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Columbo and Murder, She Wrote are the two classic TV-Shows I return to regularly for re-watches.
Earlier this year I watched an entire season and a half (7 to 8) of MSW within a week I got so hooked again.
I watched the four McGoohan episodes in two days. It's such a delight to see quality tv like that after a hard day's work.
That's a good idea I had an aborted attempt at a watch through, got to season two then should did not have the time to continue. Season one and two are that good they are very easy to rewatch after a short period of time.
Great idea. I'd certainly be all for that!
https://metv.com/lists/9-celebrities-who-became-unlikely-killers-on-columbo
It certainly was. It must have been an actor's dream to be asked!
Yes, it was and the ones they asked back were some of the very best of course. Robert Culp will always be my favourite guest star.
Seconded. The cream of the crop.
No where near as shabbily dressed, with neat hair etc. I have read that originally
Columbo was envisioned as a much older man than Peter Faulk, but he was just
So good.
Of course really all of the returning actors were great. One more reason why Columbo will stand the test of time to all eternity.
The score for Columbo was also superb. Very suspenseful as were many of the 70's tv series.
Murder by the Book is a Spielberg directed classic episode.
One of the most Tony-nominated musical actors in Broadway history.
The three Columbo episodes Cassidy did are all great and one of them, is my personal favourite.
My No 1 Columbo episode NOW YOU SEE HIM where Cassidy play The Great Santini.
This episode features delightful comedy and tense cat-and-mouse play.
The performance of Falk is incredible and he shows how great his comedic talent is. And I don't talk slap-stick. Falk's timing for face-expressions and body-language is fantastic in this one.
And then there is the magical Jack Cassidy. His performances in MURDER BY THE BOOK and PUBLISH OR PERISH are both great, but as The Great Santini he is sheer perfection.
Filmed at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, the atmosphere of the setting is just marvelous and it has some kind of film noir aura to it.
Also of note: This episode features some of Henry Mancini's score of CHARADE.
How can you trick a master-trickster? It takes a Columbo to do it and naturally he succeeds. Watching him do it is pure pleasure.
Murder By The Book is a great episode, one of the first aired and no other than STEVEN SPIELBERG directed it, and according to him, it was this job that got him the job to direct DUEL.
There are already some glimpses visible into Spielberg's art of directing.
Overall this is certainly one of the top episodes, easily in my Top 20 I'd say.
Publish or Perish features a quite clever plot and it may be the only time that the main villain doesn't kill his initial victim himself.
Highly recommended, all three of them.
Of course I don't need to explain who Shatner is. The fact alone that he played the murderer not in one but two Columbo episodes is a gift for all Star Trek fans.
Fade In To Murder 1976
I guess this episode might be called good but not excellent, nonetheless it is one of my favourites. Just for the fact that Shatner and Falk have a fantastic duel of words and action in this one.
Shatner plays one of the most fascinating and strange characters in all of the series.
How he switches from his role as TV Detective (Shatner plays an actor) and his real persona is just great and I wonder if he isn't in fact schizophrenic.
Anyway, the murder is quite clever and so is the cat and mouse play between Columbo and Ward Flowler/Detective Lucerne.
Very recommended.
Butterfly In Shades Of Grey 1994
Shatner plays Fielding Chase a radio show moderator of influence.
Again Shatner plays someone not quite right in the head. He is highly manipulative and obsessively protective of his daughter who works with him at the radio station.
He even kills her friend just so she would not leave town.
Again, Shatner and Falk have great, great chemistry on screen.
Overall certainly a forgettable episode wouldn't it be for the two lead actors.
When I was younger, I much preferred the 90's tv movies, but all the older folks around me told me I was nuts and that the 70's episodes were better. Like Connery vs. later Bonds, I've grown to really appreciate the originals as I've aged. Even the dialogue is so much smarter and sharper than some of the nonsense out there today. The writing is just so good.
The two Shatner episodes are great, as is the Nimoy one.
theatre-michel.fr/Spectacles/columbo/
This particular story was written and produced by Richard Alan Simmons, who'd produce the final season of the NBC run of Columbo and the first season of the ABC run years later.
As for a Bond connection I was delighted to see Honour Blackman pop up in one of the episodes as a villainess. Great stuff. I wonder the budget to have an episode in London? The humour in that episode was strong too. Columbo at the airport trying to find his luggage while the police look for their VIP detective from the US! :)
I've just ordered one of those. Been hoping to get the cigar boxset for a while now although I've had the individual seasons for a good few years now.