Back in the spring of 1984, "Hart to Hart" stars Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers were extremely happy.Their show was No. 12 for that season in the ratings, and they - along with co-star Lionel Stander - were genuinely enjoying working on it.
"It was the happiest five years of any period of my professional life," said Powers, who played Jennifer Hart. "I've never been associated with two more supportive individuals in my life."
"The working relationship has been the fullest one that I've ever had in my life," said Wagner, who starred as millionaire Jonathan Hart. "I mean, to spend five years with one woman and have the joy that I've had out of it. And the personal relationship among the three of us - it's something that's very lasting for me."
Lionel Stander - who co-starred as the couple's butler/
chauffeur Max, said that, for him, the show was "something special and wonderful."
"And particularly enjoyable because I happen to be off-screen a very good friend of R.J.'s (Wagner) and Stefanie's."
Unfortunately for the actors, the show wasn't quite as lasting. To their utter surprise, new management at ABC suddenly and unexpectedly canceled "Hart to Hart."
"We were terribly disappointed when it was taken off the air," Wagner said. "And shocked by it because we had four scripts, two directors and were ready to shoot in Paris."
"We were very unhappy when it went off the air the first time, because we felt sort of nipped in the bud," Powers said. "We didn't know that we were even being considered to be dropped.
"I was in Paris doing (the miniseries) `Mistral's Daughter' when R.J. called me on a Sunday night and said, `We're not on the line-up.' So coming back to do this has been for all of us a kind of completion. We hope it's not over yet."
And Wagner, Powers and Stan-der are all back once again tonight (8 p.m., Ch. 2) in the second of four movies for NBC - "Hart to Hart: Home is Where the Hart Is." Their first reunion telefilm last fall drew strong ratings, and it's looking like this could be an ongoing series of movies like the "Perry Mason" franchise NBC had so much success with.
Like the 1979-84 series, the movie follows the adventures of the multimillionaire Harts, who spend a great deal of their time solving crimes. In "Home Is Where the Hart Is," Jennifer's former mentor (Maureen O'Sullivan in a cameo) dies under mysterious circumstances and leaves Jennifer a quaint little town that has seen better days.
It's a decent little mystery that serves as a platform for the continuing love affair between the Harts. They're a little bit older (both Wagner, 64, and Powers, 48, look great), but they're still as much in love as ever.
"I never looked at another woman on the show for five years and Stef didn't get involved with another man," Wagner said. "We were constantly bombarded with doing that (by network and studio executives). `Let's get into that conflict. Let's break them up. Let's get them back together. Have him be involved with another woman. Let her become jealous, which was so obvious. We never went for that.
"Something that we tried very hard to preserve was the relationship."
As for Wagner and Powers, their relationship goes back a lot further than just "Hart to Hart."
"I knew Stefanie when she was just a little girl," Wagner joked. "I used to put her on my shoulder and pat her and all that sort of stuff."
The two first met during rehearsals for the movie "West Side Story," in which Wagner's wife, Natalie Wood, starred.
"I was 15 years old," Wood said. "The schleppers had rehearsed for about three months and then finally the principals were chosen. And we met briefly at that point. Then I was fired."
Before "Hart to Hart," Powers guest starred in Wagners' first two TV series - "It Takes a Thief" and "Switch."
But their hearts still belong to the Harts. After several unsuccessful attempts to revive the series, both say they're thrilled with the two-hour movie format and would continue doing them indefinitely.
(Wagner is one of the movie's executive producers; Powers is one of the producers.)
"Sometimes you hear actors say, `I want to stretch myself.' You know, `Expand my horizons,' " Powers said. "I think we all would have been happy doing this until we were in our laser-operated wheelchairs."