# "Just one more thing, sir...": The Columbo Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 16, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615 "2005-06-16T22:36:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/21 "2005-06-17T14:07:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **betenoir** (15th post): > I can’t believe no one has mentioned Ruth Gordon!!! > [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Bricker** (19th post): > Does anyone remember Ruth Gordon’s appearance? > [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Just1Lurk** (\*13th \* post): > …Ruth Gordon as the mystery writer was one… A-_hem_! ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Gene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Soylent\_Gene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Gene)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/22 "2005-06-17T14:26:28Z")
I \*\*love \*\* this show. Robert Conrad as the cocky gym owner (kills his partner with a barbell) was the best. He tied the victims shoes backwards and got busted by Columbo. **Some of the murder plots are pretty far fetched though.** Example- killer shows audience his latest film while he provides live narration. He has spliced in a sibliminal clip of a desert scene to make his victim thirsty (he’s also fed victim salty snacks prior to movie). Victim goes out to lobby for drink of water. Killer slips away from stage while tape recorder continues his narration. Victim shot in lobby. Killer has alibi - the whole audience was hearing him speak behind curtain when shot is heard from lobby! ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/23 "2005-06-17T14:39:55Z")
I remember the series so well from when I was a kid because my Grandfather taped it all the time, along with the 60s Batman 🙂 It occured to me too that Columbo should surely be done for harassment, but then you weren’t watching it for the same reason as other police dramas. It was always so satisfying that the short shambling detective with an old rain coat and battered old car was able to take down the smug ruthless murderer. In fact, that was what made seeing the murder take place first vital. To see the murderer carry out his wicked deed and then so professionally cover up all trace of it. One murder that I remember was one shot in the reflection of the murderers sun glasses, two film clips, one for each lens recounting how it all happened. One other thing, wasn’t there an episode with Ruth Gordon?.. ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_Holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a5b964/32.png) [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/24 "2005-06-17T14:59:09Z")
> [@Just1Lurk](#): > > A-_hem_! So, why has nobody mentioned the episode with Ruth Gordon? That was a classic! ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/25 "2005-06-17T15:05:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Pushkin** : > One other thing, wasn’t there an episode with Ruth Gordon?.. Finally pushed over the edge, I, with deliberate malice aforethought, kill Pushkin. But I have nothing to fear - my alibi is perfect. And the detective assigned to the case! A little man in a rumpled raincoat…oh, he had some questions regarding some “loose ends” but I was able to explain those away. I won’t be seeing \*him \* again… ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/26 "2005-06-17T15:09:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Mycroft Holmes** : > So, why has nobody mentioned the episode with Ruth Gordon? That was a classic! Yeah, like I’m going kill Sherlock Holmes’ brother! Speaking of episodes nobody’s mentioned - another favorite: The one with Robert Vaughn shot entirely on the cruise liner. How do people feel about the later made-for-TV movies done for ABC? How do those rate? ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/27 "2005-06-17T15:33:31Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > Y’know, you missed a golden opportunity to say, “Pardon me, but… do you mind if I ask you a question?” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/28 "2005-06-17T16:59:11Z")
> [@Just1Lurk](#): > > Finally pushed over the edge, I, with deliberate malice aforethought, kill Pushkin. > But I have nothing to fear - my alibi is perfect. And the detective assigned to the case! A little man in a rumpled raincoat…oh, he had some questions regarding some “loose ends” but I was able to explain those away. I won’t be seeing \*him \* again… I wouldn’t worry about covering your tracks. Georges d’Anthès will probably get blamed for it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/29 "2005-06-17T17:25:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **faldureon** : > I wouldn’t worry about covering your tracks. Georges d’Anthès will probably get blamed for it anyway. LOL! 😃 For those of you in the Ventura County area in Southern California, KDOC airs \*\*Columbo \*\* episodes on Mondays and Fridays - tonight’s episode is “Murder Over Mayhem” guest starring Jose Ferrar. This episode has one of my favorite in-jokes: They named the boy genius after Stephen Spielberg, who broke into show business directing **Columbo**. (Other well-known people who’ve directed Columbo: Ben Gazzera and Nicholas Colosanto. And didn’t Jamie Lee Curtis have a bit part as a waitress in one episode?) Of the ABC **Columbos** , I rank the one with the college students as the best. The one with the painter was also good. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/30 "2005-06-17T17:44:13Z")
I loved teh one with the chess master. The clue to led to his demise was that he failed to murder his victim the first time. Great. I loved the one with Nimoy as the Dr (Dr Spock?) who tries to kill grandpa Walton It was one of the few times where Columbo loses his cool and shows his utter contempt and anger for the murderer to show. Have to Love California though, only rich snooty folks murdering people in clever ways. Only to be undone by an expat New Yorker in a rumpled coat and crummy car. Oh yeah and a Dog without a name… I loved Dog. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/31 "2005-06-17T18:14:40Z")
> [@Just1Lurk](#): > > Of the ABC **Columbos** , I rank the one with the college students as the best. The one with the painter was also good. I love the one with the college students. I spend the entire episode yelling “You smug asshole bastards! I want to smack those sh!t-eating grins off your lying murderer faces!” only to be wholly 🙂 REDEEMED 🙂 at the end when Their Young Lives Are Ruined. I love Dog, too. Dog and my father are the reason why I love Basset Hounds so much. They’re the best dogs. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/32 "2005-06-17T18:14:42Z")
> [@continuity eror](#): > > I used to watch Columbo all the time with my grandma. I think I liked it but I remember the mysteries being really easy to solve, even for a seven year old. I read a lot of mysteries when I was a kid, though, so maybe that helped. It sounds like your memory may be letting you down. The point of Columbo was never to solve the mystery, at least not in the conventional detective story sense, because we were always shown who the murderer was and how the murder was committed. The puzzle was to figure out which flaws in the crime Columbo would spot that we, the viewers, hand’t noticed as we watched the crime being committed. Or, in those episodes with few or no actual clues as such, to see if we could figure out how Columbo would manage to nail the villain and/or get him/her to trip themselves up. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/33 "2005-06-17T18:46:22Z")
That’s right. The Columbo episodes weren’t whodunits. They were howcatchems. ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/34 "2005-06-17T18:48:28Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > I love Dog, too. Dog and my father are the reason why I love Basset Hounds so much. They’re the best dogs. Seconded. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/35 "2005-06-17T19:21:06Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > I always thought that the reason Columbo suspected the guilty culprit was because the guilty culprit was always a rich/powerful/dynamic superior asshole. I always thought it was because he was the guest star with the highest billing. “Y’know, I could swear I’ve seen you someplace before. Weren’t you…nah, why would a rich, successful businessman like you have been on _I Spy_?” Favorite Peter Falk anecdote: He lost his eye as a child. Once, during a Little League game, the umpire called a strike when young Peter thought it was a ball. He popped out his glass eye and handed it to the umpire, saying, “You need this more than I do.” And it wasn’t the dog, it wasn’t the raincoat, it was the Peugeot 403 convertible with its top always up in perfect LA weather. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Gene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Soylent\_Gene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Gene)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/36 "2005-06-17T19:41:41Z")
Another great thing about the show is how the killers are friendly to Columbo in the beginning. They’ll often try to help “solve” it for him (mislead him) and also effectively shoot down his preliminary theories. Then the slide toward harassment begins… But as someone mentioned earlier, its great to see him bust those pompous rich Californian bastards who think they are so damn clever. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/37 "2005-06-17T19:43:24Z")
Peter Falk’s from my hometown, as is Cab Calloway. His parents owned a department store next to the high school. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/38 "2005-06-17T23:15:12Z")
I love that character! Always rumpled, seemingly disorganized, maybe even comes across as a crackpot, but he spots the clues, plugs along fearlessly and protects the public. Remember the one with the werewolf on the cruise ship, and the episode about the swamp monster? Anybody? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/39 "2005-06-18T02:52:17Z")
> [@Mycroft Holmes](#): > > So, why has nobody mentioned the episode with Ruth Gordon? That was a classic! It’s odd that she only appeared on the show once. For 20 minutes. In 1960. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2005, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615/40 "2005-06-18T04:50:38Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Peter Falk’s from my hometown, as is Cab Calloway. His parents owned a department store next to the high school. ?? Peter Falk is from NY, Cab Calloway is from Rochester NY… opposite ends of the state… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-sir-the-columbo-thread/308615.md?page=3)