Prescription Murder Review

Hey, this is Adam Mastriani, and you're listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. Hey, it's Mistress

Carrie, and you are listening to Studio 2009.

I just stopped by with some news. I thought you

might be interested. There is nothing wrong with

your podcast player. Do not attempt to adjust

the volume. Hello, and welcome back into our

studio. You are now Inside Studio 2009, only

on the GeekCast Radio Network. I'm, of course,

TFU and Mike, and joining me once again, that

is a good old... Fuck, screwed that up. Take

two. There is nothing wrong with your podcast

player. Do not attempt to adjust the volume.

Hello, and welcome back into our studio. You

are now Inside Studio 2009, only on the GeekCast

Radio Network. I am TF2 and Mike, and joining

me once again is that good old detective Dave

Draper. Hi, Dave. How are you? I'm well. How

are you? I'm well as well. Yes, this is very

different. This is not Star Wars, folks. He has

no idea what I'm about to say. Absolutely. I

know exactly what you're going to say. You don't?

Because I've been sitting in front of the TV

for like three hours. Me too. Today we begin

a new journey. We put our detective hats on and

jump back in time with... Dude, we put on our

trench coats, get out our stogies, and warm up

the Peugeot. Didn't wear a hat. Okay, he didn't

wear a hat, but... Okay, fine. You're thinking

of... Oh my god, he's the most famous detective

in the world. Sherlock Holmes. short homes. Yeah,

he never really wore a deer stalker either. That

was a basil wrap on interpretation was the deer

stalker hat. It's fine. I'll change. I'll change.

Identifiable characteristics and you pick something

he's not identified with. There's scar. There's

the hat. There's the brown suit. But there's

no go with French. there's the dog which he didn't

want but like he got you know there's the lazy

eye it's not a lazy eye it's a glass eye because

he had an eye removed because when he was a child

because it had cancer oh there's one more like

there's so there's the shoes I was more obsessed

with shoes than Quentin Tarantino and you pick

hats I did this on the fly for this first episode

I can change it for the next one but you know,

you put your detective hat on, no matter what

detective show you're in, whatever, it's just

a euphemism, dude. It's fine. So Inside Studio

2009, these are, because originally, folks, we

had no, I had no idea how we were going to do

this. I wasn't sure. I added up all nine episodes.

It came in at like, or yeah, it came in just

over 12 and a half hours of television. And I'm

like, my brain cannot Cannot anymore retain 12

and a half hours of television to talk about

it as a whole season That's why we decided on

doing one episode per podcast and then I thought

oh Maybe I should make it its own podcast outside

of studio 2009 just have a whole Colombo podcast

on the network And then I went down a rabbit

hole of seeing how many Colombo podcasts are

actually out there There's like three really

good ones and there's like four really like not

so good ones So in a few moments... Like five,

right? That's what you're saying. Yeah, something

like that. Four, five, seven, something. No,

no. But I went through... It went right over

your Colombo hat, apparently. Yes, it did. Yes.

So I went through all of those to see about titles

for a specific separate podcast. So the subtitle

for this is The Colombo Files, here in Sides

to Gear 2009. We are starting at the beginning

and going in order. Also... for the general main

source. I know Dave has the DVDs and we will

talk about the DVDs a little bit later. But for

me, the main source I'm using to watch these

is 2b .tv. Very excellent source. It is free.

If you have an ad blocker, you don't have to

worry about ads. And in this episode, it is season

one, episode one. It is a prescription for murder

with prescription murder. I already have to correct

you. No, you don't. Yeah, I do. It wasn't a,

it wasn't a, it wasn't a, it was a TV movie.

It wasn't even the pilot. It was a TV movie based

on the play. Right. Because it came out in 1968,

which like you watch those opening credits and

you're like, we are in the sixties, my friend.

Um, but the next one was the ransom for dead

men was 1971. Yeah. Like, uh, math is my strong

suit. Uh, three years later, three years later.

Yep. So like, it was not a TV show and then Like

the third episode is when we get into the TV

show and then we get into the whole crazy, we're

gonna have to look it up on Wikipedia to explain

it to people, Fakakta. Because it wasn't a show

per se. There was no Colombo show. There was

the mystery movie of the week. And there was

like Macmillan and Wife and I can't remember

the one with the guy who was a cowboy in like

the city. But there was a different show, every

week they had a different series, you know what

I mean? Right, and I'm about to tell you about

that because I just looked at - Yeah, well that

seems a little premature because right now we're

just doing the play. Yeah, but - And it's like

we should talk about the play, which - Yes, we

will talk about the play, but - No. What we watched,

prescription merch - You're starting to - You're

not - I'm not following. Anyway. So the NBC mystery

movie, which we were going to do a whole podcast

about this specific thing later, way, way, way

later, but it had McLeod, it had Eastwood, it

had Columbo, and then Macmillan and wife were

the four inaugural programs. And then it did

subsequent programs with Faraday and company,

uh, ten athlete and then the snoop sisters. Oh

my God. What? Well, no, that one faded into the

mists of time, the Snoop Sisters. Yeah, starring

Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick. And that's the

other thing, folks. Outside of Peter Falk, when

we do talk about the cast for these things, I'm

not gonna know. I can already tell you I'm not

gonna know. I mean, the supporting cast, but

I mean, like, Jamie Lee Curtis is in that episode.

I mean, the entire cast of Wrath of Khan. are

in multiple, like Shatner, Nimoy, Montalban,

and, oh God, Walter Keening. Shatner and Keening

are in the same episode. Walter Keening, um,

oh. He plays a beat cop. Check off. Check off,

yes. Check off. Don't you do a thing on Star

Trek? I think we do, I don't remember. Don't

you, like, because I was like, hey, I like Star

Trek, and you're like, oh, we already got something

with somebody. Well, okay, that's a... That's

a behind -the -scenes thing, folks. I took off

my ears and just stayed in my lane. I like Star

Wars. No, that's not... He's exaggerating, folks.

I did not cut off his Yoda ears. I didn't cut

them off. I took them off. They were plastic.

They weren't Yoda ears. They were Spock ears,

because Spock has pointed ears, too. That's true.

You would know if you watched Star Trek. Yes.

Spock versus Yoda. Who would win? Oh, God. Like,

okay, now you're getting me off a tangent. I

always take these stupid, who would win, fight

things when the characters wouldn't actually

fight each other? Like, why would they? So this

is Prescription Murder. Before we get into this,

going back briefly to my research of separating

this off into its own podcast, part of my research

was, and I very rarely do this because I don't

like this platform. I just don't like Reddit

at all. I don't know. Every time I've gone on

there, my eyes glaze over and I feel like I'm

drunk and I don't drink. But I went on there

to see if anyone had podcast lists over there

or anything like that or any kind of advice or

whatever. And I've been podcasting for 16 years.

So there's some of the stuff that I already know.

But this is the advice that someone had given

people on Reddit about doing Colombo as a podcast.

Do the episodes in order. No crap. No shit. Discuss

in detail some of the subtle things, yadda yadda

yadda. Don't worry about spoiling. Yeah, we're

not, the stuff is over 40 years old. Prescription

order came out in 1968. It's older than I am.

Yeah, it's older than David's. So, spoiling.

There is not going to be a spoiler warning on

this, folks. And as I mentioned before, if anyone

wants to legally watch these, Other than getting

the DVDs, which we will talk about later, because

Dave has the DVDs, you can go to 2b .tv. I will

have a link directly to the Columbo page in the

show notes for each of these posts. But I was

just looking about how people would want a Columbo

podcast, and I know how to do podcasts, so I'm

not going to go through all these anymore. But

it's just one of those things as part of my research

of doing it. So setting the stage, like we said,

1968 prescription murder. I'm so back on there

are literally two episodes that I can think of

the entire run that you could spoil because there's

one where you don't know who the murderer is

and there's another one where like because because

because every episode he He catches the killer

every episode. It's it's a formula. Yeah, they

show you who the killer is like the thing about

Colombo that made Colombo Unique unusual was

it was based on crime and punishment. Yep, and

it was you see the Criminal commit the act and

then it's about how Colombo figures out It's

a how done it not who done it and so like like

he always gets a criminal in the end and it's

a well Does he perhaps there's one episode where

the criminal gets away? Which is a spoiler cuz

yeah, the criminal gets away in one sort of yes

sort of yes big asterisk on that one But yeah,

yes, he lets the criminal get away on that one.

Mm -hmm. So prescription murder This is Dr. Ray

Fleming, who is a psychiatrist. He murders his

wife and persuades his mistress. I mean, he persuaded

her before he murdered the wife. Well, right,

yeah. Because his whole shtick is that he's very

meticulous and he plans every because there's

literally a conversation between him and Colombo

about this, about he plans everything, which

is part of the I think that's part of the fun

is that he's got this elaborate plan. And how

is Colombo going to trip up the plan? You know

what I mean? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So that's

basically the general overall for this episode

before we get into the who's who in the cast

and all that. Just for this episode, folks, this

is the beginning of the Colombo series, the Colombo

Files that we're doing on Studio 2009. We are

not doing this for every episode after this.

This is our history with the show. and this is

the only episode you're gonna hear this in, so

you need to go to Studio 2009, episode 11. No,

no, no. There'll be a quiz at the end. No. Bueller.

Bueller. Yeah. Did you watch the show when it

was on the air? I watched it in syndication after

it probably was not doing new episodes, most

likely, when I was a kid in the 80s. You're younger

than I am and it premiered before like the second

episode we're gonna do today came out the year

I was born. Yep No, I did not watch it when it

was quote on the air. I I think I watched some

of the later Because they brought it back in

like the 80s and 90s And I watched some of those

and then when I was in grad school in the 90s

A &E had it in heavy rotation. Yes So I got really

hooked in it on watching it on A &E. That and

Beast Wars were my grad school programs of choice.

Absolutely. Yeah, just looking at this, just

to clarify, folks, for the 80s, season eight

started in the 80s, February 6th, 89 to May 1st

of 89, and that was only four episodes. And that's

the other cool thing I love about these is that

they are Like you said their plays their TV movies.

They're almost acting They could actually be

theatrical movies at 94 minutes kind of thing.

I love the length. I Love the way the time and

the pace is But but yeah, so season 8 is what

what started in the 80s and again I'm sure because

this show has a hundred and something episodes.

I'm sure some of the older ones were re syndicated

in the eighties and nineties. So yeah, I'm sure.

Yeah. How much of the show have you seen now?

Well, before we had this idea to do these nine

days of Colombo in the 31 days of dark side,

December here inside. So your 2009, I had art

because I've been, I've been itching to cover

this and I saw that to be had it. And I was like,

Oh cool. And I had mentioned to you off air.

I was like, Crap the website won't let me go

back to the first episode because it thinks I'm

in like season two episode seven So I had already

been watching Before we even started the idea.

I remember you were like, yeah, I'm thinking

about doing a colombo and I'm like put me in

Put me in coach. That's I love Colombo Absolutely.

No, it's so fun and it's so cool and there's

not a shit There's not a show like this today.

There hasn't been a show like this in I felt

like it when it was airing. It was weird and

unique. Yeah. And it was cool. I think you can

kind of look at some of what they call the cozy

mysteries that came later that were more about

the personality of the detectives than the actual

crimes. But even those, like, were usually whodunits.

You know, like Murder She Wrote or Diagnosis

of Murder or, you know, Matlock, Matlock. But

those were about the personalities of the ones,

you know, They were almost always whodunnits

rather than Colombo's thing is trying to figure

out what little detail the criminal is going

to screw up that lets Colombo get him in the

end. We after this I already know what we're

doing after this after we do or in conjunction

once we start this fully We I definitely will

do a diagnosis murder series on this podcast

because I love diagnosis murder. Oh My god, dr.

Mark Sloan. Yes, please. Thank you very much,

sir. Let's see here. So prescription murder I

went to pull up the Cast where is the gene Barry

is the killer? Yeah, that's the other thing about

Colombo You know, it's one of those shows that

kind of recycle like like murder She wrote like

like a lot of these shows like love boat it used

people who were kind of Kind of well known at

the time but also not like super huge either

or like, you know either a lot of them were on

the way up or maybe on the way down like I don't

even know really who gene Barry is I hate to

say that but um Think he was a bigger deal in

this clearly with a bigger deal in the 60s and

Yeah, I said I I know who uh, you know, obviously

Shatner is in two episodes because he's in one

of the original ones and he's in one I always

I always split them in terms of like the original

ones and then the the 80 90s ones, you know or

whatever now it's not really reboot but when

they brought it back when they brought it back,

yeah, he plays he plays a Rush Limbaugh character

in the reboot. I call it a reboot. I'm sorry.

I'm bad, but it You know what I mean? Like, the

later ones. But like, they use the same, like,

they use Jack Cassidy, who's the father of the

guy from Hartford's family, I think? They use

him three times as different characters. They

use the guy who was the prisoner, Patrick McGuinn.

They use him three times. But they're people

who, if you were in the 70s, you would know who

they were. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And that's the

thing, because you were born in 1971, I was born

in 1980. Outside of Peter Falk, I knew nothing

of any of these people. I know, like, I'm literally

looking at the prescription murder cast right

now. Oh, yeah, that one is... Well, no, I knew

the guy... You should know the guy... There's

the guy who's, like, the DA. Who's the buddy

of the? Oh, let me. He's been in like he was

in a murder. She wrote a lot. Was that was that

Bert Gordon? That was the character name. Let

me let me look this up. He was the lawyer guy

who like. Yeah. I mean, he's like the only other

character in the show. Yeah, that episode. He

was a girlfriend, the girlfriend, the wife. And

he's one of those guys who was in a lot of TV

in the 70s. He was in To Kill a Mockingbird as

Mr. Gilmer. Wow. He was in, he was, which is

crazy to me, he was Mr. Hatfield, the voice of

Mr. Hatfield in Uncle Buck in 1989. Yeah. So

folks, the point is we're too young to know most

of the cast people that are going to be. The

sad thing is I'm not. Well. Yeah, I mean 71 you

were born Okay, but I still know who like that

guy. I know that guy from murder She wrote is

like oh, yeah, like we're gonna know some of

them Once we get going yeah, like there's the

guy from Wild Wild West. There's a Louise Jordan

who was the villain in Swamp Thing? You know,

there's I'm gonna know who these like I said

Walter Keening is a secondary like Jamie Lee

Curtis is a waitress in an episode I remember

watching that one. Hey is that And then, you

know, you watch the credits. I'm like, that's

Jimmy Lee Curtis. Yeah, exactly. I'm just saying

for this specific, for this opening play of the

description of murder, everything about this

one is a little, because it's different. Yeah.

Did you feel weird watching it? Because it's

like, it's different than, because he's not really

Columbo yet. He is he is and he isn't I feel

you've told me this he is that he isn't really

Colombo yet and I've already started a counter

for us and I'm gonna try to keep track of this

I've started a one more thing counter and a my

wife counter Anytime he says one more thing or

something similar to one more thing and anytime

he references his wife I'm going to count them

up and by the time we finish these nine podcasts

wife or family Okay, he's like Fletcher. He's

got a billion needs the nephew's Okay But one

of the things one of the notes I do have later

when we get into my notes and I will I'll talk

about it here and not talk about it in my notes

Because I wrote it down close to the end of the

the notes what I noticed was in the scene Close

to the end where he's got what's her name? Jane

Jane Joan, he's got the girl in the studio. My

first episode feels, it's like we are sitting

in front row at the play. Because in that scene,

and in this entire, honestly, the entire episode

for Prescription of Murder, unless music is playing,

it is silent when people are speaking. You hear,

like, People will hear my fan in the background

sometimes on podcast if they hear somebody knocking

on my door if they hear a Car going but like

in 16 years of podcasting people have heard stuff

in my background, but this episode literally

It was like they were all like I know they have

film locations and whatever else But literally

it felt like they were on a setup stage And it

is just the play. And I love it. I'm saying this

to say that I love that. I think that's so cool

because this is an era of television that doesn't

exist anymore. No, you're right about that. And

I absolutely love it. Well, because I think the

70s changed everything. It became more method

acting and more realistic rather than stagey

and acting. I would argue like because because

one of the things I know because we watch two

episodes I know we're gonna talk about the other

episode in a different podcast Yep, but one thing

I noticed immediately the first time you see

Columbo in that second episode He's got the coat

on his tie is off to the side. His clothes are

more disheveled Yes, like he and he's not like

the thing about Columbo in this episode prescription

murder is he's he's usually very kind of angry

and Columbo doesn't get angry. That's not a thing

that he does usually. I mean, he does occasionally

if someone pushes him super far, he'll snap a

little but like, I just and yeah, he does do

my wife. He talks about his wife. He has the

coat. Like that's surprising because I thought

he didn't have the coat but he spends most of

the thing carrying it under his arm. He's got

all the the things all the mannerisms. Yeah.

But they're not like he's always missing a pen.

He can't find a pen or a pencil. to save his

life but I just he feels very different in this

you can see that he feels different in this one

maybe not completely alien to the character because

he's setting the seeds but he's different but

it's there it's there it's an underlying thing

that he is finding the character but the the

building blocks are there to what we know as

Lieutenant Colombo from and you notice he says

from the police Yes, and I'm gonna keep track

of that as well because I want to know if they

ever actually say yes Yeah, he does. No, no,

I know I know he's from homicide, but they don't

say LAPD. They don't say NYPD. They don't say

We have a shot of the Los Angeles International

Airport in this episode. Right. I understand

that and I know that, but what I'm saying is

what I love about him just saying, ma 'am, I'm

Lieutenant Colombo with the police, because we're

supposed to know as you're watching the episode

that it is in LA, that it doesn't need any more

description than that. When he says that he's

with the police so getting into the show breakdown

This is obviously gonna be overall show discussion

of the episode possible discussion topics Not

everything has to be brought up, but these are

usually what we do Highlights and lowlights of

the episode favorite character moments favorite

there really are knows that this is moderate

Modern TV for the time in 1968, there are no

real special effects. It was all practical effects

kind of thing. We'll talk about the pacing and

we'll talk about - Yeah, I mean, the closest

thing is there's a scene in Acapulco when he's

on a boat and it's like - Yeah, like - That's

like the closest special effect in the film.

Yeah, the boat, the plane in the next episode.

Yeah, those are, yeah, but like there's no laser

light swords or anything like that. Yes, no.

This is grounded. This is detective. This is

yes Obviously the pacing and then favorite characters

main recurring guest etc. So You had told me

off air That and like you said already in this

episode You weren't sure how much of the Colombo

character we know is there in the first thing

as soon as he said it I wrote it down Capital

J, capital O, capital M, capital T. Just one

more thing. I was surprised that he said it in

this, because you said that it probably isn't

there. But isn't it different, because it's a

little less... Usually he's out of the room.

Again, one more thing. This was literally a casual,

conversational... One more thing. Yeah, excuse

me, sir. You know, it's like, yeah. Yeah, sir.

Pardon me, sir. One more thing Yeah, yeah, cuz

normally it's one of those things where the bad

guy thinks that they've beaten him Yeah, they

had that moment of yeah, like who? Okay, I got

lieutenant Colombo off my back and then I mean

sir just one That's usually what it is. But that's

why this one surprised me and I I love everything

about this There isn't many things that I don't

like about prescription murder. That cake is

a fire hazard. I was in my head. I could imagine

those sparks setting the tablecloth on fire.

That cake is a fire hazard. So Dr. Ray Fleming

and Mrs. Fleming are celebrating 10 years of

marriage. How old do you think the characters

are? by the way the actors actor and actress

look because she looks older than he does and

he looks oh boy for the 60s and 70s for I don't

know I would say maybe 50s if so then I could

see it yeah Don't know because if she's older

than he is which is fine I'm not making a big

deal out of who's older and who's younger I'm

just trying to figure out like if he's in his

50s, and she's older She must be in her like

literally like you look at him her and then his

mistress his mistress looks like she's 20 It's

the 60s, so she looks like she's in her mid 20s.

Yeah Yeah, I mean this is this is gonna be like

A theme through a lot of Columbus. In fact, I

kind of, but I realize this, we might as well

talk about it now, is the idea, because I always,

to be fair, rewatching it years later, you do

get a different perspective. For me, it was always

about the class. Columbus was about class, a

lot more than people think it is, because the

killers were always rich and powerful and successful.

But what I realized watching these two, I know

I keep bringing the other episode up, but, you

know, that's what happens in the themes is it's

like the actual killer kind of isn't like they've

gotten into the upper class, but it's usually

at the expense of somebody else who ends up being

the victim. Like he's rich because of his wife.

Yep. You know, he could use vacation himself.

You know, he's prosecuting two new cases next

month. Well, that's what he gets for having political

ambitions. Do you remember him when he was in

law school? Vaguely. I never saw anybody work

so hard, including you. But I didn't have to.

My wife had a rich father. And you married me

for my money. That's yours, darling. Your father's.

I like to think you love me, though. Didn't you?

Of course I do. And, like, he doesn't want to

lose that, so that's why he gets rid of the wife,

so he can get her inheritance. Yeah. And the

funny thing is, and what sticks out to me, and

I'm not one of these people that will say, oh

my God, this doesn't hold up today. Yes, it's

not supposed, I say this every podcast that I

ever do. I'm looking at this in the time it was

made, 1967, 1968, whenever it was made. So there's

some things that are said that made me go, whoa.

Well, the thing for me is at the party when he

gets the call from the mistress that he says

is the the patient that he has to go check on

the wife Turns to him and says I won't allow

you to leave I'm like whoa, I Didn't really think

anything of that. I mean, it's just like I could

see, you know a girlfriend or wife going I'm

not gonna let you To me. It was just like a version

of I'm not gonna let you leave and embarrass

me in this party It's not like she's saying,

I'm going to lock you in chains. I think it's

more of how she said it and the tone and the

look on her face at the shock that he would leave

during their 10th anniversary party to go deal

with a patient. And he just explains it. Oh,

well, dear, I'm a doctor and my patients. And

I'll be back before the guests leave, which he

wasn't. But yeah. Well, what's funny is he gets

back, and he sets up his whole plan. We're going

to Acapulco, and he's about to leave the room,

and she's like, oh, sweetie. She does something,

and he turns and gives this look. And it's like,

oh, god, I got to have sex again. Yeah. What

I love is the... I don't think him choking her

took long enough. I think that would have taken

a little bit longer. Well, I mean, she wasn't

really choked. I mean, she didn't die. So, yeah.

That's what I'm saying. That's what I mean. The

choking of Carol did not take long enough where

she didn't die right away. Like, he should have

done that longer if he really... Because the

whole time after this, he's like... Wait, she's

alive. Wait, she's alive. Wait, she's alive.

I need to see my wife, doctor. They say that

she was found in a nightgown, but she was in

a dress. Yeah, she was in a dress. They were

going to the airport. That bugged me, because

that doesn't track properly. And the other thing

that almost didn't track, but it does, and this

is something I see in true crime stuff all the

time nowadays, He went outside and broke the

glass in. Man, that glass, that glass was a safety

hazard. I know, right? Taps it with that candlestick

and it explodes. Yup. I was like, that's some

candy glass, man. That is, that is candy -ist

of candy glass. And I made a clue reference here,

the doctor in the parlor with the candlesticks.

Even though he doesn't kill her with the candlesticks,

but because, yeah, anyway. The other thing I

noticed about these first two, this episode more

than the other one that we'll talk about, more

than the second episode, we'll talk about next,

next, tomorrow. Next time. Next time, Gadget.

For the first 30 minutes or so, it is all set

up and it works. But we don't even see the star

of the show until 32 minutes and around 25 seconds

or so. I'll get used to that, buddy. No, no,

no. I know. I'm just commenting on it. I'm not

going to comment on this every time. I'm just

noticing how cool and interesting this is by

taking 32 and a half minutes to set everything

up before Columbo comes in. Now, the next episode

we'll talk about, he actually comes in a lot

sooner. But this one was, again, really, really

cool. I noticed the TWA plane. I haven't seen

a TWA plane in decades. I don't even know if

they're still in business. I don't think they

are. I don't think they are. I love the line,

the doctor between the doctor and Columbo. They

expect me to be on call at all hours. Same with

me, Don. I love that. I absolutely love that.

I think that's great. Well, I like how they set

up that Columbo pegged him immediately. It's

like, you know, he didn't even call out to his

wife when he came in the apartment. Yep. Immediately.

Yep. And I'm going to try to actually write down

next to the numbers on this, but I did start

the my wife or the one more. One more thing kind

of doesn't mean anything, but the my wife or

my family counter sometimes needs context for

me. But so far we've got two of those. I like

how it's something so simple and little. In the

hospital, when the doctor is talking to Ray and

that the last thing that Carol said was his name

before she died, I love how Colombo kind of walks

away, but you see him in the background just

kind of walking off to the side. So he's there,

but he's... It's the subtlety with this. This

is why I love going back to these old shows and

stuff, folks, because this is the stuff I miss

in current day TV because nobody does a television

show like this anymore. And yes, I know this

is a play. This is a movie. This is a whatever.

But I still call it TV. I mean, we should look

at the end of the day was shown on TV. So, I

mean, it was a TV show and it is it is lumped

in with the first season of Colombo. So, yeah.

The other thing I noticed was When Joan comes

in and Ray starts calling wherever he's calling,

I forget what he's supposed to eat. He's dialing

and she says something about what's going on

or what happened or how she forgot the gloves

or something or other. And he just literally

like he starts dialing and it's rotary phones.

And this is going to be important, folks, because

I took a note of this now. It's rotary phones

in this episode. In the next episode, it's not.

And I just I love that. Yeah, exactly. Although

we still have rotary phones in the 70s. We kept

one of our phones, which I still own. A big,

blue, chunky thing with a rotary dial that we

had in the 70s. So we got this is interesting

to me I don't know this probably this does not

happen in real life but the doctor sitting in

on the interrogation of The guy they brought

in yeah, that's what they did that You know that

he never actually says that it was set up, but

you get the impression that Colombo set it up

To like do something with the doctor. I and you

know, I watched it a while ago earlier today.

So like But yeah, the impression was this whole

confession was a fake. They never say that. There

was this weird sort of sense that Colombo was

trying to trick the doctor. So that's why he

was there, or else he wouldn't normally have

been. Yeah, it was weird that he was there. Yeah,

I love how Colombo's like, Doc, maybe I need

to get an appointment with you. Maybe you need

to figure me out. Can you figure me out? And

this is where I started making notes after the

wife counter. So we're at number four. Colombo

is, she always says Colombo is too suspicious.

He's a detective. Detectives are always suspicious.

But yeah, I love how Ray throws in his, I think

it's Ray that says, you and your prop cigar.

No, that's a real cigar, but he uses it as a

prop sometimes. Doesn't he call him a shaggy

dog, too? Like your shaggy dog act? I missed

that exact line this time around. Yeah. And the

funny thing is, in that whole scene when he's

talking about the prop cigar, he goes, you know,

Doc, it's funny. My wife, she prefers a pipe.

Just blows my mind. Now here's a question because

I Remember they had Peter Falk on it. We I used

to watch inside the actor studio. Yes Did you

see Peter Falk was on that and I need to catch

up with it? Yeah, the question was Does he really

have a wife? Is she real? Mm -hmm. No, I would

always argue I think she was real. I mean, there's

there's one of the Not reboot, but that's the

only way I can process it. The continuation,

yeah. Is that there's someone who tries to kill

her, tries to kill his wife. So I've always believed

she's a real person. And so there's an episode

in The Run where he has pictures of his family.

So I think some of those nieces and nephews are

real. But there's always a question of is Colombo's

wife real or is she just a fictional device that

he creates to like... You know throw these ideas

out because if you want when we go through the

series you realize that Columbus wife can really

pick them because like the murderous actor is

her favorite actor and The murder is this guy

is her favorite. You know murder chef is her

favorite chef Conductor it's like and so you

kind of think well, maybe his wife is real but

maybe she you know, he's kind of using her as

a Way to kind of get it get it get it get the

wedge in the door kind of thing, you know what

I mean? Yep, absolutely. But I had fun with this.

What are the notes do you have? You make enough

yours, man. My thoughts were like that glass,

the glass and the cake. This one, like I think

it's interesting because a lot of times they'll.

It was interesting because this time he got the

girl to basically confess to sink the guy, because

it's always like how he gets the guy. Yeah, and

that was kind of an interesting little twist

that like she had there's a moment where she

kind of like he literally says I'm impressed

like you you you held out against me I thought

you were gonna break and then he gets her to

break by getting him by getting gray to basically

kind of admit that he's a sociopathic monster

and never really cared about her and in fact

Maybe there would have been a second murder Had

colombo not intervened. Yeah, and like she overhears

that so she's she's the one that rats on him,

which is unusual I also liked again I keep bringing

both episodes up but I like that it like there

was always this little detail That they showed

they focused on and you think oh, that's how

they're gonna trip them up And then the killer

gets it like in this one. It was the cloth over

the TV over the telephone Yeah, right like he

goes back and he gets it and then the next one

It's a briefcase that she she goes back and gets

there's always these little details You think

he's gonna trip them up? Nope. Nope. Nope. That's

not what gets them What got him was the weight

of the suitcase. I picked up on that immediately.

I was like, okay, because it's not going to weigh

as much when he comes back. Yeah, exactly. It's

going to. Yeah, it's like that's that's that's

what I love about it. Good. Like like that back

in the day, they weighed the suitcases and they

charged you more if you had your suitcase, you

were over your weight limit. Mm hmm. I don't

think they do that nowadays. I don't know. I

don't know. It's usually. You probably just don't

want to bring it nowadays. Well, nowadays, from

what I remember from flying about four or five

years ago, it might have changed since COVID

and all that in 2020 and whatever, but it used

to be, like, as long as your suitcase fits in

this, it can... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, they

got a little metal frame. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The

other thing with this one was, one thing I noticed

at the end was, well, first of all, the whole

twist. About her not act like when they go to

her apartment or wherever she like she's laying

by the pool or whatever and they pick her up

and put her on the thing and they cover her up

with a beach towel or whatever it is because

it wasn't a morgue cloth or anything and I'm

like, okay, there's this is fishy to me because

there would be more Activity if she was really

really gone and then the whole set up in the

twist of she's not really gone They set the whole

thing up, but it's a repeat of what he did. Yeah

exactly, but at the end he'd like All the police

are around Ray Colombo's there. Colombo kind

of walks off and Ray just stands there. Like,

he's under arrest. They don't want to arrest

him. They don't drag him off. Yeah, they don't

drag him off. And I'm like, wait, isn't he gonna

be arrested? What happened here? Yeah, I assume

he will. I love Colombo, but one thing that kind

of, now that I'm older, sticks with me, is there's

no sense of follow through or resolution. because

there are a couple of episodes where like you

feel like I don't know if an entrapment was a

was a legal concept back then but there are a

couple that you kind of wonder if they couldn't

just get off you know on the you know from saying

oh well I was entrapped I was tricked I was you

know you never really find out if they really

even it's just they always end with them being

arrested there's never like do they go to jail

do they get punished you know yeah But in that

case, you almost imagine a naked gun kind of

thing, where he just kind of looks to the left,

looks to the right, and just makes a run for

it. So entrapment, at least the etymology of

the word, has been around since 1828. I didn't

mean the concept. I meant legally using it. Right.

I know. That's what I was looking for. But the

only data I can see here is the etymology of

the actual word. But yes, I know what you meant.

Yeah, so that ends that. And yeah, it was just

kind of like... Scratching my head. I'm like,

okay, so that's it. That's cool. I had fun It

was awesome. As I mentioned before folks you

can find this on to be TV The link will be in

the show notes of the podcast Dave has the DVDs

you have all the volumes You don't have the complete

series set, but you have the individual lines.

Yeah. Yes, but you have them all. Yeah. Yes,

I believe please so Like, I've got all the original

run, and then I think I've got all the later

runs. Very cool, very cool. And I love how this

just kind of starts. The way that this starts,

the way that the next episode starts. I love

how they essentially, like we said, they're mini

movies. It's not your standard TV show that has

an opening TV. It's not Knight Rider. It's not

Airwolf. It's not A -Team. It's not Magnum PI.

It's not MacGyver. And this is why I love how

different this is compared to all other television

shows since this is you're sitting at home. Watching

a mini movie on a probably well, you know, we

had color TV back then You know on your color

television and it feels like literally I've sat

here today watching both these episodes so we

could do these first two days of this podcast

that series here And I'm like, I feel like I

watch I feel like I was I went to the movies

twice today Just the way that the way these are

presented and I absolutely love it. I think it's

great Well, I mean I think again another thing

that makes uh the um prescription murder a little

different is that it's got an opening because

i think the later ones have the the mystery movie

opening which doesn't get included in like a

lot of the rebroadcasts you know what i mean

so it just you immediately cut into peter falk

as columbo and the music's playing and like you're

already you're already into the action as opposed

to like you know because like aero like all these

other shows you listed have have an opening credit

sequence yep and and Colombo did too. It was

just it was the mystery movie Yeah, which they

parodied once on Simpsons. Oh Very cool. Very

cool. Alright folks. We are gonna get to how

the show stacked up Did the show keep your interest

throughout? Of course. I love this stuff This

was great. I didn't even I got up once to refill

my water But that was it Mean, I think this one

in particular because either I you know, I think

I'd oversold it but uh Was different and I knew

I knew it was different than the quote traditional

classic Colombo so I was paying more attention

and I was I was surprised at how much of The

seeds of what would come were there, you know

But I was probably paying a little more attention

because it is a little different. It both sets

the pattern and is slightly different than the

pattern, as the pilot often is. So yeah, I was

paying a little more attention this time around,

even though I've seen this, like this one and

the next one we're going to talk about, were

not, as far as I know, in heavy rotation on A

&E back in the day. Like I think I saw them once

during my A &E, watching Hay Day, and I was like,

whoa, this one's weird. I've never seen this

one before. Yeah, that's the same thing for me.

I think I'd only seen these once at the time

So so yeah, I was I was I was paying a little

because and because we're obviously we're doing

this for a thing I was paying more attention

than I normally would Yeah, I it's all about

like particularly as we go along it'll be more

about the character and it's like in his tics

and what he's doing and you're always trying

to like see Like when he when he kind of like

when things click in his head and what he notices

and yeah, it's it's Every rewards attention to

detail. Yeah, absolutely Are we itching to watch

the next episode now? Yes, just freaking yes,

like give me all of this all at once, please.

Yes, absolutely Would we recommend this showed

up? Absolutely if you are looking for an old

detective type TV type show that isn't Modern

day stuff. Heck. Yeah, I didn't have too many

negatives on this getting into our geek meter

rating system here I Will say that there are

some things in this that might trigger people

but Probably not as much as it might I that might

honor I'm gonna give it a four out of five. I

really dug it It's probably not the best one,

but it's like if I'm writing down Mostly positive

Yeah, I think part of five is a is a is a fair

rating because to me it does feel different And

I I you know once once we get into the more traditional

Colombo, you know, I'm gonna relax more and have

a little more fun So it was yeah, I think four

to five is because there's nothing there Like

I said, there were one or two comments and I

can't remember if it was this one or the next

one There were there were a couple of things

that were very kind of of their time Yep. That

made me go, whoa. Because there's a line about

women. I can't remember which one it was, but

I was like, whoa, hey, that ain't gonna fly.

Yeah, it might have been both of them. There

might be lines in both. Yeah, four out of five.

I don't really have anything. Other than looking

back at it with 2025 eyes and being critical

of stuff, there's... There's nothing in that.

I mean, it was the thing that spawned a legacy.

It spawned a classic iconic TV character. Absolutely.

The only thing I will mention is that the only

other thing I will mention is that in Colombo,

in Colombo, stop it, Mike, in Peter Fox acting

history, his, his whole acting debut and or his

whole acting career, he debuted in 1957 in one

episode of Robert Montgomery presents. I have

no idea what that is. And then where I saw him

after I had seen Colombo, but this actually happened

before Colombo. So I saw it in the mid 90s. He

was the third cab driver. In 1963s, it's a mad,

mad, mad, mad world. Now, keep in mind, folks,

as a kid of the 80s watching Colombo, when I

saw him, my first thought was he retired and

became a taxi driver. Even though I know that

it's a mad, mad, mad, mad world was 1963 and

Colombo wasn't until 1968. But because I saw

them backwards of each other, I was like, oh,

cool. He also was in I can't remember the character

he spoofed, but he was in a, I think it was Neil

Simon movie called Murdered by Death, which made

fun of all the David and Christie characters.

And I think he was, I think he was Philip Marlowe?

He wasn't Philip Marlowe, but he was the Philip

Marlowe archetype character. I believe, don't

hold me to that, no cancel I. Yeah, like like

mrs. Marpo and who killed perot and they weren't

those characters they were there there were parody

versions of them and they were pitted against

they were brought to a mysterious mansion like

clue and Basically kind of jerked around. Yeah,

I believe he played the Philip Mueller character

because he's you know Yeah, I will have to look

that up fully later, because I don't see it right

now at this moment. What I do see though, in

1981, something that we're going to get to next

year, folks, in 2025, he was uncredited as the

tramp in The Great Muppet Caper. Yeah, I knew

that. And he was also himself uncredited in the

music video of Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr.

Don't remember that Yeah, it's the music video

of the song But I'm aware it's a music video

of the song and I'm aware that they have a lot

of celebrities doing the Ghostbusters. It's just

I don't even remember the last time I saw that

video I mean it was probably still the Reagan

administration when I actually watched that video.

He's not two years ago when I saw it I listen

to the song all the time. I listen to the song

sure, but like I actually watched the video Yeah,

I watched that a lot in the 80s because there's

that bit where the girls in bed and well, okay

Well, let's get that. No, let's do it. Let's

get that. Yes. Yes. It's okay. No cancel The

last thing he did was play father Randolph in

American Cowslip in 2009 Okay, you're gonna do

everything but Prince's Bride, aren't you? No,

I'm not. No, I'm not. I'm not. I think that's

where most people who are listening to this podcast,

and particularly if you're younger than a certain

age, are familiar as he's the grandpa from Prince's

Bride. Prince's Bride. You want to know something

crazy? What? I've seen scenes from it. I've never

fully watched the entire thing. Wow. Yep. Basically

what I basically what I know off the top of my

head is I will taunt you a second time Oh my

god, that is money python in the holy grail.

Oh, whoops See, I don't even know I am literally

like my hands over my face and that shocked Oh

So, folks, I think we're gonna take it to a quick

ad break. You're gonna hear some podcast ads

and some of the stuff. We'll come back to close

the show right after this. It's true somebody

tried to pull a few strings, but my superior,

he doesn't like that. He gets thinking. So he

said to me, he said, Lieutenant Colombo, you

must be touching a sore spot. So you just keep

right on trying. For over six years, my guests

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I'm sure your insurance company will cover that

No, they won't. No, they probably won't Oh one

more thing before I forget. All right folks.

We are back On episode 111, this is day 11 of

the 31 days of podcast here in December on Studio

2009. Yes, I screwed up and set a Monty Python

line instead of a Princess Bride line because

guess what, folks? The closest thing to Princess

Bride I get is the Nickelback Deadpool thing

that they did for Once Upon a Deadpool. Once

Upon a Deadpool. Can't prefer Marvel movies.

We are Marvel. Yeah, but you know, you're Marvel

licensed by Fox. It's like if the Beatles were

produced by Nickelback. It's music, but it sucks.

Hey, that's it. I'm done. I've had it with all

this Nickelback hating, right? You think that

makes you cool with the cool kids in school,

Fred? No, it just makes me right. It doesn't.

They're overproduced, formulaic ear garbage.

Oh, really? You know who might disagree with

that? Fax. 50 million albums worldwide, 11th

best -selling musical act of all time, Billboard's

most successful rock group of the last decade,

six Grammy nominations, 12 Juno Awards, those

count, six Billboard Music Awards, two American

Music Awards, one People's Choice Award, Canadian,

and a partridge in a f***ing pear tree. Sorry.

I thought we were just having fun. I didn't realize

it was a... You know, you were, um... You gotta

say, you were nicer as a kid. Tired of living

like a blind man. Sick of side of a sense of

feeling. This is how you remind me. That's what

I figured. Anyway, any final thoughts from you,

sir, about prescription murder before I run through

the closing? It's a neat little film. You know,

like I said, the trick is how he's gonna, I think

this is probably one of the less, I mean, it's

a neat little trick how he doesn't break the

guy, because Ray is a sociopath, a stone cold

sociopath. But it's fun watching him kind of

work his magic on the girl and get her to turn

on him, turn on Ray. So yeah, I like it. For

me, it's weird, because it doesn't have that,

Colombo, I feel Colombo is not there yet. Like

we're talking about the siege, but like I enjoyed

it. I think it's, you know, obviously you got

to start from the beginning. It's like the, you

know, it's like you watch it, encounter it for

our point. You got to sit through that first

two seasons of Star Trek to get to the good stuff.

And it's not even, it's not even bad. It's just

not Colombo -y. Like you'll be much more Colombo

-y as we go along, but there are. As you were

right, there are more elements of Colombo there

than I thought. I enjoyed it. I'm glad that we're

getting to do this, this re -thing, this re -watch,

this return to a thing that I enjoyed. Oh my

God, the 90s were 30 years ago. I'm angry that

you've now made me feel very, very old. The 80s

were 40 years ago, the 70s were 50 years ago,

the 60s. Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark, I don't feel well.

Oh boy, you're not the only one that's referenced

that spider -man line to me lately, but yeah,

it's an avengers line, but spider -man says it

That's true I mean Yes in the avengers. Yes.

Yes. Yes All right. So that's going to do it

for day 11 here in studio 2009 for the 31 days

31 podcasts Thank you for joining us. If you'd

like to get in contact with us leave feedback

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visit the website Keycastreo .com where you can

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but Steve Megatron has been working tirelessly

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Which I will be posting these episodes in there

once they are online and live this December Join

us next time when Dave and I will be talking

about season 1 quote -unquote episode 2 ransom

for a dead man For now, I am CFG on Mike with

Dave Draper You'll hear us back in the studio

soon. Oh, oh, one more thing before I forget.

You contemptible ignoramus! Yes, yes, yes, sorry!

See? I would have let it go that you hadn't seen

the movie if you hadn't, like, thrown a Money

Python thing in instead. Well, you know... Disrespect

the memory of Andre the Giant, sir. Well, I didn't

disrespect well if if he was a French taunter

I wouldn't have to disrespect his memory I know

it's money Python So apparently we need to get

you to we need to do a two -part episode holy

grail and princess pride I've been I've been

actively refusing princess bride for like I don't

know almost 40 years now, but we'll see That's

like me and the Transformers movie. Yeah, you're

not missing much Really? I love the fucking movie.

I love the fucking movie too, but if you don't

want to watch it, you don't want to watch it.

It's okay Oh, thank you very much