The Lt. Columbo Forum

An area where fans from all over can ask each other questions and voice their own ideas and opinions on anything Columbo.

This Forum is fondly dedicated in memory of  "cassavetes45"  (Carleen Zink),
Columbo's greatest fan and a great friend to us all.
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The Lt. Columbo Forum
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Re: Listening to episodes at bedtime?

mark
I have gotten in to the habit of putting on episodes when going to bed and just listening to them. My wife probably thought it was strange at first but now when i don't put one on ; she asks me to. ( i know what you're thinking; maybe we have other issues to deal with :) )
We've gotten to the point where we know so many lines, we bring them up jokingly in regular conversations.
Anyone else enjoy listening to episodes?


I knew I wasn't the only one. Just before I hit the sack, I run a compilation of four episodes I recorded to a single disc to go to sleep by -- A Friend In Deed, An Exercise In Fatality, Etude In Black and Candidate For Crime.

Granted, that's a lot of Columbo given that I rarely make it halfway through A Friend In Deed before I'm fast asleep, but the kicker is that I've done this every night since the day I made the disc over four years ago.

How's THAT for fanaticism?

Re: Listening to episodes at bedtime?

Simon, I have to say, I think the four episodes you put together are some of the very best, but also very tense and dramatic. I don't think I could sleep very well while Richard Kiley yells indignantly at his subordinates about their not having enough man-power to "catch" his wife's murderer. That scene where he's feigning outrage over his wife's murder always shakes me. More to the point of the topic, while I don't ever really just listen to episodes, I can see why listening alone could be a very rewarding experience, given that the show has such rich dialog. More than that, the soundtracks are usually wonderful, too. I read somewhere that a DVD set released only in Japan had isolated music tracks. That would be a very, very good listening experience.

Re: Listening to episodes at bedtime?

Over the years, here at the site we have received many emails from fans who report that they watch "Columbo" every night while going to sleep. I'm not sure what this tells us, but one theory is that people take comfort in Columbo's easy-going manner, and find the stories soothing, more than stimulating, after multiple viewings -- like spending time with an old friend.

Re: Listening to episodes at bedtime?

I'm also used to listen to Columbo episodes in MP3 with my cellphone.
I can listen to them when I'm outside travelling by bus, or putting an episode on the laptop and leaving it repeat itself over and over, and during the night because I have nightmares relatively often and I try to relax with earphones while laying in bed in the darkness of my sleepingroom.

I was used to listen to "ashes to ashes" and "murder under glass", but more recently, it was "old fashioned murder" and "make me a perfect murder".

It's actually true that the dialogs tell almost everything and give the impression that the pictures are not absolutely necessary to understand the story. As I told somewhere else in the forum, Columbo is treated like a tale, which tells us, explain and describe us something, and give only a tiny place to action, which I appreciate...

Re: Listening to episodes at bedtime?

I most often listen to "Make me a perfect murder". The scene early in the episode at the beach house is very pleasant to listen to. The sound of the surf and the birds, and the immortal line, "I can't give you the West Coast, babe".

Re: Listening to episodes at bedtime?

Yeah, you're right. They are very soothing and comforting. Sometimes an episode even reminds me when i watched it on the Sunday night mystery movie when i was a kid in the 70's.

Re: Listening to episodes at bedtime?

Oh my gosh! I thought I was the only one that did this! I have episodes on my tablet and almost ever night I watch Columbo episodes!! I don;t listen to them but actually watch them while I'm in bed!

Re: Listening to episodes at bedtime?

I've done it with a lot of things, but seldom Columbos, I think. But there's at least one exception. I always liked those CBS Late Movie reruns (in spite of all the editing), and because of having insomnia I usually made it to the end and much later. The exception I can always think of is REQUIEM FOR A FALLING STAR. I started falling asleep right after Nora heard the news in the restaurant. (Since I'd never seen it before that I can think of, I thought her surprise - that it happened to Jean instead of Jerry - was for real.)