I think your description would apply better to Guillotine than Grand Deceptions, but I agree with all of what you said.

I posted this because I took a break from watching Columbo and now I'm surprised to find the 90s episodes so much better than I remember. It's been a good time going through these again. I still have plenty to go, most of them I've only seen once. The ones I've watched several times are College, Agenda, Crown, Trace, Bird, and Nightlife. All of the rest will be almost like new to me.

I thought Deceptions was great after seeing it again, the first time I didn't really understand how the books in the box were so incriminating. This one is a winner for me.

'A Trace Of Murder' is a very good episode, too. It tends to come out of the blue, because for me, some of those more recent shows were quite mediocre by the standard of a number of the earlier 'new' Columbo's, not to mention the superior classic seventies series. I really did feel with 'No Time To Die', 'A Bird In The Hand', 'It's All In The Game', 'Strange Bedfellows'', and 'Undercover', the show was on a downward spiral, but 'A Trace Of Murder' following on from these is a nice surprise. The effectiveness of the acting from the cast was a huge step up, in my opinion. The show was arguably Shera Danese's best role in a Columbo show, too. It's up there with 'Agenda For Murder', 'Uneasy Lies The Crown', 'Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous To Your Health' and 'Columbo Goes To College' as one of the better 'new' Columbo's.

I think though, a huge handicap with some of those later Columbo's, is the condition of Peter Falk's voice. Beginning with the final season of the original seventies Columbo series, Peter Falk's voice begins to lose some of its clarity. With the first season of the 'new' Columbo's, this is extremely noticeable, and tends to be a distraction from the storylines. By the second and third seasons, his voice improves greatly, but by the last dozen or so episodes, i find it a real challenge at times being able to decipher what he's saying. I'm sure age has a lot to do with this, and although it's rarely mentioned in fan forums, etc. i think it is a real issue, which sometimes is even a bigger problem than, say the quality of the plots, the choice of music, and some of the excessive use of humor.

hi J Wilton Jones,

I love the 90s episodes and that's what got me interested in COlumbo in the first place. Agenda for Murder is an episode I fondly remember when I was in high school and it's my favorite episode.

The 90s episodes took some getting used to, so the first time I watched them there was some disappointment, then after not watching them for about a year and having lower expectations, I discovered there were some really good episodes there.