When you think of the greatest movie and TV detectives of all time, one name that should be near the top of your list is Peter Falk’s Columbo. A blue-collar cop famous for his rumpled raincoat and cigar, Falk was a sensation in the role, with it being the part that finally made him a star after years of being a character actor. He first played the role in a TV movie called Prescription: Murder, but the show began officially in 1971. Despite the regular Columbo show running for eight seasons, the show only ran for forty-three episodes as it was part of a rotating wheel of programs that were part of the NBC Mystery Movie, meaning we only got half a dozen or so episodes a year.
After taking about a decade off from the part, Falk once again donned the character’s signature raincoat for a series of popular TV movies that ran on and off from 1989 to Falk’s official retirement from the role in 2003. No one has dared ever try to reboot the character. In this episode of Gone But Not Forgotten (written and edited by David Arroyo and narrated by Jesse Shade), we dig into this landmark series. We do a little detective work of our own, investigating the rogues’ gallery of suspects, many of whom were played by big stars of the time (Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, Patrick McGoohan and Leslie Nielsen, among others), and Falk’s enduring legacy.
Do you fondly remember Columbo? Let us know in the comments!