|
Columbo is probably my favorite show of all time. I've made Columbo threads before but this is the first time I've ever done on in TVIV. If you want to rewatch with me (almost) all the episodes are on IMDB tv which is completely free although you have to sit through commercials. It's really not that bad though when you're dealing with a show where every single episode is at least an hour like this. What is Columbo  You probably know what or who Columbo is already. Even if you've never seen the show his name's regularly used as an epithet for an amateur detective or a person who delivers probing questions, like Einstein for smart alecks, or Sherlock for, well the same thing people use Columbo for. A lot of times when people use it as a shorthand for a detective though they imply that Columbo was a hard-boiled grizzled guy, when in actuality that was the exact opposite of his persona. Columbo is unfailingly polite, he's extremely friendly and if a person's offended by him or his actions he will immediately apologize whether or not he's in the wrong. People are offended by his actions quite often, of course because another of Columbo's defining character traits is that he's schlubby. He wears a rumpled old raincoat that he never takes off despite living in sunny Los Angeles, he drives a twenty-year old (in the 1970s) poorly maintained death trap of a car that he's extraordinarily proud of because "it's a classic", and he's never seen without a cheap cigar at hand. He is mistaken for a homeless man on multiple occasions in the series. Columbo is also very bumbling. He'll lose his pen and ask to borrow one from the man he's interrogating for murder. He'll stop a line of questioning about where a perp was on the night of the murder to ask where he got those nice shoes and how much it might cost. He meets a celebrity in the investigation? You better believe he wants an autograph. He'll raid a murder victim's refrigerator because he had to skip breakfast to get to the crime scene on time. Columbo is also all an act. Well, not entirely. There's debate over how much of his persona is fabricated and how much is real. He shows a lot of these character traits when he interacts with the other cops at a crime scene which since the show never ever shows his home life (his wife is a constantly mentioned but never appearing character like Maris on Frasier) is the closest we get to seeing Columbo in his natural habitat, but there's no question that he plays these aspects up when he's interacting with people on the job. Columbo is extraordinarily observant and he's learned that people are naturally on their guard around cops, and when they are on their guard they don't drop clues or give info readily. When he asked where he got those nice shoes? It was so he could look at the shoes up close to see if it matched the scuff marks found by door where the victim was found. That autograph? To see if the celebrity was left-handed or right. When he raided that fridge? Well he was just hungry that time. Then we have the murderers, Columbo is an extremely formulaic show, and an excellent example that formulas aren't necessarily bad. The weakest episodes of the show are the ones where they try to mix the formula up a little. The murderers in Columbo are exclusively members of society's elite, movie stars, high-powered lawyers, gallery owners, politicians etc. The episode will always open with the murderer, show the motive for the murder (almost always money, status or blackmail) and then the murder itself and how it was committed. The murderer will always attempt to construct "the perfect crime". They'll come up with a fabricated alibi, a way to make it look like it was a robbery gone awry, or an accident. The cops will come, take one look at the scene, say it was an accident, but Columbo will spot one detail that doesn't fit that makes him think there's more to the story. Columbo will meet the murderer who will do something or act in some way that makes Columbo immediately suspect them of the murder and he will then begin investigating the murder. He'll introduce himself to the murderer, give them details of the investigation he probably shouldn't and then say how stumped he is by all these clues. The murderer who just can't let things go sees an opportunity and tries to give Columbo wrong answers on purpose to lead him off the track. The rest of the episode is a game of cat-and-mouse between Columbo and the murderer. Columbo is a mystery show with a lot of humor hidden within it, almost always derived from the class conflict of the working class Columbo and the posh people and environs he investigates. I'll be starting with Ransom for a Dead Man which is the second pilot for the show on account of the fact that the first pilot Prescription: Murder is one of the episodes which isn't on IMDB tv.
|
#
¿
Apr 19, 2020 09:48
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 9, 2024 23:11 |
|
|
The best murderer is Jack Cassidy. Thats why they kept bringing him back
|
|
#
¿
Jul 18, 2020 16:51
|
|
|
MrBling posted:I love Columbo. Been watching it over the last couple of months and I don't know if its on purpose or not but almost all the murderers (so far, I'm in season 3) do a lot capital letters ACTING, chewing the scenery. It is especially fun compared to Peter Falk's understated acting as Columbo. Lol William shatner's a murderer later on so just you wait.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 18, 2020 16:52
|
|
|
Jose Oquendo posted:MeTV airs Columbo on Sunday nights at 8. I don't want to derail the thread too much, but MeTV has to be the best of all those digital sub channels. Their Saturday night programming block, headlined by Svengoolie, is really good. They air the Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock every Sunday-Friday evening. They air some good sitcoms and comedies in the mornings and evenings. Perry Mason twice a day. The station definitely is marketed towards boomers so you get all the awful ads you'd expect, but it's great overall. Theres 8 posts in a 4 month old thread. You can't derail a train this slow moving
|
|
#
¿
Aug 2, 2020 18:55
|
|
|
Davros1 posted:Columbo Goes To College is easily the best of the 80s/90s films 100%. It would be way up there in the classic run honestly. Having rich frat boys be the murderers wasn't just an excellent continuation of the "Putting rich guys in jail" tradition, it was also timely then and timely now. The last line of the episode is one of the frat boys very confidently asserting that he won't actually be in any real trouble because the system's set up for people like him and his dad never likes to see his children fail
|
|
#
¿
Aug 3, 2020 02:09
|
|
|
Sentinel Red posted:Am I remembering right there was an ep with Faye Dunaway where she pretty much falls for him and he likes her too and they're both resignedly sad when he finally gets all the evidence together? I seem to recall it being strangely sweet non-thing they had going on, and she wasn't an rear end in a top hat like most of his other suspects. See also Johnny Cash, who yeah, was the murderer but I think he was trapped in a lovely situation or something? Yes. This episode was written by Peter Falk himself actually and is one of the two best post-revival episodes along with Columbo goes to college which is king of the "God I want see these assholes go to prison" dynamic for maybe the whole series. Because it was written by the classically-trained actor whose played and thought about columbo for 30 years its actually unusually reflective and meditative about how Columbo feels about his job and duty although in the last scene its implied that all that reflection was as fake as the rest of him
|
|
#
¿
Mar 20, 2021 23:18
|
|
|
MrBling posted:
This is maybe my favorite episode of Columbo, marred only by the lounge singer boyfriend's long-rear end terrible slow song that eats up like 5 loving minutes of screen time.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2021 01:39
|
|
|
Rollie Fingers posted:Columbo is one of my top 5 TV shows of all time. Out of the later episodes 'Columbo Undercover' and 'Columbo Goes To College' are as good as the best episodes from the '70s. It’s p bad. The murderer manages to completely tie up all loose ends and stymie Columbo. So instead of solving the case through his careful observation he bullshits evidence that doesn’t exist and fools the murderer into making a confession. Columbo’s usually really good about depicting the way the police should work instead of fetishising and hero worshipping the way they actually do like every other cop show. May as well have him start carrying a loving gun
|
|
#
¿
Jun 24, 2021 16:58
|
|
|
Absolutely not. Opening of season 2 with the conductor is one of my favorite episodes ever. You also get Leonard Nimoy as a murderous surgeon and the Cold War Chess episode with the most likeable Soviet on 70s American television ever is an all-timer Columbo episodes basically carried over almost no staff besides Peter Falk between episodes because it was treated as a bunch of TV movies by Universal/NBC. So thinking about it in terms of seasons like TV buffs do for other shows is pretty useless since the quality will just vary between individual episodes. For example the best episode of all time IMO (Now you see him) is immediately next to the undisputed worst (Last Salute to the Commodore) BIG FLUFFY DOG fucked around with this message at 04:31 on Jun 25, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Jun 25, 2021 01:34
|
|
|
Bob Quixote posted:My wife and I have been watching random episodes for a few weeks now after this thread got me nostalgic and it's been fun. No fault divorce first became legal in California in 1970 not too long before that episode aired and was unheard of in the rest of the country. Before that you had to have evidence they were cheating on you, abusing you, etc. so it took several years and enormous lawyer bills. The last state to legalize it was of all places New York in 2010.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 11, 2021 17:21
|
|
|
Vincent posted:I'm making my way through season 1. It's excellent, I love it. BUT! What is up with those weird green cigars? Those are called Candelas which made up the majority of the American cigar market from the 50s to the 70s
|
|
#
¿
Jul 13, 2021 19:26
|
|
|
candidate for crime is a classic how dare you
|
|
#
¿
Sep 15, 2021 04:50
|
|
|
grassy gnoll posted:Who's the best recurring murderer and why is it
|
|
#
¿
Nov 11, 2021 15:31
|
|
|
grassy gnoll posted:Unquestionably a strong candidate, but he's still gotta be second place. Culp's weird and menacing in all his roles; I just can't stay mad at gleeful murder cherub Jack Cassidy. If the murderers were being considered in a vacuum yes I would agree that Culp is better however every episode of Columbo is a two-hander and Cassidy has almost perfect chemistry with Peter Falk. Since the show is Columbo and the murderer playing off of each other this is not just an important factor but the most important factor catapulting Cassidy to number one
|
|
#
¿
Nov 11, 2021 19:45
|
|
|
Also: the actual scene with best cinematography is when he first investigates the body under the Santa Monica pier in the spy episode
|
|
#
¿
Nov 11, 2021 20:15
|
|
|
In that revival episode Peter falk wrote where the woman murderer tries to romance him (actually p good for a revival ep) he just straight up raids the victims fridge because he’s hungry. It’s not even an act to get people off their guard it’s just him and some cops who presumably know his schtick.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 11, 2021 23:49
|
|
|
Payndz posted:What I always find funny about McGoohan is that for a full decade, he was an upright, intense hero on British TV (first Danger Man, then The Prisoner). Then he moved to Hollywood and found a new career on TV and in film playing cocky rear end in a top hat villains who aren't quite as smart as they think. America never got over the revolutionary war
|
|
#
¿
Dec 10, 2021 19:13
|
|
|
MrBling posted:Finished up the "original" run. Yes except for the college student one and the one with the girl who tries to honeytrap columbo
|
|
#
¿
Dec 15, 2021 18:05
|
|
|
rewatched Bye Bye Sky High IQ Society Murder Case and the episode's pretty ok right until the end when out of nowhere you have one of the greatest scenes/endings in columbo.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 20, 2021 00:53
|
|
|
wibble posted:Which one was the one were someone kills the victum with a block of ice and then chucks it in a swimming pool to dispose of the wepon? Most crucial game. An nfl team manager murders the playboy owner who inherited the team because he doesn’t care enough about football He is not. The murderers aren’t all dick van dykes and Leonard Nimoy’s. They put in character actors people recognize but haven’t heard of quite a bit. BIG FLUFFY DOG fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Dec 20, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Dec 20, 2021 22:16
|
|
|
Stairmaster posted:Is columbo popular in Japan reruns of columbo would get around a quarter of japanese households watching when competing against baseball games. it was/is v popular.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 26, 2021 08:59
|
|
|
The tv executive who murders her lover when he doesn't promote her alienates everyone and ends up getting fired too. Columbo has a real 70s view on women in business.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 8, 2022 23:11
|
|
|
FilthyImp posted:God I can't remember the drat episode but there's one where Columbo ends up going to talk to a database clerk and it's just delightfully awkward how put off he is by the whole thing this has one of the worst "gotchas" of a columbo episode (and theres quite a few) Life in prison because of the loops on a guys shoe lace.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 14, 2022 03:14
|
|
|
Labored explanations of cutting-edge (extremely outdated) technology is one of my favorite parts of Columbo
|
|
#
¿
Jan 16, 2022 01:27
|
|
|
it feels very wrong to me for columbo to have any first name that isn't extremely italian
|
|
#
¿
Jan 21, 2022 05:00
|
|
|
“The guy was about your height” “Average height.” “Or maybe a little shorter.” “Or maybe… a little shorter” 
|
|
#
¿
Jan 26, 2022 18:05
|
|
|
they always seem to pick the worst actors in LA for the "random cop who gives columbo exposition at the crime scene role". The police commissioner one had a dude say his line 3 times because he kept flubbing it, there's of course the guy in the classical music one who delivers all his dialogue with his teeth clenched around a cigar and his thumbs in the sides of his pants. Just consistently awful.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 9, 2022 15:04
|
|
|
knox posted:Columbo is always screaming though, usually for no reason. Yeah that one scene at the boat yard is a little overkill for sure lol but everything is so bizarro/feels sloshed like the daughter whose drunk the entire episode. I feel like there are much worse episodes even during the main era. The food critic episode I just watched for example, is pretty terrible and super boring compared to Commodore episode for me. Food critic episode has Columbo having an extremely Italian conversation in Italian, scamming food every interview, and dodging every countless attempts to poison him at the end by just refusing to eat whatever the murderer poisoned. You’re nuts
|
|
#
¿
Apr 12, 2022 14:40
|
|
|
knox posted:Columbo is always screaming though, usually for no reason. Yeah that one scene at the boat yard is a little overkill for sure lol but everything is so bizarro/feels sloshed like the daughter whose drunk the entire episode. I feel like there are much worse episodes even during the main era. The food critic episode I just watched for example, is pretty terrible and super boring compared to Commodore episode for me. I’ve mentioned this before but my favorite scene is the climax of the Bye Bye Sky High IQ society where Columbo goads the murderer into revealing the plan out of pride in his own intellect during a terrible storm in a back and forth almost choreographed like a dance to the classical music playing.
|
|
#
¿
May 25, 2022 16:26
|
|
|
its not about people going to jail for their crimes. its about the murderer realizing columbo was a worthy opponent and honorably submitting to defeat as the loser in their game.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 5, 2022 18:40
|
|
|
https://twitter.com/calavera145/status/1533619442902523904?s=21&t=rxDTrC5BT3d_a82lJR3J_g Last screenshot features Columbo using a gun 0/10
|
|
#
¿
Jun 6, 2022 22:37
|
|
|
SimonChris posted:I just got the pun in Any Old Port in a Storm. I kept wondering what desperate source of relief or shelter the title referred to. It didn't seem to fit, you know... most of the plot is Columbo trying to figure out if it rained that day or not
|
|
#
¿
Mar 13, 2023 04:10
|
|
|
SimonChris posted:Columbo literally uses an old port wine to catch the murderer. Spoilers for several episodes following: While Columbo is marketed as a howcatchem where the mystery is how Columbo will catch the murderer this is one of several episodes where the title spoils the way Columbo catches the murderer. Others like this are By Dawns Early Light where the murderer saw something only briefly visible at dawn and Negative Reaction where Columbo uses a negative print to trick the murderer into revealing he did it in front of witnesses. Literally caught by his reaction to a negative.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 13, 2023 14:05
|
|
|
Season 7 episode 2 is the one where Columbo just gets fed by every man in LA, gets in an Italian argument with the victims nephew and also it’s only like an hour long. It’s an excellent episode. Episode 3s really good too and has some great ACTING!! scenes in it from the suspect. Now if you’re talking episode 4 or even 5 I get it
|
|
#
¿
Apr 7, 2023 14:43
|
|
|
ynohtna posted:Wow at the cast list for Troubled Waters. Even my very face-blind partner was all "Hey, I know that actor!" they riffed forever on Now You See Him too which is probably the greatest Columbo episode even with the 10 minute jazz riff. They ended up cutting an aside reveal that the jazz leader boyfriend had a jewish last name either for time or for making the villain too unsympathetic (He's already a Nazi!) too.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 4, 2023 12:41
|
|
|
Takes No Damage posted:
In like half the episodes that mistake is them just killing the person whose figured it out (more sloppily) instead of letting them be blackmailed though
|
|
#
¿
Oct 1, 2023 03:40
|
|
|
Takes No Damage posted:Did you see that? this also happens with In Dawn's early light and any old port in a storm
|
|
#
¿
Oct 2, 2023 12:50
|
|
|
Now you see him is maybe the best episode of the series and it’s crazy it’s right next to the undisputed worst
|
|
#
¿
Nov 20, 2023 16:23
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 9, 2024 23:11 |
|
|
My opinion on Columbo’s bullshit is that he id legitimately like that but learned to play it up because he is actually smart enough to use what he had instead of pretending to be what he’s not. He absolutely wanted to buy that vent
|
|
#
¿
Mar 15, 2024 02:13
|
|