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: Celebrating the later Episodes

My favorite of the older shows was "Columbo Goes to College." Some of his old shows were brought up by the students and it was just all around good. Thanks for brining up the topic.

Re: Celebrating the later Episodes

I have to make a correction, in "Columbo Goes to College," he talked about "Agenda for Murder," concerning the cheese. He tells the students that he follows his nose and when he got Oscar Finch he used the cheese to catch him. "Agenda for Murder" was another favorite of mine. As others have mentioned, you can't beat Patrick McGoohan.

Re: Celebrating the later Episodes

Columbo goes to college was a disappointment to me, his cluelessness wasn’t an act, what would he have done if the murder hadn’t been accidentally broadcast? He never really follows up the fake restaurant booking, and he never gets the motive. OK, we can end with that defiant ‘we did it because we could ending’, but I don’t think Columbo would ever include this case in future lectures. Only the planted car is real Columbo, the razor-sharp intellect is otherwise too hidden away.

Uneasy lies the Crown has the worst gotcha ever, what would have happened if the murderer had brazened it out and had the tooth pulled?

Columbo also becomes a REALLY bad driver in his second outing, I hate that. Bad driving can kill people, Columbo the killer?

So the best new episodes? Columbo still razor sharp, and gripping onto the killer like a bulldog, irritating the killer enough to get him/her to make mistakes without descending into hopeless buffoonery ...

There are a few that tick the boxes, rewatched A Trace of Murder last night, and despite the insider trying to sabotage the case, Columbo was ahead of everyone right from the start, grabbed every relevant clue along the way, and saw through the smokescreens.

Re: Celebrating the later Episodes

In Columbo Goes To College, Columbo learned from the restaurant reservation that "Mr. Rowe" is someone to keep his eye on (bad pun alert). Columbo also planted the idea of plane tickets to Phoenix and Justin and Coop took the bait. As for his lucky break with the murder being broadcast, I think almost every Columbo episode has something like that which requires the suspension of disbelief: Seeing a reverse negative in the photo store, watching a kid have somebody else tie his shoes, noticing a man with a sweat stain on his back sitting in a leather chair, etc.

Columbo is "always in the neighborhood" at exactly the right time. He's at the shipyard when Joe Devlin is talking to the Captain, Dale Kingston's house on the night he brings the stolen paintings home, the military academy when the cider is being investigated and he's in the infirmary when a feather is dropped. I forget the episode where he says: "Thats me, I'm lucky!", but he sure is, although he tends to make his own luck.

I can see why you may not like Columbo Goes To College, the murder is ridiculous for one. But to me the interaction with the kids compensates. The cocky little snots completely underestimated Columbo (as did Justin's father) and they got what they deserved.

Re: Celebrating the later Episodes

Pete
In Columbo Goes To College, Columbo learned from the restaurant reservation that "Mr. Rowe" is someone to keep his eye on (bad pun alert). Columbo also planted the idea of plane tickets to Phoenix and Justin and Coop took the bait. As for his lucky break with the murder being broadcast, I think almost every Columbo episode has something like that which requires the suspension of disbelief: Seeing a reverse negative in the photo store, watching a kid have somebody else tie his shoes, noticing a man with a sweat stain on his back sitting in a leather chair, etc.

Columbo is "always in the neighborhood" at exactly the right time. He's at the shipyard when Joe Devlin is talking to the Captain, Dale Kingston's house on the night he brings the stolen paintings home, the military academy when the cider is being investigated and he's in the infirmary when a feather is dropped. I forget the episode where he says: "Thats me, I'm lucky!", but he sure is, although he tends to make his own luck.

I can see why you may not like Columbo Goes To College, the murder is ridiculous for one. But to me the interaction with the kids compensates. The cocky little snots completely underestimated Columbo (as did Justin's father) and they got what they deserved.
The "Thats me, I'm lucky!" line is from Publish or Perish when he finds the manuscript in Eddie Kane's files.

Re: Celebrating the later Episodes

I can't say that I'm shocked that somebody knew which episode the line was from. This is an awfully hard group to stump when the category is "Columbo". I miss the quizzes that others used to put up. Maybe I'll try my hand at it.

Re: Celebrating the later Episodes

I look forward to the quiz.