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Post by kims on Sept 25, 2023 0:34:25 GMT
Best murder/mystery series.
I like MURDER SHE WROTE, but sometimes get tired of her intrusiveness and how often the writers made detectives into idiots.
My favorite COLUMBO episode is Patrick McGoohan as a mortician. A favorite moment is in the episode with Robert Conrad as fitness/health food franchise owner and he has Columbo go on a run with him.
By the way, if you have not seen the film WINGS OF DESIRE, put it on your list. Angels comfort humans without humans being aware of the angels. An angel falls in love with a mortal and considers becoming mortal. Sound like CITY OF ANGELS? It should, CITY is based on WINGS OF DESIRE. WINGS is the better film. Peter Falk has a great supporting role supposedly playing himself as a one time angel who became mortal.
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Post by topbilled on Sept 25, 2023 1:54:06 GMT
The main problem I have with Murder She Wrote is that it's way too coincidental that everywhere she goes, murders happen. If she was researching material for her books or writing a screenplay and allowed to join various detectives on investigations that would be more plausible. But the way the series is set up, it's patently ridiculous that one woman would encounter random murders over 250 times in a ten year period of her life. Jessica Fletcher can't even go to the bathroom without happening upon a murder. (I'm exaggerating, obviously, but you get what I mean!)
At least with a show like Columbo, it is his business as a detective to investigate murders...so he has a legitimate reason to be continually involved in solving such crimes.
However, the one mistake the writers of Columbo make is that they present Columbo as being smarter than every single killer. That part of the program's formula gets too repetitive and predictable. I just don't quite believe that Columbo would be smarter than every single killer, unless he was actually a killer himself and had gotten away with a secret killing and knew exactly how killers think.
The truth is that he's coming up against rather brilliant minds plotting and carrying out "perfect" murders. Just once I'd like to see a killer help Columbo find the clues, because they are in control of the investigation, instead of Columbo being in control...and to have it be that the killer wants to get caught and atone...and it is why he/she would be helping Columbo solve the crime. Instead, the program's writers want Columbo to be some super detective that nobody can outfox. I don't think such a perfect detective would actually exist.
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Post by marysara1 on Sept 25, 2023 7:11:12 GMT
The main problem I have with Murder She Wrote is that it's way too coincidental that everywhere she goes, murders happen. If she was researching material for her books or writing a screenplay and allowed to join various detectives on investigations that would be more plausible. But the way the series is set up, it's patently ridiculous that one woman would encounter random murders over 250 times in a ten year period of her life. Jessica Fletcher can't even go to the bathroom without happening upon a murder. (I'm exaggerating, obviously, but you get what I mean!)
At least with a show like Columbo, it is his business as a detective to investigate murders...so he has a legitimate reason to be continually involved in solving such crimes.
However, the one mistake the writers of Columbo make is that they present Columbo as being smarter than every single killer. That part of the program's formula gets too repetitive and predictable. I just don't quite believe that Columbo would be smarter than every single killer, unless he was actually a killer himself and had gotten away with a secret killing and knew exactly how killers think.
The truth is that he's coming up against rather brilliant minds plotting and carrying out "perfect" murders. Just once I'd like to see a killer help Columbo find the clues, because they are in control of the investigation, instead of Columbo being in control...and to have it be that the killer wants to get caught and atone...and it is why he/she would be helping Columbo solve the crime. Instead, the program's writers want Columbo to be some super detective that nobody can outfox. I don't think such a perfect detective would actually exist. |
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Post by marysara1 on Sept 25, 2023 7:21:41 GMT
I think it's their cockiness. In one of the eps. where William Shatner is the killer. He showed Columbo his VCR which was quite new to the market. He used his friend as an alibi. (drug him taped the game and woke him up when it was playing a certain inning which happened at the time of the murder. He also didn't know his friend kept his watch ahead in time so he wouldn't be late. The friend was with Columbo when he discovered the difference..As for Murder she wrote I just saw an ep. where Kate Mulgrew used Jessica as an alibi witness when her husband was murdered. Why would anybody get Jess involved if they were the murderer?
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Post by kims on Sept 25, 2023 7:31:44 GMT
Maybe the finale of COLUMBO should have been a flashback episode where he did commit the perfect murder. Peter Falk did convincingly play a despicable murderer in MURDER INC.
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Post by topbilled on Sept 25, 2023 14:31:23 GMT
I think it's their cockiness. In one of the eps. where William Shatner is the killer. He showed Columbo his VCR which was quite new to the market. He used his friend as an alibi. (drug him taped the game and woke him up when it was playing a certain inning which happened at the time of the murder. He also didn't know his friend kept his watch ahead in time so he wouldn't be late. The friend was with Columbo when he discovered the difference..As for Murder she wrote I just saw an ep. where Kate Mulgrew used Jessica as an alibi witness when her husband was murdered. Why would anybody get Jess involved if they were the murderer?
It was just laziness on the part of the writers, sticking with the same formula, where they'd always have the killer overplay their hand and that is how Columbo would catch them. The writers just kept relying on the same formula, suggesting all murder suspects act the same way and make the same mistakes and that Columbo will always be smarter, which I just don't buy.
And did you ever notice that none of the killers were underage. One of my very favorite episodes of Hunter starring Fred Dryer & Stepfanie Kramer has them investigating a burglary at a wealthy man's home that led to the double homicide of the man and his wife. Supposedly the couple's 12 year old son (played by Chad Allen) was asleep upstairs and was awakened by the burglary and shootings downstairs.
But as Hunter and DeeDee investigate they realize there are discrepancies in the case, and at the end they figure out the boy was the culprit, that he made it look like a burglary, and he actually murdered his parents because they were too caught up in their careers and had no time for him. It's a very chilling and sad tale, one of the show's very best. But the writers of Columbo didn't really go outside the box like that. The reality is this: not all killers are the same. Instead, the writers of Columbo were too busy sticking to the same formula and cliches in episode after episode.
I hope this doesn't sound like I am bashing Columbo too much. Peter Falk is fantastic and some of the guest stars do a wonderful job. The show is always engaging, but ultimately it's too formulaic and predictable for me. |
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Post by marysara1 on Sept 25, 2023 20:04:38 GMT
In another thread I mentioned Mrs. Columbo. In an ep. of Columbo when the murderer was a Mensa member, he gave Columbo a problem about real vs. fake coins. Columbo said his wife gave him the answer. It's been done before like the movie A Woman's Secret. Don't forget the short
The Amazing Mr. Nordill.
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Post by intrepid37 on Sept 25, 2023 20:59:16 GMT
I think Lt. Columbo is one of the greatest characters ever created for television. I'm almost of the opinion that the made-for-TV movie that introduced the character to us - Prescription: Murder (1968) - is the best of all the Columbo's.
However, the first that followed this - Ransom for a Dead Man (1971) - in which Lee Grant performs as his target, and from which the rest of the series was launched, was even better in my opinion.
All that followed were fine, but those first two were the best, I think.
The only negative I ever felt was that we always got to see the crime committed up front. That kind of removed a lot of the mystery, but then again it was always interesting to find out what it would be that cracked the case. The comedy of watching the lieutenant torment the perp with his constant returns and his "oh, one more thing"s was delicious. Lot of fun, that.
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Post by kims on Sept 25, 2023 22:51:02 GMT
The best murderer in COLUMBO: Jack Cassidy-did at least 2 episodes, he is so arrogant, a kind of annoying sophistication, so much fun to dislike.
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Post by topbilled on Sept 26, 2023 0:11:42 GMT
I think Lt. Columbo is one of the greatest characters ever created for television. I'm almost of the opinion that the made-for-TV movie that introduced the character to us - Prescription: Murder (1968) - is the best of all the Columbo's. However, the first that followed this - Ransom for a Dead Man (1971) - in which Lee Grant performs as his target, and from which the rest of the series was launched, was even better in my opinion. All that followed were fine, but those first two were the best, I think. The only negative I ever felt was that we always got to see the crime committed up front. That kind of removed a lot of the mystery, but then again it was always interesting to find out what it would be that cracked the case. The comedy of watching the lieutenant torment the perp with his constant returns and his "oh, one more thing"s was delicious. Lot of fun, that.
I think Murder She Wrote would have been better if it hadn't been a weekly series, but a batch of occasional TV movies...where they could have gone in-depth and really explored things with the character. She becomes such a cliched buttinsky by the second season, it's a chore to keep watching. The only reason I would tune in was if I heard an old time movie star was making a special guest appearance. Otherwise, it was just routine and it didn't hold my interest, despite Miss Lansbury's considerable charm.
Lansbury was nominated quite a few years for an Emmy, but never won. Probably because the voters who reviewed her submissions could see that in terms of characterization, she didn't have much to work with and there wasn't much chance for her to do anything substantial given the restrictive parameters of the role in that format. |
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Post by marysara1 on Sept 26, 2023 20:21:32 GMT
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Post by topbilled on Sept 26, 2023 21:07:36 GMT
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Post by yanceycravat on Sept 28, 2023 17:08:00 GMT
I was lucky enough to have appeared in small parts on both Columbo (William Shatner as a radio talk show host) and Murder She Wrote (2 episodes). They were two of my very first jobs when I got to LA.
Lately, I feel like I should be in the Smithsonian!
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Post by topbilled on Sept 29, 2023 4:03:30 GMT
I was lucky enough to have appeared in small parts on both Columbo (William Shatner as a radio talk show host) and Murder She Wrote (2 episodes). They were two of my very first jobs when I got to LA.
Lately, I feel like I should be in the Smithsonian!
I remember taking a tour of the Universal backlot and seeing where some of the Cabot Cove docks and town buildings were located. |
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Post by yanceycravat on Sept 29, 2023 5:01:14 GMT
I was lucky enough to have appeared in small parts on both Columbo (William Shatner as a radio talk show host) and Murder She Wrote (2 episodes). They were two of my very first jobs when I got to LA.
Lately, I feel like I should be in the Smithsonian!
I remember taking a tour of the Universal backlot and seeing where some of the Cabot Cove docks and town buildings were located.Yes! Both were shot at Universal. Both were cast by a fellow named Ron Stephenson.
I was thrilled to be able to walk around the lot. I kept thinking about when I was a kid watching Abbott and Costello and the Universal Horror films. Now here I was in the same place. I was 60 years too late but I loved it!
My father was a big fan of Columbo and we watched it all the time. I went to see Sweeney Todd on Broadway and had the temerity to say to Angela Lansbury, "I'd like to work with you one day." Some little dreams do come true.
Saw Lew Wasserman walking around one day and said hello to him. The biggest man in town and the least significant actor exchanging quick pleasantries.
BTW - In the early 90's it was possible to "sneak" on to the lot from a small entrance on Lankershim. I would walk around and eventually make my way to the park. 9/11 changed everything. I'm glad I got to experience a little of that.
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