80s TV Ladies

Susan and Sharon are thrilled to sit down with show business legend Sharon Gless. Multi-Emmy and Golden Globe winner, Sharon Gless has appeared in dozens of television shows such as “Nip/Tuck”, “Rizzoli & Isles”, “The Rockford Files”, “House Calls,”The Bob Newhart Show”, “Station 19” and “The Exorcist.” She has created iconic and ground-breaking characters in the shows “Burn Notice”, “Queer as...

Join us to meet the woman behind Mary Beth Lacey! Sharon and Susan are excited and honored to talk with Emmy and Tony-award winning actress and the star of Cagney & Lacey, Tyne Daly. In a career spanning eight decades, Tyne Daly has appeared on stage and screen in over 100 roles in everything from “The Mod Squad” and “Judging Amy” to co-starring with Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry film “The...

Wait! There were THREE Cagneys? In Part 2 of our conversation with creator/executive producer Barney Rosenzweig, we follow along as the massive success of the Cagney & Lacey TV movie launches it directly into a weekly series for CBS and into a very tumultuous road from multiple cancellations to hit ratings and 14 Emmys. The rest, as they say, is 80’s TV herstory… THE CONVERSATION GOOD NEWS/BAD...

Buckle up, kids - We’re kicking off our series on Cagney & Lacey ! Sharon & Susan begin their look back at the classic 80’s TV series Cagney & Lacey with a conversation with the show’s creator and executive producer, Barney Rosenzweig. Rosenzweig’s career spans five decades and hundreds of hours of television including Charlie’s Angels, Daniel Boone, Christie, Twice in a Lifetime , and...

Could you be a stuntwoman? Find out what it takes. Susan and Sharon are honored to talk with legendary award-winning stuntwoman Debbie Evans Leavitt. In a career spanning six decades, Debbie has risked life and limb in classic television shows and massive blockbuster movies. She talks doubling Stephanie Zimbalist on Remington Steele and what that moment between take-off and crash-landing feels lik...

It’s the return of the 90’s TV Babies! Susan and Sharon welcome back Serita Fontanesi, Megan Ruble and Sergio Perez to get their 90s TV take on “Remington Steele”. We asked them to watch three episodes and share their thoughts: The pilot: “License to Steele” S1, Ep21, “Sting of Steele”, featuring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. as Steele’s mentor Daniel Chalmers – and Beverly Garland, making a return appeara...

Susan and Sharon sit down with “Remington Steele” assistant director Jerram Swartz. In a career spanning 5 decades, Jerram has worked on movies including “E.T.: The Extraterrestrial” and “The Blues Brothers” as well as 80’s TV classics such as “The A-Team”, “Cagney & Lacey” and “Riptide”. In this episode, he shares stories about the fun, excitement and controversy of working on the fifth – and...

In 1980s television, cars were the stars -- From “Knight Rider’s” KIT to Miami Vice’s Testarossa to the A-Team van, everyone knew who drove what -- and why. But what did the women get to drive? The 80s TV Ladies sit down with television writer and auto aficionado Evan Ball (“Stargirl”, “Colin in Black and White”, “Mayor of Kingstown”) to talk Remington Steele and 80s cars. THE CONVERSATION The 3 C...

Susan and Sharon take on Season Two and Three of “Remington Steele” as they talk TV tropes, favorite episodes and the introduction of Doris Roberts as fan-favorite Mildred Krebs! THE CONVERSATION Doris Roberts -- and how she completed the Remington Steele “family”. Everyone Loves Doris: a rundown of (almost) everyone Doris Roberts has ever played “mother” to on the big and small screen. Ms. Robert...

Steele Talking: Susan and Sharon continue their interview with award-winning stage, TV and film actress Stephanie Zimbalist who created the 80s iconic character, Laura Holt… THE CONVERSATION - Working with her real-life dad – showbiz legend Efrem Zimbalist Jr – How he became a father figure for co-star Pierce Brosnan. (And how he taught Stephanie the secret to “playing drunk”…!) - Her decades-long...

Susan and Sharon sit down with a true show business icon and classic 80’s TV Lady -- “Remington Steele’s” one-and-only Laura Holt -- Stephanie Zimbalist. In a career spanning six decades, Stephanie has performed on stage and screen with everyone from Alec Baldwin, Walter Matthau, Jessica Tandy, Anthony Hopkins, John Goodman, Patricia Neal, Alfred Molina, Tommy Tune, Jimmy Stewart AND her own fathe...

But did they? Join Part Two of our interview with TV writer/producer Robin Bernheim, to discover the complicated answer to the burning question: Did Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan get along while filming “Remington Steele”? The Conversation: - Laura vs. Remington: Who got the most screen-time? Who got to drive the car? And whose show was it, anyway? - How did a writing staff of mostly men...

From Remington Steele to Princess Switch - Susan and Sharon sit down with legendary television writer Robin Bernheim. Robin’s career began in her mid-twenties with the “Remington Steele” episode “Steele in the Chips”, co-written with series star and long-time friend Stephanie Zimbalist. In a career spanning five decades, Robin has gone on to write and produce episodes of “MacGyver”, “Matlock”, “Qu...

"Try this for a deep, dark secret..." Susan and Sharon begin their examination of the hit 1980s series “Remington Steele”. Premiering on October 10, 1982, “Remington Steele” starred two relative newcomers to the network TV landscape -- Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan. The premise was simple: Private eye Laura Holt finds that clients are reluctant to hire a female investigator. So she invent...

Sharon and Susan talk with “Scarecrow & Mrs. King’s” one-and-only “Francine Desmond” – actress Martha Smith. Our conversation covers everything from her early days as a model for the Ford Motor Company to her “National Lampoon’s Animal House” adventures and finally to working on the show she first knew only as “The Secret Kate Jackson Project” – we’ll find out why Martha Smith truly is the “Gal Wi...

Season 3 of “Scarecrow & Mrs. King” is a fun, and kind of bonkers, 22-episode journey that is anything but straight-forward. International intrigue, poisoned food and wine, eclectic guest stars and a herky-jerky path to romance all add up to a season with surprising rewards – and puzzling road blocks. In this week’s tour of near-misses and near-kisses, we discuss… - Are Lee (Bruce Boxleinter) and...

Susan and Sharon sit down with the co-creator of “Scarecrow & Mrs. King” - Eugenie Ross-Leming - to get some real behind-the-scenes insight on the show's creation, Kate Jackson, Bruce Boxleitner, feminism in television, and managing long-term success in Hollywood. The discussion includes… - Eugenie’s early years with the legendary improvisation troupe Second City, where she performed with the...

What the heck happened in Season 2 of “Scarecrow & Mrs. King”? Oh, we have all the dish on 80s TV Ladies™. More action, more romance, more Europe – and more opportunities for Amanda to show off her skills as a legit spy – and a mom. Along the way, Susan and Sharon discuss… 80s clothes and hairdos – and Kate Jackson’s mid-season Hair-DON’T. Is Archie Bunker’s Jean Stapleton a British lady, an Ameri...

But really: How much fun is it to be a spy and a mom? In this episode, Susan and Sharon continue their conversation about the TV show “Scarecrow & Mrs. King'', focusing on how Amanda balanced her home life with her new (secret!) career as a spy and how her desire to embrace this new career drives the Season One episodes. And did Kate Jackson’s foot injury nearly derailed the season? Along the way,...

What TV show shall we cover for our first time? How about the pilot of Scarecrow and Mrs. King, starring Kate Jackson and Bruce Boxleitner? Susan and Sharon talk about the show, the stars, and the mysteries of this hit 1983 TV action-comedy drama. Amanda King is a divorced mother with two young sons looking for a job. When she cute-meets secret agent Lee Stetson, a.k.a “The Scarecrow,” she is swep...

Episode Zero - “Try This” What the heck are we doing? In Podcast Zero, hosts Susan Lambert Hatem and Sharon Johnson take you to the fabulous and exciting television past and particularly, that special time in pop-culture and big-hair television: the 1980s! We cover: What the 1980s meant to America and to our own personal history. Jimmy Carter to President Ronald Reagan and ushering in the “Greed”...

The awesome trailer for 80s TV Ladies - the podcast for female-driven television shows of the 1980s. Visit 80sTVLadies.com for more info. Listen to 80s TV Ladies at YouTube . Subscribe and help us grow. Don’t miss out. Sign up for the 80s TV Ladies mailing list ! Help us make more episodes and get ad-free episodes, video interviews, and exclusive content on PATREON .