Lydia Corman is having an affair with Alan Evans and her husband, celebrity dentist Dr. Wesley Corman knows about it. He sees a chance in getting revenge on his wife, his wife's lover, and get himself out of financial difficulties with his father-in-law, Dr. Horace Sherwin, who is also a wealthy dentist. Dr. Corman imbeds a time-released amount of digitalis within the tooth of his rival knowing that he will have an alibi at a poker game when Alan dies from the release of the digitalis.

Sounds like I'm describing "Columbo: Uneasy Lies The Crown", right? Well, the trick is that even though all the other names were exactly the same, I named the victim as Alan Evans. In the "Columbo" episode, his name was Adam Evans.

I was describing 'Affairs Of The Heart' - a 1977 episode of "MacMillan".

Remember the similarities I found between episodes of "Columbo" and "The Dead Zone" back in July? This one was even closer. One other difference - the murderer's brother-in-law's name changes from Steven Sherwin to David Sherwin.

There were other plot differences as well, as the script was tailored to fit Columbo's personality and the show's formula. Mac was at the poker game and knew all those involved before the murder; and there was of course a stand-off and chase scene at the end to better suit Mac's image. (I can't picture Columbo in a chase scene... at least not without going serpentine!)

The IMDb lists Steven Bochco, who wrote the "Columbo" episode, as a staff writer for "MacMillan & Wife" and its sequel "MacMillan". So I'm guessing he was adapting his own script.

Levinson & Link did the same thing with a script they wrote for the original "Burke's Law". In that, a magician was found shot dead when his coffin opened after he spent three days submerged at the bottom of a hotel pool where he was in full view at all times. They used the script again for "Blacke's Magic" and the new version of "Burke's Law" as well.

I don't have any problem with the idea of Bochco recycling the idea; I think it's too good a murder scheme to use only once. I just wish he had changed all the names of the characters. (It would have helped in my "world-view" for the TV Universe!)

Tele-Toby

Yup, it is the same script. Not even the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Reportedly, Peter Falk's beloved mama could not believe a dentist could be evil, and it was never made as a Columbo. Until the ABC years. And by then, Universal had already used basically the same script for a MacMillan and Wife.

Joe

IMO, the 70's TV drama eps were peppered with "the Mob". Try to view a Rockford Files marathon. Or even Magnum PIs, or Simon and Simon. Everything was "The Mob". Columbo was different.

I won't go into all the differentences. Columbo was a detective series with humor and a moral.

Maybe that's why we all like it.

I always viewed Uneasy Lies the Crown as the point at which the new Columbo took a wrong turn. That same season had. Bochco's association with the show had ended in the '70s, so even if the plot was his, this was simply the new producers/writers having too little imagination to come up with fresh plots or even scripts. This was the same season with Murder: A Self-Portrait, Columbo Cries Wolf (to me, the best of the newer shows), and Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo, for crying out loud, but the guys apparently ran dry or just didn't care.

It's similar to the way Monk slumped for the first part of its season three, running dry of clever impossible murders and wily Columboesque killers and relying on minor coincidences. The show came back this summer, and I hope the writers somehow learned that mystery lovers love a good mystery. I'd love to see a real mystery lover take on a Columbo, just once more. (Post-Holiday Rant is a trademarked feature of Martin Ross)

bumpity bump....