"Just One More Thing..." - The COLUMBO Discussion Thread

Here is a thread specifically designed to discuss the TV detective inverted mystery series Columbo. Columbo ran for a total of 35 years and 69 episodes, from the first standalone episode in 1968 (Prescription: Murder) until the final 'special' episode in 2003 (Columbo Likes the Nightlife), making it the longest running TV series in history.

Here we can discuss episodes, themes, characters, Lt. Columbo himself, Peter Falk etc. Really just anything Columbo related! There are plenty of interesting James Bond connections with Columbo too, as they share a good few of the same actors.

I hope this turns into an interesting discussion thread and that there's always "Just one more thing..."

Well, I intend to purchase the complete series on DVD in a couple of weeks, and as I view each episode, I imagine I'll have many immortal observations to make.

That sounds great. I saw there was a small discussion on Columbo on another thread and so I decided to create a new thread on Columbo.

In which episode does he discover America?

It's funny, but Columbo Day just isn't celebrated in AINO the way it used to be...

My absolute favorite ep has got to be "Murder By the Book." The opening is just dynamite. If I had been watching that episode live back in 1971 I'd have leapt to my feet and started pacing in excitement. The kid that directed that was good.

I long for a restored box set of Spielberg's television work.

Other favorites:

- "Any Old Port In A Storm"
- "By Dawn's Early Light"
- "Murder Under Glass"

Phantom Commander wrote:

In which episode does he discover America?

I think that must have been another branch of the family.



He also does get called "Columbus" in at least two episodes - Old Fashioned Murder (1976) and Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star (1991).

This is all making me think of this scene from another great television show with Italian-American protagonists.

"The Chevy Mystery Show" Enough Rope (1960) starring Bert Freed as Columbo, has been reuploaded recently to YouTube again for anyone who missed it first time around:



This is an earlier version of what became the standalone episode Prescription: Murder (1968) which starred Peter Falk in his first time playing Columbo. After a pilot episode called Ransom for a Dead Man (1971) the Columbo series was commissioned proper and the rest, as they say, is history.

Saw COLUMBO GOES TO THE GUILLOTINE last night. Anthony Zerbe is in it, although he gets killed early in the episode. I imagine I have seen Zerbe in another episode as well, or am I wrong?

Phantom Commander wrote:

Saw COLUMBO GOES TO THE GUILLOTINE last night. Anthony Zerbe is in it, although he gets killed early in the episode. I imagine I have seen Zerbe in another episode as well, or am I wrong?

That was the first episode to air of the newer Columbo episodes on ABC from 1989 onwards after a break of 11 years after the last NBC Columbo episode, The Conspirators (1978) was broadcast. This was the only episode to guest star Anthony Zerbe (as Max Dyson). Come to think of it, he met a gruesome fate in this episode of Columbo, Licence to Kill in the same year and also in Star Trek: Insurrection (1998). Zerbe would've made a good guest star killer in an episode of Columbo. I've always liked his acting work.

Maeve Horton wrote:

Phantom Commander wrote:

Saw COLUMBO GOES TO THE GUILLOTINE last night. Anthony Zerbe is in it, although he gets killed early in the episode. I imagine I have seen Zerbe in another episode as well, or am I wrong?

That was the first episode to air of the newer Columbo episodes on ABC from 1989 onwards after a break of 11 years after the last NBC Columbo episode, The Conspirators (1978) was broadcast. This was the only episode to guest star Anthony Zerbe (as Max Dyson). Come to think of it, he met a gruesome fate in this episode of Columbo, Licence to Kill in the same year and also in Star Trek: Insurrection (1998). Zerbe would've made a good guest star killer in an episode of Columbo. I've always liked his acting work.

A false memory, then. I must have mixed it up with another show. I guessed you would know.

Maeve Horton wrote:

Phantom Commander wrote:

Saw COLUMBO GOES TO THE GUILLOTINE last night. Anthony Zerbe is in it, although he gets killed early in the episode. I imagine I have seen Zerbe in another episode as well, or am I wrong?

That was the first episode to air of the newer Columbo episodes on ABC from 1989 onwards after a break of 11 years after the last NBC Columbo episode, The Conspirators (1978) was broadcast. This was the only episode to guest star Anthony Zerbe (as Max Dyson). Come to think of it, he met a gruesome fate in this episode of Columbo, Licence to Kill in the same year and also in Star Trek: Insurrection (1998). Zerbe would've made a good guest star killer in an episode of Columbo. I've always liked his acting work.

After Bond and Trek, I was really surprised when the Z-man's head didn't suffer a gruesome fate in the MATRIX sequels. Maybe even franchises grow fatigued of doing the same ol' same ol' to the usual suspects?

Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, Sherlock, The Time Traveller's Wife etc) loves Columbo and admitted he'd looked into acquiring the rights with a view to doing a contemporary version, but apparently they're 'a tangled mess'.

trevanian wrote:

Maeve Horton wrote:

Phantom Commander wrote:

Saw COLUMBO GOES TO THE GUILLOTINE last night. Anthony Zerbe is in it, although he gets killed early in the episode. I imagine I have seen Zerbe in another episode as well, or am I wrong?

That was the first episode to air of the newer Columbo episodes on ABC from 1989 onwards after a break of 11 years after the last NBC Columbo episode, The Conspirators (1978) was broadcast. This was the only episode to guest star Anthony Zerbe (as Max Dyson). Come to think of it, he met a gruesome fate in this episode of Columbo, Licence to Kill in the same year and also in Star Trek: Insurrection (1998). Zerbe would've made a good guest star killer in an episode of Columbo. I've always liked his acting work.

After Bond and Trek, I was really surprised when the Z-man's head didn't suffer a gruesome fate in the MATRIX sequels. Maybe even franchises grow fatigued of doing the same ol' same ol' to the usual suspects?

Yes, I suppose they don't want to push it by trying that trick for a fourth time. They prefer to keep us guessing.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, Sherlock, The Time Traveller's Wife etc) loves Columbo and admitted he'd looked into acquiring the rights with a view to doing a contemporary version, but apparently they're 'a tangled mess'.  

There was a lot of talk about a decade ago that Mark Ruffalo was going to be cast as the new Columbo but nothing ever came of it. Interesting to hear that about the rights to the show. Maybe it's just as well as Peter Falk made an indelible impression in the role and anyone else would just look like they were doing an imitation or impression of him. They did try to bring back Kojak with Ving Rhames back in 2005 but they decided to make him black and it only ran for one season so presumably it wasn't a great ratings success. I fear the same fate would befall a Columbo reboot unless every aspect was right from the casting, the guest stars, the direction, the writing and the plots.

Sad to hear of the death of Columbo writer Peter S. Fischer. He later went on to co-create Murder She Wrote with Columbo creators Levinson and Link. He wrote some of the best episodes of Columbo in the series.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/11/arts/television/peter-s-fischer-dead.html

More sad news. Robert Butler, the director of the Columbo episodes Double Shock and Publish or Perish, has died aged 95. Here he is being interviewed about his time working on Columbo:

This is a (hopefully) funny little personal story about the Columbo episode Swan Song (1974) that I've been meaning to share here for many years so I thought now was about time to finally share it with you all. One day I was over at my older brother's house and he started watching Swan Song as his wife had recorded it from Channel 5 (in the UK) using the Sky box as she saw it guest starred the singer and occasional actor Johnny Cash and my brother is a big fan of Cash and country music in general. So we sat and watched the episode. I had seen it before as I had all of the available Columbo boxsets at that time. When it came to the end scene where Columbo catches Tommy Brown retrieving the hidden parachute from under the hollow in the fallen tree trunk my brother said something which I still find hilarious to this day. I always think of it any time I watch the ending of this episode. He said something like, "I bet Columbo is hiding under that tree trunk and when the killer turns over the trunk he'll be there waiting for him." I still find it funny and hopefully you will too next time you watch this scene!

I've posted the scene below if you want to watch it again now:

I have seen that episode. Cash is pretty good in it.

Phantom Commander wrote:

I have seen that episode. Cash is pretty good in it.

Yes, Cash does very well in it considering he's not primarily known as an actor. There is one scene where he fluffs his line delivery slightly, but that's a very minor criticism. The episode was clearly written with him in mind.

Maeve Horton wrote:

Phantom Commander wrote:

I have seen that episode. Cash is pretty good in it.

Yes, Cash does very well in it considering he's not primarily known as an actor. There is one scene where he fluffs his line delivery slightly, but that's a very minor criticism. The episode was clearly written with him in mind.

Because he was a killer in real life?

Phantom Commander wrote:

Maeve Horton wrote:

Phantom Commander wrote:

I have seen that episode. Cash is pretty good in it.

Yes, Cash does very well in it considering he's not primarily known as an actor. There is one scene where he fluffs his line delivery slightly, but that's a very minor criticism. The episode was clearly written with him in mind.

Because he was a killer in real life?

Haha, I was thinking more that he was a country singer who wore black clothes just like the character he played in the episode, Tommy Brown.