I was thinking if Columbo comes out of 'retirement' and does another film. He';d be in the dark completely with all the new forensic science out there, the upgrades in technology and all that. Here is a great example of some quotes we might hear:

"A computer. What a concept. You know, when I first started out investigatinig, we had to write everything down on paper. Now you can simply type it in on a....what do you call it? A laptop?"

OR

"Just look at that television set. Fantastic. And how many channels do you say it gets? And you mean you don't even have to get up to change the channel? I'm still watching my 1962 black and white version with bunny ears. But I only get 6 channels."

OR

"Forensic evidence? To me that sounds like something sexual or something that I would not feel comfortable talking about."

You're quite right ... no way it would work today, even if they could find someone as endearing as Falk to take on the role. Like another Jim Rockford ... no way, no how.

I mean, with technology making it possible for morons to carry weapons in uniform, cops no longer have to be intuitive (just armed), and private investigators don't even have to leave their offices.

That's what makes me think the snapshots in time these shows provide has something to do with what draws us to them ... I know it does for me anyway. I loathe television as it is today, and avoiding it like a foul odor is why I buy DVDs.

They still feel so fresh and new to me every time I watch an episode of a show I respect ... even one I may have seen hundreds of times over the years. Perry Mason is another good example. I just can't tire of the comforts they deliver.

I adored the AMERICAN cars back then too, and I always enjoy those subtle indicators of long past eras with more to offer than hi-tech despair ... you know, like the common courtesy, the gentile women, the articulate grammar, the well-mannered children, and the occasional roadside sign in the backdrop boasting fuel for 60 cents per gallon.

Ah yes, those WERE the days.

When you mentioned the old road signs, that brought back memories (and you folks that are a weeeee bit older will remember this). All the Burma Shave slogans that were staggered along America's early highways. My favorite was: "He saw the train, and tried to duck it. Kicked first the gas and then the bucket."

Obmuloc-COULDN'T AGREE WITH YOU MORE! I don't watch
any TV shows made after about 1980. I don't want my kids exposed to the foul language, violence and sex
(not to mention the obligatory bathroom and vomiting scenes) that TV and most of the movies made since then are full of.
But, I guess nostalgia isn't what it used to be!

Totally loved your comments! They were really spot on. But all kidding aside, don't you think Columbo is really more of a detective in human behavior, rather than in the latest technology? Remember the episode . . . um, I can't remember the name of it, but the final clue was the cheese and the fact that the teeth bite in the cheese matched the murderer. There was a scene where the secretary had to explain how a fax works!

Ditto the typewriter's "ball" (element) in Now You See Him.

Ditto Troubled Waters. He had NO technology and was still able to solve the crime.
Carol

I think Columbo's today would be just as much fun and enjoyable to watch as they were some 30+ years ago, before all the current technology. It would be so interesting to see Columbo with his "old ways" dealing with the "newfangled" technology. Wasn't there a couple of episodes, that showed him being introduced to new technology of the day?

I think it is easy to over emphasise the importance of science in modern cop programmes.

Certainly CSI and the inumerable spin-offs take this to a new zenith, however, it is not like every show does this.

If you look at the vast array of cop programmes there are lots which eschew science for good old fashioned sleuthing and police work.

Very true, they always need good detectives to first find clues before they can analyze them

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to:

I think it is easy to over emphasise the importance of science in modern cop programmes.

Certainly CSI and the inumerable spin-offs take this to a new zenith, however, it is not like every show does this.

If you look at the vast array of cop programmes there are lots which eschew science for good old fashioned sleuthing and police work.

Speaking of the forensics shows, what they need is a "Columbo" character, who's completely grossed-out by all those things. (Of course, I haven't seen enough of them to know that they DON'T have characters like that ; someone would have to tell me.)

The late Jerry Orbach, who played Detective Lennie Brisco on Law and Order, was an "old school" type detective, that really didn't get too much into modern police techniques. Many times when something was being explained to him, he would say "In English!"

He is also one of my favorite characters, with his witty sarcastic humor.

Manhood
Cragen (trying to persuade Briscoe and Logan to drop an investigation of other cops): I'm worried about you losing your house and eatin' macaroni the next 20 years.
Lennie: I lost 2 houses already, and I like macaroni.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Replying to:

Speaking of the forensics shows, what they need is a "Columbo" character, who's completely grossed-out by all those things. (Of course, I haven't seen enough of them to know that they DON'T have characters like that ; someone would have to tell me.)

i think it's in "columbo likes the nightlife"???? when columbo figures out that the murderer wrote an email by noticing that gloves smudged out the fingerprints on the most-used keys......essentially a technique that would have worked just as well for a typewriter in 1969.


i still chuckle at that miraculous 3,000 VCR. and the scene in "ransom" when columbo completely baffles leslie williams by calling her and immediately walking into her office ("care to tell me how you did it?"). i had to watch that scene twice before i realized why she was so baffled...cell phones are so ubiquitous now that i didn't catch the mystery the first time.

and i love columbo's utter awkwardness when getting lewis lacey's answering machine in "exercise"....and his description of the shock of it all later on: "that sort of thing makes an impression on you!"

my favorite example of his use of science to solve a case is the final clue in "columbo likes the nightlife." i/we keep fish, so the rule about how much volume is needed in the tank per fish was a clue dear to my heart.

Columbo's fax-ination in Frank Staplin's office. It's hard to believe that in the 1990's someone *still* hadn't heard of a machine that's been in almost every for close to a decade.