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"Just One More Thing..." - The COLUMBO Discussion Thread

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  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,806
    mattjoes wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    You wouldn't like him when he's angry:


    I'm happy to bother you
    I'm gonna tell you what I paid for my shoes

    Permagrip, Timpsons, $19.99:

  • mattjoesmattjoes Kicking: Impossible
    edited September 2023 Posts: 6,728
    This is the funny shtuff, but the accents are too much for my poor, non-British ears.

    My latest Columbo first-time watch: Troubled Waters. Pretty great; I only wish Robert Vaughn had lost his cool a little more. With this episode, I'm exactly halfway through the show. 35 watched, 35 not watched. A total of 70 episodes, counting the two pilots and 1960's Enough Rope as a bonus.

    My latest Columbo read: The Criminal Criminal Attorney, from The Columbo Collection. It's brief, almost like a plot summary at times, but I enjoyed it. Will read the other stories.
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 4,970
    Love this little ad-lib between the attorney and Columbo! Apparently Peter loved to ad-lib and improvise and try to throw curves to other stars. Dean Jagger was a good sport and played along with the shoe questions!

  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,806
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 4,970
    Loved number 4! Falk and Cassavettes doing a dance with each other. Columbo keeps probing and Cassavettes plays it well and he's tap dancing. Nice to see the older series getting some love.

  • Kojak007Kojak007
    Posts: 104
    I think my favorite seasons are seasons 1 and 4. Season 1 has a great atmosphere with great soundtracks by Billy Goldenberg and Gil Mellé. Unfortunately, season 2 was, in my opinion, pretty weak (with one or two expectations). Thankfully, the series got much better again with seasons 3 and 4. Those seasons had some of the best writing of the show.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,806
    https://m.youtube.com/shorts/opIqbR5ynXk
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited October 2023 Posts: 17,806
    "The Chevy Mystery Show" Enough Rope (1960) starring Bert Freed as Columbo, has been reuploaded recently to YouTube again for anyone who missed it first time around:



    This is an earlier version of what became the standalone episode Prescription: Murder (1968) which starred Peter Falk in his first time playing Columbo. After a pilot episode called Ransom for a Dead Man (1971) the Columbo series was commissioned proper and the rest, as they say, is history.
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 4,970
    Wow very cool. First to see a stripped down version of the story. I love the shout out to Toronto my hometown. You can also see how they were molding it in future versions.

    Also the character of Columbo is there on the page, amazing to think that Falk was able to really see what the writers were attempting to do with the character. I shudder to think what happens if Falk doesn't really advocate for the role!
  • mattjoesmattjoes Kicking: Impossible
    edited October 2023 Posts: 6,728
    I love that scene of Étude in Black from that "top 4 most searched" video. Falk and Cassavetes were brilliant together. Despite not being a recurring guest, Cassavetes should be mentioned along with the Holy Trinity of Cassidy, Culp and McGoohan.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited November 2023 Posts: 17,806
    Sad to hear of the death of Columbo writer Peter S. Fischer. He later went on to co-create Murder She Wrote with Columbo creators Levinson and Link. He wrote some of the best episodes of Columbo in the series.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/11/arts/television/peter-s-fischer-dead.html
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited November 2023 Posts: 17,806
    More sad news. Robert Butler, the director of the Columbo episodes Double Shock and Publish or Perish, has died aged 95. Here he is being interviewed about his time working on Columbo:

  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 4,970
    Wow I love that interview @Dragonpol thanks for sharing it. They don't make TV like that now. Imagine going until you were satisfied with the take. LOL!
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,806
    thedove wrote: »
    Wow I love that interview @Dragonpol thanks for sharing it. They don't make TV like that now. Imagine going until you were satisfied with the take. LOL!

    Yes, there are a few interviews on that channel with Columbo show creative people. I've heard Peter Falk liked to go on the set not having read his dialogue and therefore coming to it fresh so it was more naturalistic and didn't look as rehearsed. I imagine most other shows' final take was a take where Falk was still just getting warmed up! Such an approach certainly worked across the board and that's why Columbo is still celebrated over 50 years later.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,806
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,806
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited December 2023 Posts: 17,806
    Paul Hanlon has certainly gone down in the world:

  • ToTheRightToTheRight
    Posts: 15,818
    I love Columbo!
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,806
    ToTheRight wrote: »
    I love Columbo!

    You've come to the right thread! :)
  • BirdlesonBirdleson Moderator
    Posts: 2,161
    Well, I finished all 13 seasons of KING OF THE HILL, so I decided to go through the entirety of COLUMBO again. Watching PERSCRIPTION: MURDER.
  • ToTheRightToTheRight
    Posts: 15,818
    Watching "Forgotten Lady" right now. One of my favorite episodes.
  • BirdlesonBirdleson Moderator
    Posts: 2,161
    I’ll get there. It’s crazy how much I forget. Many of these I saw in the first run.
  • mattjoesmattjoes Kicking: Impossible
    Posts: 6,728
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Paul Hanlon has certainly gone down in the world:

    -Fries or no fries?
    -Excuse me?
    -Fries or no fries. You didn't tell me if you wanted fries so I couldn't possibly know that.
    -Give me fries.
    -Nice try though.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited January 17 Posts: 17,806
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Well, I finished all 13 seasons of KING OF THE HILL, so I decided to go through the entirety of COLUMBO again. Watching PERSCRIPTION: MURDER.

    @Birdleson - You might be interested in viewing this first ever appearance of Lt Columbo starring Bert Freed which was an earlier version of the first Columbo story Prescription: Murder (1968) from The Chevy Mystery Show called Enough Rope (1960):

  • BirdlesonBirdleson Moderator
    Posts: 2,161
    I’ve known about that and been looking for that for several years. Thanks, I’m very familiar with Bert Freed from the second Billy Jack film.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,806
    Birdleson wrote: »
    I’ve known about that and been looking for that for several years. Thanks, I’m very familiar with Bert Freed from the second Billy Jack film.

    Yes, it first turned up here in 2021 but then disappeared again for a while from YouTube before returning. It's well worth a watch though as the ending is different. It's also novel to see someone else play Columbo besides Peter Falk. It was filmed live so there are a few little mistakes, off moments and fluffed lines. That's to be expected though.
  • BirdlesonBirdleson Moderator
    Posts: 2,161
    @Dragonpol , I watched it and found the whole mirror experience quite fascinating.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited January 18 Posts: 17,806
    Birdleson wrote: »
    @Dragonpol , I watched it and found the whole mirror experience quite fascinating.

    Yes, I'm sure it's good to watch it after viewing Prescription: Murder and seeing all the similarities and differences between the two versions. I need to watch each episode back to back as that should be interesting.
  • BirdlesonBirdleson Moderator
    Posts: 2,161
    These first few seasons are near perfection. I thought I might get bored rewatching some of them, but so far No.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,806
    Birdleson wrote: »
    These first few seasons are near perfection. I thought I might get bored rewatching some of them, but so far No.

    Yes, I find seasons 1, 3 and 4 to be the strongest in all of Columbo. I also love Season 7, though the Columbo character was starting to change somewhat by then. Season 2 is mostly more of a let down after the very strong Season 1. Season 5 is more experimental in nature and probably my least favourite season of the original NBC run. That said, A Stitch in Crime and Now You See Him are Top Ten Columbo episodes for me.
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