Columbo!!

[RobertScorpio]

So...if you had to introduce someone to COLUMBO and only had one episode to do it...which one would it be. Some of the older ones may seem dated...(though I know they are great)...so if you had a twenty something person who showed interest, how would you introduce them to....Columbo???

I would use the Doberman-pincher episode. It is freaky and really has a clever thing goingon there with the ROSEBUD and all that...

Rob

 

[matthunter]

So...if you had to introduce someone to COLUMBO and only had one episode to do it...which one would it be. Some of the older ones may seem dated...(though I know they are great)...so if you had a twenty something person who showed interest, how would you introduce them to....Columbo???

I would use the Doberman-pincher episode. It is freaky and really has a clever thing goingon there with the ROSEBUD and all that...

Rob

The episode Lovely but Lethal is a fairly good example of the "standard" Columbo formula... I've always enjoyed it.

Some damn fine guest stars too... Vera Miles as the murderer, Martin Sheen (!) as the murderee, Vincent Price (!!)...

 

[siskokid888]

What actor, whether they be TV or Movie star, could step in and play that part. And I don't mean a cheap imitation. I mean someone who could take the role and make it as much apart of them as Falk made it for him...anyone out there??? And no, I don't see the guy playing MONK as that guy. I have seen many comparing the two...but I don't see it at all. Peter Falk's Columbo, IMO, is in another league...Monk is okay filler...but not 'prime-rib' in my opinion...

ROb

That's a good question. A big part of what made Falk so good was that he made Columbo seem like the LAST guy in the room that would be able to figure anything out, yet he regularly outwitted doctors and lawyers and such. ( I remember reading that Columbo was based on a literary detective that would disarm his suspects the same way - acting dense when in fact he was brilliant - it might have been Chesterton's Father Brown, but I can't recall). Anyway, an actor would have to be able to convey that same feeling that Falk did, and do it effectively. Someone like Robert Duvall might be able to do it, or maybe Jeff Goldblum, who exhibits in his roles some of that "surprise genius" feeling.