Well, obviously this was the last of the "45" and the Columbo character was showing shades of the "caricature" he would become in the "newer" episodes.
But there is a bit of the original Columbo still here. His discussion with Kate O'Connell (Mrs. Peck...!!)about his nephew and his needlepoint and wrestling. His car's flat tire. Him playing pinball just like a little kid.............
And I suppose all the limerick stuff just got to me. I just thought it was wonderful. As a lot of people know here, my real name is Carleen and I am all Italian...but when people first meet me they think my name is Colleen and they think I am Irish....so in a way I have a small, but precious, connection to this episode.
I have always respected your opinion Peck, you know that. You have always amazed me with your knowledge, and I am not about to try and persuade you into thinking other than you do. But you shocked the "Bee-jeebers" out of me on this one!!

I might add that the Irish background music seemed to also take away from the Columbo charm. Its just an episode I can't watch.

I got ya Mrs. Peck.....if you don't like it...well...you don't like it....

Now how do you feel about Mind Over Mayhem?? No pressure...answer at your leisure...

Not one of my favorite, but I find it bearable, because of Jose Ferrer.

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Replying to:

I got ya Mrs. Peck.....if you don't like it...well...you don't like it....

Now how do you feel about Mind Over Mayhem?? No pressure...answer at your leisure...

I appreciate everybody's candor. Mine, without a doubt, is Last Salute To The Commodore -- it's almost surrealistic. Patrick McGoohan should stay in front of the camera; Agenda for Murder, Ashes to Ashes, and Murder With Too Many Notes weren't all that hot either. But I'm a purist...everything past the first 45 don't really count.

I agree, "Last...Commodore" is a stinker, and McGoohan. it seems to me, had ( has? - if he's still directing ) this quirky/cutesy Brit sense of humor that you can see in his acting as well, esp in his Columbo appearances.
This episode is both written and directed over the top. I'm watching it now, actually, on Hallmark. Columbo is in meditation pose on the boat. In this episode they seem to be parodying Columbo, and the constant tone of tongue-in-cheek makes it impossible to give a ****. Neither is there a real villain we can despise. The great Columbo episodes, to me, used satire while never losing the emotional content, like in the Nicol Williamson episode - a satire on EST of the 70's. Williamson was truly reprehensible.
My feeling in watching "Last" was that it was intended as the "last" Columbo. There were several indications, particularly at the end, when Columbo is rowing across the water to meet his wife ( riding out into the sunset ). There were a few other indications I can't recall now, but will probably come back if I stay up to watch this turkey.

Come on....let's all hold hands and say it together...............NO TIME TO DIE...................now......didn't that feel good kiddies???????????

I remember the first time No Time to Die was telecast, and I fell asleep! I woke up during the last five minutes and couldn't believe it. At first I blamed myself--but then realized this one was just plain bad from its inception to execution. It does make one appreciate how good Columbo usually is.

Easy question, easy answer, joint worst episodes No Time to Die and Undercover. Bloody awful.

Luckily I have not got around to watching all of the 90's episodes - nevertheless, "Murder With Too Many Notes" from 2000 is extremely disappointing with no ending. Connolly and Falk just didn't spark!

My least favourite of the original series just has to be "Old Fashioned Murder" - I wrote a review on the IMDB database suggesting a retitle of "Old Fashioned Boredom!"

The story is painfully slow in its development, the characters are totally uninteresting and the actors/actresses themselves look bored. Very little ingenuity is shown, but perhaps the most funny part of the original Columbo series is here. Remember Columbo's immaculate haircut which he keeps touching and analysing in evey mirror? That's the only decent bit of a total diaster!

People have also been having a dig at "Mind Over Mayhem" too. OK Robby the Robot loosens the seriousness a liitle bit, but I thought the story was great and Jose Ferrer was more than adequate as the murderer, who at least evokes a bit of sympathy.

I also thought that the way Columbo nails the murderer was excellent - he plays on the protective father theme extremely well.

I think its a little unfair to pick on the 90's columbo, im coming around to the point of view that for real columbo focus on the originals. The more i see the 90's the less enjoyable they are, tho i doubt that is not helped by the same ones being shown all the time.

Yes No Time To Die is dire but to be fair in my view its just as irritating as Murder in Malibu, A Trace of Murder and Undercover. These are episodes that i can sit at the tv, shout, complain and feel ripped off after viewing them, and its not something i look forward to. The only real positive is then i can watch earlier episodes and really enjoy them as classic tv. PLus any episode of Columbo is better than murder she wrote, quincy or any other show where people who have no business investigating are allowed to solve it. That what gets me so frustrated.

I still havent seen Murder with Too Many Notes, even tho everything i have heard is not good i still want to see it 68/69.

God bless,

Matthew

mat...I'm a little confused
You said it was unfair to pick on the 90's episodes and then you said the more you see them, the less enjoyable they are.
I am just wondering what you mean?

I mean its a case of they were never going to be as good as the originals (it wasnt possible, you cant go back and remake something as good as it was) so its unfair to view them that way. However at the same time they are deemed and classed as Columbo episodes so in a way they will always be compared that way. Is that any clearer? Its late.

God bless,

Matthew

Yeah...I think I got you mat. I guess I have never considered it the way you put it..as a "remake"...interesting thought though.
As you know, I haven't seen too many of them...so it is hard for me to judge them. But the ones I have...well..there is something so lacking for me. I would hate to think that it is just for the shallow reason that Peter is older. But maybe, for me, it has a little bit to do with it. Yet there is also the lack of richness of the originals.

I've said it before and I know I'll say it again, "No Time To Die" is the worst of all the "Columbo" episodes. "Undercover" is also very bad.

Unfortunately, I feel that it may be because of these two episodes that so many people on this board choose to slag off the "90's/2000's" episodes of "Columbo". A few have written that only the first 45 episodes should be considered "real" Columbo and everything after that shouldn't. I just can't help but feel that that is a rather silly attitude to take. (But I'm not forbidding anyone to take that attitude.)

Episodes 46 through 69 center on the character of Lieutenant Columbo as played by Peter Falk. It's the same character and the same actor. The episodes are still credited as being "Columbo" as created by Levinson and Link. Therefore, episodes 46 through 69 are indeed 100% true "Columbo".

I understand that many have not seen all of the 1990's/2000's episodes. I have. I've seen them all numerous times. I have "absorbed" them as I had previously (and continue to) "absorb" the first 45 episodes.

Many of the first 45 episodes are excellent or superior episodes. Many of the next 24 episodes are also excellent or superior. In fact, for picture quality, 46-69 are vastly superior to the first 45 episodes. Production wise, most of the first 45 episodes are excellent or superior. Again, production wise, most of episodes 46-69 are excellent or superior.

From my own opinion, the following episodes from the first 45 are "excellent" or "superior":

Prescription: Murder
Murder By The Book
Short Fuse
Blueprint For Murder
Etude In Black
Dagger Of The Mind
Requiem For A Falling Star
A Stitch In Crime
The Most Dangerous Match
Double Shock
Double Exposure
Publish Or Perish
Swan Song
A Friend In Deed
An Exercise In Fatality
Negative Reaction
By Dawn's Early Light
Troubled Waters
A Deadly State Of Mind
Forgotten Lady
Identity Crisis
Now You See Him
Fade In To Murder
Try And Catch Me
How To Dial A Murder
The Conspirators

That's 26 of the first 45 episodes. Just more than half those episodes.

Now, again from my own opinion, the following episodes from episodes 46-69 are "excellent" or "superior":

Sex And The Married Detective
Murder: A Self Portrait
Columbo Cries Wolf
Agenda For Murder
Rest In Peace, Mrs. Columbo
Columbo Goes To College
Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous...
Death Hits The Jackpot
A Bird In The Hand
It's All In The Game
Ashes To Ashes

That's 11 of the 24 episodes from 46-69. So that's just under half of those episodes. These above episodes are high quality "Columbo" and high quality TV. Unfortunately, episodes 46-69 also include some of the poorest "Columbo" episodes; Uneasy Lies The Crown, No Time To Die, Undercover, Strange Bedfellows, A Trace Of Murder and Murder With Too Many Notes. I think it is quite possible that memory of these "poor" episodes block out memory of the other "high quality" newer episodes.

I wish it could be the other way around and that "Superior" episodes such as "Columbo Cries Wolf", "Rest In Peace, Mrs. Columbo" and "Death Hits The Jackpot" could wipe out the memory of the more poor episodes.

Well, that's my rant for the evening!

wow! you see there headache....because of posts like that i want to become your prodigy!!! headache jr.!
terrific stuff, guy!
again, as you know, i have only seen a couple of the newer ones, so i am not one to speak on them. but i truly believe that the newer ones are just as much authentic columbo episodes as the original 45. but sadly, the full list of creative geniuses that collaborated on the '45' were not around to create the '46-69'......

again....great post...as usual

There is no doubt that it is very difficult to duplicate the quality of an ingenious original series. For me, there are four basic problems:

1. The protracted nature of the 90s episodes: eg. "Columbo goes to College" has a marvellous premise, but the mid-section doesn't half drag and make you lose focus of the plot. Keeping things tighter at 80-90 minutes would certainly help the script-writers and condense the storyline.

2. Peter Falk's portrayal - the slyness and subtlety of the Columbo character is inconsistently present - in some of the modern day episodes it is hardly evident at all. Age is obviously a big factor here, but is Falk sometimes "just going through the motions?"

3. The lack of big names as the guest murderers - the 70s series's guest murderers read like a whos-who (although some of the stars who appeared did it to boost their ailing status as a star!). Predictably, due to budgetary contraints and perhaps a different philosophy held by the modern-day actors and actresses, Universal aren't able to magnify their episodes with big names.

4. The quality of the scripts and the need to deviate from the traditional Columbo formula to compensate for a lack of ingenuity & quality: they even started to put the murders at the end (as in "Murder in Malibu"), but basically, not many of the script-writers nowadays are capable of producing a Columbo script with Columbo traits.

If you think of the writers back in the 70S - Stephen Bochco, Peter S. Fischer, Bill Driskill, Larry Cohen - they knew how to write a Columbo script with all he familiar elements. However, it is well-documented about how hard it was to strictly comply with the Columbo formula and produce a script to match.

These are my specific thoughts as to why the 90s episodes don't match the quality of the 70s ones. Feel free to comment...I'll stop now as I could go on all day!

I agree with all the points you made. They all add up to some lackluster Columbos.
As you said, the lack of "big names" was definitely a big factor. And if you think about it, it is really strange. Back in the 70's it was very rare for a "movie" star to lower themselves and appear on a TV show....but many appeared on Columbo. In the 90's and today, it is quite a common thing for "movie" actors to appear on TV. It is no longer a taboo. And yet, there were few that appeared on the 90's Columbos. I wonder why?

I have no doubt it has something to do with the quality, perception and popularity of the Columbo series today, i.e. when it came out in the early 70s it was a landmark show, and actors/actresses wanted to capitalise on it. As I said to boost their ailing images. Nowadays, the Columbo series doesn't have the same status, because it isn't as good.

I remember the same kind of thing happening on the Batman series in the 1960s -just have a look at the names on that show who guested as the villains, even Liberace was in there somewhere!

I think the problem is not only with the so-called
"Columbos" of the new series, but the nature of
television has changed. Frankly, in our house, we
don't watch anything that was made after about
1980, either TV or movies (although a few movies
have passed muster). One big problem, that I have mentioned in the past, is the big increase in sex
and foul language. I realize that I am a prude by
modern standards (Cassa-I remember that you disagreed, but I don't know how the others feel), but I feel soiled by these things and I don't want my kids exposed to it. By going for "shock value", the writers take the easy way out and then don't have to come up with as good a script.
Also, in a more technical sense, the style of lighting
and the set designs have become more "way-out" and sterile. The 1970's shows (not only Columbo) were more realistic looking, and I prefer that, but, of course, that is basically a matter of taste.
Incidentally, one of the pioneers in introducing sex and foul language was Steve Bochco. This can be seen already in "Etude in Black". Although I agree that it is a very good episode, there is far more discussion of sex in it than in all the other episodes of the original series. I am glad he left the show because I don't know what he would have done with it.
Anyhow, this is my $0.02

EEK! YM did I really disagree with that? Really??? It doesn't sound like me, because I am a prude too. I don't like all that stuff...it makes me uncomfortable. I like the older movies...the real old ones....that didn't show anything. If the couple were going to get "romantic" all you would see was them closing the door and the rest of it was left to the viewer's imagination. I don't watch the new stuff either...I can't tell you the last time I went to the movies or even rented a tape or dvd.......I watch TCM. That station is fantastic. All the classics are shown on there. It is not like AMC (American Movie Classics!?) that considers movies like Jaws3 and Tommy Boy and Dudley Dooright to be "classics"....
And I will agree there are quite a number of references to sex in Etude....Alex even uses the word. For me, that line always stands out like a sore thumb...it really wasn't necessary.

Sorry, Cassa, I didn't make myself clear. I meant
that you didn't agree when I said that I thought that I was unusual in being
a "prude" and that there others beside us who don't
like this stuff, in this "modern" and "liberated" age.

OH!!!! OK!!!! I am such an idiot!!! I just re-read what you wrote and now I understand. To tell you the truth, I was sitting there pondering.....saying to myself..."Why would YM say that? Did I make a buffoon of myself in some past post and say that I liked raunchy movies!?!?!??"
ok.......well I'm glad that is all cleared up! we prudes have to stick together!!

My least favorite Columbo is probably Forgotten Lady. I can still watch it, but it doesn't hold my interest quite as much as most of the other episodes. At least the ending has a slight twist compared to most other episodes.
For the nineties era Columbo's, personally I would have to chose No Time To Die as my least favorite.

Firstly i agree with YM and Cassa about the sex, violence and swearing, much prefer the films/comedies where these are non-existant, seems the asy way out to have somewhere swear instead of something original.

As for the new columbo's v old, couldnt care less about picture quality or whether a big star is in the episode or not, comes down to whether or not i sit in front of the tv and feel disappointed after watching them and this happens more often with the newer ones. As said previously by others, the newer ones tend to drag in the middle (for some reason Columbo likes the nightlife does pretty much nothing the whole way thru until suddenly its the end and you sit there thinking was that cut). Also the acting (by whoever) isnt as good and the same goes for the script, i sat thru Columbo goes to college and was asking often "who says that?".

Old bands can reform with exactly the same line-up and the magic just isnt there and no matter how many times you try to convince yourself it just doesnt feel the same. This is true for 90's columbo in my own humble opinion.

God bless,

Matthew