Posted on 05/08/2007 4:35:02 AM PDT by Caleb1411
The writers missed a great opportunity... they should have had the elusive Mrs. Columbo materialize in one of the last episodes or movies. Not as some cheesy spin-off character (Kate Mulgrew), but as a special guest star, the bombshell Italian wife nobody would expect, played by Sophia Loren.
This is like the opposite of bringing down any argument by introducing Hitler into the mix - what show ISN’T improved with the addition of Sophia Loren???
you nailed it
Columbo invented the "rope-a-dope."
The criminals he pursued were always egomaniacs with a lot of skill and success in one area; they typically thought their narrow expertise made them invincible. Columbo fed their egos and generally acted like a harmless teddy bear until it was too late.
One of he beautiful things about the Columbo concept was that the villians could be actors of marginal ability... often Levinson and Link used greats who were a little past their prime. Their slightly rusty acting skills were perfect for a criminal that was having trouble hiding the truth, not quite sure how they would have reacted to Columbo if they hadn't done the crime. At least one Columbo (the one with the orchestra conductor who murdered someone in his home) was directed by Steven Spielberg.
My favorite is called "Any Port in the Storm," in which Donald Pleasance was a vintner who murdered his brother.
I guess the commercials they usually run with Bob the impotent on erectile dysfunction drugs, and ads for KY for the analists, and the herpes formula that doesnt stop you from passing herpes on but keeps down the sores dont go too good with the over 80 crowd.
I dont remember Columbo having queers and mixed blood couples on the show either ,and that is certainly a requirement these days. On todays shows at least one of the main characters has to be queer and another has to have mental problems. We all know all police shows have one detective with family or mental problems.
Maybe if they got a female butch type homosexual to play alongside Columbo they could sell the story. Columbo was also very non-racial. They didnt have many blacks playing the top cop. Maybe if they could make Columbo’s boss a black woman it would fly.
I can’t believe anyone cares. But, then, I ALWAYS hated that Columbo show. It was horrible TV in the first place. The writing was just not even to the level of a 5th grade plot!
If we never see this hackneyed show again it’ll be too soon.
Columbo is definitely different from today’s cop shows.
Look, I like CSI. I admit it. I have to watch every week...especially the Miami one.
But, today’s cop shows are so focused on how things get done with science and don’t involve the good-old fashioned detective work that the old shows had. The old shows’ focus on forensic science was.....fingerprints. That was it. Not even DNA was considered until the 90s gradually, and then boom, CSI hits and everything changes.
I am a young person just 24, but I enjoyed watching Columbo and Matlock when I was growing up as a real little boy in the 80s and early 90s.
Too bad we don’t have many of those pure reasoning detective shows left.
“According to conventional wisdom” wisdom is age relative.
I forgot Jessica Fletcher. I also loved Murder She Wrote.
When I was little, my grandparents were all dead already, so my “grandmother” was my elderly babysitter.
Sitting around and watching Murder She Wrote and the other shows is a big memory of mine. It was so pleasant.
Hmmm since all of the episodes except one were open mysteries with the killer revealed at the beginning, I'd say that Ganny didn't have long to wait!
He could play a retired detective living in an assisted living center who is called on to help solve the mysterious death of an alzheimers patient who dies from a tainted drug overdose that was obtained thru the medicare prescription drug plan......
Yes. They’re missing a whole market that really is yet to be fully invented. I know I am more frugal in some areas than I used to be, but there are other areas that I spend more money than I used to. I’m dissappointed that more entreprenurial baby boomers haven’t jumped on this whole underexploited market.
“Maybe Columbo could take a gay, twenty-something young lover.
That would certainly appeal to ABC’s demographics...”
Don’t give them ideas, that’s an idea they would actually run with...
The mystery of Columbo’s crack?
Our entire culture doesn't have any "Pure Reasoning" abilities left.
Columbo was the only detective show I ever bothered to watch. I hope this gets made. Networks are beyond stupid.
Well he just had a small part in ‘NEXT’ with Nicolas Cage. Seemed still able to handle the part.
80?? He’ll be 80? How does a guy who hung around with Cassavetes live to be 80?
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