# Columbo - a few questions for discussion **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [January 2, 2022, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074 "2022-01-02T07:34:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/201 "2023-04-13T14:25:00Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I always think of Myrna as Fredrick March’s wife in _ **The Best Years of Our Lives** _. Not me. I think of her as… [pre-code\_loy.jpg (584×818) (wordpress.com)](https://theagrarian.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/pre-code_loy.jpg?w=584) (Spoilered as possibly NSFW) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/202 "2023-04-13T14:56:37Z")
Oh, my Lord, she’s nekkid! 😲 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/203 "2023-04-14T02:31:31Z")
I just watched this episode again. A few things I noticed: It was directed by Nicholas Colasanto, aka “Coach” on _ **Cheers!** _ I thought the white-haired cop Columbo was talking to at the scene of the crime looked familiar. He was Henry Beckman, aka “Col. Harrigan” in the final season of _ **McHale’s Navy** _. James Olson (“Paul”) looked familiar too. He was “Gen. Kirby,” Arhnold’s former CO in _ **Commando** _. Dawn Frame (“Audrey”) is now a tropical botanist in French Guiana. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/204 "2023-04-14T03:01:25Z")
Olson I knew from The Andromeda Strain. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2023, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/205 "2023-04-16T12:36:35Z")
I’m curious what people think of the two Columbo episodes based on Ed McBain books. So Long As You Both Shall Live - they are trying to find a new bride wo is missing. Undercover - finding pieces of a jigsaw type puzzle, These are not typical Columbo episodes. I have read many Ed McBain books, but I skip over these two episodes. To me, it’s not Columbo. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2023, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/206 "2023-04-16T15:10:17Z")
I agree. I didn’t care for them either. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/207 "2023-04-16T19:36:24Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > So Long As You Both Shall Live - they are trying to find a new bride wo is missing I did like that the bride worked towards freeing herself instead of waiting to be rescued, but it wasn’t _Columbo_ ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2023, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/208 "2023-04-16T20:08:43Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Oh, my Lord, she’s nekkid! Stupid rose petals. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2023, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/209 "2023-04-17T00:05:20Z")
Just finished the “Columbo goes to London” episode. 1. I know Richard Basehart’s name {Gypsy on MST3K loves him!}…but not at all familiar with his work. So i didn’t know he wasn’t English. He seems to do a passable job. But it is the 70’s and he’s playing a way over the top actor. So imperfections are probably hidden by the flourishes. 2. Columbo just comes off as too silly for my tastes. Since a great deal of the ep is him looking around and communicating with peers and such…this is apparently the ‘real’ Columbo. Not an act he puts on for murderers. The real Columbo is quite silly. 3. I love that Columbo ‘framed’ the murderers. By placing fake evidence and hoping they would confess ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2023, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/210 "2023-04-17T00:15:45Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > > > Thus, many jobs are fielded by Vito Scotti. > > 😁 > > He was a great asset to the show. Just last night I watched him give Columbo the table next to the kitchen door, based on Columbo’s lack of sartorial splendor.\* And it was done with unmatchable style and panache. > > > > > \*in _Any Old Port in a Storm_; Scotti playing a restaurant maître d’. That episode marks the first time I saw a California vanity license plate that contained SEVEN characters (CARSINI). This was weird because the episode aired in 1973, seven years before California started permitting license plates to have seven characters. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2023, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/211 "2023-04-17T01:05:45Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > The technology of the day was a programmable record player (which I hadn’t heard about in real life). Apparently you can program the spot on the record where the song starts and can easily listen to the second and fifth track. (I’m still not clear on how that works). I actually used to have one like that. My supposition at the time was that it used an optical scanning device to seek the “spaces” between the tracks. It also scanned the entire LP for those “spaces” even before it would accept the user’s pressing “Play.” Rather than a tone arm, this player had a linear drive mechanism mounted in the lid that would set the stylus down where directed. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2023, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/212 "2023-04-17T01:22:43Z")
I just got in the London episode…Columbo plants the evidence, a pearl, by tossing it into a closed umbrella from about 8 feet. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2023, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/213 "2023-04-17T18:27:40Z")
Just caught one with Martin Landau as identical twins, with Julie Newmar doing aerobic exercises. Great cast. Great to see Dabney Coleman too, as a fellow homicide detective almost a peer to Columbo which he never seems to have. Also saw James McCeachern in another one. Question: Was there ever a villain of color or any minority in an episode? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2023, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/214 "2023-04-17T20:08:56Z")
For those of you who are Myrna Loy fans, did you know there was a statue of her in front of Venice (CA) High School? This is the original: [![Imgur](https://i.imgur.com/xMDiTVn.png "Imgur: The magic of the Internet") ](https://imgur.com/xMDiTVn) It eventually crumbled and had to be removed. The replaced it with a new statue, but I don’t think it had the same grace as this one. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2023, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/215 "2023-04-17T23:56:50Z")
Wow! 😊 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/216 "2023-04-18T00:02:41Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Was there ever a villain of color or any minority in an episode? Not that I recall. Almost all of the villains seemed to be rich or otherwise powerful white dudes we loved seeing cut down to size. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/217 "2023-04-18T00:09:00Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Also saw James McCeachern in another one. Question: Was there ever a villain of color or any minority in an episode? Would you count Ricardo Montalbán? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/218 "2023-04-18T00:52:01Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Would you count Ricardo Montalbán? Possibly, but that episode was set in Mexico. He wouldn’t be in the minority there. Sal Mineo and Hector Elizondo played Middle Easterners in “A Case of Immunity,” but they were foreign diplomats. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2023, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/219 "2023-04-18T01:06:56Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > That episode marks the first time I saw a California vanity license plate that contained SEVEN characters (CARSINI). This was weird because the episode aired in 1973, seven years before California started permitting license plates to have seven characters. Interesting! I never knew that. (I guess SOME state must have had seven-character vanity plates back in 1973; how else would the writers have come up with the idea?) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074/220 "2023-04-20T09:19:04Z")
Watched “The Greenhouse Jungle” with Ray Milland, Bradford Dillman, and Sandra Smith tonight. My question is the same one I asked about Lee Grant: What the hell is Ray gonna do with all that hot ransom money? Sell it to a fence for a few pennies on the dollar? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-a-few-questions-for-discussion/957074.md?page=12)