Huh. I thought I had seen the pilot, which was called "Ransom for a Dead Man" (the villian is a pilot, kind of ironic, maybe a little joke).
A little internet research reveals that Columbo had two pilots, one in 1968, one in 1971.
I wasn't aware of the 1968 one; perhaps my parents wouldn't let me stay up late enough to watch it. In 1971 I was 16, and I remember my mother remarking as she watched "Ransom" that I should watch this show, that it was pretty good. I saw the second half, approximately, and loved the final scene in which Columbo realizes he doesn't have enough change to pay for a donut and coffee... while a briefcase containing $300,000 in cash sits - open - on the table in plain sight. You probably know that the waitress in that scene is Jamie Lee Curtis, in her first TV role.
I'll have to try to catch the original 1968 pilot.
Columbo was apparantly a conservative. He makes a number of statements during the course of the series that express an old-fashioned point of view. He is never very strident about it, but when I watch the episodes as an adult it is quite clear where he stands politically. We would today call him "not politically correct."
Also sometimes characters express conservative ideas.
I'm thinking here particularly of a minor character in the great "Sky High IQ" episode - a very pretty teenaged girl - who says to Columbo "sometimes I wish someone would want me for my body instead of my brains." Columbo says something encouraging to her.
-— I’m thinking here particularly of a minor character in the great “Sky High IQ” episode - a very pretty teenaged girl - who says to Columbo “sometimes I wish someone would want me for my body instead of my brains.” Columbo says something encouraging to her.-—
Yes. Lot’s of charm and wisdom. His character was based on Fr. Brown, and Bing Crosby was originally cast for the role...
You’re in for a treat with the ‘68 episode, which actually may have been a made-for-tv- movie, but is now considered the first episode. Columbo displays some righteous anger. His character hadn’t completely gelled.
But watch for Columbo’s private office talks with the psychiatrist. Good versus evil. Shades of Dostoevsky. When writers sometimes actually wrote for adults.