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....