the Turtle Van. Like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had a Turtle Van. And I had to get the little Turtle Van Toy with the figures because that was a thing. And just thinking about how instrumental, even X Men... Like the X Men cartoon, they didn't have a car until the Movie when they drove a Mazda RX8 in X Men II. But they had the SR 71 Blackbird, which was their thing. So there was all, there's like always the iconic vehicle...

Vehicle. Yes, I was thinking about that. Because I was like, you know, I'm sort of now, then leap back to like, Okay. What other women and cars and women, female driven television shows, did the ladies get to have a cool car? Wonder Woman? I don't think she had a car. But she had the plane.

Evan Ball 20:48
She had the plane. An invisible plane.

She had the jet! And they did it in the show. And I couldn't remember how they did it. And so I had to go look up how they did it. And and it basically looks like a glass plane.

Evan Ball 20:59
That's right.

It's pretty friggin cool. For 70s?

Evan Ball 21:01
Heck yeah!

I was like, Oh yeah! That was cool!

Evan Ball 21:05
It's also a random thing. So you have I mean, you have a character who can fly. But who travels around in an invisible jet. And it's not. It's not. There's nothing about (Unintelligible), that makes you think MilitaryJet. But she flies around in the Military Jet. And it's super cool.

It is super cool. And, and it's invisible. Which always felt weird, because you're like, OK....

Evan Ball 21:28
She's not invisible....

... She's not invisible.

Evan Ball 21:29
... Just the plane.

... That's the thing.

Evan Ball 21:31
It's not a cloaking device. It's just see through. So there's just a person sitting there flying through the air (Laughs).

I mean, maybe it wouldn't be picked up on radar, because people might not be picked up. I don't know how radar works. But it is weird. It would just freak you out. Like if you're another plane and you see...

Evan Ball 21:50
... Just see a person.

... a person?

Evan Ball 21:51
(Chuckles)

That would be very strange. I'm still at a loss as to how she got away with that. (Guffaw) But, it's still very cool.

It's still very cool. But did she? Did Wonder Woman have a car? Does she have that?

Evan Ball 22:04
Not that I know of.

I don't. I, nothing comes to mind.

There had to be serveral cars on the show. But maybe there was no one car.

Well, then how do? How do you? How does the Car compare or compete with the Invisible Plane? I mean, in the show you can't, you...

Can you have an invisible car? I mean, like, that's where I'm going. You know, and then she's just cruising down the street.

(Laughs)

Just sittin'. What was interesting to me is, if Pierce Brosnan had never walked into the show, the character of Remington Steele would have been represented by that Limo.

Evan Ball 22:36
Ooo. Interesting.

That's probably what happened before Pierce Brosnan, as Remington Steele, showed up in Laura's life. That this car was there. It existed, and people, it just sort of represented him.

She basically got a Limo, put R Steele on the license plate, and had Fred the chauffeur drive that car around, so people thought Remington Steele existed. That gag was going on before Pierce Brosnan walks into the show.

Evan Ball 23:09
Oh, yeah. It's such a fun concept. Like the concept of the show being, they're not going to take a woman seriously, so we got to create this. And it's funny because the the idea of Remington Steele being like the ultra masculine Man, and then Pierce Brosnan being, not un-masculine. He's very masculine, but he's the British. He's like the charming, pretty Gentleman type. Right? And it's like, when you think of what Remington Steele, I think, was kind of parodying in the in the concept she made up of him. It's the other things I was talking about. Right? It's like all, it's the Bullet type characters. It's those things you like, Oh, yeah! It's gonna be this like Man's Man type of guy. That's probably wealthy. That's glamorous.

The Hart to Hart guy.

Evan Ball 23:59
Yeah.

It's the Hart. It's Hart, Mr. Hart!

Evan Ball 24:02
And then to bring in a guy who, in his character in the show, is a criminal, who's like, suave. But who doesn't...

He's a con man!

Evan Ball 24:16
Yeah. Like, it was such a fun way to kind of subvert that.

Yeah, I thought it was great. And yet he sort of slides into that character, and obviously makes it his own. But it's, it's interesting that, that he fits. You know, both, he both fits, and then is the opposite of everything she wanted that character to be.

Evan Ball 24:36
Yeah.

You know, I'm going to invent the perfect man to be the head of my Agency. And he's perfect 'cause he doesn't exist.

Evan Ball 24:44
(Chuckles) He listens to me. He takes me seriously. He lets me take the lead on things. All that and then like, Oh! Here's the actual guy. Now. Now we have some friction. Then there's a show.

And then there's a show. That is so funny. So the The Limo was a 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood. Do you know what that means?

Evan Ball 25:06
I know people idolize the Fleetwoods as being like an iconic thing of the time for I mean for limos, but I don't I'm not up on Limos.

The Limo doesn't do a lot of stunts. They do a lot of following people. And traveling, you know, Remington from place to place. And Laura and Remington.

Talking in it. Yeah. You know, figuring things out, having romantic moments. But they don't flip that Limo. But they do flip her, her Rabbit.

Evan Ball 25:25
Talking in it.

Evan Ball 25:36
Flip her Rabbit.

They drive her Rabbit into a lake in Season One. And then and then the Rabbit gets like pushed down a hill and rolls. I don't know that they ever completely destroy it. I mean, they clearly destroyed in those. I mean, there's several versions of it.

I don't I don't think it ever got that badly dammaged.

Evan Ball 26:00
Not like the big full explosion thing.

Right.

Evan Ball 26:01
Where you're just like this car's done!

Yeah, no.

Definitely not.

Not like, not like Scarecrow and Mrs. King when they blew up Lee Stetson's car.

Yeah, Remington Steele wasn't a let's blow things up, kind of show. It happened occasionally. But it wasn't a big part of the show. And happily they, they left her car alone for the most part.

Yes. And so we were talking about in the Pilot.

That we, I was reminded when I went back and looked at the Pilot, that the Pilot is all about a car. It's about jewels and a car. And that was really interesting, because I had forgotten. And it's about, like, Remington Steele Agency has been hired to protect some very expensive jewels, which are going to be part of the revelation of this brand new, fancy car. And then things go awry, you know, as they do in a Pilot.

Evan Ball 26:20
Yes.

And Remington Steele, or whatever his name is, really.

Yeah, Remington Steele in the Pilot doesn't exist as a person. He is a fake face, made up person.

Evan Ball 27:00
Yeah.

That's the fake boss.

And this, this fake Remington Steele is, is trying to steal the jewels and inserts himself into this whole process, and.

Evan Ball 27:09
Yeah, it's so fascinating. I mean, they're, they're really clever in the way they kind of unfolded when he meets Laura. And he's pretending to be like the South African Agent. Right? And so he folds into that, but then he goes somewhere else. And he's trying to work with the people, other people who are coming after the gems, and he's pretending to be someone else. And then finally, the person who doesn't trust Laura, because he's the guy is like, I got to see a man, walks in as like Remington Steele has to be here, or I'm walking away from the case. And for, because it's the Pilot, they gotta figure something out shenanigans. And then next thing you know, he's just there like, Hi! Nice to meet you. I'm Mr. Steele. And your just like, Woah, wait! What happened?

It's so great. It really is.

Evan Ball 27:49
The handoff is so good. Over and over.

The handoff is really fun, and, and she has to go with it. And then and then ultimately realizes that the success of her Agency has hit a point where she needs a Remington Steele. She can't pull off the ghost game anymore. It can't just be the Limo, R Steele. And, and so they sort of have to. But we have talked about the fact that even though that's the coolest idea for a Pilot, it is actually the thing that probably ruins the female driven aspect of the show.(Guffaw)

It definitely changes the nature of what, but it also shines a light on what women then, and even now today, have to go through that. There's always a man who's who's going to be there to try to, or people are going to listen to because it's a guy and and it's not a woman. I you know, I've certainly lived through some of that myself. I think you probably have too. And sadly it's it's happened then and it's still happening today to, for a certain extent.

They actually talked about it, the women that worked in in the Obama White House, in the administration. Because there were a lot of women. He hired a lot of women, hired a lot of people of color. But the women in particular realized that they were literally not being listened to. And so they offsite went, We gotta do, they started like going, Well, you know, She has a really interesting point. And they were literally backing each other up in their meetings to make sure that they were being heard and that then their ideas weren't being taken by a guy in the room. And it's the Obama White, it's you're like Oh! Well that should be the friendliest female you know. Wasn't. (Guffaw)

Evan Ball 29:33
It's just still culturally ingrained blind spots. It's It's so bad. And you know, back back to the show, the thing that, I hear your point about it. Right? By by having a physical actual Remington Steele, you are conceding the idea that you need this man to be there when it was just her own ship. And the show does a really good job I think of going back and forth in highlighting how capable she is at this and not letting it just be, Oh, Mr. Steele Pierce Brosnan can just kind of charm his way through everything and get everything done. Like she has to do a lot of the legwork all the time to figure these things out. And you know, he has his skills too. And that's the kind of fun back and forth of it. But I'm happy at least and this is the lowest possible bar, that they didn't just abandon that and let it just be like, Oh, well, now he's the lead detective. And she's actually kind of the secretary. Right? Like, it's not that.

No, and you're right. And it teetered every once, we having watched it, you're like, Oh no! Oh. Okay. All right. And then they, that's a, I think, a testament to both the creators because they listened. But also, you know, I think to Stephanie Zimbalist, who, you know, in researching sort of the Season One to Season Two, and, and sort of some of the rumors of, they're not getting along, you know. His, his Star. I mean, he was gona become James Bond. Which is always challenging when you know, you have then two stars, and one has just become the most famous star that's shooting up into the sky, and everybody loves. But she was also in Season Two, there's interviews with her in like TV Guide, and things like that. She was just saying, please remember the premise of the show. The point of the show is that Laura is driving the ship.

Evan Ball 31:24
Is the detective.

Is the detective. And and so she really in Season Two worked to right that ship, and they were like, Oh, you're right. They were able to hear it and see it. And then they started bringing more women writers on and Robin Bernheim. But they talked about that. Like that that, there was, it was important to stay true to that because that was the concept of the show. And it was, even if it wasn't like they weren't going we're making a feminist show. They were like we're making entertainment. But we're doing so with a a, a female character, like you've not seen before. And I think they cast right because it was somebody who fought for that vision, that was the show. But we're a little off of cars. (Laughs)

(Laughs)

The concept car in the first show.

Evan Ball 32:12
Yeah.

In the first episode, I'm gonna tell you what the car was. In the show, `it's called the Hunter Jetstar 6000. That's a pretty good name. It's actually, it was actually the Vector W2. Do you know this?

Evan Ball 32:26
No, I didn't know that.

Manufactured by Vector Aeromotive as a Concept Car in 1978. It went into limited production in the early 80s.

Yeah. Never heard of it.

But the company ceased production on all its car models in the mid 90s.

Evan Ball 32:42
Okay.

And then, of course, Spoiler Alert, the businessman is doing this to, basically he's he's made a plan to steal the diamonds to save his car company and fund his car. And weirdly enough, you know, this Pilot aired October 1, 1982. October 19th, we just looked up 1982, John DeLorean famous car manufacturer, was arrested for allegedly trying to buy large amounts of cocaine in order to finance his struggling car company. Now Evan, do you know about the DeLorean?

Evan Ball 33:21
That's wild. Yeah, so the DeLorean as being if not the most, one of the most iconic cars in, on screen history. Right? And from you know, from the car guys side of things, it's a vehicle that has such a mythology about it. Everybody loves the specific DeLorean vehicle, but everybody, it has like different myths and ideas about like, what happened to the company. Because you know, the, with the owner falling into legal issue after legal issue after legal issue, there's always the like, Oh. Well, some other company is gonna scoop them up or something else is going to happen. Like this is too hot of a property and too unique of a car, that today is still really heavily sought out. But nobody really knows why. There can't be anything else coming from it. Right? There's nobody else bought the property. We, still the cars are super hard to find. They're very well maintained for the most part. But it's it's it's just shrouded in mystery. And it's like, I think that adds to the appeal, the fact that the owner's having so much drama.

Yeah. We were talking about Hardcastle & McCormick and the race car that they use in in the show because it wasn't holding together very well. In like Season Two or Three, they basically just converted some DeLoreans to look like the car. And they used that for jumping, because it was a better car.

Evan Ball 34:45
It's a tank. I mean, it's a stainless steel vehicle like most. I mean, back in the day, in 80s people were still making cars out of metal but you know, they were painted and all that. And this was very specifically, it's just like this is raw stainless and maybe had a clear coat on it. I don't actually know if that's true. But it was. It's a very unique, specific vehicle that was heavy, that was almost bulletproof. So I could totally see them being like, Yeah! Sure, let's use it as a stunt car for something else. But then, as a fan today, who knows, there's such a very limited amount of them. And that if I ever see one, it's like, I have to stop and take a picture and like, like, Okay! So there's one in this neighborhood. And now we know that there's another one in California that exists and all that. It's just breaks my heart to hear that they were just throwing it over bridges.

Oh, my God. They were Zoom...

Evan Ball 35:37
... Doing all kinds of thing with it (Chuckles)

Just shot, like flying it into the air and landing really hard.

One can only hope that it ended up in the hands of somebody who's given it a lot of TLC and taken very good care of it. (Chuckles)

You know, but they threw those cars around in the 80s. Real hard.

Evan Ball 35:52
Yeah, because they had they, you have to do things practical. I mean, if there's anything I miss now, I,I understand safety concerns and all that, when it comes to doing stunts and all that. Being able to have a practical car chase scene, with real stunt drivers and real cars just feels completely different than anything else. It's so much more fun.

All right, so the other big car, they basically bring a, bring a special car in, in the middle of of Remington Steele, Season Two, Episode Seven. It's called Love Among the Steele. And it introduces the car they will basically use for the rest of the show, for reasons.

It was cool. I think that was probably (Chuckles)

Oh that's why. Do you remember what the car is?

Evan Ball 36:38
No, I don't.

It's the 1936 Auburn Boattail Speedster.

Evan Ball 36:43
Oh!

Do you remember this when it? Do you remember that when it came in the show? It was this whole episode about it, where the Agency is hired to find a missing car that holds the key to something precious or special. And yet also, it's a car that keeps showing up driverless and trying to run them down.

Evan Ball 37:03
Like a ghost car.

It's like a ghost car (Laughs).

Evan Ball 37:07
And she's like, I'll take that.

Well, it's so funny, because in it, like there's also this legend that has to do with like romance and the car. And if you you know, on they tracking down all the owners of the car and the mystery of if you're involved with the car, then love is in the air and something fabulous. You know, anyway, there's there's a sort of, every past owner has a personal romantic connection to that car. And then somehow at the end of the day, the Remington Steele Agency ends up with it, or Pierce Brosnan's character, Rem Steele. But I'm assuming the Remington Steele Agency bought it for him.

Evan Ball 37:42
Yeah, I mean, where else? He doesn't have money anywhere else.

He doesn't have any money anywhere else.

Evan Ball 37:45
I'm often like, Where does he really live?

I mean, the Agency pays for his apartment. The agency pays for his car.

Evan Ball 37:52
Like if all this is gone. He's just bouncing around? Because what, he talks about it in the, in the Pilot, when he's like, Oh, yeah. I may follow the gems to San Francisco or whatever, like the whatever tour they're on. It's like, Do you have a home to go to? Or do you just go from job to job?

That's the whole point of the character! That's the mystery and heartbreak of the character, is he's a con man without a home, without a place. And then he finds Laura!

Evan Ball 38:14
Now he's one of the family.

And then he becomes, you know, he has to live up to the perfect man. And you know, in order to win over Laura Holt. That's what you got to do, out in the world. (Laughs)

(Laughs)

Evan Ball 38:27
It is way more detailed and a, a much more severe endeavor than swipe right. (Laughs)

(Laughs) Yes, it is. Yes, it is.

But there was something you said earlier about Film Noir, and cars of that era that made me realize, or made me think that maybe that had something to do with maybe how that car got in the show? Because it's very much of that FIlm Noir...

... of that era, and it feels very much. And so all the Film references and all the other, that they constantly do, this just feels perfect for this show. I don't know that it would feel right in almost any other show. But because of that, it feels really right for this show.

Evan Ball 38:51
Yeah. For sure.

Evan Ball 39:08
Oh, there's somebody out there who's like, Oh, yeah! That was in you know, scene 19 in The Big Sleep. And bla bla bla right now. That we're like, we don't have that, and I'm kind of upset that I don't know if there's that connection there. But it feels like the kind of car that would have that.

That would have that. And I again, I did a little bit of a dive, but maybe one of our listeners knows and you can let us know. But I was sort of, I was really curious about like, other women and female driven shows or movies that get to drive cool vehicles. And I wasn't sure if you. I mean we talked about Wonder Woman, but I wasn't sure if there's something else you're like, Oh, this one!

Evan Ball 39:45
Well not in movie. So in comics, Black Canary is a DC character and she's like known for having a motorcycle and that's her thing. So it's not a car.

That's okay. Vehicle's cool

Evan Ball 39:55
She's got a, she has an iconic kind of... It goes back and forth. It's mostly like Harley-ish. But not you know, not like a big handlebar thing. But she's a biker girl. And so she does a biker thing.

No, that's cool.

Evan Ball 40:08
So that's pretty cool. I'm trying to think of, you know. In the, in the Fast and Furious movies at different times, the female characters have specific cars. But now that I think about it, I can't track that there's, in the way that Dominic Toretto, Vin Diesel's character always drives a Charger. I don't know that there's a female character that always drives this specific thing in that.

So, Michelle Rodriguez, like, what do you know? She's in the, she's in the Fast and Furious. What does she drive? Do we?

Evan Ball 40:41
She goes back and forth. So in the first one, I think she drives a Nissan 240 SX. And then later, so she because uh, her character and Vin Diesel's character become like an item. She starts adopting some of his and she drives a lot of his style cars. She drives like a Hemi Cuda at some point and other things. But then later, she moves into being a motorcycle girl too. And she's on motorcycles. Every, you'll see everybody else in the car, and you'll see her on a bike just ahead of them.

Well, that might be Debbie Evans Levitt, quite honestly. So you know...

Evan Ball 41:12
There you go!

... just sayin'.

I was just thinking, Thelma and Louise.

Evan Ball 41:17
Oh yes! For sure!

That iconic convertible. I have no idea what it is.

Thelma and Louise, that's a great one!

But they, they that's the only one I can come up with at this point. I can't think of any other Movie or TV Show that that has a car that's that tied to the show, tied to the female characters, in the same way.

There is a friend of mine that I was talking to, that we were talking about Thelm, Thelma and Louise, and it's it's one of my favorite things that I will probably remember forever, where we were talking about Thelma and Louise and, and how much, how great it was. And then she's like, Well, my favorite part was just when they flew off at the end.

Evan Ball 41:57
Okay. (Laughs)

(Laughs)

Evan Ball 42:01
That's your takeaway from Thelma and Louise.

And I was like, Oh, yeah. That was good.

Because I just couldn't, I'm like, that's, that's what she thinks happened. And because that's what she wants to have happened. They flew off. (guffaw) In the car.

(Laughs)

Evan Ball 42:16
Flew into the sunset. (Laughs)

They flew into the sunset,. And God bless her! Why not?! (Laughs)

Well, if that's what she wants to believe, and take away then, okay.

So of course I did a little research because I was like, Okay, we got to figure out, we looked at Scarecrow and Mrs King. We talked about Lee Stetson drives a Porsche 356 and an '84 Corvette. Amanda King drives this Ltd Station Wagon. And it's very iconic. I remember that. Like, I remember that look of a station wagon from the 70s and 80s. My mom had a green station wagon. That's what we rolled around the back without seatbelts, like hanging out in all parts.

Evan Ball 42:57
The station wagon kind of defined the era between Muscle Car and like the Japanese Invasion of the 80s. It was just these station wagons.

Evan Ball 43:05
'Cause man, they were tanks. And I had I had a 1980 Toyota Corolla Wagon, station wagon.

Been my last two years of college and first couple years of grad school. And I loved that thing. I was so embarrassed when I got it. Because I needed a car. And I couldn't afford much. This was what I could afford. And I needed room because I was in Film School. And I was like, okay... It was such a great car!

Evan Ball 43:06
Wow.

Evan Ball 43:35
It was probably the, you were everybody's friend. You could carry everything. It was so easy to give to people.

I would put so many C-Stands into that car. I couldn't, even I couldn't believe it. I could pack that car with everything. It had this high wheelbase, I think is what they call it. So literally, we took it out to the desert. We were off roading with that thing. It was fantastic! That car! It had these little rain guards, which I've never seen. I'm sure...

Evan Ball 44:02
The metal ones over the windows, with litte gutters. Yeah.

Like so when you you could roll down the windows during a rain and it wouldn't come into the car.

Wow.

It was stolen twice from USC.

Evan Ball 44:15
But you got it back?

(Laughs)

I got it back the first time. It just had like, clearly joy rided, ah joy ridden and they like took the battery or something.

I'm like Okay. The second time it was gone for like 10 days. And finally I called my mom. And I'm like, told her that the car had been stolen. It was the worst. Like I just couldn't. I just like I didn't even know how to tell her. And the next day they called me and they said your car's down in in, you know Long Beach, next to the Harbor. It's in a storage place. You got to pick it up by five or...

Evan Ball 44:29
Sure.

Evan Ball 44:57
What!!! (Laughs)

... Or or they're gona charge you another $60 a day, which they've been charging you. And I was like, Oh no. And then I get down there. And it had been stripped.

Evan Ball 45:09
Ugh.

No!

They had taken the luggage rack on the top of the car. They had taken the rain guards. They had taken literally pieces of a 1980 Corolla Wagon in order to fix a 1980 Toyota Corolla Wagon...

... Somewhere else. And they left us, but it was still drivable. I had to get another battery. It had wheels, but I had to get the battery before they closed at five. Or I was going to be charged...

Evan Ball 45:28
(Laughs)

Evan Ball 45:42
For another day.

For another day!

For your stolen car.

For my stolen car.

Oh my God.

Heartbreak upon heartbreak of Los Angeles.

Evan Ball 45:50
Jeez.

Good Lord. Anyway, I did get it out. But that car lasted for 250,000 miles. I sold it to a friend of mine after I moved on from it. And she drove back to Georgia and drove it till it was in the ground.

Wow.

Greatest car ever. And I'm not, no offense to my Kia Niro, which is fabulous. I love.

Evan Ball 46:13
(Laughs) See but that was, that was why the Japanese cars dominated the 80s was because suddenly they're cheaper and way more reliable. You're getting 200,000 miles out of 'em without a sweat, with just minor maintenance. And it's like (guffaw) American companies are like wait, wait. What now?

That great gas mileage for the time.

Evan Ball 46:31
Yep.

It was amazing. All right. So I also looked up Cagney & Lacey. They drive basically their sort of police car. You know, I don't know they, the sedans. According to Internet Movie Car Database, it's the cashmere Dodge Diplomat four door sedan that they're mostly driving. They do a lot of car stuff in Cagney & Lacey.

Evan Ball 46:54
Cagney & Lacey for sure.

Yeah, it's fun. It's very realistic. It's not, you know, crazy. They're not getting goofy with their car chases. Although in the Movie, the TV Movie, there's a great gag. Very beginning of the TV Movie, where she's driving and um, Lacey is driving and sees a guy running out of apartment with a bag that he's clearly stolen something out of that building. So she pulls over and starts chasing him. Right? And they, she has to get out of the car and start chasing him and he dodges into apartment building. And so she jumps out of her car, tries to get the door before it closes behind him, but doesn't make it. And then has to start buzzing New York City apartments in order to get somebody to buzz her in, in order to chase this guy. And she's trying to do that. And meanwhile, some other guy in the street, jumps into her police car and steals it. It's such a great gag. It's really, I thought it was a lovely introduction to that character and the world. It was just really wonderful.

Evan Ball 47:59
That's awesome.

All right. So Charlie's Angels. Do they have cool cars in Charlie's Angels? Do you know? Did you ever watch?

Evan Ball 48:05
I don't know. I never caught up on. You know, we had Charlie's Angels, I remember when the Cameron Diaz movies came out. That being a thing but that was you know, that was chasing the whole like kung fu wire combat thing. Like that was just a different era...

It was a different era.

Evan Ball 48:19
... Then, then the old school Charlie's Angels was. Tell me tell me about 'em. I want to hear it now

So the only thing I remember is that Farrah Fawcett. The Farrah Fawcett character, I think had a cool car, but they didn't do a lot of showing up in. I don't remember.

They did a lot of undercover.

Oh, yeah. Melissa's given us a nod. Okay. They had three cool cars.

Hmmm.

Okay.

Evan Ball 48:41
Okay.

So Melissa's not a mic. So one of them drove a Mustang. Because we gave her mic to Evan. Um, so yeah. They so so the Angels got some cars. That's cool.

Evan Ball 48:52
Good. They should.

I was like, oh, and then and then Hart to Hart. I think Stephanie Powers, they were mostly driven around by Max in, in. I don't know what that car was. But Stefanie Powers gets to drive around in a Mercedes SL 450. That seems about right.

And it's a, it's a convertible, I think.

Yeah. They're, they're rich. So I would hope she'd be driving something like that.

Evan Ball 49:14
Well, it's also a, it's got a good engine. Some good, good giddy up in that. So if you needed to get somewhere with that one and still kind of have a big tank in front of you. That's the way to go.

Well, alright. We should get Stefanie Powers on the show.

(Laughs)

Evan Ball 49:29
(Laughs)

Alright, added to the, add her to the list. Okay. I was like, Well. What about, what about Murder She Wrote? And Jessica Fletcher? So I went and looked her up because I was like, Okay. What does she drive? A Colombo car? Right? Here's the gag. Jessica Fletcher didn't drive in Murder She Wrote. She always took a bike, a cab, a train or caught a ride with somebody to get where she was going to solve the crime. And Angela Lansbury told the LA Times she liked it because it precluded the need for car chases.

Evan Ball 50:00
Well there you go.

(Laughs)

Evan Ball 50:02
Cut out the most interesting part of anything it's in.

Any detective show.

Evan Ball 50:06
No, I mean Murder She Wrote. It was fantastic. But uh, I couldn't imagine...

Isn't that interesting?

Evan Ball 50:12
... Angela Lansbury in like a high speed car chase.

No, not at all.

No because she's like Colombo-ing it. Did Colombo have a car? He had such a bad car.

Evan Ball 50:20
(Laughs)

He had just a bad car.

For some reason I have, I don't know anything specific, but I think jalopy when I think of Columbo. But maybe that's because of how he was dressed? He didn't, it was not exactly you know, a suave dresser like our Remington Steele.

No. He is, yeah, That was, Colombo was very much the anti-Remington Steele.

Mhmm. At least in in well, and always actually.

Yeah.

Colombo was a good detective. He didn't necessarily dressed as well as Remington Steele did.

So why would he drive? Why wouldn't he drive a car as, rather nondescript? Unlike Remington Steele. Who's.

Yeah.

So do you know what that car is Evan?

Evan Ball 50:58
Yeah, I mean if...

So, this is Charlie's Angels in split, Farrah Fawcet.

Evan Ball 51:02
So Farrah Fawcet's car looks like it's a... Is that a Shelby? I can't tell if it's a Shelb. It's a Ford Cobra, Ford Mustang Cobra, it looks like. Which is a hell of a car. I mean, especially, you're talking about the era. That's really cool. I'm seeing different pictures though, because I'm seeing both a hardtop and a convertible. But I don't know if that's. Oh, that's the later one. Okay. No, it's good. Because I'm a fan of the hardtops. As someone who enjoys racing...

You want that.

Evan Ball 51:34
You want the hardtop. You want the rigidity it gives you and all that. So when I see a, if I'm casting cars for various characters. Right? I'm judging based on like, how they operate, what they do, what their interests are, and all that. And like some characters, you want a hardtop because you know they're gonna drive it off a cliff. And you know that that, like, they assume that when they're in the car, that's their skill to get, to outmaneuver the other person. And some people are like, I need people to see me. I need to look good when I do this. I need to, or it's a commuter car, whatever it is. Right? You have different things. And and I think hardtop versus convertible is a really important decision.

I think so too. For a brief moment, in the late 90s, my boyfriend at the time, and I had a, we bought a Mustang Convertible, an older Mustang Convertible. And then when we broke up, we both agreed that he should take it. Because the goal was that he was gona fix it (guffaw) when we drove it around 'cause it needs a lot of work. And um, so I was was like, ehhhr... take that. But it was, it was a brief fun moment when I lived in Venice and had a Mustang Convertible.

Evan Ball 52:42
That's perfect. I mean ah, Steve McQueen in, I want to say, in The Thomas Crown Affair, has the like Beach Buggy at the end. And that's the whole cool thing of it. And you get somethin' like that. You're on the beach like yeah! You want to a convertible. You want to see air. With a little hat...

But it's so hard on your hair. I never understood the hair stuff. I don't know how you do a hair, do any kind of long hair in a convertible.

Evan Ball 53:07
I don't have that problem. (laughs) I keep my hair pretty short.

Did you see? It's a lot of women in Movies, I don't know about in real life, wearing a some sort of scarf.

Evan Ball 53:17
Oh yeah.

If they're in a convertible. So maybe that's how they deal with the hair thing. But you know, I've always lived in the Valley, since I've lived in Los Angeles and I would not want a convertible. I would never be able to use, feel like I'd want to use it. Wouldn't want that.

Evan Ball 53:26
No way.

Sun beating down on me. But the Beach is perfect, yeah! That's a great place to have a convertible.

It was fun. We thought we were cool, for about three months.

Evan Ball 53:42
(Laughs)

Then I went back to my practical cars. Also tell us about your cars! What cars you have.

Evan Ball 53:49
And then my other two cars, my 2006 RX8 was kind of my, it was just my daily driver for a very long time. And then ultimately, as it was wearing out, I said this is the car to beat up on the track. So that's what that's for. And that one isn't, is down right now.

Do you take that to a race track? And...

Evan Ball 54:11
Yeah, you just do track days, on stuff like that. Timed track stuff.

He just does track days.

Track days. Okay.

Evan Ball 54:17
Yeah. It's a good time. No, there's there's always various groups that are renting out tracks for a day. Or there's different events where you just get to go...

And you just race cars.

Evan Ball 54:24
... Get some tires and drive your ass off. Pardon my language.

Oh, my God. So that, so you you go and actually race and, and drive fast!

Evan Ball 54:36
Yeah, I mean, I'm not racing directly against other people. You know, it's not like there's a Start Line and we're we're chasing each other in that way. But you're trying to get the fastest Lap you can. So while there will be other people on Track, you know, if someone's on a hot Lap, you're gona to try to stay out of their way. And then when you're on your Hot Lap, they're gona to try to stay out of your way. So you're you're racing the clock and you're being competitive against people on the Timesheet.

All right. Good. Be safe.

Yes please.

Evan Ball 55:01
(Laughs)

What's up? What are you working on now? What's coming next?

Evan Ball 55:05
Oh, okay. So right now I'm working on, I'm writing on Season Two of Mayor of Kingstown. It's a Paramount+ show starring Jeremy Renner created by Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon. It's a show about, basically there's a town that we're playing. It's a fictional town in northern Michigan that there's 10 prisons within 12 square miles. And so the Lead Character of the show really has to negotiate between the people on the outside of the Prison and the people on the inside, to kind of make sure that everything in the town's running smoothly. So it's a really fun show. It's very ah, if you like, Sicario, if you like Wind River, if you like Yellowstone, like Taylor Sheridan's stuff, it's, it's gonna be right up your alley. It's a really cool show.

Dianne Wiest is a very fabulous 80s TV Ladies, who's also on Mayor of Kingstown. Right?

Evan Ball 55:55
Yes, she is! Dianne Wiest is fascinating in that, it's almost as though she knows she's a legend. Like, in her in her DNA, though. I'm not saying she acts in a sorta, sorta way or that she's a Diva. I think the opposite. In fact, she's very about her craft. And we would hear all the time, questions she had. Or things she wanted to kind of dive deeper into, for her character and things that she was interested in bringing, because she's, she is a full on Pro-fessional. And I think it, think it shows in everything she does. And if anything, the goal is always like, can we just give her more? Is there anything else we could do for her? Because she's, she's almost too good to be true. She's incredible. One of my goals in my career was to be able to write on kind of high level premium cable-slash-streaming crime shows, again, just just like Miami Vice, of course. And so yeah, it was it was, it was really a thrill for me to be on that show. And our Writers Room was fantastic!

All right, three questions.

So question number one, what's the 80s Ladies driven TV show that has resonated with you?

Evan Ball 57:14
It's actually probably Remington Steele, because it's, I came on to so many of these shows so late. And the ones that I did come on were very masculine base. Like I said, it was very, cars were my entryway into a lot of the 80s shows. But with James Bond being an entryway into Remington Steele. And to being like, Oh! Laura Holt is really, really cool. And it playing into just my my sensibilities for the Detective genre. And like a lot of the whodunit stuff. And especially with the way that I think it, it plays with comedy against all the other things that I've seen that don't, that are not that funny. Like all the other shows, I love, like I love Miami Vice. I will watch my Miami Vice over and over again. It's not a super funny show. It has its little moments, but it's not a funny show. Whereas I feel like when you're watching Remington Steele, you're always, there's always like a little wink at you, here and there. And there's all these little things that like keep it light hearted and keep you on your toes, that I really love.

That's fantastic. I think we kind of agree with all of that.

Yes. All right. Can you name any of your favorite current 21st Century female driven Television shows? What are you watching now that uh, it's led by women?

Evan Ball 58:20
Ooofh, ah let's see. Let's see. Let's see. Well, Mare of Easttown, which is not the show that I'm on now, Mayor of Kingstown, but Mare of Easttown was fantastic. I really loved The Americans, which is not currently airing but I rewatch a lot. And Keri Russell...

She's amazing.

Evan Ball 58:38
... being a Lead in that. She was incredible!

Those are pretty good ones.

Evan Ball 58:42
I mean, I was a huge Buffy fan. But that's like a different, whole different world. It's a Joss Whedon conversation and...

We we are gona have um, Jane Espenson on the show.

Evan Ball 58:54
That'll be fun.

Which will be really fun. But what's the most Action Hero, kind of Television moment, a moment where you went, Is this scripted? Like how?

Or, how can I fit this in my script? This is great.

Or how can I put this in a script moment that you've had?

Evan Ball 59:07
Oh man. There's a few of those. Um, one of them. Okay. So on on, on topic, there was one time I was with my friends. We were leaving a car show and it was late at night. We were driving down Highway 10. I mean, at this point, it must be 1:30 ish in the morning. And a car flies by us and it's it's like um, an early 90s BMW 3 Series Coupe. And everybody looks at it because those are cool cars. So it's like, Oh, yeah. Nice. It's weaving in and out of traffic. And everybody's just like, Oh! This is going to be a problem. We need to ease up. And sure enough, it almost hits the guardrail in the middle of the freeway. And then to avoid that, swerves back into the road. Tumbles over several times. Immediately lights on fire as we're passing it. And it was just one of those things we're like, That's not real! And it took us a moment to realize that it actually happened, because we were all just kind of sitting there in shock as we're like driving past it. And everyone's like, we should stop and help the guy. Right? Like, we need to do something about this. And as we look back, there's all these people getting out of their car, that are like, that were behind that had stopped and helped. And so we kept going. We felt really bad about it, but we kept going. And it was just one of those like, I guess that happens? Like you don't really just see cars explode in front of you, ever, in real life. That's just not a thing. And a lot of car guys will say like, it takes a lot to get in a circumstance like that. And it just went right up. It was crazy.

Evan Ball 1:00:11
That's crazy. That is that is that's a good one. I mean, a bad one but a good one.

Evan Ball 1:00:56
A bad one. But um, but like I see it so visually. I just can never forget it. Just seeing the swerve past us us. Hitting the brakes. Goes toward middle, almost has a crash there. Comes back, rolls over. We're trying to swerve and avoid it. It was just, it's this whole slow motion thing. It was wild.

Sharon Johnson 1:01:13
Wow.

Susan Lambert Hatem 1:01:13
All right. That's...

That's insane.

Yeah. Yep.

Evan Ball 1:01:17
(Laughs)

There we go. We are gonna wrap up.

(Laughs)

Thank you so much for being on. This has been so much fun.

Evan Ball 1:01:22
Oh, it was my pleasure. I'm I'm really, first of all, it was just an excuse to rewatch the show again, but also great catching up with you and just having a good time. I mean, I love I love what you guys are doing and I am very excited to come back when your stunt woman is here.

Debbie Evans Levitt.

Evan Ball 1:01:39
Oh God, that'll be so cool!

I am, I'm if we're on...

Evan Ball 1:01:41
Even if I can't come back, I'm happy that I will be listening very closely to that one.

We will, we will have you back on. We were, we just wana have everybody on, every week. We're gona have a, just a, I don't know a convention of our...

... of our guests. Because it's been so much fun to do this.

Evan Ball 1:01:52
(Laughs)

Thank you so much. It's been great.

Thank you!

Today's Audio-ography includes the website, Internet Movie Cars Database, which I did not know existed until this week, when I was researching cars.

Nor did I. I guess there must be an Internet Database for just about everything.

It is so great. It lit, it, you can look up by Movie, TV Show, or by a car!

That you wana see, what it's been in. They've got an entire list of the cars that were in Remington Steele, like ever, and by Episode. And sometimes they have a little picture. It's very exciting.

Wow.

That's fantastic.

I was like, I could spend hours on that site. Um, I also want to shout out that Colin In Black & White is available now on Netflix. Check it out. Okay, and because we are in favor of abortion rights, um I'm gona shout out a book today. Reproductive Justice: An introduction written by Loretta J. Ross and Ricky Solinger. It's a great introduction to reproductive justice, which is important for us all.

It will really help us if you give us a shout out on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, all the social medias. Let us know you're listening. And if you're liking the podcast, please rate and review us. It helps us out a lot.

And check out our website, 80sTVLadies.com, for more information on our show. Thank you guys so much for listening. You did great today. We want to wish you a Happy New Year 2023. You know (guffaw), it's been a long few years and so we are hopeful that 2023 will be a new beginning for a lot of, a lot of people and healing time. More healing time and more joy and laughter! I think we need incredible powerful joy and laughter experiences to heal us.

Melissa Roth 1:03:58
In community.

In community.

Melissa Roth 1:03:59
That's what we're missing.

We hope 80s TV Ladies brings you joy and laughter and lots of fabulous new and old shows to watch. All of which will lead us forward toward being amazing Ladies of the 21st Century.
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80s TV Ladies Theme Song 00:22.
80s TV Ladies, I’m so sexy and so pretty. 80s TV Ladies, I’m steppin out into the city. 80s TV Ladies, I been treated kind of sh#*ty. Working hard for the money in a man’s world. 80s TV Ladies!

Episode 113: "Steele talking cars with Evan Ball"

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