The reason should be obvious, but then, I'm talking about the pre-Commodore series.

That's why I giggle at Kate Mulgrew as "Mrs.Columbo". I mean, she's great in the role for what the show is worth, but to cast a woman that lovely was asking a little too much of the intended audience.

I think it was best we never saw her. That left her to our imagination. She could look however we wanted her to look (a middle aged Sophia Loren?)

She is very dignified, he asserts that by constantly referring to her as Mrs. Colombo. she had a dignified beauty and a dignified nature peculiar to Italian women. She is deeply intelligent.

And this is where I draw a hollowness to her episodal referenced descriptions. She was described as 'cold'.

I could accept a certain aloofness in her character and he certainly did experience that aloofness intermittenly, but 'cold' is definitely a big blooper and could only come from a 'w a s p s'interpretation that describes an Anglo Saxon woman. Italians are not Anglo Saxon and have none of the repressed socially stoic hang ups of Anglo Saxons. She was proud and held her head high and he respected her immensely.

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Replying to:

I have always been curiious about why we never saw or met mrs. Columbo (technically, we do get a glimpse of her in "RIP Mrs. Columbo). But what was the purpose behind that? I thought for sure she would show up in Troubled Waters since she won the prize inthe first place.

It's cause Kate Mulgrew is so freakin annoying that people would stop watching Columbo if they ever saw her.

There's one possible reason, that it took me forever to think of, that came up several times. So many times, the murderer is a celebrity that he and Mrs. Columbo are both fans of. So in those instances, when he definitely suspects the person, he might keep her from meeting them because of the unpleasantness of that. In "Forgotten Lady," you hear that Mrs. Columbo couldn't make it to the movie screening, but you also find out (regardless of the actual ending) that he came to arrest Janet Leigh. So bringing Mrs. Columbo along would be out of the question. So, though it took me so long to think of it, it seems to me that there are at least a handful of scenes where she's left out for that reason.