I just recently watched Murder With Too Many Notes for the first time, and while I enjoyed it, I had a number of questions/problems with it. I wonder if others thought some of these same things?

1. The whole "love notes" thing was a plot device that went absolutely nowhere. They went to some length to establish the "coded" message on the baton and the similar note that Gabe was carrying in his pocket, but it didn't ever become relevant in any way. The note wasn't even mentioned again. Why was it established?

2. Wouldn't Findlay Crawford, as a professional musician, *know* that the elevator would make a racket that would end up on the recording, and that it might indeed have been audible to the entire audience?

3. What kind of sleeping drug knocks a person completly out for *hours* like that? If Gabe were killed by the drug, that would make sense--but then he would show clear signs of having been already dead before his fall (especially lividity). If Gabe were just knocked out by it, how could Findlay be so certain that Gabe would not awaken before the show? And for that matter, Gabe would then have been lying for hours under the full California sun in a full tuxedo--surely he would have had a sunburn, shown signs of dehydration, been soaked in sweat, etc. So it makes little sense either way--that he was alive that whole time, or that he was dead already.

4. How could Findlay know that no one would find the body on the roof? Apart from the possibility of him being spotted by aircraft or by maintenance personnel, the show *already established* that a security guard periodically checks up there (the show opens with the guard giving Gabe a hard time after catching him on the roof).

5. Why isn't anything made of the fact that the music stand was toppled over? That would seem to be a clear indication that the elevator doors had opened, especially since it fell the other way, away from the roof edge. That also begs the question of why Findlay put it on the doors to begin with, knowing that it would be toppled and draw suspicion to the doors.

6. Why does Findlay not make any effort to keep his fingerprints off the elevator controls? Why doesn't Columbo use the fingerprint evidence against him? For that matter, why doesn't Findlay use any care at all to preserve the appearance that the elevator hadn't been usd in many years?

7. Findlay took a huge risk going back to Gabe's apartment to find the original music score. Columbo himself got caught by Gabe's girlfriend, but somehow Findlay avoided that? There was a good chance Findlay wouldn't find the evidence he was looking for (*I* sometimes can't find stuff in my own house), or that he wouldn't find *all* of it (Gabe had no other notes?). And it was moot anyway--the girlfriend already knew the truth. By making the evidence vanish, Findlay only drew suspicion to himself.

8. How stupid is it to murder your meal ticket? Why couldn't Findlay have actually done something along the lines of what he was *pretending* to do to appease Gabe? Throw him some significant bone, which would keep him alive to continue collaborating.

9. Wouldn't it have been a great clue if Columbo discovered that Gabe's stereo on the roof (which piped up the sound from the orchestra so that Gabe could "conduct" on the roof) was not turned on, or was not set to receive sound from the concert hall (given that it had previously been receiving sound from the recording studio)? That woud have established that Gabe couldn't have been "conducting" up there.

10. And on the contrary, wasn't it a crappy clue that Gabe never wore shoes and therefore "wouldn't have worn" the tux shoes that Findlay dressed him in? That could easily be explained as Gabe getting anxious in the time leading up to his debut and deciding at the last minute that it was too important an occasion to not be completely properly dressed for it (even if it meant wearing shoes that were too big). In any event, it was a bit too off-the-wall that Gabe conveniently had such a pronounced quirk that he never wore shoes, and that Columbo would happen to figure this out right away, but Findlay (who had worked with Gabe for years) apparently never did.

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I could think of off the top of my head (and 10 is enough anyway!)

IF I have it in me to write even one more thing regarding the problems there are with "Murder With Too Many Notes", I'll go into it as soon as I finish with this sentence.

....waiting with baited breath..

I think that was a sly way of saying "I don't have it in me to go over this again."

Sorry, I didn't realize it had been hashed out already. I also have an extended reaction to Ashes to Ashes, which I also just saw for the first time. It also could have been far more cleverly done, in my opinion. I'll post as soon as I have it in me to carefully delineate all my thoughts on it.

don't fret it. with headache, everything is all good.

i'd make a comment on it, but sadly i haven't seen it....yet.

Spot on. I agree with every point actually. I'd liked to see your Ashes to Ashes post, as like you, I can see so many areas where McGoohan could have gotten away with it.

Dolly:

Hope my snarky comment above wasn't too off-putting. Your observations of "Too Many Notes" are all interesting and valid.

I wonder if you are at all aware of the background story behind this episode? Patrick McGoohan directed it and did a massive rewrite on it, removing much of the mystery and suspense. (It's my opinion that no one working with him had the guts - or perhaps 'heart' - to tell him, and that includes Peter Falk.)

It's my understanding that Patrick McGoohan, in his rewrite of the script, removed a bunch of stuff about the "love notes". Originally there was good reason for the inclusion of those love notes in the story, and I believe they were suppose to be the ultimate proof of Findlay's guilt.

As the episode plays out, those love notes don't mean a thing, don't prove a thing, and Findlay Crawford gives up simply because the script says he does.

Columbo proves nothing at the end of this episode.

There are many more irritations to this episode, but I just can't take it anymore.

I like billy connolly being scottish and living near glasgow so i am blinded to the point of being able to watch this happily without any fuss and would be one i would watch from the later seasons (there arent many in that category).

However i do agree that this is another episode where little makes sense throughout and the ending comes and goes and you have no idea how they got there or why they got. Suddenly boom Findlay gives up after a chat with Columbo and we all go home.
I recall there being some daft scene where findlay follows columbo driving whilst being drunk which is sheer stupidity on all levels. I could be wrong but to be honest i dont really care. I guess this falls into my limited ho hum category. It doesnt pain me too watch it but neither does it make me want to go and buy the dvd to see it.
It rates higher than many of the newer episodes mainly due to the newer ones being bad to the point of abysmal.

Now that I think about it, I'm starting to wonder if the whole shoes clue in this episode was a (bungled) attempt to play into the long-established significance of shoes to the Columbo series.

Speaking of which, has there ever been a thread on this forum cataloguing all the shoe references?

All Columbo proved at the end was that Gabe was murdered and that Findlay had the strongest motive to do it. Not that Findlay did it.