Columbo tv series

Columbo

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Columbo

Peter Falk as Lt. Columbo, UK Season 3 DVD cover

Format

Television film Mystery Police procedural Crime

Created by Richard Levinson William Link

Starring Peter Falk

Country of origin United States

Original language(s) English

No. of seasons 10

No. of episodes 69 (List of episodes)

Production

Executive producer(s) Philip Saltzman[1]

Camera setup Single-camera

Running time 30 x 73 minutes 39 x 98 minutes

Broadcast

Original channel NBC (1968–1978) ABC (1989–2003)

Picture format Film

Audio format Monaural Stereophonic sound

Original run February 20, 1968 – January 30, 2003

Columbo is an American detective mystery television film series (1968-1978, 1989-2003), starring Peter Falk as Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department.[2][3] The character and television show were created by William Link and Richard Levinson. The show popularized the inverted detective story format. Almost every episode began by showing the commission of the crime and its perpetrator. The series has no "whodunit" element. The plot mainly revolves around how the perpetrator, whose identity is already known to the audience, will finally be caught and exposed.

The title character is a friendly, verbose, disheveled police detective (of Italian descent) who is consistently underestimated by his suspects who are initially reassured and distracted by his circumstantial speech, then increasingly irritated by his pestering behavior. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for indictment. His formidable eye for detail and relentlessly dedicated approach, though apparent to the viewer, often become clear to the killer only late in the story line.

The episodes are all movie-length, between 73 and 100 minutes long. The series was once broadcast on over 80 networks, spanning 44 countries. In 1997, "Murder by the Book" was ranked No. 16 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.[4] and in 1999, the magazine ranked Lt. Columbo No. 7 on its 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time list.[5] In 2012, the program was chosen as the third best cop or legal show on Best in TV: The Greatest TV Shows of Our Time.[6] In 2013 TV Guide included it in its list of The 60 Greatest Dramas of All Time.[7] In 2013, Writers Guild of America ranked it No. 57 in the list of 101 Best Written TV Series.[8]

Contents

• 1 Series format • 2 Development and actors who played Columbo • 3 Character profile

o 3.1 Biography o 3.2 Investigative style o 3.3 Car

• 4 Seasons and broadcast history • 5 Contributors

o 5.1 Directors and writers o 5.2 Score composers

• 6 Awards and nominations • 7 Home video releases

o 7.1 DVD releases o 7.2 Blu-ray release

• 8 Other appearances o 8.1 Stage o 8.2 Television o 8.3 Books

• 9 Mrs. Columbo spin-off • 10 See also • 11 References • 12 External links

Series format

The series reversed the format of the standard whodunit mystery and in almost all of the episodes of Columbo, the audience sees the crime unfold at the beginning and knows the identity of the culprit. The objective is to observe the way Columbo finds and follows the clues that will lead him to the solution, and to enjoy the tricks he will use to obtain a confession. This allows the story to unfold simultaneously from the point of view of Columbo and the murderer as they play cat and mouse. Describing the character, Variety columnist Howard Prouty wrote that "The joy of all this is watching Columbo disassemble the fiendishly clever cover stories of the loathsome rats who consider themselves his better."[9]

In some episodes, such as the original film Prescription: Murder, Columbo does not appear until halfway through the episode. A Columbo mystery tends to be driven by the characters. The audience observes the criminal's reaction to the ongoing investigation, and to the increasingly intrusive presence of Columbo. As a distraction, Columbo is generally polite to the suspects as the investigation proceeds.

Class tension is often apparent between Columbo – with his seemingly humble, working class origins – and the killer, who is usually affluent, well-positioned and condescending. The killer's arrogance and dismissive attitude help Columbo with his investigation, as he manipulates his suspects into self-incrimination. With the final arrest, the killer always goes quietly. In some instances, such as Ruth Gordon's avenging mystery writer in "Try and Catch Me", Janet Leigh's terminally ill actress in "Forgotten Lady", or Donald Pleasence's vintner in "Any Old Port in a Storm", the killer is more sympathetic than the victim or victims.[10]

There were very few attempts to deceive the viewer or to provide a twist in the tale although in "Last Salute to the Commodore", Robert Vaughn is seen elaborately disposing of a body but is proved later to be covering for his alcoholic wife who he mistakenly thought to be the murderer.[citation needed]

Development and actors who played Columbo

The character of Columbo was created by William Link, who said that Columbo was partially inspired by the Crime and Punishment character Porfiry Petrovich as well as G. K. Chesterton's humble cleric-detective Father Brown. Other sources claim Columbo's character is also influenced by Inspector Fichet from the 1955 French suspense-thriller Les Diaboliques.[11]

The character first appeared in a 1960 episode of the television-anthology series The Chevy Mystery Show, which was itself partly derived from a short story by Levinson and Link, originally published in an issue of the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine as "Dear Corpus Delicti". Levinson and Link adapted the TV drama into the stage play Prescription: Murder, and a TV-movie based on the play was broadcast in 1968. The series began on a Wednesday presentation of the "NBC Mystery Movie" rotation: McCloud, McMillan & Wife, and other whodunits. According to TV Guide, the original plan was that a new Columbo episode would air every week, but as a motion picture star, Peter Falk refused to commit to such an arduous schedule, which would have meant shooting an episode every 5 days. The high quality of Columbo, McMillan & Wife, and McCloud was partly due to the extra time they could spend on each episode. The term Wheel show was coined to describe this format, and additional such series were attempted by NBC, but the astounding success of the NBC Mystery Movie series was not repeated, and the term is now considered archaic. After one season, the series moved as a group to Sundays. Columbo aired regularly from 1971–78 on NBC, and then less frequently on ABC beginning in 1989. The final episode was broadcast in 2003.[12]

The first actor to portray Columbo, Bert Freed, was a stocky character actor with a thatch of grey hair. The teleplay in which he starred, Enough Rope, was adapted by Levinson and Link from their short story "May I Come In" (been published as "Dear Corpus Delicti" and which had no Columbo character[13] ). Freed wore a rumpled suit and smoked a cigar to play Columbo, but played the part with few of the familiar Columbo mannerisms. However, the character is still recognizably Columbo, and uses some of the same methods of misdirecting/distracting his suspects. During the course of the show, the increasingly frightened murderer brings pressure from the district attorney's office to have Columbo taken off the case, but the detective

fights back with his own contacts. Although Freed received third billing, he wound up with almost as much screen time as the killer. Columbo appeared immediately after the first commercial. This teleplay is available for viewing in the archives of the Paley Center for Media in New York City and Los Angeles.

"Enough Rope" was adapted into a stage play called Prescription: Murder and was first performed at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco on January 2, 1962, with character actor Thomas Mitchell in the role of Columbo. Mitchell was 70 years old at the time. The stage production starred Joseph Cotten as the murderer and Agnes Moorehead as the victim. Mitchell died of cancer while the play was touring in out-of-town tryouts; Columbo was his last role.

In 1968, the play was made into the two-hour television movie that aired on NBC. The writers suggested Lee J. Cobb and Bing Crosby for the role of Columbo, but Cobb was unavailable and Crosby turned it down because he felt it would take too much time away from the golf links. Director Richard Irving convinced Levinson and Link that Falk, who wanted the role, could pull it off even though he was much younger than the writers had in mind.[14] Originally a one-off TV-Movie-of-the-Week, 1968's "Prescription: Murder" has Falk's Columbo pitted against a psychiatrist (Gene Barry). Due to the success of this film, NBC requested that a pilot for a potential series be made to see if the character could be sustained on a regular basis, leading to the 1971 hour and a half film, Ransom For a Dead Man, with Lee Grant playing the killer.

The popularity of the second film prompted the creation of a regular series on NBC, that premiered in the fall of 1971 as part of the wheel series NBC Mystery Movie. The network arranged for the Columbo segments to air once a month on Wednesday nights. Columbo was an immediate hit in the Nielsen ratings and Falk won an Emmy Award for his role in the show's first season. In its second year the Mystery Movie series was moved to Sunday nights, where it then remained during its seven-season run. The show became the anchor of NBC's Sunday night line up. After its cancellation by NBC in 1978 Columbo was revived on ABC between 1989 and 2003 in several new seasons and a few made-for-TV movie "specials".[citation needed]

Columbo's wardrobe was provided by Peter Falk himself; they were his own clothes, including the shabby raincoat which made its first appearance in "Prescription: Murder". Falk would often ad lib "Columbo-isms" (fumbling through his pockets for a piece of evidence and discovering a grocery list, asking to borrow a pencil, becoming distracted by something irrelevant in the room at a dramatic point in a conversation with a suspect, etc.), inserting these into his performance as a way to keep his fellow actors off-balance. He felt it helped to make their confused and impatient reactions to Columbo's antics more genuine.[15]

A few years prior to his death, Falk had expressed interest in returning to the role. In 2007 he claimed he had chosen a script for one last Columbo episode, Columbo: Hear No Evil. The script was renamed Columbo's Last Case. ABC declined the project. In response, producers for the series announced that they were attempting to shop the project to foreign production companies.[16][17] However, Falk was diagnosed with dementia in late 2007.[18] During a 2009 court trial over Falk's care, Dr Stephen Read stated that the actor's condition had deteriorated so badly that Falk could no longer remember playing a character named Columbo, nor could he identify who Columbo was.[18] Falk died on June 23, 2011, aged 83.

Character profile

Columbo

Peter Falk as Columbo c. 1973

First appearance "Enough Rope" (1960)

Last appearance "Columbo Likes the Nightlife" (2003)

Created by Richard Levinson William Link

Portrayed by Bert Freed (1960) Thomas Mitchell (1962) Peter Falk (1968–2003)

Catchphrases

—"Just one more thing" —"There's something that bothers me" —"One more question" —"My wife..." —"What Did You Pay For Those Shoes?"[19]

Information

Occupation Lieutenant (police)

Nationality American

Biography

Over the years, the chatty Columbo would let slip many details about his personal life in conversations with suspects. However, in the episode "Dead Weight" Columbo more-or-less admits that he will sometimes make up certain details about his life and/or his relatives (or even make up fictional relatives) in order to

establish a better rapport with a suspect. So some of the following biographical details may be exaggerated or otherwise inaccurate, particularly those concerning his family life -- although there's no way to tell which details aren't accurate, or how inaccurate they may be.

Columbo's boyhood hero was Joe DiMaggio, and he also liked gangster pictures. Columbo broke street lamps and played too much pinball (he expressed a wish to have a pinball machine at home). The trick of putting a potato in a car exhaust – which purportedly prevents the car from starting without causing permanent damage – served well on one of his cases. He jokes that he became a cop in part to make up for these juvenile pranks.

In "The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case", in a conversation with the suspect, Columbo revealed: "All my life I kept running into smart people. I don't just mean smart like you and the people in this house. You know what I mean..." He added, "I could tell right away that it wasn't gonna be easy making detective as long as they were around", but he determined that he could even the odds "by working harder than any of them, reading all of the required books and paying attention to every detail."

His trademark costume (rumpled raincoat over a suit-and-tie) never varies from case to case or year to year – with one exception: when he gets a new raincoat as a birthday gift from his wife in the episode "Now You See Him". Because he "can't think" in this coat, Columbo is desperately trying to lose it. Finally he is able to retrieve his beloved original raincoat.

He sometimes wears his trademark costume while on vacation. In the episode "Troubled Waters", Columbo takes a Mexican cruise with his wife. He boards the cruise ship in his usual attire. Upon meeting Columbo dressed in the raincoat, the Captain of the ship quips "Oh, tell me Lieutenant, do you expect inclement weather in the Mexican waters?" In this episode Columbo does actually wear a Hawaiian shirt later on in the film, during a party.

Although not socially polished, Columbo is polite, addressing everyone to do with the case as "sir", "madam" or "miss". He rarely displays anger toward his prime suspect, though he sometimes becomes frustrated with other characters. In an impromptu speech to a ladies' club meeting hosted by Ruth Gordon's character, at which he shows up uninvited, he admits that over the course of many of his investigations he grew to like and respect the suspects.

Columbo rarely carries a gun, and is never shown to exercise much physical force; in some episodes he allows himself to be placed in a predicament in which the killer believes he or she will be able to kill Columbo and escape. In the 1975 episode "Forgotten Lady" it is revealed that he doesn't carry his gun, explaining that he keeps it "downtown". Columbo has failed to attend his required semi-annual evaluation at the department's firing range. When an Internal Affairs sergeant threatens to ask for his badge because of this, Columbo pays a colleague to take the test for him. He does carry a gun for his work in 1992's "No Time to Die"[20] and 1994's "Undercover"[21] (even threatening someone with it in the latter), both of which are based on Ed McBain novels.[20]

"Murder Under Glass" reveals Columbo to be an accomplished cook, having learned a recipe for veal scaloppine from his Italian father (though in "Murder by the Book" he claims he can cook only a certain type of omelet, which he cooks for the victim's wife).

As per Season 5 episode "Identity Crisis", Columbo clearly speaks fluent Italian, which he demonstrates again later on in "Murder Under Glass".

Columbo is a simple man, mainly because of hard work and not necessarily by choice. As his homicide investigations are almost always amongst the rich and famous of Los Angeles rather than gangland shootings, mafia killings or psychopaths, he regularly finds time during cases to take advantage of the suspect's social circle (e.g. the cuisine on tap in "Murder Under Glass").

As a distraction tactic, Columbo regularly asks to sit behind the wheel of a suspect's luxury car. He asks suspects who are authors to sign copies of their books, suspects who are actors to give him free tickets to their next performance, and so on. He has good enough taste to fully appreciate all the fine perks he obtains from his suspects, but he often seems to be (or pretends to be) in awe of their wealthy lifestyles. He sometimes comments on the absurdity of spending thousands of dollars on a bottle of wine or a couch, when he himself lives on an income of $11,000 a year.

He also possesses an encyclopedic knowledge, which he usually hides. He has explained to colleagues that his wife believes there is "something wrong" with him. His other trademark is the ever-present (but not always lit) cigar. More than once he attempts to quit smoking. Columbo has explained that he smokes cigars although his wife wishes he would smoke a pipe, which Columbo refuses to try "because there's too much stuff to carry around." His shoe size is referred to as "10 1/2 or 11" in "By Dawn's Early Light".

Columbo appears to be prone to airsickness[22] and seasickness,[23] and he cannot swim, though he has been known to row a boat.[24] In "Dead Weight", when General Hollister (Eddie Albert) comments on Columbo's seasickness by asking why someone with the name "Columbo" would not be at home on a boat, the detective responds, "It must have been another branch of the family." In other episodes, Columbo does claim that his family has a tradition of being descended from Columbus.

He is (or pretends to be) squeamish, and does not like hospitals or autopsies. He finds it distasteful to look at photographs of autopsies while eating ("Dagger of the Mind"). He demonstrates an aversion to viewing surgical procedures and an apparent fear of needles. In "A Stitch in Crime", Columbo says he "faints" merely by being in a hospital, but this is all an obvious ruse to distract Dr. Mayfield (Leonard Nimoy). At the end of "A Stitch in Crime" it is obvious Columbo has no fear of hospitals, surgical procedures or any such thing. He claims to be afraid of heights, once remarking to an FAA investigator who offered him a job, "I don't even like being this tall" ("Swan Song", 1974). Columbo claims he is always nervous when he is in the passenger seat rather than driving, and in fact is extremely nervous during certain investigations.

In "A Stitch in Crime", Columbo grumbles throughout the episode about being sleep-deprived and working too hard. (Columbo suffers from severe allergies "every spring", although when we first see him suffering symptoms in this episode, he does not know what they are. He says he will not take allergy medicine because of the side effects.) This is also the one and only time - at least in the NBC decade - Columbo challenges his suspect with physical violence (by slamming a water carafe on Dr. Mayfield's desk with great force before directly accusing Mayfield of murder). In "Double Shock", Columbo is genuinely alarmed and upset by the housekeeper's dislike of him. He confronts her to ask why she must behave in so hostile a fashion; finally he convinces her that he is simply doing his job.

Columbo's unsettling, uneven-eyed stare was due to Falk's glass eye in the right eye socket. It remained a mystery for 25 years whether the character had one as well, until 1997's "Columbo: A Trace of Murder", whereupon asking another character to revisit the crime scene with him he jokes: "You know, three eyes are better than one."

In almost every episode of the later ABC series, Columbo is heard whistling the children's song "This Old Man". It often appears as a motif in the musical score. However, in many of the first season films, it is clear Columbo loves classical music, and has a high level of knowledge about it.

"Étude In Black" (1972) marked the first appearance of the lieutenant's Basset Hound, named "Dog". "Dog" came to be an occasional regular character in the films. Columbo considered names like "Fido", "Munch" and "Beethoven" but ultimately settled on "Dog".[25]

In 'Sex and the Married Detective', Columbo is put on the spot when he is asked to play the Tuba. Reluctantly he agrees, only to demonstrate great proficiency. He subsequently claimed that at school, the tuba was the only instrument left.

First name

Columbo's LAPD ID card and badge with the name Frank Columbo in the episode "Dead Weight".

Columbo's first name is never explicitly mentioned during the series. Even the opening credits just simply read, "Peter Falk as Columbo". When asked, Columbo always emphatically answers "Lieutenant". In the episode "By Dawn's Early Light", when he is asked if he has a first name, he replies that the only person who "calls" him "that" is his wife.

However, the name "Frank" is often seen relatively clearly on his police ID. In the 1971 episode "Dead Weight", when Columbo introduces himself to General Hollister, the audience is shown a brief close-up of Columbo's badge and police ID; the signature reads "Frank Columbo". The signature "Frank Columbo" is most clearly visible in the episode "A Matter of Honor", in which it is also seen that Columbo's badge number is 416. This later appears on the address of a neighbor of the local police comisario (played by Pedro Armendáriz Jr.). Universal Studios, in the box set of seasons 1–4 under their Playback label, included a picture of Columbo's police badge on the back of the box, with signature "Frank Columbo" and "Lt. Frank Columbo" in type. This appears to be a different badge from the one seen in "Dead Weight", with a different signature (a common occurrence with props). The name "Frank" is also clearly seen in the episode from 1991 called "Death Hits The Jackpot" when Lt. Columbo shows how shiny his badge is when explaining to Rip Torn's character how he was able to figure out how he was in the victim's apartment at the time of the murder. When Columbo holds his badge up, the name Frank is clearly typed on his LAPD I.D. card at the top.

Several sources cite the lieutenant's name as "Philip Columbo". Columbo's first name Philip was conceived by Fred L. Worth. In Worth's book, The Trivia Encyclopedia, the fictitious entry about Columbo's first name was actually a "copyright trap" – a deliberately false statement intended to reveal subsequent copyright infringement.[26] When his false information was later included as one of the questions in the board game Trivial Pursuit, he filed a $300 million lawsuit. The publishers of Trivial Pursuit did acknowledge that Worth's books were among their sources, but argued that this was not improper, as facts are not protected by copyright and the name appeared across several sources.. The district court judge agreed, ruling in favor of the Trivial Pursuit publishers. The decision was appealed, but in September 1987 the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the ruling.[27] Worth asked the Supreme Court of the United States to review the case, but the Court declined, denying certiorari in March 1988.[28]

Career

After serving in the army during the Korean War ("mostly KP", as he says), Columbo joined the New York City Police Department and was assigned to the 12th precinct. He trained under Sergeant Gilhooley, a genial Irishman who mentored him and taught him a great deal about police work. Columbo reminisces about Gilhooley and mentions him often. Columbo moved to Los Angeles in 1958, at the behest of his cousin Fred who convinced him he'd prefer it to New York.

In Falk's first appearance as Columbo in the 1968 TV-movie, Prescription Murder, the character had the rank of police lieutenant. In Prescription Murder, Columbo speaks of a colleague, Lieutenant Silver, who was supposed to be assigned to the case but was thought to be "too young and inexperienced" compared to Columbo. In mentioning Lt. Silver, Columbo begins a tradition that will return often, of the rejection of lesser officers from his investigations. However, he also often involves younger detectives in his investigations and usually finds some reason to praise them. This in turn allows the other common motif of suspects attempting to have Columbo removed from investigating, because they fear him. Despite solving numerous murders over the next few decades, in Falk's last appearance as Columbo in the 2003 cable-TV movie Columbo Likes the Nightlife, the detective is still a lieutenant.

A very common motif is that Columbo enjoys and lives for his work. He is happy being a lieutenant with the homicide department, and often makes statements about his lack of ambition. He is precisely where he has always wanted to be, and he will remain there. The attempts to remove him from cases never work because Columbo "is something of a legend", and thus has a powerful position with the police force. In fact, in Falk's pilot episode, Prescription Murder, he mentions to a suspected accessory that somebody has attempted to have him removed from the case, but he says:

"Just to clear things up on one point, Miss Hudson: I am on the case. Somebody was pulling a few strings, all right. But my superior doesn’t like that. Gets him thinking. So he says to me, ‘Columbo, you must be touching a sore spot somewhere. Keep at it.’ Very intelligent man, my superior."

Family

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Columbo was born and raised in New York City in a neighborhood near Chinatown. In the episode Murder Under Glass, he says that he ate more egg rolls than cannelloni during his childhood. He is Italian on both sides. The Columbo household included his grandfather, parents, five brothers (one named George), and a sister (Rose). His father wore glasses and did the cooking when his mother was in the hospital having another baby. His grandfather "was a tailgunner on a beer truck during Prohibition" and let him stomp the grapes when they made wine in the cellar. His father, who never earned more than $5,000 a year and bought only one new car in his life, taught him how to play pool, at which Columbo excels in episode How to Dial a Murder.

While visiting London, Columbo remarks to Scotland Yard officers that his "father was an Elk until my mother stopped him" (Dagger of the Mind).

Columbo frequently mentions his wife. During the first few seasons of the series it was widely believed in Hollywood that the character actually had no wife. However, in A Stitch in Crime (1972) Columbo tells only his fellow officers, when he first arrives on the scene, that his wife has some kind of flu. He explains he had been up all night caring for her and also has the flu as a result. In the episode Troubled Waters (1975) other characters describe meeting and speaking to Mrs. Columbo while they are on a cruise ship, although she remains unseen.

In three other episodes (An Exercise in Fatality, Any Old Port in a Storm and Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo), Columbo is seen talking on the telephone with his wife. In Identity Crisis, murderer Nelson

Brenner (Patrick McGoohan) bugs Columbo's home and learns Mrs. Columbo's favorite piece of music is Madama Butterfly from Giacomo Puccini. Columbo tells Brenner he is glad his wife does not know about the bugging. In A Matter of Honor, Columbo tells his Mexican colleague (Pedro Armendáriz Jr.) that his wife has left Mexico in order to attend the 10th anniversary celebration of Columbo's cousin, Vito. Columbo explains that his wife is very sensitive about such things, and implies that she is deeply caring about family.

In the episode "Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo", Columbo's wife is targeted by a psychotic killer (Helen Shaver). During the investigation Columbo states that his wife loves Chopin and describes her as being busy with church, volunteering at the hospital, watching her sister's children and walking the dog five times a day. He mentions that she has a sister named Ruth and later while talking with his wife on the phone he refers also to her having another sister, Rita. This episode teases the audience as to whether or not Mrs. Columbo has actually been murdered and by featuring prominently displayed photographs of Mrs. Columbo, apparently finally disclosing her appearance to viewers. However, the photos are revealed to be of someone else, as he informs the killer at the end of the episode.

Columbo has children but no details were ever disclosed about them. In "Any Old Port in a Storm", he refers to the difficulty of getting a babysitter. He also mentions in that episode taking his wife and "child" on a picnic and alludes to this child in The Most Crucial Game. In Mind over Mayhem he mentions that his "wife and kids" are in Fresno visiting his mother-in-law. However, in "Rest In Peace, Mrs. Columbo", though, he claims he and his wife have no children.

In No Time to Die he attends the wedding of his nephew, who is also a police officer. In Short Fuse, he states that his wife's younger brother is a photography buff and in Blueprint for Murder he says he has a brother-in-law who is an attorney. At the end of Dead Weight, he states that he has a niece named Cynthia, who is the daughter of his wife's sister. In Requiem for a Falling Star, he tells the murderess that he has a brother-in-law named George who is a fan and has her speak to him over the phone. In Lovely But Lethal Columbo speaks of his nephew who is a dermatologist and researcher at the university. Columbo often explains that he has an immense family and speaks of several siblings. Two brothers figure quite often: George and Fred (the brother who convinced Columbo to move to California from New York). Columbo sometimes refers to a cousin, also named Fred.[episode needed]

Investigative style

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Columbo is polite. He has a keen intellect and good taste which he hides very well. Though a bit dated, his clothes are high quality. Columbo never divulges his first name. His absent-minded approach to cases, his distracted outbursts and constant pestering of suspects is his modus operandi. He is gifted at lulling anyone guilty into a false sense of security. Often he would pursue a line of question that brings about minimal information, not pressing enough to cause the suspect any alarm. Columbo would thank the suspect, and turn to leave - only to turn back at the last second, claiming to suddenly have remembered something (stating, "Oh, uh, one more thing..." or some variant thereof), and present the suspect with a far more serious and vital question, catching the suspect off guard. This is referred to as "the false exit".

Car

Peugeot 403 Cabriolet

While on duty, Columbo does not drive an official LAPD car; he prefers to drive his own car, a French automobile, a 1959 Peugeot 403 convertible[29] which is equipped with a police radio. In the earlier series, the car used was clearly royal blue at one time although faded and sun-damaged. In the later series the car seems to be "primer"-colored. Columbo says he parks his car in the shade because the sun ruins the paint. The California license plate is damaged in later episodes, but is clearly shown undamaged in episode 1 of season 1 from both the front and back as "044 APD".

Peter Falk selected the car personally, after seeing it in a parking lot at Universal Studios.[30] In season 5 episode "Identity crisis",[31] Columbo boasts that the car is a rare automobile, "only three like it in the States". From June 1956 to July 1961 only 2,050 were produced,[32] and only 504 were produced for model year 1959.[33] Columbo's car frequently has mechanical problems.[34]

When the series returned on ABC, James and Connie Delaney of Findlay, Ohio owned the car but were unwilling to sell it, though they lent it to Universal for filming.[31]

Seasons and broadcast history

See also: List of Columbo episodes and Columbo broadcast history

After two pilot episodes, the show originally aired on NBC from 1971 to 1978 as one of the rotating programs of the NBC Mystery Movie. Columbo then aired more infrequently on ABC beginning in 1989 under the umbrella of The ABC Mystery Movie.[35] The last film was broadcast in 2003 as part of ABC Thursday Night At The Movies.[36] See List of Columbo episodes for more details.

Contributors

Directors and writers

See also: List of Columbo writers

The first season premiere "Murder by the Book" was written by Steven Bochco and directed by Steven Spielberg. Jonathan Demme directed the seventh season episode "Murder Under Glass". Jonathan Latimer was also a writer. Actor Ben Gazzara, a friend of Falk, directed the episodes "A Friend in Deed" (1974) and "Troubled Waters" (1975).

Falk himself directed the last episode of the first season, "Blueprint For Murder". Actor Nicholas Colasanto, best known for playing Coach on Cheers, directed two episodes, "Swan Song" with Johnny Cash, and "Étude in Black".

Patrick McGoohan directed five episodes (including three of the four in which he played the murderer) and wrote and produced two (including one of these). Vincent McEveety was a frequent director, and homage was paid to him by a humorous mention of a character with his surname in the episode "Undercover" (which he directed).

Two episodes, "No Time to Die" and "Undercover", were based on the 87th Precinct novels by Ed McBain,[20] and thus do not strictly follow the standard Columbo/inverted detective story format.

Score composers

Columbo episodes contain a variety of music that contributes to the uniqueness of each. The score becomes of particular importance during turning points of the plots. "The Mystery Movie Theme" by Henry Mancini written for the NBC Mystery Movie was used extensively in the whole of 38 episodes, from 1971 to 1977. Unlike the other elements of the Mystery Movie wheel, Columbo never had an official theme as such, although some composers did write their own signature pieces (such as Dick DeBenedictis and Gil Mellé). Several composers created original music for the series, that was often used along with "The Mystery Movie Theme":

• Dick DeBenedictis (23 episodes, 1972–2000) • Patrick Williams (9 episodes, 1977–1992) • Bernardo Segall (10 episodes, 1974–1976) • Billy Goldenberg (7 episodes, 1971–1974) • Gil Mellé (4 episodes, 1971–1972) • Jeff Alexander (1 episode, 1975) • Oliver Nelson (1 episode, 1972) • Dave Grusin (1 episode, 1968) • Bob Prince (1 episode, 1977) • Jonathan Tunick (1 episode, 1978) • John Cacavas (3 episodes, 1989–1991) • James Di Pasquale (2 episodes, 1990) • Steve Dorff (2 episodes, 1991) • Dennis Dreith (1 episode, 1990) • Richard Markowitz (1 episode, 1990) • David Michael Frank (1 episode, 1990) • Ken Jordan (1 episode, 2003) • Jim Latham (1 episode, 2003)

Series Music department included:

• Henry Mancini — composer: "Mystery Movie" theme / "Sunday Mystery Movie" theme (38 episodes, 1971–1977)

• Hal Mooney — music supervisor (27 episodes, 1972–1976) • Mike Post — composer: "Mystery Movie" theme (9 episodes, 1989–1990)

Patrick Williams received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series in 1978 (for "Try and Catch Me") and 1989 (for "Murder, Smoke and Shadows"). Billy Goldenberg was nominated in the same category in 1972 for "Lady in Waiting".

Columbo also featured an unofficial signature tune, the children's song "This Old Man". It was introduced in the episode "Any Old Port in a Storm" in 1973 and the detective can be heard humming or whistling it often in subsequent films. Peter Falk admitted that it was a melody he personally enjoyed and one day it became a part of his character.[37] The tune was also used in various score arrangements throughout the

three decades of the series, including opening and closing credits. A version of it, entitled "Columbo", was created by one of the show's composers, Patrick Williams.[38]

Awards and nominations

Columbo received numerous awards and nominations from 1971 to 2005, including 13 Emmys, two Golden Globes, two Edgar Awards and a TV Land Award nomination in 2005 for Peter Falk.[39]

[show]Awards and nominations

Home video releases

DVD releases

As of January 10, 2012, Universal Studios Home Entertainment had released all 69 episodes of Columbo on DVD.[DVD 1] The episodes are released in the same chronological order as they were originally broadcast. On October 16, 2012, Universal released Columbo - The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.[40]

Because the Columbo episodes from 1989 to 2003 were aired very infrequently, different DVD sets have been released around the world. In many Region 2 and Region 4 countries, all episodes have now been released as ten seasons, with the tenth season covering the last 14 shows from "Columbo Goes to College" (1990) to the most recent "Columbo Likes the Nightlife" (2003). However in France, and The Netherlands (also Region 2), the DVDs were grouped differently and released as twelve seasons.

In Region 1, all episodes from seasons 8 are grouped differently; all the episodes that are originally aired on ABC were released under the title COLUMBO: The Mystery Movie Collection. Many other sites such as IMDb, had grouped the Columbo episodes into 13 seasons.[DVD 2] To avoid confusion, all episodes here will be arranged as it is in the R2/R4 release and only episode name will be referred in this article.

DVD Release Season #Ep Year

DVD name Ep# Region 1 Region 2 Region 4

Pilots 2 1968–1971

1 7 1971–1972

The Complete First Season 1~9 September 7, 2004[DVD 3]

September 13, 2004[DVD 3]

December 3, 2004[DVD 3]

2 8 1972–1973

The Complete Second Season 10~17 March 8, 2005 July 18, 2005 July 13, 2005

3 8 1973–1974

The Complete Third Season 18~25 August 9, 2005 November 14,

2005 July 20, 2006

4 6 1974–1975

The Complete Fourth Season 26~31 March 14,

2006 September 18,

2006 September 19,

2006

5 6 1975–1976

The Complete Fifth Season 32~37 June 27, 2006 February 12,

2007 Unknown

2007

6 3 1976–1977

7 5 1977–1978

The Complete Sixth & Seventh Seasons

38~45 November 21,

2006[DVD 4] April 30,

2007[DVD 4] May 2,

2007[DVD 4]

8 4 1989 The Complete Eighth Season

(R2) 46~49 N/A

March 31, 2008

N/A

9 6 1989– The Complete Ninth Season 50~55 N/A March 30, May 6, 2009

1990 (R2/R4) 2009

10 and Specials

14 [DVD

5]

1990–1993 1994–2003

The Complete Tenth Season – Volume 1 (R2/R4)

The Complete Tenth Season – Volume 2 (R2/R4)

56~63 64~69

N/A June 15,

2009[DVD 6] July 27, 2009

July 28, 2009 Nov 28, 2009

Other DVD Release

DVD name Ep# Region 1 Region 2 Region 4 The Mystery Movie Collection 1989(R1/R4)

46~50 April 24, 2007 N/A July 4, 2008

The Mystery Movie Collection 1990 51~56 February 3, 2009 N/A N/A

The Mystery Movie Collection 1991–1993 [DVD 7]

57~62 February 8, 2011[DVD

7] N/A N/A

The Mystery Movie Collection 1994–2003 [DVD 7]

63~69 January 10, 2012[DVD

8] N/A N/A

Columbo: The Complete Series 1~69 October 16, 2012 October 19, 2009 N/A

Columbo Season 6 and 7 ? N/A March 27, 2007 [DVD 9] N/A

Columbo Season 8 and 9 ? N/A July 24, 2007 [DVD 10] N/A

Columbo Season 10 and 11 ? N/A October 23, 2007 [DVD

11] N/A

Columbo season 12 ? N/A December 4, 2009 [DVD

12] N/A

1. Jump up ^ "News for Columbo". Tvshowsondvd.com. Retrieved Mar 27, 2012. 2. Jump up ^ "COLUMBO". Retrieved 2 April 2012. 3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Both pilots are included in the Season 1 DVD. 4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Both Season 6 and Season 7 were released on the same DVD. 5. Jump up ^ The Season 10 DVDs released in Regions 2 and 4 cover the last 14 episodes. 6. Jump up ^ In Region 2, Season 10 was released in two volumes: Of those final 14

episodes, Volume I covers the first 8 while Volume 2 contains the last 6. 7. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Tvshowsondvd.com". Tvshowsondvd.com. Retrieved June 27, 2011. 8. Jump up ^ "Columbo: Mystery Movie Collection 1994-2003". amazon.com. Retrieved

Mar 27, 2012. 9. Jump up ^ "Columbo, saison 6 et 7". amazon.fr. Retrieved Mar 27, 2012. 10. Jump up ^ "Columbo - Saisons 8 & 9". amazon.fr. Retrieved Mar 27, 2012. 11. Jump up ^ "Columbo, saison 10 et 11". amazon.fr. Retrieved Mar 27, 2012. 12. Jump up ^ "Columbo, saison 12". amazon.fr. Retrieved Mar 27, 2012.

Blu-ray release

To commemorate the death of Peter Falk,[citation needed] the complete series was released on Blu-ray in Japan as a ten-season set, taken from new HD masters and original 1.33:1 (4:3) aspect ratio (1989-2003 episodes are presented in 1.78:1 (16:9)[citation needed]).[41] The set contains 35 discs and is presented in a faux-wooden cigar box. It features a brochure with episode details, and a script for the Japanese version of Prescription: Murder . Special features include the original 75-minute version of Étude In Black and the original NBC Mystery Movie title sequence. In addition, many episodes include isolated music and sound-effects tracks.[42] Before the release of this set, only the episodes up to Murder, a Self-Portrait were released on DVD in Japan.

Other appearances

Stage

The Columbo character first appeared on stage in 1962 in "Prescription: Murder" with Thomas Mitchell in the role of Columbo.

In 2010, Prescription: Murder, was revived for a tour of the United Kingdom with Dirk Benedict and later John Guerrasio as Columbo.[43]

Television

Columbo, as he appeared in volume 7 of Case Closed

Falk appeared as Columbo in a faux episode of Alias produced for a 2003 TV special celebrating the 50th anniversary of ABC.

Falk appeared in character as Columbo in 1977 at The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of Frank Sinatra.

The Columbo character is highlighted in volume 7 of the Case Closed manga edition of Gosho Aoyama's Mystery Library, a section of the graphic novels. Columbo was briefly mentioned in the Case Closed anime in the episode "The Forgotten Cellphone part 2" when Conan said one of Columbo's line: "You know, My wife says...".

Books

A Columbo series of books was published by MCA Publishing in 1972 by authors Alfred Lawrence, Henry Clement and Lee Hays, mostly adapted from the TV series.[44]

Columbo was also used as the protagonist for a series of novels published between 1994 and 1999 by Forge Books, an imprint of Tor Books. All of these books were written by William Harrington.

William Link, the co-creator of the series, has written a collection of Columbo short stories, entitled The Columbo Collection, which was published in May 2010 by Crippen & Landru, the specialty mystery publisher.[45]

Mrs. Columbo spin-off

Mrs. Columbo, a spin-off TV series starring Kate Mulgrew, aired in 1979 and was canceled after only thirteen episodes. Lt. Columbo was never seen on Mrs. Columbo. Connections with the original Columbo

series were made obvious: the glaring presence of Columbo's car in the driveway, Dog, and Mrs. Columbo emptying ashtrays containing the famous green cigar butts- all featured in the show's opening sequence. References were also made to Kate's husband being a police lieutenant. There were notable discrepancies between the two shows.

Due to the negative critical and public reaction to the show, the producers made changes to Mrs. Columbo. The spin-off was renamed Kate Columbo, followed by Kate the Detective, and finally Kate Loves a Mystery. The main character was likewise renamed "Kate Callahan"; all references to and ties with the original Columbo show were dropped. After this, a reference was made in the show to Kate's divorce: the character was no longer Mrs. Columbo nor was she meant to have any connection with him at all.

Before Peter Falk

Before Falk was cast as the character of Columbo, Bert Freed played the role in "Enough Rope," a 1960 episode of The Chevy Mystery Show, a TV anthology series. In 1962, that episode was adapted as a stage play titled "Prescription: Murder" (starring Thomas Mitchell as Columbo), which then became a made-for-TV movie in 1968, with Peter Falk debuting in the role. In this pilot episode, Columbo appears more smartly dressed, with Falk appearing in suits, shorter hair and wearing more stage makeup, rather than the shabby appearance that would later become the character's trademark. He also appears somewhat more aggressive when confronting suspects.

The NBC Years (1968–1978)

Pilot episodes

Episode Title Directed by Written by Length Airdate

1 "Prescription: Murder"

Richard Irving

Richard Levinson & William Link

Based on their Play 98 minutes February 20, 1968

Dr. Ray Fleming (Gene Barry), a psychiatrist, murders his wife (Nina Foch) and persuades his mistress Joan Hudson (Katherine Justice), who is an actress and one of his patients, to support his alibi by impersonating her.

2 "Ransom for a Dead Man"

Richard Irving

Teleplay: Dean Hargrove

Story: Richard Levinson & William

Link

98 minutes March 1, 1971

Leslie Williams (Lee Grant), a brilliant lawyer and pilot, murders her husband Paul (Harlan Warde) to get his money, arranging the act to look as if he had been kidnapped and killed by his captors. Columbo and Leslie's step-daughter (Patricia Mattick), who hates her, successfully work together to get Leslie to implicate herself by revealing where she is keeping the money.

Season 1

Main article: Columbo (season 1)

Episode No. in Season

Title Directed by Written by Length Airdate

3 1 "Murder by the Book"

Steven Spielberg

Steven Bochco 73

minutes September 15, 1971

4 2 "Death Lends a Hand"

Bernard L. Kowalski


73 minutes

October 6, 1971

5 3 "Dead Weight" Jack Smight John T. Dugan 73 minutes

October 27, 1971

6 4 "Suitable for Framing"

Hy Averback Jackson Gillis 73

minutes November 17, 1971

7 5 "Lady in Waiting"

Norman Lloyd

Teleplay: Steven Bochco

Story: Barney Slater

73 minutes

December 15, 1971

8 6 "Short Fuse" Edward M.

Abroms

Teleplay: Jackson Gillis Story: Lester & Tina

Pine and Jackson Gillis

73 minutes

January 19, 1972

9 7 "Blueprint for Murder"

Peter Falk Teleplay: Steven

Bochco Story: William Kelley

73 minutes

February 9, 1972

Season 2




10 1 "Étude in Black" Nicholas Colasanto

Teleplay: Steven Bochco Story: Richard Levinson

& William Link

98 minutes

September 17, 1972

11 2 "The Greenhouse Jungle"

Boris Sagal Jonathan Latimer 73 minutes

October 15, 1972

12 3 "The Most Crucial Game"

Jeremy Kagan

John T. Dugan 73

minutes November 5, 1972

13 4 "Dagger of the Mind"

Richard Quine

Teleplay: Jackson Gillis Story: Richard Levinson

& William Link

98 minutes

November 26, 1972

14 5 "Requiem for a Falling Star"

Richard Quine

Jackson Gillis 73

minutes January 21, 1973

15 6 "A Stitch in Crime"

Hy Averback

Shirl Hendryx 73

minutes February 11, 1973

16 7 "The Most Dangerous Match"

Edward M. Abroms

Teleplay: Jackson Gillis Story: Jackson Gillis and


73 minutes

March 4, 1973

17 8 "Double Shock" Robert Butler

Teleplay: Steven Bochco Story: Jackson Gillis and


73 minutes

March 25, 1973

Season 3


Episode No. in Title Directed by Written by Length Airdate

Season

18 1 "Lovely But Lethal"

Jeannot Szwarc

Teleplay: Jackson Gillis Story: Myrna Bercovici

73 minutes

September 23, 1973

19 2 "Any Old Port in a Storm"

Leo Penn Teleplay: Stanley Ralph

Ross Story: Larry Cohen

98 minutes

October 7, 1973

20 3 "Candidate for Crime"

Boris Sagal

Teleplay: Irving Pearlberg & Alvin R. Friedman and Roland Kibbee & Dean

Hargrove Story: Larry Cohen

98 minutes

November 4, 1973

21 4 "Double Exposure"

Richard Quine

Stephen J. Cannell 73

minutes December 16, 1973

22 5 "Publish or Perish"

Robert Butler

Peter S. Fischer 73


23 6 "Mind Over Mayhem"

Alf Kjellin

Teleplay: Steven Bochco and Dean Hargrove & Roland

Kibbee Story: Robert Specht

73 minutes

February 10, 1974

24 7 "Swan Song" Nicholas Colasanto

Teleplay: David Rayfiel Story: Stanley Ralph Ross

98 minutes

March 3, 1974

25 8 "A Friend in Deed"

Ben Gazzara

Peter S. Fischer 98 minutes

May 5, 1974

Season 4




26 1 "An Exercise in Fatality"

Bernard L. Kowalski

Teleplay: Peter S. Fischer

Story: Larry Cohen

98 minutes

September 15, 1974

27 2 "Negative Reaction"

Alf Kjellin Peter S. Fischer 98

minutes October 6, 1974

28 3 "By Dawn's Early Light"

Harvey Hart Howard Berk 98 minutes

October 27, 1974

29 4 "Troubled Waters"

Ben Gazzara

Teleplay: William Driskill

Story: Jackson Gillis and William Driskill

98 minutes

February 9, 1975

30 5 "Playback" Bernard L. Kowalski

David P. Lewis & Booker T. Bradshaw

73 minutes

March 2, 1975

31 6 "A Deadly State of Mind"

Harvey Hart Peter S. Fischer 73

minutes April 27, 1975

Season 5




32 1 "Forgotten Lady" Harvey Hart Bill Driskill 85

minutes September 14, 1975

33 2 "A Case of Immunity" Ted Post

Teleplay: Lou Shaw

Story: James Menzies

73 minutes

October 12, 1975

34 3 "Identity Crisis" Patrick McGoohan

Bill Driskill 98 minutes

November 2, 1975

35 4 "A Matter of Honor" Ted Post Brad Radnitz 73


36 5 "Now You See Him..." Harvey Hart Michael Sloan 85


37 6 "Last Salute to the Commodore"

Patrick McGoohan

Jackson Gillis 98

minutes May 2, 1976

Season 6




38 1 "Fade in to Murder" Bernard L. Kowalski

Teleplay: Lou Shaw and Peter S. Feibleman

Story: Henry Garson

73 minutes

October 10, 1976

39 2 "Old Fashioned Murder"

Robert Douglas

Teleplay: Peter S. Feibleman

Story: Lawrence Vail

73 minutes

November 28, 1976

40 3 "The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case"

Sam Wanamaker

Robert Malcolm Young

73 minutes

May 22, 1977

Season 7



Title Directed by

Written by Length Airdate

41 1 "Try and Catch Me"

James Frawley

Teleplay: Gene Thompson & Paul

Tuckahoe Story: Gene Thompson

73 minutes

November 21, 1977

42 2 "Murder Under Glass"

Jonathan Demme

Robert van Scoyk 73


43 3 "Make Me a Perfect Murder"

James Frawley

Robert Blees 98 minutes

February 28, 1978

44 4 "How to Dial a Murder"

James Frawley

Teleplay: Tom Lazarus Story: Anthony

Lawrence

73 minutes

April 15, 1978

45 5 "The Conspirators" Leo Penn Howard Berk

Based on an Idea by: Pat Robison

98 minutes

May 13, 1978

The ABC Years (1989–2003)

Season 8



Title Directed by Written by Airdate

46 1 "Columbo Goes to the Guillotine"

Leo Penn William Read

Woodfield February 6, 1989

47 2 "Murder, Smoke, and Shadows"

James Frawley Richard Alan Simmons

February 27, 1989

48 3 "Sex and the Married Detective"

James Frawley Jerry Ludwig April 3, 1989

49 4 "Grand Deceptions" Sam Wanamaker Sy Salkowitz May 1, 1989

Season 9




50 1 "Murder: A Self Portrait"

James Frawley Robert Sherman November 25, 1989

51 2 "Columbo Cries Wolf" Daryl Duke William Read

Woodfield January 20, 1990

52 3 "Agenda for Murder" Patrick McGoohan Jeffrey Bloom February 10, 1990

53 4 "Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo"

Vincent McEveety Peter S. Fischer March 31, 1990

54 5 "Uneasy Lies the Crown"

Alan J. Levi Steven Bochco April 28, 1990

55 6 "Murder in Malibu" Walter Grauman Jackson Gillis May 14, 1990

Season 10 and specials




56 1 "Columbo Goes to College"

E.W. Swackhamer

Teleplay: Jeffrey Bloom

Story: Jeffrey Bloom and

Frederick King Keller

December 9, 1990

57 2 "Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health"

Daryl Duke Sonia Wolf,

Patricia Ford and April Raynell

February 20, 1991

58 3 "Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star"

Alan J. Levi William Read

Woodfield April 29, 1991

59 4 "Death Hits the Jackpot"

Vincent McEveety Jeffrey Bloom December 15, 1991

60 5 "No Time to Die" Alan J. Levi Teleplay: Robert

van Scoyk Story: Ed McBain

March 15, 1992

61 6 "A Bird in the Hand..."

Vincent McEveety Jackson Gillis November 22, 1992

62 7 "It's All in the Game"

Vincent McEveety Peter Falk October 31, 1993

63 8 "Butterfly in Shades of Grey"

Dennis Dugan Peter S. Fischer January 10, 1994

64 9 "Undercover" Vincent McEveety Teleplay: Gerry

Day Story: Ed McBain

May 2, 1994

65 10 "Strange Bedfellows"

Vincent McEveety Lawrence Vail May 8, 1995

66 11 "A Trace of Murder" Vincent McEveety Charles Kipps May 15, 1997

67 12 "Ashes to Ashes" Patrick McGoohan Jeffrey Hatcher October 8, 1998

68 13 "Murder With Too Many Notes"

Patrick McGoohan

Teleplay: Jeffrey Cava and Patrick

McGoohan Story: Jeffrey Cava

May 12, 2000

69 14 "Columbo Likes the Nightlife"

Jeffrey Reiner Michael Alaimo January 30, 2003

HOW WE CREATED COLUMBO – AND HOW HE NEARLY KILLED U S

By Richard Levinson and William Link

(from their book "Stay Tuned: An Inside Look at the Making of Prime Time Television," excerpted in American Film magazine, March, 1981)

Each year in February or March, Manhattan is the setting for a rite of spring undreamed of by Stravinsky. Executives and independent suppliers descend upon the city for what is known as "selling season." Armed with pilot scripts and a backlog of "concepts," the invading hoard sequesters itself in various hotel suites and begins to bombard the networks with high-powered salesmanship. The object of all of this is to get new series on the schedule, or keep existing series on the air.

In recent years the nature of the selling season has changed, but in March of 1971, when Sid Sheinberg and his associates from Universal deployed themselves at the Sherry Netherland Hotel, they had only a few weeks to hawk their wares and convince the three networks that theirs was the better mousetrap. Sheinberg had, among his other offerings, one surefire package: a ninety-minute series, created for a Sunday-night time period, called "The NBC Mystery Movie." It would include three rotating shows: "McCloud," which had already aired the previous season as part of a now-defunct series; "McMillan and Wife," to star Rock Hudson in his television debut; and "Columbo," with Peter Falk as a police lieutenant.

What happens in New York chain-reacts -- or self-destructs -- in Los Angeles. When Sheinberg returned with his bag of sales, it became instantly necessary to staff all of the new shows, find scripts, and race into production to meet September air dates. Producers immediately competed with one another for writers, cameramen and crews. A period of tumultuous activity ensued, not only at Universal but at studios all over town.

The expected call came one morning in April, and we met with Sheinberg. He asked us if we would produce "Columbo". He told us the ground rules -- Peter FaIk was due to begin rehearsals for Neil Simon's new comedy, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, on September 12. Could we complete six ninety-minute "Columbo" films by then?

For reasons that still mystify us, we accepted the assignment. Within a few days we acquired an energetic and knowledgeable associate producer, Bob O'Neill, and a young writer named Steven Bochco was recommended for story editor. We moved to a larger suite of offices, shut the door, and began work on a ninety-minute script. Half a dozen months and several lifetimes later, not six but seven "Columbo" films were finished and ready for the verdict of the viewing public.

There was, as always, no time for reflection; we literally began making conceptual decisions on the walk from Sheinberg's office to our own. Fortunately, we had the first "Columbo" pilot, "Prescription: Murder," as a prototype. The first order of business for many series is to make radical changes as soon as the pilot is sold. But we had an instinctive feeling that there was strength in the "Prescription: Murder" format, and we decided not to vary it. Each "Columbo" would make use of the so-called inverted mystery form, a method of storytelling invented by an English writer named R. Austin Freeman in the early part of the century.

According to Ellery Queen in his study of detective fiction, Queen's Quorum, Freeman posed himself the following question: "Would it be possible to write a detective story in which, from the outset, the reader was taken entirely into the author's confidence, was made an actual witness of the crime and furnished with every fact that could possibly be used in its detection?" Freeman answered his own question by employing the device in his book The Singing Bone, and based on our experience with the two "Columbo" pilots, we had a hunch that it would work on television. We had no idea that it would become an eventual trap for us and for all of the other writers who would bang their heads against the wall of the inviolate "Columbo" format.

We made other decisions those first weeks, the most basic of which was that the series would not be what is known as a "cop show." We had no intention of dealing with the realities of actual police procedures. Instead, we wanted to pay our respects to the classic mystery fiction of our youth, the works of the Carrs, the Queens, and the Christies. We knew that no police officer on earth would be permitted to dress as shabbily as Columbo, or drive a car as desperately in need of burial, but in the interest of flavorful characterization, we deliberately chose not to be realistic. Our show would be a fantasy, and as such it would avoid the harsher aspects of a true policeman's life: the drug busts, the street murders, the prostitutes, and the back-alley shootouts.

We would create a mythical Los Angeles and populate it with affluent men and women living in the stately homes of the British mystery novel; our stories would be much closer in spirit to

Dorothy L. Sayers than to Joseph Wambaugh. Besides, our rumpled cop would be much more amusing if he were always out of his element, playing his games of cat and mouse in the mansions and watering holes of the rich. We even decided never to show him at police headquarters or at home; it seemed to us much more effective if he drifted into our stories from limbo.

When the series went on the air, many critics found it an ever-so-slightly subversive attack on the American class system in which a proletarian hero triumphed over the effete and moneyed members of the Establishment. But the reason for this was dramatic rather than political. Given the persona of Falk as an actor, it would have been foolish to play him against a similar type, a Jack Klugman, for example, or a Martin Balsam. Much more fun could be had if he were confronted by someone like Noel Coward.

Our final decision was to keep the series nonviolent. There would be a murder, of course, but it would be sanitized and barely seen. Columbo would never carry a gun. He would never be involved in a shooting or a car chase (he'd be lucky, in fact, if his car even started when he turned the key), nor would he ever have a fight. The show would be the American equivalent of the English drawing room murder mystery, dependent almost entirely on dialogue and ingenuity to keep it afloat.

Because of these elements -- and constraints -- "Columbo" was a difficult show to write for. The format was reasonably new, and many of the writers we approached either didn't understand it or else understood all too well and felt it wasn't worth the effort. We arranged a screening of the second "Columbo" pilot, "Ransom for a Dead Man," for sixty-odd free-lance writers. Such screenings are common; they are a way of introducing writers to a new show. In theory they will whet the appetites of those assembled, who will then hurry home, explode with ideas, and contact the producer with requests for meetings. In our case, only two out of the sixty expressed any interest. One of these was Jackson Gillis, a veteran of the long-running "Perry Mason" series and an expert at mystery plotting. Gillis wrote two scripts for our first season and thereafter became "Columbo's" story editor for several years.

Because of the difficulty in finding writers, most of our scripts were put together "in house." We would plot them, Bochco would rough out a first draft, and then everyone would do the final polish. We'd often sit in the office having daylong story sessions that would end in near migraines for everyone in the room. Friends were pulled out of the halls for reactions. A writer-director named Larry Cohen dropped by to say hello and was immediately put to work on an idea that had resisted all of our efforts. He quickly solved it, and because he was that rarest of breeds, a writer who understood the show, Universal employed him in future seasons just to come up with "Columbo" story premises.

Our first scripts made their way to the network, and the response was not effusive: NBC had major "conceptual concerns" with our approach. How could we have made the terrible blunder of keeping our leading man offstage until twenty minutes into the show? Didn't we realize that Peter Falk was our star? The audience would expect to see him at once, and here we were perversely delaying his appearance. One of the executives called it, with considerable heat, "the longest stage wait in television history."

There were other complaints. What about this business about an unseen wife? And why a wife at all? Columbo should be free of any marital encumbrances so that he could have romantic interludes on occasion. Why hadn't we given him a traditional "family" of regulars? At the very least he should have a young and appealing cop as his assistant and confidante. And worst of all, the scripts were talkative. They should be enlivened by frequent doses of adrenalin in the form of "jeopardy."

There are only four responses a writer-producer can make to network suggestions: He can ignore them, he can cave in, he can argue, or he can threaten to quit. We opted for the last of these multiple choices. We also pretended to a confidence we didn't feel in the hope that our conviction, or at least the illusion of conviction, would be persuasive in an industry plagued by uncertainty. And we were lucky; we had time on our side. If "Columbo" was to meet its air date, scripts had to be filmed as written. Any delay, caused by either conceptual changes or a walkout by the creative personnel, would throw the series hopelessly off schedule. NBC backed away and grudgingly left us to our own devices.

And then there was Peter Falk. Stars of television series are not a homogeneous group. Some of them, a Robert Young or an Arthur Hill, are agreeable types who learn their lines, speak them well, and go home. Others are temperamental and thrive on chaos. Falk was a breed apart. He returned to television reluctantly after a happy filmmaking experience with his friends John Cassavetes and Ben Gazzara (Husbands), and I suspected that he had a deep psychological resistance to the idea of doing a series. Then, too, he was mistrustful. He barely knew us, and he was putting himself and his career in our hands. It soon became evident that Falk's method of protecting himself was to try to exercise control over the elements of the show. A clash was inevitable.

Clash we did. But it was a strange kind of jockeying for power, because Falk was as intelligent an actor as we had ever worked with, and he was almost as familiar with the Columbo character as we were. He was also extremely likable; even in the midst of an argument, we couldn't help feeling a genuine affection for him. But in matters of metabolism and methods of operation, we and Falk were very far apart. Under the gun of the ever-present deadlines of series television, we were inclined to make rapid decisions and move on to the next crisis. Falk, on the other hand, tended to mull and ponder; he didn't like to be rushed and wanted to keep his options open. In an uncanny way he was very much like Columbo: clever, reflective, and oblique. And so a Pirandellian game of cat and mouse was played out in our office as well as in our scripts.

By early May we were all involved in intrigues worthy of John le Carre. Falk insisted that someone he trusted be placed on our staff to look out for his interests. As soon as this was done, we noticed that he somehow mysteriously managed to acquire advance copies of our scripts in outline and rough first drafts. These were not nearly ready to be seen; quite naturally, he was dissatisfied with them and tended to view with suspicion our promises that they would be improved by rewriting. We countered his ploy by keeping all material under lock and key. He made it a habit to drop by the editing rooms to monitor the progress of various segments. We instructed our editors to close their doors or to actually leave the building if Falk approached. When he insisted on watching dailies, we wrote scenes that had to be filmed away from the studio, scheduling them so that he would be on location when dailies were shown.

All of this was a foolish waste of energy, but given the siege mentality of series television, a sense of proportion is difficult to maintain. Falk was insecure and trying to make a contribution. Actors are usually powerless to control their fates in television, and he was seeking any leverage he could find. But we were equally insecure, and we resented his intrusion into areas that were primarily our responsibility.

In a strange way his intransigence was useful. The studio insisted that each of our segments had to be filmed in ten days, a woefully inadequate schedule. But Falk refused to be hurried. In the middle of shooting, he would engage the director in lengthy discussions of story and character, and we would invariably drift into overtime. Each episode took longer and longer to make—twelve days, thirteen days, even fourteen days—until word got around that we were a ''problem'' show with a "difficult" star.

When studio executives tried to pressure Falk, he would explode into diatribes about the Universal assembly line. He had not played killers and gangsters for nothing; a Falk eruption was

chilling to behold. The executives would retreat to the safety of their offices; they were up against a shrewd street fighter, and they didn't know how to deal with him. All of which left us with more time to make a better show. Falk knew exactly what he was doing, and for once his interests and ours coincided.

Whatever our complaints about him, there was no denying that he seemed born to play the role. When we created Columbo, we were influenced by the bureaucratic Petrovitch in Crime and Punishment and by G.K. Chesterton's marvelous little cleric, Father Brown. But Falk added a childlike wonder all his own. He also added the raincoat. We had given Columbo a wrinkled top coat in our play, but during the filming of "Prescription: Murder," Falk dug out one of his old raincoats from the back of a closet and never took it off. He wore the same suit, shirt, tie, and shoes for the entire 10 year run of the series, giving "Columbo" the somewhat dubious distinction of having the lowest budget for male wardrobe in the history of the medium, with the possible exception of Big Bird.

Falk cared deeply about the series, and our conflicts with him were never personal. Some of the turmoil stemmed from the fact that he had nothing to do during the long weeks of pre-production. Once the series began filming, however, his energies were fully engaged and there was quiet on the battlefield. Until he got it into his head that he wanted to direct.

It is not unusual for the lead of a series to direct an occasional segment. But it rarely happens in the first season. And few television characters have as much to do in each show as Columbo. Nevertheless, Falk was adamant. The studio took the position that he had employed to act, not direct, and we were suddenly confronted with the irresistible force and the immovable object – with us in between.

Falk let it be known that he was not feeling well. He was ignored. The illness apparently overpowered him he took to his bed. Our schedule fell apart. Falk returned, he was briefly suspended, then he was reinstated. Agents and lawyers descended on Universal's Black Tower with notes from his doctors. Threats of litigation filled the already furious air.

When in doubt, capitulate. At least that seemed to be Universal's view. After weeks of resolute firmness, the studio, pressured by the network, gave in to Falk's demands. We were instructed to find a suitable script for him to direct. Falk was an instant hero to every actor on every television series. He had, to coin a misshapen metaphor, brought the Tower to its knees.

We had been expecting a collapse in the studio's position, and were in a vengeful mood, so when we presented Falk with his script, it was fashioned, by design, to drive even the most experienced director out of his mind. The villain was an architect, and much of the picture would have to be filmed at a construction site. We had already picked the location, Century City, a massive new development of steel and glass. Scenes would be shot in a gigantic hole in the ground, swimming with dust, while an actual building was being erected. The excavation had the look of a crater on the moon.

To Falk's credit, he prepared diligently. He consulted with other directors and he spent his weekends at the construction site, lining up shots. But the filming of the picture was a nightmare for him. He picked up a cold and almost lost his voice. Concentration was impossible because of the perpetual din of pneumatic drills and rivet guns. And work on the building never stopped; nothing as insignificant as a television crew was going to halt the march of progress. Every time Falk would change his mind about a shot and try to reshoot it, he would discover the set was no longer there --

a girder had gone up where his actors had stood moments before. We took to visiting the location and smiling down at him from the top of the hole. He'd shake his fist at us and plow on with the filming.

Interestingly, the picture that emerged was well directed. But Falk's performance was off. The adrenaline he needed to direct tended to interfere with his acting; he didn't calm himself sufficiently as he went from one side of the camera to the other, and so the usually low-key character of Columbo became, in this one instance, almost manic. But the construction site gave us fascinating production

values, and we were very pleased with the film. It was the most expensive of the "Columbos," but the studio was too sheepish to complain about costs. As of this writing, Falk has never directed again.

September 12 approached, and Falk prepared to leave for New York and the Neil Simon play. Ironically, during the final weeks, the three of us found ourselves in frequent agreement on most of the decisions affecting the show. We developed a grudging respect for his instincts. And Falk, after attempting to write a script for the series (he came up with an interesting first act and then ran headlong into trouble), began to see that good material was not in plentiful supply. It had been an education for all of us – stormy, but not without value.

Seven "Columbos" were now scattered throughout the Universal lot in various stages of completion, some in editing, some in dubbing. The members our crew were absorbed by other shows. We had not even been on the air and our work was almost finished. It was an odd feeling: There would be no out-of-town tinkering, and our mistakes could not be corrected. Ten and a half hours had been assembled in five months, and now there was little for us to do but wait for our national opening night.

The impact of a successful television series is a peculiar phenomenon of popular culture. Best-selling novels, hit plays, and even highly acclaimed motion pictures take many months to filter into the consciousness of the public. But the fallout from a series, or a miniseries such as "Shogun," can be instantaneous.

"Columbo" was an immediate popular and critical success, quickly establishing itself as the hit of the new season, and within weeks the character, the raincoat, and even some of the show's catch phrases were popping up in newspapers and magazines across the country. Peter Falk imitations were impossible to avoid on variety programs and in nightclubs, and stoop-shouldered and squinty-eyed ten-year-olds drove their parents close to the brink with dialogue from the various episodes. More recently, a Jaws or a Star Wars would have the same effect, but this was in the early seventies, long before media hype became the art form of the decade.

The series began its run among the ten most-watched television programs of the week, and it stayed in that position for years, frequently moving into the number-one slot. The inevitable "Columbo" game was marketed, and "Columbo" books, in one of the first of the now-prevalent publishing tie-ins, made their appearance on the nation's paperback racks. Falk, backstage in The Prisoner of Second Avenue, complained that no one visited his dressing room to discuss the play; all they wanted to talk about was Lieutenant Columbo.

We were, of course, delighted. We gave interviews praising Falk. He gave interviews praising us. He was on the cover of Time, which proclaimed "The Year of the TV Cop" and said "Columbo" was "the most influential, probably the best, and certainly the most endearing cop series on TV." The critical community took notice not only of the show, but of the scripts. Cecil Smith, the television columnist, spoke of "the brightest dialogue and most intricate plots around." And when the television academy released its nominations for the Emmy, every single writer in the Best

Writing Achievement in Drama category was the author of a "Columbo" script. On the night of the awards ceremony, Falk won an Emmy, as did we, and as did Ed Abroms for Best Editing.

The "NBC Mystery Movie," including "Columbo," received a quick renewal, but we decided not to stay with it for a second season. We wanted to do another motion picture for television, and we needed a respite from the demands of the series form. The studio wasn't happy with our decision, but we pointed out that the style of the show was now well known and scripts wouldn't be quite as hard to come by. We also promised to contribute some stories for the second batch of six or seven episodes.

As the summer before the second season approached, NBC reasoned that if "Columbo" was a hit at ninety minutes, it would be even more successful if the episodes were inflated to two hours. Universal, mindful of the excessive cost of the series, quickly agreed. Another thirty minutes would bring more money from NBC, and some of the overages could be absorbed.

Economically, it was a good idea. Creatively, it was a disaster. Scripts were padded. Scenes were filmed and inserted to bring the program up to length. Over the next few seasons, there were more and more two-hour "Columbos." This was also true of the other shows on "The Mystery Movie," but "McCloud" and "McMillan and Wife" had looser formats and could more easily incorporate the added time. "Columbo" remained a hit, but we came to feel that very few of the segments could justify the added length.

Novelty and style are valuable aspects of any creative enterprise, but it's almost axiomatic that they will wear out their welcome over time. One cannot read successive doses of Hemingway without the eventual feeling that enough is enough. Conversely, the works of less stylistic writers will not be as irritating, because they are not as distinctive; in the McLuhanesque sense, they are "cool" as opposed to "hot."

In television terms, "Dragnet" is an example of this effect. What was originally a fresh and inventive style of storytelling became, through endless repetition, virtual self-parody. "Columbo" had the same problem. The very qualities that made it interesting eventually gave it a feeling of predictability. And the two-hour shows only emphasized this weakness. In a way it had no business being a series; it wasn't conceived for longevity.

There are theories, however, that television audiences like repetition. They certainly liked "Columbo," and they stayed with it long after it had passed the point of diminishing returns. Fortunately, in Peter Falk the show had a star of great staying power. In our absence he gradually took over full control. Producers came and went -- six more followed us over the years -- but Falk was the constant, and in many ways this was beneficial. He fought for better scripts, publicized the series as often as he could, and deepened his performance. In our opinion he wasn't ruthless enough in the editing room -- he allowed Columbo to linger far too long and too cloyingly on the screen -- but the continuing success of the series was largely due to his efforts.

"Columbo" was distributed around the world. It even managed to supplant televised baseball as a national obsession of the Japanese. And its popularity in Rumania was such that the State government asked Falk to make a brief speech explaining to the Rumanians – who were apparently on the verge of riot -- that more "Columbos" would be forthcoming.

It also spawned a host of imitations -- so-called character cops. The first was Barnaby Jones, and then Cannon. A year or so later Kojak made his debut, sucking on a lollipop instead of a cigar. If Columbo was a shabby cop in elegant surroundings, Kojak was just the opposite: an elegant cop in shabby surroundings, with macho Greek bravado in place of Columbo's rumpled humanity. Finally, there Baretta, and Robert Blake began to out-Falk Falk, replacing him as the nemesis of the Black Tower.

Falk moved on to a motion picture career. "Columbo" had been a help and a hindrance to him -- it gave him wide recognition, but it threatened to identify him permanently with just one role. The last time we met him, he had remarried and was uncharacteristically mellow. We told him we missed working with him. He may have been a monster, but he was our monster, and we had a certain masochistic nostalgia for the Sturm und Drang of that first season.

We recalled a meeting with him after the series had established itself as a hit. He had just returned from New York, and we informed him that we were leaving the show. He was genuinely distressed and urged us to stay. Surprised, we reminded him that the three of us were in constant conflict. We had kept him away from dailies, we had hidden scripts, we had even ordered the editors to lock their doors to him. Why on earth would he want us to continue on for the second season? Falk smiled. "Because now," he said, "I trust you."

RUMPLED AND READY COLUMBO RETURNS! WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM HIM NOW! Taken from - TV guide February 4th 1989 By Peter Falk with Jeff Kays The ABC Mystery Movie, an anthology of three rotating two-hour dramas, will make its debut on Monday, Feb. 6, at 9 AM. (ED. The first episode will star Peter Falk in Columbo.. It will be followed by Burt Reynolds in St. Stryker and Louis Gossert Jr. in Gideon Oliver. Check list-ings for time and channel in your area. I went back to my hometown in upstate New York one time and found that the whole main street was gone. I wish when I went back it would have been the same as I remembered it. Things are always changing too fast. But Columbo isn't going to change. I liked it just the way it was and that's how it's going to stay. Yeah, it's been more than 10 years since the last new episode ran. The world's changed a lot since then. More guns. bombs, missiles-they're making too much progress. We should be satisfied if we can blow up the world in 10 minutes. Let's not get it down to eight.

When Lt. Columbo comes back on the air, he's gonna be just the same as always. He's absorbed in his job. He's just as curious. He doesn't need to shoot anybody to solve a crime. Deductive reasoning works just fine. He asks questions. He thinks about the answers and asks more questions-until there's that one last thing he needs to ask to solve the case. That isn't going to change. His dog will get a little older. His car will get a little older The raincoat will get a little older. But that only means you get more attached to it: that doesn't mean you get rid of it. He's got the same brain-he's not senile yet. It's not going to be the All New Columbo" -no family, screaming kids, anything like that. Personally, I'm just as sloppy as Columbo. but nowhere near as smart. I wish I had his curiosity-that interest in things that we all had as kids. He says things that only a kid would say. Adults think the same things, but they're afraid they'll sound dopey if they say it out loud. He's questioning a suspect about a case and then suddenly asks the guy

what he paid for his shoes. It's not a ploy. He's thinking that Italian leather looks pretty good and he wonders if he can get a pair that looks nearly the same for half the money. Columbo has a strange blend of innocence and shrewdness. He's thinking all the time. He walks into a wealthy person's house and goes into the powder room. That's already a different thing-not a bathroom. He sees a bar of soap. But its yellow and shaped like an egg. Lemon-scented and shaped like an egg. Makes an impression on him. He remembers Ivory. It was white. Shaped like a brick. He goes to ring for an elevator. His finger gels close to the button, but before he touches it the button lights up. How the hell did that happen He doesn't know but he'll find out Gotta look into that. His stained brown raincoat, his ageing suit and shoes-he'll always wear them. Columbo has never seen a need for different clothes. He doesn't think about it. He's got other things on his mind. He's not a shopper, although occasionally there's that hankering for new shoes. He doesn't mind looking rumpled because he's comfortable with himself. He knows who he is. He likes his job and he's good at it. Columbo doesn't care what other people think of his idiosyncrasies. Doesn't mind if people see that he keeps messages to himself on little scraps of paper in his pockets. That's just the way he works.He is a genuinely polite man, always polite, even to the suspects. He makes a point of apologising for taking up their time. There's an ambiguity there whereby he pursues whoever committed the crime like a pit bull, but then feels a certain amount of regret that he had to catch him. Then there's a letdown that the contest is over and a sadness that the guy who did it should have known better. There was the wine connoisseur who killed in a moment of rage when he found out that a high-quality wine was being cheapened. Columbo had to nail the guy because he did the crime. But he had a lot of respect for him. They had something in common. Columbo is drawn to excellence. He doesn't like sloppy-only in clothes. Sometimes the suspects seem to underestimate him. They start out with an exaggerated notion of their own power. But a lot of times, what appears to be underestimation is actually an attempt by the bad guys to cover up their nervousness' You do away with somebody and a badge shows up to talk to you, your heart's gonna beat a little faster, I don't care who you are. After a while begins to dawn on them that Columbo ain't going away. He'll outlast any of them. He's a long-distance runner. Making sure the show would be exactly the same after a 10-year absence wasn't easy. Life is full of surprises and I must say my mouth fell open when I heard Universal Studios, which makes the show, sold Columbo's car. They got a couple of people to do a Columbo-like job of tracking down the same Peugeot that had been used on the series. The upshot is the car is back-wouldn't have been the same without it. We're going to have to update the dog. The dog was originally the idea of director Nick Cola-santo ("Coach"

on Cheers) who said, as we were getting ready to do the first show of the second season, "I think you should have a dog" I in my wisdom said, "No chance-gilding the lily.' two days later, Nick brought me into a room under false pretences and there was the basset hound, 103 years old with ears that hit the floor. Could hardly walk and he was irresistible. I shouldn't tell tales out of school, but that dog died about three years later. And from that point on, I was never alone in the makeup room because the new dog was in the next chair. It took me five minutes, then we had to sit around and wait, The new dog was young, so they had to put a lot of clown- white makeup on his face. I guess it's true that the world has changed around Columbo in the last dec-ade. Styles of clothes, models of cars. Now there are personal computers and no-smoking sections.

But Columbo Will keep doing things the way he's always done them. Columbo in 1989 is not thinking about giving up cigars. He's just Thinking, 'Gee, it's getting harder and harder to bum a match"

nterview with PETER FALK from TELE STAR (February 1998) Information sent to us by Nico Trenti - from France The first Columbo episode was broadcasted on NBC on February 20th 1968. Thirty years later, Peter Falk is telling us the pleasure he still has when he puts on Columbo's raincoat. ¤ TELE STAR : "Columbo" was created 30 years ago. How could you explain the success of this series? ¤ PETER FALK : It's hard to explain, but I think Columbo has become sucessfull thanks to his simplicity. He looks like everybody. Each televiewer can identify himself with him. Myself I sometimes tend to resemble him. Actually, I am as absentminded as him, but he is more resourceful than me. ¤ T. S.: Next September, you will be 71 years old. Don't you get tired of playing the same character for such a long time? ¤ P. F.: No! Columbo is an engaging man, he has never stopped amusing me. He is the anti-Sherlock Holmes, even if they both solve the riddles with a lot of talent. Sherlock Holmes smokes a pipe with elegance, but Columbo prefers low-priced cigars. ¤ T. S.: How was Columbo's personality (the cigars, the car...) created? ¤ P. F.: His main characteristics were indicated in the script, but I have also add some personnal touches. In 1966, for example, I was walking on the 57th avenue in New York when it started to rain. I entered a shop and I bought a raincoat. When I had to find one for Columbo, I simply took this one. Columbo wore that raincoat until 1982. Then, the costumier made another one on the same pattern. ¤ T. S.: And the famous 403? ¤ P. F.: Before starting to film the first episode, I had to find a car. I went to the garage of Universal Studios, where about 50 cars are stored. But I liked none of them. When I went out of the garage, a bit disappointed, I saw an old battered Peugeot 403. I said: "I need this

one.". It was different from the others. Like Columbo! ¤ T. S. You got married twice. Are you as touching with your second wife, Shera Danese, as your character is with Mrs Columbo? ¤ P. F.: Yes, I think so [laughs]. According to her, I am as absentminded as him. Of course, she doesn't give me a pencil every morning, but she always knows where to find my bunch of keys. I lose it every day! ¤ T. S.: Are you going to play in other Columbo episodes? ¤ P. F.: Of course! The next one is planned for march. It will be a great episode. The script is really brilliant! After this episode, we'll have to rack our brains to find other good scenarios, because Columbo doesn't like easy cases! Talk With Link and Levinson When the book of television is finally written (probably by me . . . and I probably won't be able to get a publisher for that, either), the names of Levinson and Link will be bandied about as among the very best the medium has to offer. Never mind that they created some of the greatest TV Detectives, such as Mannix and Columbo. Never mind that they made award-winning mystery TV movies, such as Murder by Natural Causes and Rehearsal for Murder. Never mind that they are mystery lovers, mystery readers, and mystery promoters, Never mind all that. Among their credits are some of the best things ever on television, period. But I'll let them tell you about that. ' Seen together, Levinson and Link look like the Mutt and Jeff of writing teams (and I mean that in the most flattering way possible). Bill Link is the shorter and quieter of the two. Dick Levinson is the taller and tougher. If the story of their lives had been filmed before either was around, they would have been played by Cagney and Bogart. Or Garfield and Bogart. Or maybe Lorre and Bogart. Yeah, Link is the more Ellery Queenish of the two (and I mean by way of Dannay), while Levinson is definitely Bogart. TAD: Okay, let's get this straight. How do you work this thing? Link: We met the first day of junior high school and started collaborating in junior high school. And basically our system of working together is the same as anybody else's. The concept comes first, and we both have to agree on that. Once that's done, then we have to structure it, which is the toughest part, then get the characters and that might take several weeks, depending on the project, For a two-hour original movie for television, it might take several weeks just to work it out scene by scene, and when we both approve of all this, we sit down in a room and write it. We're lucky because we're both morning people. We like to work in the morning.

That helps. If we can do five pages a morning, we're very happy. Levinson: This is dialogue, mind you, not narrative. Link: Yes, and by the end of a month . . . or longer . . . we Have the script. We don't do that many rewrites, and that's basically it. We don't collaborate by phone or through the mail or anything like that. Levinson: For instance, for years Bill and I played around with the idea that wouldn't it be interesting to have the trial before the crime. It was just an idea. Then another idea we had was what would happen if the world's greatest defense attorney wanted to murder his wife, How would he do it? Then we got the insight that he would create in his mind the world's greatest prosecuting attorney, and subject each method he came up with to cross-examination. Out of that came Guilty Conscience. Then comes the twist. What if, at the same time he's trying to murder his wife, she's trying to murder him? There's a whole different way of writing mysteries as opposed to writing non-mysteries. As we say, in non- mysteries, the characters draw you along. In mysteries, you draw the characters along. The kinds of mysteries we write, which are influenced by Carr, Queen, and Christie, are intricate and very artificial. And, while we don't do many rewrites, each finished page of our first draft has been rewritten about ten times. Tragically, we are the kinds of writers who can't go on to page two until page one is utter perfection. The other thing is that I'm at the typewriter and . . . our joke is that Bill paces, but in his later years, Bill sits, And the difference between an individual writer and a team is that the questions you ask yourself in your mind, we ask each other, out loud. "We started writing radio shows and had our friends over to d these dramas. And, as Mike Nichols said about Broadway, it's a great way to meet girls" TAD: Yeah, but that fateful day in junior high school . . . What made you become partners? Levinson: We became friends and found we had similar interests, one of which was reading mysteries. Link: We shared hobbies. Dick would read five mysteries

a week, and the ones he liked he would pass to me. I read five mysteries a week and we'd switch over - I'd give him the good ones. Levinson: We started writing radio shows and had our friends over to the house to do these dramas. And, as Mike Nichols said about Broadway, it's a great way to meet girls. So they'd come over and they'd act. We adapted Two Bottles of Relish; we adapted Donovan's Brain . . with his brother blowing into a straw to get the bubbling effect. Link :Wonderful training. TAD: Did you write books? Link. Oh, yes, we wrote short stories, and we wrote a mystery novel called The House of Cards and another called Queer Street. Two, to this day unpublished - at the bottom of our trunks. Levinson: They both featured the same private detective. In California, no less. TAD: Queer Street? Levinson: A boxing term. You hit a guy hard enough and he's on Queer Street. It didn't have a gay connotation. As Ellery Queen said, "Who knew?" But many of the devices in those books we've utilized since then. it's the same problem a lot of writers face. When you're young, you've got a lot of terrific ideas and a lot of passion, but you haven't got technique. Then later, you get technique, but you could burn out and lose the emotion. Link. We shouldn't admit it, but occasionally we use idea in mysteries we got in junior high school. Levinson: When we were fourteen, we wrote a story called "The Mystery Writers of America Case," in which the characters were Queen and Carr and Boucher, and they all got together solving impossible crimes. EQMM sent that one back, saying, "Interesting idea but not developed well enough." Anyway, we sold our first story during our freshman year at college. We said, "This is easy!" Link. Forgetting about all the rejections. . . Levinson: But by then we had become fascinated by the so-called "Golden Age of Television." Marty, Twelve Angry.Men, Patterns. . . all New York- based shows, all so-called "closet dramas," and . . . um.. . Link. I think that was a transition in our intellectual

growth. Up until we entered college, I think we had read, almost exclusively, mysteries. But then we started reading the English Lit I "great books." Suddenly, there was Hemingway, there was Melville, there was F. Scott Fitzgerald. . Levinson: The Freshman Awakening! Link: That coincided with the Golden Age, which were social dramas and dramas about people. Levinson: Add that to the fact that we were brought up in Philly, where there was a lot of theatre, Broad way tryouts, and we were both movie buffs. Then we began to do musicals in college, which were great fun. TAD: And that led to a lifelong interest in musicals which manifested itself. . . Levinson: You're segueing to Merlin, aren't you? TAD: Yes. Levinson: Let me speak about Merlin to any would be playwrights, Columbia Pictures financed Merlin, and then the head of Columbia Pictures was a man named Frank Price. Who said to us, "Why do you want to write a book for a musical?" And we said "It's the only step down from television we could think of." Our definition of a musical's book is "That which, if it's a hit, it's a hit in spite of, and if it's a flop, it's a flop because of." We made an assumption when we were approached to do Merlin. That it would close out of town. Because most shows do. We said, "Do we want this life experience? Do we want this adventure?" Yes. All our lives we'd seen musicals - the backstage squabbles, the drunken leading man, the late-night meetings . . . we wanted to go through that Our advice is this: if you do a musical on the assumption you'll get rich or famous, you are bound for a nervous breakdown. If you do a musical because you want an enriching and exciting experience, you can't be disappointed. So we went into it knowing we had a life and a career that had nothing to do with New York, and anticipating that everything would go wrong, And don't forget, both Bill and I are magic enthusiasts. Hanging around with the world's greatest magician, Doug Henning, and seeing how it was all done, was an incredible attraction. But here's where we divide on it. It was one of the happiest, most exciting periods of my life. Link: it was a grand adventure, there's no doubt about it. I would compare it to being in an automobile accident. I didn't find it a particularly enlightening experience. We wanted an intimate show, but the producer wanted something grandiose, which I still think was a mistake.

[To the tune of about five million dollars. - RM] But to show you just how crazy we are, we had our own insurance policy. We wrote a two-hour teleplay while this madness was going on. Levinson: Prototype, one of our favorites. [A science- fiction drama on the nature of being human starring Christopher Plummer and David Morse, -RM ] Link.- Yes. It turned out very, very well. So we knew that, even if it died opening night, Beverly Hills existed. But it didn't. It ran for a year. TAD: Now, before the readers go nuts, because this is The Armchair Detective, let's segue over to mystery. You've just finished Blacke's Magic and are presently still working on Murder She Wrote. . . Levinson: By the way, Blacke's Magic was cancelled because Universal Television refused to have it renewed. There had been a whole change-around in this industry Concerning money. NBC said, "We'll do it for a second season," and Universal said, "Let's negotiate." And by the time that was over, NBC was not very happy. Because Universal said, "We're not doing Michael Mann's new show [Crime Story, we're cancelling Donald Bellisario's show [,Airwolf 1 because it's too much money," and suddenly NBC says, We don't need you." TAD: That's too bad. I liked the show. Levinson: We know. And we had ways of improving it. We learned. We were only able to do thirteen shows. We weren't given the chance. We were the highest-rated NBC show to be cancelled. In Murder She Wrote and Columbo, we were lucky enough to fall into everything very quickly. In Blackes Magic, we finally went to NBC and said, here's what we think we re doing wrong,' and they said, "You're right. go fix it Work on the relationship between Harry [Morganl and Hal [Linden] and put more magic in," and all sorts of other things. Link:Unfortunately, we never got the chance. They pulled the rug out. TAD: Meanwhile, though, you had finished your TV mystery trilogy. Levinson: Oh, yes. Originally, we wrote Natural Causes, which the network changed to Murder by Natural Causes, and we said, "Let's keep doing this," because this was the sort of thing we loved about mysteries. Then we did Cold Reading, which the network renamed Rehearsal for Murder, and then Guilty Conscience. That was originally a play Bill and I wrote, which the

Schuberts and Manny Azenberg put together in Florida starring Richard Kiley to see whether we should bring it to New York. For a variety of reasons, it didn't come to New York, so we said, "Let's do it as a television movie." So while Merlin was playing on Broadway, Guilty Conscience was playing in a small theatre in San Diego. So we were bicoastal playwrights. Now Guilty Conscience is on a month's run at the Royal Theatre in Windsor, which is the Queen's theatre next to Windsor Castle, and will tour for ten weeks all over England, with the possibility of winding up in the West End. Whereas Rehearsal for Murder has been adapted as a play and will be opening in the West End mid-November [1986]. TAD: Will any more of the. . . trilogy . . . be forthcoming? Link: Never say never . . . but it's finding what we consider a unique concept that we haven't seen before or read before. Levinson: But Vanishing Act was not a part of that. TAD: Ah, yes. Vanishing Act created its own little mini- controversy when many recognized it as an adaptation of another TV movie done years before, One of My Wives Is Missing. I think it caused this ripple because you are looked to for the kinds of original ideas which made up the trilogy. Link: Vanishing Act was different in that we did not generate it. This was brought to us. Levinson: And it was one of the great premises of mystery fiction, created by a French playwright named Robert Thomas. It was then first done on television in the early years, and called Deadly Honeymoon, starring Rozanno Brazzi, but the writer switched it, having a wife looking for her missing husband. Then it was done later as One of My Wives Is Missing, written under a pseudonym by Peter Stone. That was an adaptation of a Broadway show called Catch Me if You Can. Ten years later, we're approached by Twentieth Century-Fox to adapt the original Robert Thomas play as a movie. We did, but they lost interest because when Deathtrap was released as a movie, it was not a success. Years after that, a producer called us and said, "Do you have a mystery I can film in Canada?" He bought it from Fox and made it. That was Vanishing Act. Prior to the airing, we insisted that CBS publicity mention the fact that it was an adaptation of Robert Thomas. They neglected to do this, until we heard about h, then they did. And it had to say the same onscreen, which it did. Now the bad fortune is, a

Missing text Link: Even so, we didn't do it until Twentieth gave us the time to plug up all the holes in the mystery. We must be masochists because we lock ourselves in a room and try to make everything work . . . courting massive migraines. Levinson: Many mystery writers have a happy life because they don't see the holes. In North By Northwest, why not go up to Cary Grant and plug him? No-they rent a crop duster. In The Jagged Edge, the murderer kills a woman and her maid in a remote house miles from anywhere, wearing a mask. Why does he wear a mask? So the audience can't see him. These are called "Refrigerator Scenes" by Hitchcock. When you're home, opening the refrigerator after seeing the picture, you say, "Wait a minute . . . !" These are terrific scenes. They make no sense. So the mystery writer is constantly faced with Refrigerator Scenes. To me, the best mysteries are ones with great scenes that do make sense. TAD: interesting, because, while you do not do predominantly mystery, you are best known for mystery. Why do you think that isle Levinson: Probably because our two greatest successes are mysteries. But for a period in the Yes, we did My Sweet Charlie, The Execution of Private Slovik, That Certain Summer. . . Link: The Gun, The Storyteller. . . Levinson: Crises at Central High. . . Link: And the only mystery in there was Columbo.,, Levinson: And critics kept saying to us, "How come you guys always do social dramas?" And we said, Fellas, on our tombstones, it's going to say 'Creators of Columbo'." Now people are saying to us, "You're writing too many mysteries." I must tell you that our current telefilm is not a mystery and our current series is not a mystery. The title of it is Hard Copy, and it should be on by March [of 1987]. TAD: So you're not straitjacketed by mystery, Levinson: it's the grand dream! Link it's an escape valve! TAD: But now you have your second greatest success, Murder She Wrote. Levinson: That came out of our production of Eller Queen. We took one of the writers of Columbo, Peter

Fisher, made him our producer - we were the executive Producers - and worked together, learning a lot of lessons. One of the lessons we learned was not to be too tricky. Some people say, "We can guess Murder She Wrote." We say, "Good!" We also learned that Angela [Lansbury has a drive we didn't have in Ellery Queen, just by the nature of her personality. We also did EQ a little bit '40s, a little bit campy, so we deliberately made Murder She Wrote a very old-fashioned, very straight, even very square show. We didn't give Angela any eccentricities. We said, "Just be yourself, because you're so charming." Link: A large part of the success, we've found, is marrying that creation to somebody who's very well liked and has a powerful presence. We found that with Peter Falk and with Angela. Levinson: But some people still don't understand that Murder She Wrote is a whodunit and Columbo was not. Link: it was a "How-to-prove-it." Levinson: We had a writer come in recently, who said, "Love the show. Okay, we see this guy murder his wife, and Angela goes after him..." And Peter Fisher goes, "Excuse me? This is a whodunit." And the guy goes, "Yeah, I know, anyway, we see this guy murder his wife . . " Link: is that wonderful? He . . . didn't . . . understand. TAD: An outsider would think you were studiers of Agatha Christie. Link: One of the great constructionists. Levinson: Oddly enough, we didn't like her as much as Carr and Queen simply because she didn't write particularly well. She was not a stylist. But I don't think there was anybody who plotted as well. TAD: Interesting that Columbo was a show which revolved around the one line that was in almost every Christie: "You don't have any proof." Levinson: As we've said before, Columbo owes itself to Father Brown and Crime and Punishment. The brilliant student and the bureaucratic cop. Link: But it became a nightmare. We would paint ourselves into a corner and not have that final clue! So we started relying on other writers, and, . . well, it was just a nightmare.

TAD: But back to Murder She Wrote. Angela Lansbury is essentially playing an American Agatha Christie, if Christie had been a detective herself. Levinson: Exactly! Not Miss Marple, as some people have said. And when the show first came on, you complained that it was unrealistic that she stumble over bodies all the time. But there are "givens" in a genre. We used to have a thing where Mannix would knock on the door and say, "I want to talk to you about your husband's murder," and the widow would say, "Haven't you ever heard of telephones?" Half the time a character will say, "It's lucky father favored me," and the other could say, "l know that; why are you telling me that?" Link: it's so easy to satirize these things. Levinson: So if you have the detective react to the body the way they would in real life, you can't press on. But the key thing we're proudest of in Murder :she Wrote, and I'm sure Peter Fisher is as well, is that there has almost never been a successful tel- eVision drama with a female lead - other than Police Woman, where she showed her legs and had to be bailed out in the last act, The Bionic Woman, which was a spin-off, Wonder Woman, and Cagney & Laced This is a woman of "a certain age" who wears glasses. So what we're proudest of is that you finally have a woman who isn't bailed out and doesn't have to display parts of her anatomy. I can also tell you that it is a hit which broke every rule. it's all talk, there's almost no action, it's slow, it deliberately has what we call "Aaron Spelling lighting," the music is "melodic-conventional," it successfully follows 60 Minutes where the last three shows in that time-slot failed, it features "mature" performers, and it's a whodunits The smart money in town didn't give it a prayer. Link: Our money! We thought six and out. It couldn't survive! TAD: in hindsight, it was brilliant. Levinson: Well, I wish we were that smart. Link. You've got to give enormous credit to Peter Fisher for coming up with 22 good-to-brilliant whodunits a season. Levinson: We're astonished at the success of that show. Actually, what's astonishing to us is that we're able to get our social dramas on the air, even though all of us know up front that no one's going to watch. And the irony is that, by "no one," we mean "only fifteen to twenty million." But we keep saying we've got to make these.

We've been lucky enough to carve out this little niche for ourselves where they say, "Let's indulge them 'cause maybe they'll give us another sensational series." And. of course, we're still dying to do a show where a bad guy pulls a gun and the hero runs away! I mean, you don't stand there when a man pulls a gun! One of the beauties of writing a mystery is to ask yourself, "What would a person really do in this case?" Of course, if a guy pulled a gun on me, I'd use the opportunity to clear up some plot points. "Now, the real reason l buried the money was. . . "

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