Restaurant critic, bunco artist, murderer- Paul Gerard (Louis Jourdan) is a triple threat! Chef Allan McPherson (picnichfx.com) joins us to discuss season seven’s “Murder Under Glass,” a tale of extortion, free meals and the deadly fugu. Also: Alan Alda’s half-brother, fancy cooking, Mako and Night Goliaths.
Here’s Allan’s review of “Murder Under Glass” that got this whole episode going.
Oh hey! We’d like you to tell us which actors and actresses you think would have been good villains on 70s and 90s Columbo episodes. Go ahead and leave them in the comments or email to columbo@thecitydesk.net.
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My first pick for a shoulda-been Columbo murder: Alan Alda.
My wife, Laura, has suggested Lee Marvin or Paul Williams.
Classic era :”The 11th Step” Richard Roundtree runs a VA official miss on to help vets recover from addiction. In comes his former CO, a man who’s war profiteering led to deaths of Roundtree ‘ s comrades in arms. Revenge is served in a dirty shot glass and it’s up to Columbo to put a stopper in this bottle of murder.
90 ‘ S : “Murder Strikes Out” Corey Feldman is a pro-am bowler on the cusp of hitting the big time, when he learns his sponser is planning to convert his chain of bowling alleys to candlepin. Feldman resorts to murder to save his shot at fame, but with Columbo on the case, will he be spared, or wind up in the gutter? (Note: this would be a much hated episode, excepted for the fifteen minute scene of Falk trying on bowling shoes)
to answer your question about which actor that has played Hawkeye Pierce would have been a good Columbo murderer, you guys took my top two.
It was a shame that James Garner never played a Columbo murderer. He could have been a famous race car driver and co-owner of a chain of car dealerships who murders his partner. The episode closes with him ill-advisedly getting into the passenger seat of his Porsche while Columbo drives around the track. Columbo lays out the case to him while he gets increasingly panicked and terrified at Columbo’s driving, finally exclaiming, “Ok! Yes! I did it! Just stop the car, for the love of God! Jesus Christ!”
Columbo’s sexy dad routine?!
Right? I’m with you, man.
I’m sorry that you guys have never been picked up by a dad.
I’ve often thought about how most Columbo murderers would never be convicted, and that’s true of a lot of detective shows. But one nice thing that I think Columbo usually does is set up situations where that doesn’t entirely matter: most of the murderers have a life and position that is one big, precarious house of cards, and the exposure is going to knock it all down regardless of whether they go to prison. This is also why usually (with this rare and notable exception) Columbo doesn’t worry about anyone trying to kill him, nor does he need much muscle to bring someone in — they all recognize they’ve been “beaten” and all their lies exposed, and the rest is just details.
Of course, I’m not sure I’d call that justice — but it’s something.
Oh, and for fantasy murderer casting: Jon Hamm. If like me you think the power of the best Columbo murderers comes from the tension between their charisma and their despicableness, who could be better?
Edward Woodward from The Equalizer. And I always thought it would have interesting to see Carroll O’Connor to play a murderer on Columbo.
Gary Cole was working in the ’90s, and I think he’d have made a good Columbo murderer. He’s very good at portraying characters whose superficial charm conceals profound sleaziness.
Glad to hear the Suburban Lawns track at the end! I love that band, and can never find anybody (besides my wife) who knows who they are.
Yeah- in trying to find out what that Demme SNL piece was, I found out it wasn’t a sketch, but a video for that song. Here it is on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66edboZWeqg
Now it makes more sense why Sue McLane from the band showed up in Something Wild.
My pick for Columbo murderers in the 70s would be a game show host of some kind. Probably Richard Dawson, or maybe Gene Rayburn or Paul Lynde playing a game show host.
In the 90s, it would probably be Jeeves and Wooster-era Stephen Fry, with Hugh Laurie as the murder victim.
A thought on the episode that has always made me wonder
At the end when Gerard tastes Columbo’s cooking he says “I wish you had been a chef”
Now of course he says this partly because if Columbo were not a cop then he might have gotten away with the murder.
But did he mean to imply the cooking was good so Columbo could have succeeded as a chef or that it was bad so Gerard could savage Columbo in a review ?