Yeah ... it's a typical congeniality of people with a high degree of propriety (the subject of sex involves a privacy that should never pervade the common course of every day life), but I always got a kick out of the way Viveca Scott puts Columbo off by entering the nude bathing portion of the farm. His reaction was a classic example of it.

However, he didn't seem to exhibit too much reservation in staring a bikini-clad Jessica Conroy up and down waiting for Milo Janus to show up.

Don't forget his wandering eye for the belly dancer and enjoying Barbara Rhoades' presence in "Identity Crisis". That's the one episode where Mrs. Columbo should start worrying a bit! :)

As far as some of us are concerned, it's the same with a fully-clothed Barbara Rhoades in LADY IN WAITING. And of course Arlene Martel's two pretty opposite characters (even though I'm every bit as cheap as he is, I wouldn't have been able to concentrate on cheap watchbands in that particular jewelry store). And so on.

It just occurred to me again because of this thread, but even though the show didn't have all-out "femme fatales," plenty of the murderesses (besides the ones already mentioned here) could have "tempted" any other given detective into doing his job badly. Lee Grant's Leslie might be the only one I'VE ever had a "thing for," but there are plenty of others HE could've felt that way about.

(I'm referring to the original series - I know the Faye Dunaway character in the later series came halfway close.)

What about when Goldie get dressed in front of him in Blue Print.

And when he walks in the art gallery with the nude model in Suitable for Framing.

Columbo's reactions are perfectly in character, he reacts exactly as you would expect. Except when he goes to the porn shop in Murder Can Be Hazardous, in this one he is all business. They did put some humor in there with the trench coat stereo type, that was pretty funny.

Lots of great references in this thread -- the fans here always make me proud of this Forum!

My thoughts: Columbo is an old-school, old-fashioned Catholic boy who is easily embarrassed by anything that's about sex. But he definitely has an eye for the ladies, and his schoolboy mindset has acquired an overlay of a cop's hardened, street-smart attitudes.

More than anything, he is a man who loves his wife, and it is interesting that the woman he loves so passionately has the figure of a "real" woman, not a fashion-model or stick-figure. My guess is that he and Mrs Columbo make each other very happy in all the ways that count.

If I may speculate: I wouldn't be surprised if, on special occasions, she wears a Catholic schoolgirl uniform for him -- he's that kind of guy. But mostly, he just wants her naked -- and now. Unless she is mad at him, which (as he has admitted) is probably not too unusual around the Columbo house.

Columbo shows his innocent school boy mindset in Etude in Black.

When he goes to Audry's ballet lesson she comes over to him and he says,"Audry I'm very impressed with you. and She says, "Oh really is it my body or my mind"? And Columbo says, "Well it's both really". What a thing to say to a twelve year old! It was very funny.

I think this was improvised by Peter, he almost starts laughing and Audry looks surprised at the line, she smiles and doesn't look like she is expecting him to say that, and almost loses the scene but Peter keeps it going. It doesn't look scripted to me. With Cassavetes on the set I'm always looking for improv in this episode.

Wilton, I agree that the scene with Audrey was funny, but I think there is no way it could be included in any modern TV show.

It could be included in a current show, but probably only if it came from some one-time character instead of a main character, and with some "PSA" kind of stuff attached to it, and so on, probably ruining the whole effect of the little joke!