Columbo

[Johnny Textface]

Tonight I stumbled upon a channel playing something which appeared to star the late, great John Cassavetes. Turns out to be an episode of Coumbo. Looks like he even directed the fucker. Is it all good like this? Is he a bit like a superhuman?

[Sebastian Cobb]

The original 70's run was excellent. It was less good when they bought it back at the tail of the 80's as Faulk seemed to be far less nuanced in his performance, but I think some of those are still alright.

[bgmnts]

Yeah Columbo is the best ever.

[Old Nehamkin]

Yeah the 70s stuff is all basically unimpeachable. My favourite is the one with Donald Pleasance as the wine connoisseur.

"Nobody really needs a $5000 bottle of wine, Karen. I just don't want anybody else to have it."

[Sebastian Cobb]

Shatner and the VCR was good, as was Nimoy as the surgeon.

[bgmnts]

Nimoy as the surgeon.

Anytime when Columbo actively hates the suspect and loses his rag is fun.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Anytime when Columbo actively hates the suspect and loses his rag is fun.

Yes. The one where he goes to London is one I didn't like, partially for the over-the-top camp Britishness ("oh hello leftenant Columbo!") and also because he fully admits to planting evidence.

[Johnny Textface]

Think I just saw Comandant Eric Lassard

[Blumf]

Yeah the 70s stuff is all basically unimpeachable. My favourite is the one with Donald Pleasance as the wine connoisseur.

He really makes a nice villain in that. An overgrown spoilt brat spending far too much on his hobby, but you can't help liking him.

[magval]

Class, I watched that one last night. I love the apparent and genuine friendship that appears to develop and the ending is brilliant. This has become essential fireside viewing for me and I'm glad the cauld is back because I hadn't seen an episode all summer.

[beanheadmcginty]

Any thoughts on Columbo's eye? This is something that Scott Aukerman mentioned on a podcast years ago and I am still undecided. The actor Peter Falk has a glass eye, but Columbo the character never mentions any problems with his eye. So does Columbo have one eye or is Peter Falk playing a two eyed man despite having a single eye?

[C_Larence]

Any thoughts on Columbo's eye? This is something that Scott Aukerman mentioned on a podcast years ago and I am still undecided. The actor Peter Falk has a glass eye, but Columbo the character never mentions any problems with his eye. So does Columbo have one eye or is Peter Falk playing a two eyed man despite having a single eye?

I think it's been discussed on here before, as there's no other way I'd know it, that Baddiel & Skinner had a discussion about this on one of their shows. I believe in one episode Columbo works with someone else and says "three eyes are better than one", which suggests the character has a glass eye.

[bgmnts]

Any thoughts on Columbo's eye? This is something that Scott Aukerman mentioned on a podcast years ago and I am still undecided. The actor Peter Falk has a glass eye, but Columbo the character never mentions any problems with his eye. So does Columbo have one eye or is Peter Falk playing a two eyed man despite having a single eye?

https://columbophile.com/2018/07/07/does-lieutenant-columbo-have-only-one-eye/#:~:text=Every%20Columbo%20fan%20is%20aware,rare%20form%20of%20cancer%2C%20retinoblastoma.

Gottta love columbophile.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Any thoughts on Columbo's eye? This is something that Scott Aukerman mentioned on a podcast years ago and I am still undecided. The actor Peter Falk has a glass eye, but Columbo the character never mentions any problems with his eye. So does Columbo have one eye or is Peter Falk playing a two eyed man despite having a single eye?

In the episode A Trace of Murder (1997 - so quite late on) when soliciting help the murderer he says 'three eyes are better than one'.

[beanheadmcginty]

Case closed. Unless he's pretending. But when has Columbo ever done that?

[Blumf]

Did Columbo ever mention anything about his wife being lost in the Delta Quadrant?

[DrGreggles]

Yeah the 70s stuff is all basically unimpeachable. My favourite is the one with Donald Pleasance as the wine connoisseur.

Yep, my favourite too.

[beanheadmcginty]

I think about it every time I drink wine.

[Glebe]

"Ah just one more thing, my wife's your biggest fan, would it be an imposition to get your autograph for her grand your handwriting matches the killer that wraps that up."

[famethrowa]

Last year I started wearing a crumpled trenchcoat, this year I've been driving round in an aging Peugeot convertible. It's creeping Columboism I tells ya

[Sonny_Jim]

One of the early ones is directed by father-obsessed film enthusiast Steven Spielberg.  It's the one where an author bumps off his writing partner.  Well worth watching if you are new to Columbo.

The bigger question is does his wife actually exist?  Or is there some kind of tragic backstory about her death and Columbo just pretends she's still alive.  I know in one episode someone else claims to have seen her, the cruise ship episode with Dean Stockwell.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Tonight I stumbled upon a channel playing something which appeared to star the late, great John Cassavetes. Turns out to be an episode of Coumbo. Looks like he even directed the fucker. Is it all good like this? Is he a bit like a superhuman?

Yes, of course. It's Columbo. The classic TV series Columbo.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

RE: his wife's existence.
There was a television series called " Mrs. Columbo", wasn't there? In which Mrs Columbo herself went around solving crimes. Don't think Peter Falk was ever in it, though.

[Bad Ambassador]

He wasn't. It was retooled after only a few episodes as a standalone show and then cancelled. Falk, Levinson and Link all distanced themselves from it.

There are several episodes were other characters have had encounters with Mrs Columbo, most obviously the cruise ship episode where the captain and the purser mention talking to her.

Early on, after the body's been found, the purser goes to Columbo's cabin to ask for his help. He blearily answers the door.

"Mr Columbo, the captain would like to see you."
"Is this about my wife? Look, we're on vacation, and when she's having a good time she sometimes gets carried away..."
"It's not about your wife, sir."

What's she been getting up to?

[DrGreggles]

The bigger question is does his wife actually exist?  Or is there some kind of tragic backstory about her death and Columbo just pretends she's still alive.  I know in one episode someone else claims to have seen her, the cruise ship episode with Dean Stockwell.

She doesn't actually appear in the episode 'Rest in Peace, Mrs Columbo', but her existence is integral to the plot.

[Bad Ambassador]

The episode ends with Columbo talking to her on the phone with no one else around, so either she exists or he's insane, the latter perhaps undermining the series' credibility.

[magval]

He does that in the wine episode mentioned above as well, talking to her on the phone while Pleasance is in the cellar.

[pigamus]

Falk himself strongly believed that Columbo just lives on his own in a crummy apartment, but I've never thought that makes sense. More likely he'd have a string of wives and ex-wives and mistresses who all adored him.

[Fr.Bigley]

But the real question is, Who would play Falk if the series was rebooted? (no doubt it will)

[bgmnts]

Mark Ruffalo has been pegged (oo'er) for it I think.