Fred, I couldn't agree with you more!! The beauty is in watching Columbo interact with the murderers. I love watching him ************** especially the arrogant ones. I also love the fact that they almost always under-estimate him because of his appearance. I guess it takes a little bit of patience as the show unfolds, and a lot of folks don't have that.

I usually get the same kind of reaction from people, "Love him or hate him". I understand why some people find him to be nauseating, he has that effect on most of the killers. A lot of people can't see through the stumble-bum image and find the brilliant detective underneath. Myself I find him funny. I feel sorry for the people who can't appreciate Columbo, they are missing some great entertainment.

I think maybe when people don't like "Columbo" it really is because they don't understand it or appreciate it. My parents and grandparents loved the series and recommended it to me when I was about 12. At that time, I didn't understand what it was all about and didn't like it. When I was about 20, I watched an episode again, and it suddenly clicked. I was in love with the show and couldn't believe I didn't "get it" before and that I had been missing out on such a great, unique, and entertaining show.

My sister (who is in her early 20s now) and her boyfriend are also now hooked on my DVDs of the show, and they are now getting to see all of the episodes (for their first time) in order, uncut, and commercial free. Lucky them!

I for one do not like the man because he very deviously put me in the Big House for life.

Well...there are many who post here who do not like anything after season 4 or 5 or 6.

I for one have found something entertaining about every episode except No Time to Die. While that was a suspenseful plot, it had no resemblance to Columbo's persona, or his usual formula.

Prior postings here have suggested that Columbo became a parody of himself.

Albeit with increasing empahsis on his quirks, I have always enjoyed the interplay between characters. Each re-viewing seems to bring out new observation on body language; subtleties of tone and dialogue, etc.

Abe- Your experience is almost exactely like my own!! My husband asked me "Don't you get sick of watching the same re-runs?". I told him that I always notice something different. In one episode, that I had seen before, I noticed that Jamie Lee Curtis had a small part as a waitress. Besides, there are always fine actors in each episode.

Donna, I think you got it! There is much more
to the show than the plot, and I also always
see new things in it. The writers and directors
put a lot of effort into little things that you
may not notice at first, or even the first 50 viewings. I always like looking at the camera
work, seeing how they frame scenes, or how they
move the camera around.
For example, in "Negative Reaction", in the final
scene when Galesko is led into the evidence room,
he is filmed through a metal screen. My daughter,
who studied cinematography, told me this is a well
know director's "hint" that something bad is going
to happen to the person we see behind the screen.
Sure enough, we see the same in many other shows,
most notably in the movie "Gdfather II" where we
see Tom Hagen subtly telling Frank Pentangeli that
he should kill himself, all this filmed through
a chain-link fence.

but you all are missing a very important aspect to the show.....peter is just so darn sexy!!!

but really...everyone has made excellent points..

cassavetes- I think Peter Falk is cute too, but in a teddy bear way. I did think he looked hot in his tuxedo in "Forgotten Lady". By-the-way, thanks for bumping-up the thread to answer my question about the tram. I love this forum because I'm learning a lot,like YM's tip about cinematograhy. I guess I'm quite a novice when it comes to Columbo.