Columbo was a huge hit in the 70’s. The show is still featured on many streaming channels. Sundance channel has run it late at night for awhile. I assume it’s on Netflix?
It’s inspired newer shows like Law & Order Criminal Intent. Detective Goren used the “just one more thing” line regularly. He did dress sharper than Columbo.
Other shows like Matlock featured a character that hid their cleverness. Every one underestimated Columbo and Matlock. What other shows borrowed from Columbo? Maybe Monk?
Is it true the weekly Columbo guest star is usually the killer? I’ve always had that impression that the show was predictable in that way. There must of been a few exceptions.
Can you recall other notable things about Columbo or the crimes he solved?
The only episode I can think of where the murderer is not whom you expect is “Farewell to the Commodore” with Robert Vaughan. It’s probably also the only one where we don’t actually see the murder committed, as usually happens at the start.
It also has one of the lamest resolutions in the run of the series.
Arguably, The Shield. Not for the main character, Vic Mackey, but for the supporting character of “Dutch” Waggenbach. In early episodes, the show focused on his dweebish personality and it looked like he was to be a comedic character that Mackey would mock. But then it was shown that he was an amazing detective under his surface appearance and both the audience and Mackey belatedly realized they had underestimated him.
Yeah, with the exception of the “Commodore” episode that @terentii mentions, the killer was always revealed right at the start. It wasn’t a “whodunit”, it was a “howcatchem”.
Sure, Columba influenced many crime dramas afterward, ‘Monk’ being one notable example. Monk’s mental issues, though real, were often perceived by the killer as a shortcoming that would lull them into false complacency, similar to Colombo. And Monk often revealed the killer at the beginning like Columbo, but also did a lot of standard “whodunit” episodes.
Columbo itself was famously influenced by the inspector in Dostoyevksy’s ‘Crime and Punishment’— appearing bumbling to the killer at first, who considered himself a genius, but over the course of the novel proved to be dogged, relentless, and more than a match in intelligence to the killer.
I watched every episode of Columbo on Tubi TV not too long ago and made a thread about it. If you’re interested and haven’t seen the thread I’ll link it here if you want.
Asimov’s “A Whiff of Death”/“The Death Dealers” features a detective with Columbo-like characteristics, working on a murder case in a university chemistry department, and exposing the killer in a very Columbo-like manner*. He’s not the main character, but Asimov thought about doing sequels with him as the main character, until Columbo came along.
The detective fumbles around with chemical apparatus that would normally be safe, but which he has led the killer to believe is the equipment that the killer had boobytrapped - and the killer’s reaction to the detective’s fumbling exposes the killer’s guilty knowledge
A couple of episodes were based on Ed McBain books and didn’t follow the normal format. They are Undercover and No Time to Die.
The A Bird in the Hand episode had some unique elements. The killer killed someone other than the intended victim. Columbo was present when the murder happened. The “star of the week”, Tyne Daly, wasn’t the murderer in the case that was being investigated through most of the show.
How many Columbo cases involved thinly disguised real people as victims, killers or other characters? I can think of several (football widow, famous director, Geller/Randi, Johnny Cash) but I don’t know of any analogs for the Mensa case or the Nimoy surgeon.
I would say “defective genius” detective like Goren, Monk, Darryl Zero, and of course Greg House aren’t modeled on Columbo as much as they are on Sherlock Holmes.
And Columbo isn’t "genius"detective, he’s just dogged. He doesn’t make leaps of logic, instead he’s a student of human nature. He can spot the guilty guy, and then hounds him or her obsessively until he gets a confession or the killer makes a mistake.
I like to think Columbo hounds every other suspect equally, but we just don’t see the dead ends. Otherwise I start rooting for the villain, and his trial lawyer.
In “Forgotten Lady,” Columbo lets the murderer (Janet Leigh) go free (on compassionate grounds), even though he knows and can prove she’s guilty. IIRC, he lets co-conspirator Claudia Christian get away after nailing Faye Dunaway in “It’s All in the Game.” And we never find out what happens to accessory-after-the-fact Mariette Hartley in “Try and Catch Me.”
I can’t think of many detectives who toyed with suspects like Columbo. Law & Order CI’s Detective Goren occasionally used a similar tactic whenever he would talk with suspects. Columbo would butter up the suspect and play to their egos, treating them like they were the smartest person alive and asking for their help when there was a factual mishap. Goren would admire their genius and meticulous attention to detail in planning their crime and trick them into gloating. Columbo would act the bumbling but good-natured yokel to get under the suspect’s skin. Goren would be aggressively impolite to rattle the suspect into cooperating, or face further toxic unpleasantness.
Otherwise, serious TV detectives don’t toy with the suspects so much. The macho and intellectual detectives confront suspects with damning details and force them to explain themselves. The shows where non-detectives like Lucifer and Castle accompany the hot chick detective would just accuse the suspects or murder right away, and in so doing, inadvertently uncover a clue that directs the rest of the investigation.
I saw Columbo in childhood when the NBC Mystery Movie alternated with Columbo, McCloud, and McMillan and Wife. I loved these shows then and still do.
I always thought the writing was unusually good. The writers didn’t have to grind out a Columbo every week. There was more time to develop scripts.
I’ve been a fan of mysteries and police procedurals my entire life. I’ve watched silly ones like Riptide and disturbing shows like The Shield. They’re all good.
In the alternate Los Angeles of the Columboverse there must be an awful shortage of business execs, local politicians, movie and TV producers, and famous Hollywood actors, so many having been put away in prison for murder by Columbo.
Hawaii was the same with mobsters on Hawaii Five-0. A third of the episodes were McGarrett putting away some long term mob guy. He never, ever ran out of them. In Hawaii, a tiny state.
