I love Peter Falk (Wings of Desire). I love Columbo. How can you do this to me? The raincoat, the vintage auto, the fashions, the over-top actors and actresses. Fabulous. Also, Peter Falk as Columbo. Let’s not forget the dog.
This show is pretty much a touchstone for explaining my parents to friends and strangers.
Dad is Columbo, Mom is Monk. How they made it work is a mystery, as is how that combination alchemized to create me, who is Poirot.
hussified+12
All of that is brilliant and you need to write an essay on growing up Poirot immediately. I’d read that in a second.
flying_ghoti+10
On the one hand, I probably shouldn’t spend the next 53 minutes watching Columbo at work. On the other hand, 53 minutes of Columbo! Hm. Quite the dilemma, really.
I think Donal Logue is the most obvious choice for the first season. He was born to be a disheveled detective and would create the least audience friction. Then it’s time to bring in kathy bates.
jimmyjimjimjim+6
and maybe it’s just because I’ve watched to much Longmire (I have a weakness for tracking shots of bleak landscapes) but both Graham Greene and Lou Diamond Philips are rumpling up nicely.
Sean_Sullivan+18
John C. Reilly will always my pick. (I would also like to nominate the ’93 Cadillac Allante as the Columbo beater we need for the 21st century.)
theizzEB+23
Always Mark Ruffalo!
saffiedarling+7
Things I didn’t know I desperately needed until this very second. Give it to meeeeeeeee.
Onymous
and maybe it's just because I've watched to much Longmire (I have a weakness for tracking shots of bleak landscapes) but both Graham Greene and Lou Diamond Philips are rumpling up nicely.
Cat+11
I was living in Kyoto when Colombo was still a thing. The Japanese audiences loved him even more than the American ones did, I think. His voice was dubbed with a Japanese voice much deeper than Peter Falk’s and seemingly without most of what we perceive as its charming quirks and tones. But his charisma came through loud and clear anyway. And the raincoat and glass eye.
For Japanese audiences, Columbo may have paralleled classic samurai movie heroes in being a justice-seeking warrior who deliberately tricked his opponents into underestimating his acuity and skills until too late to escape.
thesarahgirl+6
I just watched the episode last night that featured a young Johnny Cash poisoning two women while piloting a prop plane, then casually parachuting out the door – this show is an absolute treasure.
telzeyamberdon+6
Cash’s character was easily the slimiest killer who was ever on the show. A singing televangelist, it was creepy watching him plan and execute the murders of his blackmailing wife and his under-aged ex-lover, it was even creepier watching him cheerfully sexually harassing several other under-aged girls after he thought he got away with the murders. Very friendly and caring, with a big smile; I imagine that’s how Bill Cosby did it.
HariboLector+7
For years I wondered whether Columbo had a glass eye or not. I understand, of course, that Peter Falk had a glass eye. But did COLUMBO have a glass eye? Or was Peter Falk’s glass eye playing the role of a real eye. For years and years the question gnawed at me. Then one day I found the clue I needed to break the case wide open. In one episode Columbo is looking for something. A uniformed police office offers to help. Columbo replied “Well, three eyes are better than one.” I had my answer.
The Garwood Discount+1
I just watched the episode last night that featured a young Johnny Cash poisoning two women while piloting a prop plane, then casually parachuting out the door – this show is an absolute treasure.
I love Peter Falk (Wings of Desire). I love Columbo. How can you do this to me? The raincoat, the vintage auto, the fashions, the over-top actors and actresses. Fabulous. Also, Peter Falk as Columbo. Let’s not forget the dog.
Now seems as good of a time as any to discuss sharklumbo http://youtu.be/Yob6pC0GE70
This show is pretty much a touchstone for explaining my parents to friends and strangers.
Dad is Columbo, Mom is Monk. How they made it work is a mystery, as is how that combination alchemized to create me, who is Poirot.
All of that is brilliant and you need to write an essay on growing up Poirot immediately. I’d read that in a second.
On the one hand, I probably shouldn’t spend the next 53 minutes watching Columbo at work. On the other hand, 53 minutes of Columbo! Hm. Quite the dilemma, really.
So back to the notion of Columbo as the American Dr. Who, top picks for who you would want to see take a crack at it:
I think Donal Logue is the most obvious choice for the first season. He was born to be a disheveled detective and would create the least audience friction. Then it’s time to bring in kathy bates.
and maybe it’s just because I’ve watched to much Longmire (I have a weakness for tracking shots of bleak landscapes) but both Graham Greene and Lou Diamond Philips are rumpling up nicely.
John C. Reilly will always my pick. (I would also like to nominate the ’93 Cadillac Allante as the Columbo beater we need for the 21st century.)
Always Mark Ruffalo!
Things I didn’t know I desperately needed until this very second. Give it to meeeeeeeee.
and maybe it's just because I've watched to much Longmire (I have a weakness for tracking shots of bleak landscapes) but both Graham Greene and Lou Diamond Philips are rumpling up nicely.
I was living in Kyoto when Colombo was still a thing. The Japanese audiences loved him even more than the American ones did, I think. His voice was dubbed with a Japanese voice much deeper than Peter Falk’s and seemingly without most of what we perceive as its charming quirks and tones. But his charisma came through loud and clear anyway. And the raincoat and glass eye.
For Japanese audiences, Columbo may have paralleled classic samurai movie heroes in being a justice-seeking warrior who deliberately tricked his opponents into underestimating his acuity and skills until too late to escape.
I just watched the episode last night that featured a young Johnny Cash poisoning two women while piloting a prop plane, then casually parachuting out the door – this show is an absolute treasure.
Cash’s character was easily the slimiest killer who was ever on the show. A singing televangelist, it was creepy watching him plan and execute the murders of his blackmailing wife and his under-aged ex-lover, it was even creepier watching him cheerfully sexually harassing several other under-aged girls after he thought he got away with the murders. Very friendly and caring, with a big smile; I imagine that’s how Bill Cosby did it.
For years I wondered whether Columbo had a glass eye or not. I understand, of course, that Peter Falk had a glass eye. But did COLUMBO have a glass eye? Or was Peter Falk’s glass eye playing the role of a real eye. For years and years the question gnawed at me. Then one day I found the clue I needed to break the case wide open. In one episode Columbo is looking for something. A uniformed police office offers to help. Columbo replied “Well, three eyes are better than one.” I had my answer.
I just watched the episode last night that featured a young Johnny Cash poisoning two women while piloting a prop plane, then casually parachuting out the door – this show is an absolute treasure.