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.