This episode aired February 25, 1978
Columbo’s tete-a-tete with Kay at the abandoned shack was not in the original script. It was added at the request of Peter Falk. According to producer Richard Allan Simmons: “Peter came to me and said he was concerned because something seemed to be missing from the script. Peter thought there was no nexus between the two characters (Columbo and Kay Freestone). Nothing in the script brought them together.”
In the scene in which Columbo questions Walter the projectionist, he mentions that his film-obsessed nephew is a huge fan of Francis Ford Coppola. Falk and Coppola were, in fact, good friends and Falk was considered for two critical roles in The Godfather: the part of the consigliere that went to Robert Duvall, and the part of Sonny Corleone that went to James Caan.
This marks Columbo’s earliest appearance in an episode, the result of a network request given the original script didn’t have him appear until much later. The chase and car crash sequence – along with Columbo’s neck injury – is ultimately superfluous to the story and just one of many presumably bits added to pad this episode’s bloated runtime.
My thoughts on this episode in chronological viewing order…
Wow! Columbo introduced right off the bat. Is this a first?
Kay is attending a mix, a key part of the production process that has the producers sit down to a screening of a given episode or film and offer notes on its audio elements, everything from dialogue and music to sound effects.
“Okay with me. I’m just the producer.” Oh, I’ve been there.
Ah, the villainous network executive. Art imitates life.
Hey, it’s Patrick O’Neal, former murderer from “Blueprint for Murder”!
Is it sanitary, hiding the car keys in the drink? Also, how would that affect the keyless remote? I suppose we should be thankful he didn’t get her cat.
He passes her over for promotion even though he’s been sleeping with her because he feels she’s unqualified. That is NOT the way Hollywood works. Unqualified people move up the ladder all the time.
“Make me a perfect murder, baby.” One of those rare instances where the episode title is actually in the dialogue. Reminds me of Dark Matter where I had fans vote on episode titles based on three choices, all of which were lines of dialogue from the respective episode.
He sends her off with a car…and an idea for murder.
I would not want anyone making adjustments to my neck. In fact, that twist makes it look like he broke it
The Professional. Is this a real movie?
Why is Mark, our murder victim, not watching with them?
The projectionist seems to have no sense of time.
I love this suspenseful sequence with the audio countdown, even though it’s completely nonsensical. Is her watch broken?
Very lucky for her she doesn’t run in to anyone.
The guard stops to check the centerfold from the girly magazine in the waiting area. Ah, the 70’s.
I like the fact that she’s pretty cool throughout. Ruthless. Like a real network executive.
A classic Columbo intro finds him already at the crime scene, making himself at home on the couch.
It’s essentially a lock-room mystery. And Columbo assumes the victim knew his murderer because…his glasses were off. Hmmm. Seems like a bit of a stretch, but I’ll allow it.
Wonder if that’s Peter Falk’s Emmy award on the desk.
Ah, the threatening letters to the network, back in the days before social media made things much easier.
“Like you got a tiny voice whispering in your ear trying to tell you who did it.” Has Columbo been schizophrenic all along? Does this tiny voice belong to the non-existent Mrs. Columbo?
This film reel-switching sequence reminds of the time I went to see Life of Brian and the second reel ran backwards. But because it was Monty Python, everyone assumed it was just part of the movie.
Columbo just happens up on Kate’s discarded glove. Not exactly clever plotting here.
“If there’s one thing worse than a television lady who thinks she knows everything, it’s a television lady who knows everything.” This applies to both genders.
Should Columbo be touching those buttons? What IS the point of this interminable editing room sequence? This has to be the worst example of padding in the series to date.
What’s the point of this whole storyline involving the reluctant Valerie Kirk? Why does she have the key to Kay’s apartment? Are they in a relationship?
Kay giving Columbo a massage during the interview feels kinda creepy.
What is with the dramatic ripping away of the dry-cleaning plastic?
As much as I always love a Dog cameo, this scene also feels pretty padded.
How does he know Dog isn’t enjoying a show: “Well, he would look very bored, sir. All droopy and listless.” Oh, I’ve been there too.
Boy, network executives today would kill for those 70’s ratings.
It was a woman’s blazer! It was hers!
Great suspenseful sequence here of Kay attempting to retrieve the gun from the top of the elevator. But how could she have assumed the gun would not have been noticed?
Yes, it WAS a bad decision to swap in the unaired The Professional as a last-minute substitute without any advance publicity, effectively burning it (as they say). Mark was right not to give her the promotion.
Why is she bringing up all these various camera angles of Columbo?
The discarded glove in the projection room had powder burns. Sigh.
Ah, they already found the gun in the elevator and replaced it, hoping she would take the bait. And she did!
Well, as much as I really like Trish Van Devere’s Kay Freestone and the admittedly nonsensical-yet-suspenseful countdown to murder sequence, this episode was a huge disappointment. Setting aside its annoying superfluous elements, the writing felt lazy. The best crime fiction sees our detective earn their conviction but here, it’s all handed to him – the carelessly discarded glove, the gun discovered in plain view. It all makes for a dramatically unsatisfying 90+ minutes of television.
My revised episode rankings: 1. Forgotten Lady, 2. Try and Catch Me, 3. Now You See Him, 4. Fade in to Murder, 5. Negative Reaction, 6. Any Old Port in a Storm, 7. Murder Under Glass, 8. Double Exposure, 9. A Friend In Deed, 10. Double Shock, 12. A Stitch in Crime, 12. Death Lends a Hand, 13. Suitable for Framing, 14. Publish or Perish, 15. Dagger of the Mind, 16. Requiem for a Falling Star, 17. Prescription: Murder, 18. Murder by the Book/Ransom for a Dead Man (tie), 19. By Dawn’s Early Light, 20. Swan Song, 21. Troubled Waters, 22. Lady in Waiting, 23. An Exercise in Fatality, 24. Etude in Black, 25. Playback, 26. The Most Crucial Game, 27. Blueprint for Murder, 28. Lovely But Lethal, 29. The Bye Bye Sky-High IQ Murder Case, 30. A Deadly State of Mind, 31. The Most Dangerous Match, 32. The Greenhouse Jungle 33. Identity Crisis, 34. Dead Weight, 35. Short Fuse, 36. Make Me a Perfect Murder, 37. A Case of Immunity, 38. Candidate for Crime, 39. Mind Over Mayhem, 40. Old Fashioned Murder, 41. Last Salute to the Commodore.
Speaking of conviction, given the evidence Columbo has gathered, do we assume Kay Freestone will be found GUILTY or, given her final promise to keep fighting, will she survive to inflict terrible programming decision on an unwary public? Alas, unfortunately for Kate (but fortunately for the viewers back home), I think that the discarded glove and the gun-retrieval-and-discarding will put her away for as long as Supernatural’s t.v. run.
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P.S. Here’s the recording of yesterday’s Best Of Space discussion on For All Mankind, Fringe, and The Mandalorian…
https://x.com/BaronDestructo/status/1944471948911607837
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“Unqualified people move up the ladder all the time.” 😆
Great breakdown and I was hoping you would share some of your experience with TV network people. 👋🏻
This lady seemed like a sociopath and therefore, perfect for an executive of any company. I can’t help but think her boyfriend/boss was going to promote someone in the “boy’s club” instead. Buying her a car seemed like payment for “services rendered”. As an assistant, she was probably doing all the work and his job would have been to reap the rewards or take the heat.
This ep wasn’t my favorite but I liked it more than you did.
It’s been very hot/humid here and all my energy has gone towards yard work. I’m getting to an age that I am considering hiring some of this outside work out. Plus, I’m trying to find a contractor to build a pergola on my patio.
The problem is that I have a Mourning Dove building a nest on the patio. Call me soft but I hate to disturb her highness. It IS interesting getting a “bird’s eye view” of her nest and seeing the little birds grow. 🙁 No sooner are the birdlings gone, than mum comes back and lays more eggs. The pergola might have to wait until this fall.
How’s the weather up there?
The weather up here is pretty hot as well. Too hot for Sharky so we take him for bigger walks in the morning when it’s cooler.
Do they make little cold pack harness packs for dogs?
They make cooling vests that you can wet.
Doesn’t seem like I missed much skipping this episode. Is this the third Columbo episode that involves film projectors? I like the Life Of Brian story. Running backwards would be a bit out of place in Life Of Brian since it does have more of a story than most Monty Python stuff. If they’d run a reel backwards in Holy Grail I wouldn’t have even noticed!
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My thoughts on the Sci-Fi Marathon.
I watched the first season of For All Mankind and mostly enjoyed it. I’m a space nut and devour anything to do with the early space race. I also love alternate reality stories as evidenced by my large Harry Turtledove novel collection.
I was excited for season 2 but lost interest after only a few episodes. I felt that the show had turned very “soapy”. I wasn’t interested in the interpersonal relationships of the characters. I wanted space shit!
I also have some technical quibbles about the show. Like when they’re on the Moon they only act like they’re in 1/6th G when they’re outside in spacesuits. When they’re in their habitats gravity seems to be the same as Earth. That’s not how gravity works! I can ignore most bending of physics in sci-fi but this show is supposed to be based in our reality so they need to try harder to get it right.
I don’t understand why Ed fired the missiles at Sea Dragon. Was it just to defuse the situation by removing the chance for the Russians to fire on it? Pretty risky. The Russians could have seen the launch and immediately launched their own missiles, possibly at Pathfinder! What was even in Sea Dragon? It looked like it wasn’t carrying any payload. Were they just testing the blockade?
It was an exciting episode and only mildly soapy where Kelly tells Karen that she met her birth father. It has renewed my interest in going back and watching more.
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I’ve never seen any episodes of Fringe but I’m always seeing it being recommended by people so I was curious to check it out. “Lost” and the Star Wars sequels cop a lot of flak but I generally like J. J. Abrams’s stuff, especially the Star Trek reboot.
I don’t have too many notes about this episode. Again, I’m a sucker for AR stories so this show seems right up my alley. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get around to watching it. I’m struggling to even keep up with the Sci-Fi Marathon schedule! But I’m definitely going to add it to the list.
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I’m not surprised by your thoughts on The Mandalorian. It’s highly serialised so it’s hard to drop in on a random episode and expect it to make sense. The Honest Trailer for the first season sums it up perfectly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlxuSILjRl0
That being said, I do like the show. It looks stunning. The action is good. And Baby Yoda is too damn cute! I’ve seen all the episodes and am looking forward to the movie coming out next year. I enjoyed it more than Andor which is probably blasphemy in Star Wars fandom. While I would call myself a Star Wars fan, I’m not rabid like some. I’ve seen all the movies but The Mandalorian is the only Star Wars TV show I’ve watched completely.
You asked what Mandalorian means. It just a name for someone that comes from the planet Mandalore. Although, since Mandalore was rendered uninhabitable, perhaps the word extends to anyone who adopts the semi-religion that they seem to follow.
The Luke Skywalker de-ageing was awful. There was basically no movement in his face. The YouTubers you mentioned that tried to do a better version are Corridor Digital, a small LA based VFX company. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=861gfPVmgdc While I think they made some improvements with the facial animation, their version isn’t as photo-real as the official version. A good effort, though, considering the differences in budget. Disney would have almost certainly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on that Luke Skywalker effect. Neither are up to scratch with what can be done now.
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Next up is The Orville, a good show that turned great once they expunged most of the toilet humour after the first season. And The Outer Limits that I have no idea about.
Then I’m really looking forward to the Quantum Leap and Red Dwarf discussion. Probably two of my most favourite shows on this list. I was even in the studio audience for two episodes of Red Dwarf being recorded!
A Red Dwarf fan! The Orville and Red Dwarf are two shows I never watched.
This is one of my favorites! I have to get to ranking them – just been crazy around here, no time for me to have my brain to myself.
I haven’t watched it in…a few months. But some quick thoughts…
Kay’s voice, especially in the beginning, sounds dubbed. That is my one annoyance with this episode.
I love the countdown sequence. Love it!
I love the suspense with the gun in the elevator!
I’m glad they didn’t off Walter, the projectionist, like they did the other one.
I wonder if Valerie was a nod (or a slap) to Judy Garland or even Liza?
Kay was overly confident because she was good at what she did…but that doesn’t mean she’d be good at doing something else. The whole Valerie debacle was proof of that.
The car bit at the beginning wasn’t necessary at all, but I do use it as a time to get my snacks and drinks in order. Sometimes use that time to fluff my pillow, too (this is one of my favorite nap episodes – it’s so familiar and comforting, with nothing to really upset me).
Glad she didn’t off cute office moustache guy (was that Kip Gilman?).
I love to hate Kay. She is one of my least favorite, least sympathetic killers in all the original Columbo episodes.
I love seeing her breakdown, and how cooling she covers it up. She’s a real mental job.
The Professional? I want to watch the entire movie!
But the gun wasn’t discovered in plain view. They found it, then planted a gun in plain view to see if she’d take the bait. And she did.
I could say more, but I have errands to run!
This ranks in my top ten, for sure.
das
Top 10? Really?
Maybe even my top 5… 😉
das