Columbo - S/D

Killing someone halfway between him faxing a bunch of jokes to his wife and then claiming it was suicide = dud.

HOOORAH FOR BERGERAC!

Or even, Diagnosis Moider starring Dick van Dyke!

I'd love to see a Columbo / Law & Order crossover when the DA in the second half sits there going "You call this evidence? This fine upstanding proffessional member of the community confessed, to you, when you were on your own in his office after persistent badgering him with just one question? Get out of here. And brush your hair."

but what stories really stand out?
I especially like the one where Donald Pleasance plays a vintner. But they're all good.

And is this the best detective telly ever or what?
Yes. It is.

(This is cruel to IB whom I don't hate at all, but still - what a put-down.)

Sarah - What are yr feelings abt Shoestring?

Best Columbo - the one w/ William Shatner, wherein Shatner has the world's first and biggest video recorder (the whole episode revolves around it)!

CAGNEY AND LACEY!

Bloody hell yeah! There is a bloke from Cagney and Lacey lined up for the husband list (if only I cd remember his name, perhaps I need another day off work to watch it so I can remember).

Cannon! Wasn't that the show w/William Conrad?

I loved Shoestring. 1979-80, BBC1 - dishy Trevor Eve is a mentally unstable computer op who gets fired after smashing up a hooj mainframe-type thing, and *somehow* ends up as Radio Bristol's 'Private Ear', solving foax call-in probs (this is years before Midnight Caller or whatever it was) in a quirky lovable aw-shucks-down-on-his-luck kinda way. It effectively spawned Bergerac, as the show's creator, Robert Banks Stewart, was allowed to do whatever he bloody liked once Eve quit after two series - so he came up with a neato reason to spend a financially advantageous chunk of each subsequent year in Jersey (NB to googling screenwriter: I am joshing; I'm sure you weren't hanging out with Jim and Liza anyhow).

Shoestring did have a daytime run on the Beeb last year.

Now hooked by (slightly rubbish) Waking The Dead because of looming Eve presence. No shots yet of yer man eating chips in a Cortina though. Shame.

Anyway, I remember one nicely written episode by Stephen "The A-Team" J. Cannell, starring (yep)...Robert Culp as the murderer. Culp was a scientist who murders a guy by inserting a thirst-inducing subliminal message into a film, getting the guy into the lobby where he shoots him (while the other people are inside watching the film).

Has anybody caught Law & Order: Criminal Intent? Vincent D'Onofrio is totally classic in that...very Columbo-ish.

The Shat as Ward Fowler as Detective Lucerne!

'Let. Us. Assoooomm, Looootenant - and I'mspeakingasDetectiveLucerneherenotasWardFowler' etc.

The one with Roddy McDowell as Galen as the murderer with the exploding cigars is also tops, as is the abovementioned Faster, Fido, Kill, Kill!

And wasn't one written by Mickey Spillane?

Man so enjoying the Johnny Cash EP right now. Love that he never gets angry w/him (probably playing off against a perception of Cash as a 'hellraiser' is my guess).

Netflix finally has the full lineup of series episodes up.

columbo = they are ALL THE SAME STORY!! (= "i wd rather confess than put up with this absurd little fellow for the rest of my life")

― mark s (mark s), Monday, September 9, 2002 11:32 AM (11 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

truthbomb!

That one story rules though

The salient thing about Columbo is that the basic premises entertained. It may have been the same story each time, but that's like going into a few dozen houses at Christmas and exclaiming, they are ALL THE SAME TREE!!

Girlfriend and I were watching these on Netflix a lot, loved season 1, kinda burned out though (or maybe just got our rhythm thrown by the extra-long season 2 opener, with John Cassavetes as the orchestra conductor). Should pick it back up though, Falk is just great. Love the vision of class here: the murderers lose to Columbo not because his method is so foolproof but because they're rich and underestimate this working-class schmoe who knows how to play up his schmoe signifiers. Also interesting how so many of the millionaire killers are old-school scions of wealthy families - dissipated dilettantes and socialites, or people after the inheritance of same. Nobody's ever a stockholder or arbitrageur. Columbo's effective because he's able to get access to these people (hard to really picture now) and everything about his mannerisms short-circuits their codes of conduct, leaves them struggling for the correct way to brush him off, which only tips their hands more thoroughly. Feel like that world has kind of disappeared... the singular personifications of wealth vs. the corporate system as a whole.

Gee, I dunno. It's just this theory I had - but you've had a very long day, it can wait. I'm sorry.

Often they don't confess though, they are often found out in the most ludcrous manner, or sometimes its downright nasty. The EP where he frames the murderer's son (he confesses because he is "a strange little fellow" who is unpredictable), for example.

Sat afternoons watching these, having a 20 min nap and still knowing you haven't missed much (you know who did it) as oposed to some other crime show where you'd miss a plot point that might be key in working it out is a pleasure for me. But I also like bcz it is such an anti-crime show. Morse, or Holmes, you get bored by it.

re: class. yeah its an excellent point. He also works much harder than other police officers. A few times where he orders chilli and doesn't eat it => sign of a lower middle class thing "well if I work harder than poeple who are supposedly smarter than me" type guff.

Also note his interactions with culture. One murderer he gets on a "he must be the one - there is no way anyone could like both country and classical music" tip, then where he visits the art gallery to ask questions and mistakes a radiator I think for an art object. He talks about his wife doing watercolours. Art -- one could say -- promotes attentiveness and a heightened awareness. But that isn't on Colombo's radar (unlike Morse where it is part of his make-up), its noise and a sideshow. He gets his killer by working hard. Somtimes he'll pick their version of culture or pretentiousness (learning about wine to trap Donald Pleasance), he shows he is thinking, or he'll pick up an enthusiasm, but with the end goal in mind. You never feel he has interests.

Above all Falk is just great to watch. Feel that a bit more after he passed away.

On the other hand, Columbo's inner life is basically kept a mystery by Columbo himself - the vague references to family and friends which he just made up on the spot. Sometimes he seems to know enough about the murderer's culture stuff to know what would annoy the shit out of them - like playing "Chopsticks" on the concert piano for Cassavetes, or bringing half-dead hardware store plants in to the orchid guy.

And yeah, they're not all confessions - actually I like it best when he really does lay out the case at the end and explain what tipped him off, how he got the guy, etc. The nasty ones are cool too. I love the one where he makes Roddy McDowell think they're trapped in a ski lift with a bomb that's about to go off.

Recently watched The Great Race, which stars Falk alongside Natalie Wood, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis, though unfortunately he's relegated to being Lemmon's "duh, okay boss" sidekick. But he wasn't famous yet, and actually Lemmon's talents aren't really exploited either. Always a pleasure to see him doing anything though, really. Growing up on The Princess Bride, I figured he was just some one-off guy that played the grandfather in that, and nothing else!

Falk was pretty much the only good thing in Wings of Desire.

He's allowed to be funny in the Frank Sinatra/Dean Martin vehicle Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)

http://thecitydesk.net/justonemorething/

Well that's my life down the bin ;-)

http://thecitydesk.net/justonemorething/2014/10/thats-a-lot-of-fruit-salad/

Agreeing with Carolita on the way the divorcee is written up although I think Columbo is really nicer in the final dialogue than what this panel is given credit for - its more like a "shutting yourself off is what you don't do! you're gonna be ok" even if the niece was probably made up.

xp The invented proverbs included "Never play leapfrog with a unicorn" iirc.

Ethnic pride was trendy in American TV in the early-to-mid '70s. The actors didn't always match their TV ethnicities though. In addition to Peter Falk and George Peppard, there were Valerie Harper (a Catholic of British-French heritage) playing Jewish on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Freddie Prinze (half German, half Puerto Rican) playing a Mexican-American on Chico and the Man.

― Josefa

it's interesting because in some sense i see it as being related to the "rural purge". you have more urban shows with more diverse casts and suddenly other people's ethnic identities are part of the show. actors not matching their TV ethnicities was just kinda standard practice at the time - even when TV stopped doing blackface, there was still a lot of "yellowface", straight actors playing queer characters, etc.

one of the shows i love but which is really obscure is the mid '60s show "the trials of o'brien", starring peter falk as an irish defense attorney. it ran for one season, the season right before prime time in the US went all-color, so it's hardly ever been shown since. god, i'd love if more of these weird old TV shows were officially watchable.

has columbo's popularity in Japan been brought up? he's kind of the stock detective archetype there, as far as I can tell. earliest iteration i know of is in the weird mid '70s henshin show "Pro Wrestling Star Azteckaiser", which features a recurring character who's an investigative journalist with a very Columbo-style flair. said character is also flamingly queer, incidentally.

probably the best known Japanese Columbo-inspired show is the popular series Furahata Ninzaburo - the show is a lot more distinct from Columbo than it's often given credit for in the West, but yeah, Columbo is definitely an influence on the show, with for instance the audience being aware of the identity of the murderer from the beginning.

finally, here's one of the favorite clips i've seen recently, john cassavetes and peter falk playing softball terribly in this weird celebrity all-star game broadcast on tv in the late '60s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu09M1QysHk

xp The invented proverbs included "Never play leapfrog with a unicorn" iirc.

― Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Wednesday, October 8, 2025 8:11 AM (forty-three minutes ago)

there's a saying in my community: "new bottom surgery just dropped"

has columbo's popularity in Japan been brought up?

Yes, there's a bit of discussion about it upthread.

wasn't aware of the overall structure of the show, so was surprised when starting season 8 to realize i'd already been through all of the '70s episodes. seems sad in a way, but i suppose i can go back to those. first episode of the '80s -- Columbo Goes to the Guillotine -- feels notably darker and more gruesome than the '70s episodes. something about how the blood is seen slowly dripping down through the floor into the business underneath? also it has a very '80s kind of Cold War existential threat undercurrent that you don't get in the '70s episodes, and then there's the backstory about being tortured in a Ugandan prison which is rather grim. not sure if this trend will continue, or if others have picked up on it. to me what i like about the show so far is how quaint everything feels. the campiness is part of the charm. jack cassidy and robert culp hamming it up. took the edge of what would otherwise be kind of a dark subject matter. of course, the '70s interiors and stylings add to the warmth of those episodes. was the vibe of the '80s just colder in general, or is this personal baggage? lol. i guess what i'm wanting to say is i hope the '80s episodes won't be a dark gritty reboot

also, i understand the desire for the murderers to come off as smug cunts, but this boy genius director is just a step too far

Do not feel compelled to watch all of the 80s/90s/00s episodes. If you can avoid the compulsion, select recommendations are available.

yeah the '89-'03 revival eps are just not the same. some of the scripts are obviously not even columbo scripts, like ed mcbain's stuff

i've been soldiering on, for lack of anything better to rot my brain with. i found "Columbo Cries Wolf," with Ian Buchanan as the killer (and Mark Margolis from Breaking Bad as the chauffeur), to be something of a return to form. although when Buchanan's character started to get agitated and scream, i had to hit pause because i was so flummoxed why he was suddenly doing a bad Scottish accent. but of course it's the other way around: he's a Scottish actor (i'd forgotten this) and his real accent starts to peek through when he raises his voice in this scene. Buchanan was so damn good in Twin Peaks and it feels like he's playing a version of Dick Tremayne here, although Dick Tremayne is a million times more interesting as a character since his self-regard is so out of proportion with his position at a men's clothing dept in some podunk town rather than being a rich successful playboy as he is here. still, his oiliness is compellingly off-putting

oh and David Huddleston, aka the Big Lebowski, as the mayor!

ok, i spoke too soon. do not like this twist/deviation from form very much

the piece of paper they use as a pager screen is funny

just watched the one where businessman robert culp kills degenerate playboy dean stockwell in the pool and of all the murderers who get angry/irritated at columbo, culp might get the most furious (at least that i've seen so far). he's at 110% irritation from the very beginning.

loved that episode. and another David Lynch connection

Culp is such a classic Columbo murderer.

I think of Culp, Jack Cassidy, and Patrick McGoohan as the Big Three

The Culp one where he's wearing the telltale ring is one of the most intense and vicious Columbo murders. He sells the hell out of it.

The first Culp one that always comes to mind for me is the one that Columbo solves via subliminal advertising.

Yes, beautiful if extremely farfetched!

this 1990 Patrick McGoohan episode, "Agenda for Murder," features a plot point that involves a fax machine (which needs to be explained to Columbo) and one that involves call waiting. how on earth do they expect us to keep track of all this infernal, newfangled technology?

other than that i will say it surprised me, because i've previously seen clips of this one and hadn't realized it wasn't from the original series

might be the most laugh-out-loud episode in the entire season? just a hilarious and immensely entertaining performance from McGoohan. but i have a habit of posting mid-episode so

entire series i meant. in terms of the post-'70s stuff that i've seen so far, this is a highlight for sure

I've got the box set, watched the first three already (the pilots and S1E1). Curiously they all include a scene where the camera lingers on something incriminating we think the murderer has left behind after leaving the scene, only for them to return and snatch it up.

It's funny how normally Columbo is eating chili and not knowing what escargot is and then in "Murder Under Glass" suddenly he's deftly whipping up a fine meal for Louis Jourdan while maintaining a conversation with him.

― Josefa, Sunday, October 5, 2025 3:40 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

He's always only playing dumb.

― She's the Tariff (cryptosicko), Sunday, October 5, 2025 3:46 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

He's Italian, he knows about food.

― Webinar in Wetherspoons (Tom D.), Sunday, October 5, 2025 4:12 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

In S1E1 he says he's a terrible cook, except for omelettes.

He says a lot of things tbh

(also btw S1e1 is actually S1e2, they bumped up TX bcz Spielb murdered the beat so hard)

I learned yesterday that the character (not Falk) first appeared in an episode of a TV anthology show in 1960, and then in a stage play - both featuring the same basic story as the pilot (Prescription: Murder).

i've been slowly getting through the '90s episodes, mostly fun and some even enjoyable (as i've already said here), with the notable exception of "Murder in Malibu" which is the only episode in the entire series i have flat-out skipped. the acting was excruciating

i thought "Columbo Goes to College" was pretty amusing (featuring Gary Hershberger, another Lynch connection). and now i'm on "Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health," fun to see George Hamilton again

i have now seen all of the columbos. spread out over a few years. matthew rhys helps send it off in style. and, fittingly, john finnegan makes an appearance.

never was a fan of the crystal method, but at least they used music that would've actually been played at a rave at the time.

may wait a few months and start the whole thing over again!

"Columbo Goes to College" is likely the best post-70s episode. "Now this is a mystery!"

Also, the one killer's impersonation of Columbo, and the killer's mom referring to Columbo as "that rumpled little dumbbell."

yes. yes!

I like to think of Columbo Goes To College as a Twin Peaks sequel. Mike has learnt all the wrong lessons from the chaos of his senior year!

lmao at this little richard cameo

just saw "No Time to Die" from 1992. easily the worst Columbo episode i've ever seen, pretty much utter drek

I believe most fans consider it the worst (rightfully).

Clodumbo!

that’s fantastic

To mark Dick van Dyke's 100th birthday today, I re-watched his 1974 episode as an unlikely Columbo villain. Negative Reaction stands up really well. The minor characters are great, especially Antoinette Bower (still going strong aged 93) as the soon-to-be-deceased domineering wife and Vito Scotti as the homeless guy who witnesses one of the killings but then can't remember it.

There are some great moments of comedy - the nun who mistakes Columbo for a Mission derelict and tries to find him a new coat, and the driving instructor traumatised by Columbo's poor road skills - but curiously none of the comedy comes from van Dyke himself, who plays his role as the killer photographer dead straight and seemingly against type.

The episode is also notable for Columbo seeming unusually deflated after a memorable finale where he tricks van Dyke into incriminating himself by identifying a camera (“Were you a witness to what he just did?”). The viewers are left to speculate as to why solving this case might have left the detective feeling dejected.

Good episode. The Simpsons copied the Mission gag--with Homer, natch.

classic episode. Vito Scotti steals the show imo

Future Columbo villainess Joyce Van Patten as the nun, too! Didn't recognize her until someone pointed it out

Watched Dutch Film The Vanishing, and while you don't know how the killer killed (left till the very nasty ending), this is the film that comes closest to a Columbo like set-up that I've seen. You know who it is straight away, you get something of his life and motivations..

Was trying to think of other films that come close to that set-up but struggling.

The original The Vanishing is a masterpiece and that ending is horrific. NB I will never watch the "people who don't like subtitles" US remake

I had an epiphany the other day that the plot formula of Knives Out is essentially "What if Columbo, but the twist is that the person you see commit the murder at the beginning didn't actually do it?"

Better Call Saul is like a 100 hours of weird suspense wondering how Jimmy, Mike, Hector and Gus end up in Breaking Bad.

not if you’ve never seen breaking bad!

xxp ok never got round to Knives out?

one of the best moments in the whole series is in Murder by the Book, when Jack Cassidy is getting dinner with the shopkeeper widow. it's the way Jack Cassidy delivers these lines:

"I also recognize in you a woman of some breeding. You're not just a common... [looks around, lowers voice] blackmailer!"

makes me howl with laughter!

it's almost something Mr. Burns would say