# Columbo TV show **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [January 27, 2021, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652 "2021-01-27T23:32:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2021, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/61 "2021-01-28T22:00:45Z")
“The Dust of Death”. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2021, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/62 "2021-01-28T22:37:34Z")
Never heard that title for it - I’ve seen it as “The Death Dealers” and as “A Whiff of Death” ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2021, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/63 "2021-01-28T23:31:35Z")
It’s a great episode, but you know, when he puts his head in the guillotine and he’s just blathering away, it still makes me anxious as hell. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2021, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/64 "2021-01-28T23:42:37Z")
I still watch Columbo on MeTV. Among my favorite episodes are… - “ The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case”, in which Theodore Bikel, president of a Mensa-like club of geniuses, sneers at Columbo for most of the episode. His Rube Goldberg method for establishing his alibi ultimately fails under Columbo‘s keen eye. \_ “Columbus Goes to College”, in which two smarmy college students spend most of the episode mocking Columbo. - “How to Dial a Murder”, in which an expert Pavlovian comes up with an unusual way to kill someone. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2021, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/65 "2021-01-28T23:50:19Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The first name visible on Columbo’s ID in various episodes was “Frank.” > > … > Contrary to what some believe, it was not “Philip,” … According to the “10 Things you Might Not Know About Columbo” article, the name “Philip” was intentionally made up by the author of a book on trivia as a copyright trap. When it turned up as an answer in a Trivial Pursuit game, he sued the game makers for $300 million. Unfortunately for him, the suit was quite properly dismissed as not actionable. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2021, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/66 "2021-01-28T23:52:21Z")
Yes, I know. I posted the link. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/67 "2021-01-29T00:16:17Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The information Columbo gave about his family was unreliable, since he could have been lying to mislead his suspects. Especially when he faked his wife’s death in _Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo_. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/68 "2021-01-29T00:19:23Z")
I was just providing a fuller explanation on an interesting point for those who may not have read the article. I quoted you just to provide some context. 🙂 ---
**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:** [January 29, 2021, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/69 "2021-01-29T00:38:33Z")
I’m confused. There was a Mrs Columbo, with a show, but she isn’t canon or something? It was Unauthorized? ---
**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:** [January 29, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/70 "2021-01-29T01:07:25Z")
It was a very cheesy idea of the legendary Fred Silverman… It starred Kate Mulgrew and went through several changes in title and backstory during its short life. And no, it had no connection to Peter Falk’s series, other than the name. > **[Mrs. Columbo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Columbo)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Mrs. Columbo (1979–1980), later called Kate Columbo, Kate the Detective, and Kate Loves a Mystery, is an American crime drama television series, initially based on the wife of Lieutenant Columbo, the title character from the television series Columbo. It was created and produced by Richard Alan Simmons and Universal Television for NBC, and stars Kate Mulgrew as a news reporter helping to solve crimes while raising her daughter. > The series debuted... ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/71 "2021-01-29T02:21:41Z")
I just recently saw an episode where Columbo solves a murder on board a cruise ship. Mrs. Columbo is never seen, but there are a few times when other characters mention having interacted with her, so it’s not just a case of Columbo making her up out of whole cloth. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/72 "2021-01-29T04:29:08Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > It’s a great episode, but you know, when he puts his head in the guillotine and he’s just blathering away, it still makes me anxious as hell. 🙂 I know! I first watched that with my dad as a kid and I was like 😬 😲 Now I feel like watching a bunch of these again! ---
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/73 "2021-01-29T05:06:11Z")
And although Peter Falk was not a real sleuth, you couldn’t necessarily pull one over on him: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ZCqYTGX1TWI/maxresdefault.jpg "Matthew Rhys' Accent Kills Columbo | The Graham Norton Show | Friday at 11pm | BBC America") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCqYTGX1TWI) Also, it was fun recently seeing _Fade in to Murder_ with William Shatner as the villain. `//i\\` ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/74 "2021-01-29T13:06:22Z")
I remember my first impression as a kid that Columbo was a low-key badass. I had started reading Sherlock Holmes stories at 7 so Columbo was right in my wheelhouse. Anyway, the killer thought he was much smarter than Columbo and was fooling him the entire time, until, finally, The Jig Was Up and he confessed. Then the killer asked Columbo “when did you first suspect me?” Columbo (matter-of-factly): when we first spoke. Killer: (shocked) wha WHAAAAH? How can that be? Columbo: you never asked how the victim was killed. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/75 "2021-01-29T13:22:54Z")
Mike\_Mabes wrote: > any time you try a decent crime , you got fifty ways you ’ re gonna fuck up . If you think of twenty-five of them, then you ’ re a genius. > > Who remembers who said that? “…And you’re no genius.” Mickey Rourke said it in **Body Heat**. He was selling William Hurt’s character a gun or something to whack Kathleen Turner’s husband. One brilliant thing about **Columbo** was, there were no recurring characters, but lots of recurring actors. Jack Cassidy was on 2 or 3 times as the bad guy, and he made a really good one. He could rock a blazer and ascot like nobody else! ---
**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:** [January 29, 2021, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/76 "2021-01-29T13:59:57Z")
One interesting aspect of Columbo is that his cases often involve “high technology” for the era - VCRs when they were an expensive toy for the rich, a phone that can automatically forward calls, cell phones (in the later series), closed circuit TV, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/77 "2021-01-29T14:52:15Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > One brilliant thing about **Columbo** was, there were no recurring characters, but lots of recurring actors. Jack Cassidy was on 2 or 3 times as the bad guy, and he made a really good one. He could rock a blazer and ascot like nobody else! Yes! Jack Cassidy was great. And Robert Culp killed people three times, and was an investigator on another one. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/78 "2021-01-29T15:41:32Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Robert Culp killed people three times, and was an investigator on another one. Well, sooner or later the cops figure a guy’s an expert, so they might as well consult with him. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/79 "2021-01-29T15:48:00Z")
> [@icon](#): > > Also, it was fun recently seeing _Fade in to Murder_ with William Shatner as the villain. This one also had Walter Koenig in a minor role as an LAPD sergeant. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2021, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652/80 "2021-01-29T15:53:21Z")
And the one with Jack Cassidy as a magician had Columbo amazed by what was then a high-tech typewriter (with a ball, not individual typebars) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbo-tv-show/931652.md?page=5)