It's fun to see rich smug arseholes get their comeuppance from somebody they underestimated and patronised
Exactly this. Every episode has some smarmy dick thinking they're getting one over on him, and he downplays himself to look like a clueless shlub and fawns over them to keep them off their guard, and eventually gives em the smackdown they so richly deserve. Also, a lot of the bad guys have really grounded actions/motivations so the whole thing ends up feeling more real.
There's a lot of good episodes with cool cameos, but the Johnny Cash one is definitely one of my faves and you should check it out.
Columbo has a relatively unique narrative structure.
The murderer is the main character. You see them do it, watch them cover it up, and learn what they had to gain. They think they’ve won.
Then Columbo arrives. He circles the killer, unassuming and apparently bumbling at first but always showing up at the worst time, asking questions about things he shouldn’t know, wearing down their certainty.
The audience knows the whole time that Columbo knows and will never stop. The pleasure is watching the murderer figure this out too.
Highly recommend watching early Columbos. He does the whole act dumb to suck people in thing really well. Over time this morphed into him actually being dumb though and later ones suck.
Chairman Meow on
0
DepressperadoI just wanted to see you laughingin the pizza rainRegistered Userregular
edited April 10
wait I also know that in a more beautiful world there been a cross-over episode with Kolchak the Night Stalker.
Investigating a series of mysterious murders and then like, exorcising a demon?
yeah but jessica fletcher is better than every fictional detective
it's not a fair competish! j.b. gonna wipe the floor with all of 'em
Alright but what does a ranking of TV detectives look like?
You've got J. Fletch, Columbo, Magnum PI, Poirot as played by Suchet and nobody else, Matlock, Frank Cannon, Jim Rockford, Monk, Barnaby Jones, Veronica Mars, maybe a little bit of Mark Sloan? Marple?!
I could go on and on and on and I mostly left off actual cops with the notable exception of Columbo, because I feel like the general structure of your Kojaks and your Hawaii Five-Os tends toward a different sort of approach to solving crimes, but I would not be against adding them in
Chairman Meow on
+3
astrobstrdSo full of mercy...Registered Userregular
edited April 10
Yes of course I know the poem
This thread can never end right? Any time it goes to page 3, someone's just gonna jump back in for "one last thing".
yeah but jessica fletcher is better than every fictional detective
it's not a fair competish! j.b. gonna wipe the floor with all of 'em
Alright but what does a ranking of TV detectives look like?
You've got J. Fletch, Columbo, Magnum PI, Poirot as played by Suchet and nobody else, Matlock, Frank Cannon, Jim Rockford, Monk, Barnaby Jones, Veronica Mars, maybe a little bit of Mark Sloan? Marple?!
I could go on and on and on and I mostly left off actual cops with the notable exception of Columbo, because I feel like the general structure of your Kojaks and your Hawaii Five-Os tends toward a different sort of approach to solving crimes, but I would not be against adding them in
Personally I would put Monk in there. He's pretty fun.
Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
edited April 10
Columbo is amazing because it is so opposite all other crime shows. Each episode’s main character is the murderer. Not Columbo. We see it from their POV and Columbo is almost more of a secondary, seemingly bumbling, unstoppable force and us audience can get the joy out of Columbo eventually tearing them down and nailing them to a wall.
yeah but jessica fletcher is better than every fictional detective
it's not a fair competish! j.b. gonna wipe the floor with all of 'em
Alright but what does a ranking of TV detectives look like?
You've got J. Fletch, Columbo, Magnum PI, Poirot as played by Suchet and nobody else, Matlock, Frank Cannon, Jim Rockford, Monk, Barnaby Jones, Veronica Mars, maybe a little bit of Mark Sloan? Marple?!
I could go on and on and on and I mostly left off actual cops with the notable exception of Columbo, because I feel like the general structure of your Kojaks and your Hawaii Five-Os tends toward a different sort of approach to solving crimes, but I would not be against adding them in
i think it's a combination of what you want solved and how you'd like them to go about it
ie: how closely do they work with the police? how likely would they be to take your case to begin with?
like, if i am murdered, i want jessica fletcher to solve it because no only is she the best, she will actively make the cops feel like shitty idiot babies while she's doing it.
but like, if i had any other problem? especially one i probably couldn't go to the cops with? i'd want the psych crew.
and, naturally, since i am a man of many enemies, i'd want michael weston available to get revenge for me
so you factor that in with personality, just how much they shown in the parameters of their best cases, and you can fill it out, but dollars to donuts, jessica fletcher is still gonna come out ahead.
Chairman Meow on
+2
Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered User, Transition Teamregular
edited April 10
Columbo is great because he's always the opponent of bougie murderers.
Like, if Gwyneth Paltrow tried to commit the perfect murder at Goop headquarters, Columbo would take her down.
Columbo has a relatively unique narrative structure.
The murderer is the main character. You see them do it, watch them cover it up, and learn what they had to gain. They think they’ve won.
Then Columbo arrives. He circles the killer, unassuming and apparently bumbling at first but always showing up at the worst time, asking questions about things he shouldn’t know, wearing down their certainty.
The audience knows the whole time that Columbo knows and will never stop. The pleasure is watching the murderer figure this out too.
I think it's called an "Inverted Mystery". Where the hook isn't "who dunnit?" but "how they gunna catch 'em?"
Luther with Idris Elba is kind of similar. The titular character generally know pretty early on who the murderer is (often through an illegal search) and so the the drama is about finding a way to actually get an arrest to stick.
(It's one of my main complaints with most detective stories: if the killer just stays silent and lawyers-up at the end, there'd be no way they'd actually do any jail time.)
Posts
Need some stuff designed or printed? I can help with that.
yeah but jessica fletcher is better than every fictional detective
it's not a fair competish! j.b. gonna wipe the floor with all of 'em
Exactly this. Every episode has some smarmy dick thinking they're getting one over on him, and he downplays himself to look like a clueless shlub and fawns over them to keep them off their guard, and eventually gives em the smackdown they so richly deserve. Also, a lot of the bad guys have really grounded actions/motivations so the whole thing ends up feeling more real.
There's a lot of good episodes with cool cameos, but the Johnny Cash one is definitely one of my faves and you should check it out.
The murderer is the main character. You see them do it, watch them cover it up, and learn what they had to gain. They think they’ve won.
Then Columbo arrives. He circles the killer, unassuming and apparently bumbling at first but always showing up at the worst time, asking questions about things he shouldn’t know, wearing down their certainty.
The audience knows the whole time that Columbo knows and will never stop. The pleasure is watching the murderer figure this out too.
look, I love jessica fletcher, but nope
also columbo has the benefit of not being the Coming Calamity
Spoiler for classic art butt
Investigating a series of mysterious murders and then like, exorcising a demon?
Alright but what does a ranking of TV detectives look like?
You've got J. Fletch, Columbo, Magnum PI, Poirot as played by Suchet and nobody else, Matlock, Frank Cannon, Jim Rockford, Monk, Barnaby Jones, Veronica Mars, maybe a little bit of Mark Sloan? Marple?!
I could go on and on and on and I mostly left off actual cops with the notable exception of Columbo, because I feel like the general structure of your Kojaks and your Hawaii Five-Os tends toward a different sort of approach to solving crimes, but I would not be against adding them in
Personally I would put Monk in there. He's pretty fun.
Also Peter Faulk was the best.
i think it's a combination of what you want solved and how you'd like them to go about it
ie: how closely do they work with the police? how likely would they be to take your case to begin with?
like, if i am murdered, i want jessica fletcher to solve it because no only is she the best, she will actively make the cops feel like shitty idiot babies while she's doing it.
but like, if i had any other problem? especially one i probably couldn't go to the cops with? i'd want the psych crew.
and, naturally, since i am a man of many enemies, i'd want michael weston available to get revenge for me
so you factor that in with personality, just how much they shown in the parameters of their best cases, and you can fill it out, but dollars to donuts, jessica fletcher is still gonna come out ahead.
Like, if Gwyneth Paltrow tried to commit the perfect murder at Goop headquarters, Columbo would take her down.
I think it's called an "Inverted Mystery". Where the hook isn't "who dunnit?" but "how they gunna catch 'em?"
Luther with Idris Elba is kind of similar. The titular character generally know pretty early on who the murderer is (often through an illegal search) and so the the drama is about finding a way to actually get an arrest to stick.
(It's one of my main complaints with most detective stories: if the killer just stays silent and lawyers-up at the end, there'd be no way they'd actually do any jail time.)
See now I want Columbo to ask Gwyneth about her vagina rocks
jade eggs
vaginal jade eggs
Okay, that makes sense, that makes sense - just, uh, one more thing - fuckin’ why?!?
concubines to the chinese emperor have used them for centuries(they have not dear god don't use them it can damage your vaginal walls and uterus)
That's Matlock, isn't it? Columbo isn't so much about catching young people as he is catching smug rich people.
I think a few seasons are on Amazon Prime?