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Category: Episode

Hockey’s for Penguins

October 9, 2016
9 Comments

title_the-most-crucial-game

“The Most Crucial Game” has ace Columbo foe Robert Culp as the frustrated manager of a sports team empire. When he sees a chance to kill the heir to the family business, he dresses as an ice cream man and puts the party animal on ice. But, not for any real motive that we can actually determine. The episode has a lot of things going for it- beautiful direction, great performances, nice individual scenes, a good score, but the parts just don’t quite come together. Author Glen Erik Hamilton (Past Crimes, Hard Cold Winter) is on the program to pick out just why it all doesn’t seem to add up.

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Here’s to Your Pension

September 25, 2016
5 Comments

title-card_a-matter-of-honor

In “A Matter of Honor,” Ricardo Montalban plays Luis Montoya, a legendary matador and one of Mexico’s national heroes. When, retirement, he freezes up when trying to save a young man from being gored, he cannot let the potential humiliation stand, opting to instead murder the trusted assistant who witnessed the incident. Wouldn’t you know it, though- Lt. Columbo just happens to be visiting Mexico that very day and is unofficially roped into the investigation by the local police. Laura Coleman is on the program to talk about the episode, bullfighting, the amazing career of Emilio Fernandez and oh, so much more.

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Pocket-Sized Hemingway

September 10, 2016
10 Comments

title-card_publish-or-perish

When a best selling author tries to leave Riley Greenleaf’s (played by Jack Cassidy) publishing company, the smooth, smarmy operator sees no choice but to have the writer killed, then blow up the creep he hired to do the deed. “Publish or Perish” is the last Jack Cassidy Columbo episode we’ll be covering, and it’s a doozy. Mickey Spillane! Bomb-making books! Bad interior design! Chili with catsup! Alan Fudge! The Valley! Leonard Pierce (leonardpierce.com) returns to the podcast to give it all a good look-over.

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Ask for Freddy

August 27, 2016
4 Comments

Title

Four our forty-first show, we look at the series’ last, “Columbo Likes the Nightlife.” In it, we find Columbo bumping up against a world of Mafia sons, rave promoters, sleazy tabloid reporters and pastiches of late 90s-early 2000s indie murder films. Here’s the crazy thing- this final attempt to bring Columbo into the 21st century? It kind of works! Zack Handlen (The AV Club) returns to the show to talk about how something that could have gone off the rails actually holds together pretty well.

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BLANK TAPE

August 13, 2016
15 Comments

Episode_Murder Can Be

What do you do when you’re the host of a wildly popular crime show and a rival finds evidence of your past career in “party films”? Well, if you’re George Hamilton in “Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health,” you kill the guy with spiked cigarettes and hope no one notices. Well, Lt. Columbo notices. Aaron Bleyaert (Conan, How to Lose Weight in Four Easy Steps), our very own foul-mouthed Charles Grodin, returns to the podcast to gloat over how utterly not-good this episode is. Honestly, though, we do start get to some awfully good points about 25 minutes in. We swear.

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I Do Wish Everyone Would Stop Asking Me That

July 31, 2016
4 Comments

Episode_Old Fashioned Murder

In “Old Fashioned Murder,” Joyce Van Patten plays Ruth Lytton, who has put her entire life on hold in service of the family museum. When her brother threatens to liquidate the collection and shut the joint down, she stages a robbery with an ex-con museum guard and murders both men. Columbo has to unravel the whole sordid case, dealing with eccentric wealthy people, annoyed hair stylists, uneven performances and story threads that just sort of peter out. It’s a bit of a mixed bag. Writer Jaime Fountaine (jaimefountaine.com) joins Jon and RJ to discuss.

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vicious_rumors_@hollywood_heartbeat.com

July 16, 2016
9 Comments

Episode Card - Ashes to Ashes

In “Ashes to Ashes,” Patrick McGoohan is Eric Prince, Hollywood mortician to the stars, who has no problem stealing from his clients, revealing their secrets and romancing their widows. When an ex-girlfriend/gossip columnist threatens to reveal these creepy practices, he violently murders her, cremates the body and passes off the ashes as someone’s late husband. As Columbo goes after McGoohan for the last time in the series, he navigates a path strewn with surly assistants and countless character actors. Molly Eichel (The AV Club, Philadelphia Inquirer) returns to the podcast to talk about the episode, Rocky, the crematory code of conduct, Cannonball Run and the latest dish on Bob Dishy.

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Cadaveric Spasm

May 22, 2016
13 Comments

Episode Card - Forgotten Lady

In “Forgotten Lady,” Janet Leigh is Grace Wheeler, an actress from the heyday of big movie musicals, who wants nothing more than to once again feel the white hot heat of stardom. When her wealthy husband refuses to put up the scratch for her big comeback, she murders him and tries to make it look like a suicide. As Lt. Columbo digs deeper, however, the story proves to be even more tragic than that. Also discussed- Dorothy Kilgallen conspiracies, Angela Lansbury exercise videos and much, much more.

Jon and RJ are joined by Kevin Klawitter (@KevinKlawitter), who recently co-directed a stage production of Prescription Murder, the headwaters from which all things Columbo flow. In fact, the show is being staged again this August as a dinner theater production! Click here for tickets and details, if you’re in the Wadena/Fergus Falls/Battle Lake, MN area this summer.

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Ask and Listen, Listen and Ask

April 24, 2016
10 Comments

Episode Card - Murder Smoke and Shadows

What happens when control freak director Alex Brady (Fisher Stevens) is confronted with a problem he can’t direct or FX away? Well, in season eight’s “Murder, Smoke and Shadows,” the answer is an old-fashioned movie backlot electrocution. And, as much as he’d like, no amount of 3-D holographic technology, rear projection or fancy soundstage lighting will deter Columbo from closing in on his current (and past) sins. Abed Gheith returns to the show to discuss the episode, along with possums, Megaforce and so much more.

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I Would Never Typecast You as a Detective

March 20, 2016
8 Comments

Episode Card_Requiem for a Falling Star

In “Requiem for a Falling Star,” Anne Baxter is actress Nora Chandler, whose career is fading into obscurity. When gossip columnist Mel Ferrer tries to blackmail her, she decides to blow him up in one of the sloppiest murders in the show’s history. But whoops! Didn’t look closely enough- turns out she instead torches her longtime assistant, who’d been dating the dirt peddler. It’s up to Columbo to connect the dots and maybe also solve an earlier murder, in the process. Returning guest Nate Patrin (Vice sports, Stereogum) joins Jon and RJ to talk about Hollywood Trout Ponds, the Jaguar XKE, Edith Head, and Big Al Ledbetter.

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