# Now That Peter Falk And James Garner Are Both Dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355 "2014-09-03T13:11:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [September 6, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/61 "2014-09-06T02:36:04Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > What about _The Inlaws_? Who possibly could have done that role better than Peter Falk, keeping the audience on the edge of doubt for the whole movie? I won’t say _“better,”_ but I can kinda see Shatner playing for the tie. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/62 "2014-09-06T03:18:26Z")
Is it a clip=on? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/63 "2014-09-06T03:29:30Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Chill. Hey, Gatopescado was trying to convince me that there is some merit to any of Aykroyd’s roles. I told him how I honestly felt about it. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/64 "2014-09-06T10:50:57Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Hey, Gatopescado was trying to convince me that there is some merit to any of Aykroyd’s roles. I told him how I honestly felt about it. Chill. Then think before you post. Deep, even breaths. ---
**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:** [September 6, 2014, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/65 "2014-09-06T13:24:59Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Is it a clip=on? I’ll thank you to leave Mister Shatner’s toupee out of this. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/66 "2014-09-06T14:29:51Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Chill. > Then think before you post. > Deep, even breaths. Now deep breathely. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/67 "2014-09-06T15:27:02Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Now deep breathely. 😃 See, it’s working!😉 I’ve binge-watched Dragnet (and Adam-12) and find Friday’s gait to be stilted. He also gives sanctimonious (IMHO). The thing is, Webb (and you?) really believed every word he was saying. Me . . . I’m more like BlueBoy than Joe Friday. But I can look at both characters as extremes on a continuum. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/68 "2014-09-06T16:17:14Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > See, it’s working!😉 > > I’ve binge-watched Dragnet (and Adam-12) and find Friday’s gait to be stilted. He also gives sanctimonious (IMHO). The thing is, Webb (and you?) really believed every word he was saying. > > Me . . . I’m more like BlueBoy than Joe Friday. But I can look at both characters as extremes on a continuum. Like Blueboy, eh? Remember his fate? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/69 "2014-09-06T16:30:11Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Like Blueboy, eh? Remember his fate? It’s a continuum. You are closer to the Jack Webb end; me I’m _toward_ the other end. Neither is better, it’s just who we are. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/70 "2014-09-06T17:06:23Z")
:Sigh: You \* missed \* the point. In case you don’t remember, -Benjie “Blueboy” Carver ended up dead. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/71 "2014-09-06T17:08:55Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > :Sigh: You \* missed \* the point. In case you don’t remember, -Benjie “Blueboy” Carver ended up dead. ☹ No, I realize he died. His death was necessary to the plot and message the episode was presenting. In real life some people OD and die; many more use drugs and prosper. ETA: it (Dragnet) is fiction, yo. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/72 "2014-09-06T17:50:35Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > No, I realize he died. His death was necessary to the plot and message the episode was presenting. In real life some people OD and die; many more use drugs and prosper. > > ETA: it (Dragnet) is fiction, yo. 😉 FWIW, the dialog at the end, when Friday questions the other (apparently sober and lucid) teenager present: Friday: What’s your name? Jamieson: Philip Jamieson. F: How old are you? J: Eighteen …[Gannon picks up saucer filled with pills] …Those are Benjie’s…been taking them all day…kept saying he wanted to get further out…further out…kept saying he wanted to get further out… [Friday examines Blueboy’s face closely] F: Well, he made it --he’s dead. * * * Fiction it may be, but anyone who did what young Mr. Jamieson described would be hard put \* not \* to end up dead, as far as I’m concerned…☹ ---
**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:** [September 7, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355/73 "2014-09-07T20:44:51Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I love Columbo, it’s one of my favorite shows ever. I just admire the way he puts together the clues. The best example is the episode “Negative Reaction”, with Dick Van Dyke as the killer. He creates a seemingly foolproof murder, complete with an obvious perpetrator, yet Columbo figures it out. > I like The Rockford Files a lot, too. Don’t get me wrong. But Columbo appeals to me on a deep level. “Negative Reaction” is one of the good ones; as you say, its plot is carefully worked out. Also, it has a great comic cameo by Larry Storch (an underappreciated performer who should be known for more than _F Troop_). A strong suit of _Columbo_ was the inclusion of cameos by people like Storch, Mary Wickes, Vito Scotti, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bruno Kirby, Edith Head, Collin Wilcox (and others that will probably occur to me after I submit this post). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-that-peter-falk-and-james-garner-are-both-dead/697355.md?page=3)