Highest rated columbo episodes9/16/2023 ![]() Written by Jackson Gillis, directed by Richard Quine Sporting inventive editing by Edward Abroms and an endlessly clever plot, this is the show at its best and the scenes between the uptight Culp and the ingratiating Falk are an utter joy. ![]() Here he is an ultra-efficient private detective leading a large agency (not unlike that featured in the first season of Mannix, also created by Levinson and Link). The first series episode to be shot, it features Robert Culp in the first, and best, of his three appearances as a murderer in the show (he also appeared later on in a supporting role in one of the 1990s episodes, Columbo Goes to College, as the father of one of a pair of killers, a move typical of the youth-obsessed approach of the networks when the show returned to the airwaves). Written by Richard Levinson & William Link, Directed by Bernard L. He would eventually appear three times as the murderer over the years (the other two are Publish or Perish and Now You See Him). Cassidy, together with Robert Culp and Patrick McGoohan, is probably the ultimate foil for the Lieutenant. Written by Steven Bochco, directed by Steven SpielbergĪfter two pilot films ( Prescription Murder (1968) and Ransom for a Dead Man (1971)), this was the episode chosen to launch the first series proper – sporting ultra-stylish direction by the young Steven Spielberg (lots of long takes and clever use of sound) it features Jack Cassidy as the ruthless, ever-smiling villain, one half of a crime writing partnership (rather like that behind Ellery Queen, Patrick Quentin and … Levinson & Link) who decides to bump off his more talented other half to collect the insurance. Here are my top 10 Columbo episodes, in chronological order: This led to a couple of poor episodes ( Undercover and Columbo Cries Wolf) and one outright disaster ( No Time to Die) as well as some triumphs like RIP Mrs Columbo and It’s All in the Game (both listed below), the latter being especially interesting as it was written by Falk himself. There are episodes that play on the formula, with varying degrees of success, most notably in the series made when the show returned. This would be the essential template for the TV show, which started with the TV-movie version of the play in 1968, initially ran as a series between 19 and would then switch network from NBC to ABC and return in 1989 and would end, after 69 feature-length episodes (it was never a weekly show but rather a recurring series of 90- or 120-minute specials) in 2003 with Columbo Likes the Nightlife. It’s about a psychiatrist whose plan to kill his wife and live happily ever after with his mistress thanks to a seemingly unbreakable alibi is undone by a detective who keeps unearthing one inconsistency after another. The character was not originated by Falk but in fact was first played in 1960 by Bert Freed in a one hour live drama, Enough Rope by Richard Levinson and William Link who then adapted it into a stage play, ‘Prescription Murder’. On top of some truly top-notch plots was a show that was all about talk, focussing on the cat and mouse game between the slovenly but intellectually razor-sharp Columbo and a succession of arrogant murders who all came to regret underestimating their opposition. The reason this works so well is because the murders are usually highly ingenious with seemingly full-proof alibis that are ultimately demolished by small clues that we, and the murderer, failed to notice the first time round. ![]() With a few notable exceptions, each episode is presented as an inverted mystery in which we see the murder planned and executed and then watch to see how the Lieutenant catches the perpetrator. Privileging character over action, there was no violence, no car chases, no shootouts, no supporting cast (apart from his lovable useless slob of a pooch named ‘Dog’), no on-screen family life for the main character outside of references to his relatives that he would make in each case, no regular sets to breed contentment through familiarity – how did this show even get made, let alone turn into one of the genre’s greatest commercial and critical successes? Not just because he was played on-screen by the same actor over a record-breaking 35 years (and with the same rumpled overcoat) but because this was a show that seemingly went against all the rules of popular crime drama – and still came out ahead. This is a character that remains, for many of us, the greatest detective that American TV has ever produced. A brilliant stage and film actor equally adept at comedy and drama, familiar for his blistering performances in John Cassavetes’ films and as the loving grandfather and narrator in The Princess Bride he is also one of TV’s true immortals thanks to his portrayal of Lieutenant Columbo of the LAPD. Peter Falk has died at the age of 83 after several years in poor health. ![]()
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