The Columbo Files – Murder by the Book Review

This is Kevin Conroy, and I am the goddamn Batman.

Hi, this is Kevin Conroy, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. It's a little

early for that. Early? Seems to me your men are

standing around just marking time. Wake up. Ouch.

Could I have a drink, love? I could use one myself.

Thanks. I'll tell you something, Lieutenant.

See, if Mrs. Melville were on this case, she'd

be leaps and bounds ahead of you by now. Is that

the lady in the books? That's right. You see,

she would have figured it out that this is not

just someone missing. This is a professional

killing. 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, TF2 and Mike, and

joining me once again, as always, is that good

old Detective Dave Draper. Hello, sir. How are

you? I'm fine. That's good. That's good today.

We continue our new journey We put on our trench

coats and jump back in time with Colombo These

are the Colombo files here inside studio 2009

and we are obviously we've started at the beginning

already and we're going through in order We are

letting you also we are also letting you know

that the main source to watch Colombo right now

is to be dot TV That's where I watch them. That's

where We are going by the season order of how

to be has them. This is also how they are on

the DVDs the DVDs Yeah, it's crazy because there

are some shows like Phineas and Ferb take that

for example Disney I think it's can I can I quickly

interrupt? I think it's easier with something

like Colombo like like older Network things because

there is in fact An order that they were air,

you know, like with with pretty soon for it was

a afternoon show It was like they made the whole

season and they just sort of released it almost

like I don't say randomly but like, you know,

like with G .I. Joe or Transformers or any of

these shows like that I mean there is there is

an actual order. They probably first aired But

like there's no continuity. There's no not there's

continuity in combo too much But you know what

I mean? Yeah, like there is like okay this aired

this week this aired this week. So this is one.

This is two Yeah, we're finished for episode

just randomly whenever it came out. Well, yeah,

it was and it wasn't because my buddy Michael

Wilson and I do a Phineas and Ferb daily podcast.

We've been doing that since 2016. We're about

to finish sort of until they said, oh, hey, there's

going to be a season five and there's going to

be new episodes next year. Anyway, summer vacation

ended. Summer, summer. Yeah, well, they did do

an episode called The Last Day of Summer, but

they're going to come back and do new ones. I

don't know. It's been a big... That works out

so well for literally everything they've done

that. I did. Animaniacs. Powerpuff Girls. Well,

I... I trust Dan Pavanmire and Swampy Marsh,

the guys who created it, so... I don't think

they wouldn't have brought it back if it wasn't

going to be what they wanted it to be. But my

point is that if you look on the Phineas and

Ferb Wiki, because of how production order, air

date order, all that is all kind of mixed up,

But you look at it on Disney Plus and it has

it starts in the beginning and goes through each

whatever So that's my point in bringing up to

be TV is that we are watching these in order

based on? Yeah, we should say we're watching

in order to the TV so that people following along

Can follow along on to be TV? Yep, but they're

not it's the actual whether or not it is the

true order which it seems to be Yes, they're

there it in or not. We're using the to be as

the the rubric Which fortunately follows along

with the DVDs, because that's how I do it. Yep.

So. Absolutely. Today is season one, episode

three, and it's a murder by the book. Season

one, episode one. I literally just told you before

the thing started that on the back of the DVD

boxes it says, the first season of Colombo, plus

the two movies that preceded it. I understand

that, but... I know, but we're doing it this

way because it's easier to keep track of. The

third episode on Tool B. Yes. Which is the first

episode of the actual series. Yes. Well, because

I noticed it. You notice it because they're shorter

than the previous two episodes. Because the previous

episodes were movies and not episodes. But still,

like, for... I don't even know if it's for the

time, but compared to today... Also, it's a weird

show where season one started in 1968, its second

episode aired in 1971, and its third episode

aired in 1973. I don't know. Or the season started

in 1973 and the first two were movies. Okay,

Mr. Caruso. Dude, phones change. Like you actually

commented. Yes. They're down to dial phones and

it's like this one they have push button phones.

They have push button phones. That's right. Yeah.

Slightly less distant past now. Yes, yes, absolutely.

But yeah, you mentioned the time length and an

hour and a half movie type. But again, for me

watching these, watching the first two that were

Technically mini movies and then watching the

the season as we're going along here murder by

the book and death lens a hand and all that Those

were 94 minutes. These are 72 minutes. These

are long Episodes, but they don't murder by the

book to me as I was watching it for this It went

like that. It goes like it moves also like Colombo

shows up much earlier this you know, like like

like There yeah, it does move much faster like

a lot a lot more stuff happens in them Yeah,

and that's very very cool, and I like that. I

like that and also again. I like the 72 minute

time format because normally most shows minus

commercials are like anywhere from 40, like an

hour long show, 60 minutes. Usually you take

out about 20 minutes or so, it's usually somewhere

between 42 and 48 minutes, sometimes 42 and 54

minutes if you're lucky. So I love the long episode

format, because again, watching this episode

and then the next episode that we'll talk about

in the next podcast, I still feel like these

are mini movies to me. They kind of arcs. I mean

the the the show quote -unquote Was the what

NBC mystery movie? Yes, it was it was it was

presented. So they were longer episodes It was

a weird it was a weird thing that they've never

done again as we've mentioned It was a a la carte

kind of format where everybody was a different

different show different concept But they were

all under the banner of the mystery movie of

the week. I can't I can't remember what network

I think it was NBC. Yeah, it was NBC Um, yeah

So like we said like one week would be colombo

one week in the cloud one week would be Macmillan

and wife and they were all they were all slightly

longer because it was It was the new mystery

movie of the week, but they weren't movie length.

Yeah, they weren't 90 minutes Some episodes were

like it's weird There are some episodes that

were longer and some episodes that were shorter

I guess as the things got dialed in and messed

around with all of the season one episodes from

By the book all the way down to blueprint to

murder. They are all either 72 or 71 minutes

long So I should have clarified that season by

season. I think oh, yeah. Yeah, we will Yeah,

we will find that out as we go. Tell me something.

How long have you been a lieutenant lieutenant?

Mrs. Melville would have put that together like

that I want to take all the help I can get. But

Murder by the Book, oh boy, I was surprised to

see a certain famous, infamous film director

as the director of this episode. Yeah, he directed

a movie called Duel and something called Sugarland

Express. So he did have work after this episode,

which is nice, because I think it's very competently

directed. I think the kid has a future, or a

bad future, because he's 71 or 73. Oh yeah, he

seemed like a talented young fellow. Steven Spielberg

-o? Yes, this episode was directed by Steven

Spielberg. Yeah. That guy. And you can tell that

it was directed by him. And I don't mean that

in a bad way. No, not in a bad way. It's funny

because I don't know that it's really well done,

but it's funny because we watched two episodes

at a time. So I'll probably constantly refer

to the absolute but the next episode has like

all these weird artsy touches Yep, and like but

this one didn't it was just you know, like there

it was it was well done. It was it was Spielberg's

a good is is like Sometimes the myth outruns

the man. Yes, I think in Spielberg's case He's

so legendary at this point that you forget that

he is in fact Good at his job He's done so many

classic things that you're like, oh, he's this

god -like figure, but he's a good director. He

knows what to do. He directs well. Yes, absolutely.

And the writer for this was Stephen Botchko.

I was going to say, well, Botchko's also the

story editor. OK, cool. Awesome. Because I caught

that in the credits. And I'm like, for those

of you, I'm surprised. I'm somewhat surprised

even you know who Stephen Botchko is, because

it's a little... He was like a guy who did all

the shows in the 80s. He was a powerhouse in

TV series in the 80s. I think he did Hill Street.

He did a bunch of cop shows. One of the fun things

about watching older movies and TV shows is seeing

names that like Steven Spielberg, like Steven

Botchko, these guys who went on to become famous

and huge and did all these amazing things. And

this is kind of when they were wee babies. Yes.

The theme is by Henry Mancini, who is another

legendary composer in entertainment. Absolutely.

So where I know Stephen Botchko is... And I,

as a kid, from 86 to 94, from the time I was

six to the time I was 14, I probably shouldn't

have been watching this show, but my mom didn't

care because she knew I knew the difference between

what happens in the magical, mystical television

box in real life. The reason, what? No. No, not

Cop Rock. L .A. Law. He created L .A. Law. Oh

yeah, L .A. Law. When I say Hilfrey Blues, L

.A. Law. Yeah, I watched L .A. Law, too. Yeah,

no, I love L .A. Law. And he did this really,

it only got two seasons, but he did this, I thought

it was the movie at first, but he did this series

called City of Angels in 2000. It's a medical

drama television series which ran for two seasons.

It was the first medical drama with a predominantly

African -American cast because it's got Blair

Underwood in it, it's got Vivica A. Fox, Michael

Warren, Hill Harper, Phil Buckman. But I remember

seeing that and I was like, oh, that's cool.

I didn't know that was him. Unfortunately, Mr.

Botchko was diagnosed with leukemia in 2014 and

he passed in 2018. So, may the man rest in peace.

Now, Mr. Spielberg, Mr. Shark Director, you guys

don't need us to go through Spielberg's film.

If you need us to tell you, I mean, the movies

that Steven Spielberg directed, I don't know

why you're listening to something called the

Geek Cast Network. Like, who are you? Where have

you been? Yes, exactly. I made a joke about Duel

and Sugarland Express, because those are his

earliest movies and a little more obscure. Yes.

Yeah, he had two obscure ones with universal

pictures. They were obscure because he was nobody

until Jaws. Yeah, exactly. And then he broke

out with Jaws. The first summer blockbuster.

Yep, and then everything else is just... Well,

okay, calm down now. What? There was a little

film called 1941. Yes. Which bombed, no pun intended.

Okay. And that was a weird thing reading Craig's

book, Craig Miller. guest for our Star Wars podcast

was he talks about how like Spielberg was kind

of in the doghouse after 1941 and they didn't

want him for Raiders which is which is fascinating

like again the legend outruns the man you kind

of just go of course you got Raiders because

he's Steven Spielberg and he's friends with George

Lucas and it turns out that that Paramount didn't

want him and then he did a little film called

the hook which I know my our friend Jason loves

hook of course he does but like that was another

bomb Okay, Hook might have been a financial bomb,

but I fucking love that movie. Okay. That movie

is amazing. What's wrong with you? That movie

exists. I will give you that. Oh, my God. That

movie is Robin Williams as Peter Pan. That's

Dustin Hoffman as Captain James T. Hook. Whatever.

You know what I mean. I know what you mean, but

like, I mean, come on. Oh, God. I love that.

Outside of the Disney animated version of Peter

Pan, Hook is my favorite version of the entire

story. I don't even have a favorite version of

Peter Pan. Well, it is what it is. And then obviously,

you know, he went to Dinosaur Park and did the

dinosaur stuff and all that good stuff. I can't

remember if we talked about that on the episode,

but that was a hell of a fight at the time. My

grandmother wanted that. uh book before it was

even published they were fighting over that book

yeah there was like burton wanted it and i can't

remember i can't remember the other name they

were like every major director of the 90s the

early 90s wanted to do that every studio wanted

it yep i did not know that he directed ready

player one i did he deliberately left out um

there was he deliberately left there's a lot

of references to spielberg films in the book

and he left them all out except for the uh t

-rex You know as you do know But yeah, we are

gonna get to mr a couple of mr Spielberg's films

in the future here on Street 2009 sometime in

2025 because Catch me if you can. Oh, that's

a great. Yeah, absolutely I actually remember

we went for some odd reason whatever high school

or Yeah, it would have been high school. 97.

Whatever high school I was in at the time, they

took us on a quote -unquote field trip to see

Amistad. Okay. Well, it was a historical... Yes,

it is. Yeah, no, absolutely. But it was just

weird. Like, well, what was weird is in 93, Spielberg

had Jurassic Park and he had Schindler's List.

Yep. Which, you know, I think career -wise...

That's got to be that the pinnacle. Yes, the

biggest blockbuster in the world at the time

and then his Academy Award -winning epic serious

art film and then 97 he had lost world which

I love and he had homestead which I think is

a pretty decent movie I mean, it's very kind

of white savior trope, but it's it's I think

the stuff up with Okay, I can't learn the actor's

name Anthony Hopkins as Quincy Adams, I kind

of liked that stuff. It was good, but it wasn't...

What I'm saying is, in 93, you had these epic

things, and then 97 was kind of like the literal

sequels and figurative sequels, and they were,

as sequels, often are not as good. Although again,

I absolutely adore Lost World. None of which

is about Colombo, by the way, sir. Excuse me,

sir. Can we talk about Colombo? I know. Yes,

we will. We'll get back to it, but we have to

talk. Like, if I recognize it directly. Is it

necessary to explain to the audience? who's spielberg

is no but my point is to talk about the people

that have worked on that worked on colombo that

either wrote it or start in it or whatever if

i recognize them we're gonna talk about him yeah

that's that's kind of the point here and no i

was not gonna spend so much time on spielberg

but just i mean the man has every title i'm looking

at on his filmography i'm like Love that movie.

Love that movie. Love that movie. That movie

was okay. Didn't see that one Like yo if in the

in the early to mid 80s he produced I mean he

directed a bunch of stuff, but he produced gremlins.

He produced back to the future, you know He was

involved in poltergeist like yeah, some people

even say he directed it Toby Hooper got the credit

but You know, yeah, absolutely so We have Ken

Franklin, one half of a mystery writing team.

Oh, boy. Jack Cassidy, who was a big star back

in the day. And by the 80s, by the late 60s,

early 70s, I can't remember when the Partridge

show came on, but he got eclipsed by his son,

David Cassidy, who became a big teen idol. And

well, there was a there was an interesting TV

movie about there. He was jealous. Like he had

issues with his son becoming more famous than

he was. But Cassidy will be a Colombo regular.

He has three roles. In fact, in the next one,

Robert Culp comes back. There's a lot of that.

There's a lot of these guys. Colombo keeps catching

these guys, but they keep getting out and like

assuming new names, new identity. Yeah, I'm making

a joke. It's the same actor. It's a different

character. But yeah, yeah a writing team who

created a Is Melville? Yes, ms. Melville. Yeah,

you know which you know legal is legally distinct

from um Yeah, Jessica. Yeah Jessica just cuz

you ever I don't think they ever told you who

Jessica's character was. Oh, yeah No, but it

was a guy camera with a character from um, I

got the Christie But she had a female sleuth

too who was clearly the inspiration from his

Melville, yeah Yeah, but every time that they

did the the the zoom in to to the photo of The

painting of sorry the painting of of ms. Melville

my first thought was oh look, it's it's murder

she wrote That was my first thought. Sorry. Sorry,

not sorry. And did you catch the name of the

book? I guess it was the most recent book because

they kept passing it around. No, I don't remember.

Prescription Murder. Oh, nice. Which is the name

of the original movie. Yeah, that's nice. That's

awesome. The whole book scene, like, oh, I've

read all your books. And like, poor Columbo,

man. No, well, so the beauty of the great part

about that scene, I love that, is what's the

name of Cassidy's character? Ken Franklin. Franklin.

Franklin's like, obviously you've heard of our

books. And Columbo's like, no, should I have?

Yeah. I love just watching. Peter Falk do this

role. It's so good. Yes, Columbo is one of those

Characters that okay, but yeah, the Chris character

was miss Marple Okay, that sounds about right.

So miss Melville. See ya But just his He's definitely

we're definitely in full -on Colombo territory

now. Oh, absolutely. The only things that are

missing are the dog and This old man because

he always has this old man and that's in tune.

But we've got we've got the Peugeot Yeah, I remember

when the Peugeot came on screen. I was like,

yes. Yep French and it actually becomes like

in the next episode it the next episode Yeah,

I think it's the next episode it Which is the

one where his license is expired? He gets pulled

over by the cops? Yeah, that's the next one.

That's the next one. Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Spoiler.

No, no, no, it's fine. No, no, no, spoiler for

the fans, I'm sorry. Okay. I'm joking. I know

you're joking. It's a joke, son, it's a joke.

I know, I know. You're missing him. So, we should

set it up that... Franklin and this other guy

are part of our writing to our part of a writing

team Although Franklin has well, it's interesting

though. The the wife of the other guy is is fairly

kind to Franklin in a way Well, there's a great

sequence. Okay, we'll get there. They're part

of a writing team. They've created mrs. Marple

and I'll get that wrong. It's okay They created

this character. She's a popular character who

solves mysteries The other guy does all the actual

writing. Franklin handles the press. It's like

a Lee Kirby thing almost. Kirby did all the work

and Lee gets all the attention. The other guy

wants to break away and start doing more. He

wants to stop doing the mysteries and do more

serious fiction. That's going to leave the other

guy in a lurch because he can't write. He's not

talented. So he decides he takes out a big insurance

policy on the guy and concocts this elaborate

scheme to get the guy out of the house and all

the way to San Diego from Los Angeles, but pretend

that he's still in Los Angeles to talk to his

wife, to establish the alibi. And then he kills

him, and he does his whole thing where he brings

him back. So she's talking to him on the phone,

and she thinks he's in his office, and she hears

the gun go off. And then he brings the body back

and puts it on his front yard. And part of it

is this whole cover story about how the other

guy was going to start writing serious investigative

fiction about crime figures, because there's

a fake list that he puts in the office. And of

course, Colombo sees through most of that pretty

much immediately. Well, I knew he was gonna get

caught obviously that's the point but I knew

he was gonna get caught when Lily Was like, oh

I saw you with you and your and and your partner

or your male friend or whatever I saw him in

the car. Oh my god, who? That actress what that

actress that plays that character. Oh my god,

my brain cells were on fire every time she spoke

Oh, boy. I didn't like her that much. I mean,

she's supposed to be kind of pathetic. So Franklin

has a cabin in San Diego or in the rural areas

around San Diego, around a lake or something.

And she runs a local store and she's a fan of

those books. And he kind of plays off of her

fandom to kind of manipulate her a little bit.

And he's always bringing girls to the cabin and

she's got a thing for him. She's a super fan,

but she's also got a thing for him. And so when

he shows up with his partner to kill him, he

keeps the partner in the car, he goes in and

he makes a call. And when he's making the call,

she actually apparently spies on the car. But

you don't find that out until later. And then

later on, after the murder and after he's, you

know, kind of seemingly gotten away with it,

he's at a big Broadway show and she shows up,

Lily shows up and basically kind of starts to

put the screws to him. Like I saw he was in your

car and he wasn't supposed to be there and something's

going on and you're gonna give me money and yep

He still manipulates her but I think She was

supposed to be a little off -putting Yeah Like

the way that he so in the restaurant when he's

with the other woman He was never with the other

woman in the restaurant. He was that it was at

the show But the point where Lily shows up Yeah,

she's at the show. So she shows up at the show

and he's with the other woman and it's like he

doesn't even want to deal with Lily. Oh, no,

not at all. Get out of here. She kind of like,

oh, but I got to tell you something important

that I saw. And he pretty much figures that she's

on to him. Yeah. I love the whole twist. of the

fact that the idea of the murder was actually

Ken's. It was his only good idea. I love a lot

of the dialogue at the end. I love how Colombo's

whole thing is, oh, I can figure it out the first

murder because that was your partner's idea,

but you did the second, because he kills Lily.

He's like, you figured out the second murder

because that was sloppy. That was like you. And

in the end, he's like, well, the irony is I did

come up with that idea. That was the only good

idea I ever had. Who thought that idiot would

ever write it down? Yep. I do love that twist

at the end. Yeah, that was so good. And this

episode, like I said, it just showcases how mystery

television, sleuthing television, detective TV,

whatever you want to call it, It just shows how

good it can be how good it was and how into like

yes, technically if you look at this It's a generic

plot. But again, there's a TV today every time

I try to watch a murder mystery today I'm like,

I'm figured out in two seconds. Yeah, you know

kind of thing where again again, you're not supposed

to forget the the trick is You don't have it's

not a who done it. It's a how done it So you're

not even trying to figure out who did it. You're

trying to figure out how he screws up in a way

that Colombo will figure it out. That's the fun.

It's a twist. It's different. It's fun. Yeah.

It's very, very fun. Let's see. What are the

the beginning of prescription murder and ransom

for a dead man. Yeah. I love how it's just his

partner on the typewriter in the office. I like

how the theme actually has the clacks of the

typewriter keys in it. Did you get that? Yeah,

that was kind of neat. Yeah, it was very awesome.

But just the way that it opened, you get a little

bit of the opening theme as the show's name shows

up and things like that, and some of the credits

and things like that. But it's really silent.

Haven't seen a TV show be that this show all

of these episodes that we've watched so far or

two movies and two episodes whatever I'm surprised

by how quiet it is most of the time unless somebody's

talking or unless You know a murder happens or

something like that MTV was a decade of like

it MTV was a decade away. He said somewhat facetiously

Yes, I remember when I Years ago. I rewatched

Batman the animated series and it was It was

weird that something that came out in the 90s.

It was quiet and still I mean it had it had musical

school, you know, yes it had but like Just I

think we've all been trained to just have stuff

thrown at us every second, you know Just music

music music. It's blah blah blah the shiny things

action Oh no, you had to stop for one second.

Oh no, you're gonna get bored and distracted.

Music, music, music. It's like, they really sort

of let you think and let you be in your head

and let you kind of just be there. It is different.

It is weird and almost alien. It's the world

that we're looking back on. Yeah, it's an experience.

And that's what watching, I'm gonna say content,

but whatever. Watching things watching TV watching

movies, whatever. It's an experience. It's supposed

to You're supposed to go into it thinking. Oh

It's a mystery. It's a how done it whatever kind

of thing like you said and you go in and you

sit out and you just watch it and Every moment

and I think this was in the other two episodes

that we did but what I love in Colombo so far

with some of the action scenes is that instead

of hearing a scream when a female gets attacked,

you don't hear that. It's a music cue, a very

loud music cue that comes up as the killer is

killing the victim. Instead of hearing, you know,

I'm not going to do a really loud crappy scream,

but instead of hearing some sort of scream, it's

the music that drives that action. And that is

fun. That is interesting. And that is different

because TV back then is obviously not like how

TV is now. Like you just said, they throw everything

at you all at once. Well, I also wonder if standards.

I don't know if it was a. I mean, I don't know

if it was not an artistic decision or if it was

like standards and practices. Yeah, I mean, it

might not have been, you know, but like because

that's again. Steven Spielberg like that's one

of the things he was good at was was taking limitations

and making them You know making art out of them.

Yeah So I I don't know like nowadays, of course

She'd scream and there'd be blood everywhere

and blah blah blah and the music would be would

be Super high volume, but this was like yeah

It was it was kind of a cool artistic thing that

like the sound went away and just the music kind

of queued up When Lily gets killed so Yeah, it's

very, very fun. I didn't, I thought that Ken

was going to take Lily out onto the lake and

kill her out there. I did not see her, see him

killing her in the, in the house or in the, wherever

they are, and then taking the body out there

and dumping it. I thought he was just gonna...

I think he tried, didn't he? He was trying to

convince her to go on the lake and she didn't

want to go. Yeah, she didn't want to go, which

means he then just hit her. But like, when he

was trying to convince her, I thought they were

going to go and he was going to kill her out

there instead of at the house. It's not a bad

thing. It's just something I noticed. No, no,

but I mean, it's like Colombo said, it was sloppy.

Like she actually, it's funny because he was,

he... had manipulated his partner so easily into

where he wanted him to be and what he wanted

him to do. And then Lily, who's kind of a local

hick, basically, it goes along with it a little

bit, but not enough. He wanted her out on that

lake, but she said, no, so we had to kill her

in the house and then drag her to the lake. Yep,

absolutely. So I've gone back to our previous

scripts that I'm keeping track of the My Wife

counter. We are up to 10 and 11 moments so far

in all of these. So number 10 is when he was

telling Franklin that his wife wants a cabin

when they were out there. And number 11 is that,

oh, no, sir, I'm not the athlete. My wife, she's

the athlete. Also, my wife wants a cabin thing.

That's another Colombo thing where it's like,

oh, I'm not following you around. I'm just here

because I'm doing this thing. I'm here looking

for a cabin. I'm here to do this. It's completely

unrelated to you. It's just a coincidence that

I have been running to you and ask you a bunch

of questions. That's a classic Colombo tactic.

There are so many things in this episode that

he does that Colombo does that I forgot he did

and Even like literally I watched this episode

like six months ago Of course a lot has happened

in six months and my brain is mush But but rewatching

it for the second time for this I enjoyed re

experiencing those little things like the cigar

scene where he figures out about Ferris writing

everything down on various pieces of paper. Well,

he remembers because she said something earlier.

Yeah, absolutely. I thought that was great and

even good. I was gonna say, I love the scene

early on, kind of right after he first shows

up. Like the wife is in this room with all the

policemen and she's upset and she kind of breaks

away and kind of tries to get some water and

that's when she runs into Columbo and he takes

her home. and he cooks for her, and he calms

her down. We talk about how clever he is and

how much fun he has playing with the guys and

how quirky he is, but there are moments of just

his pure decency. And it also allows him to be

a little bit Colombo -y with like, oh, where

is this? Where is that? How do you do that? But

I love the scene where he's cooking for her in

her house. That's a nice moment. It's a nice

moment and it's an interesting moment. It's a

way to ... I don't want to use interrogation

because it's not interrogation. It's like an

interview. Like you said, he's trying to help

her and all that and he's asking various little

things that he can ask and whatever. scene amongst

everything else that happens and Absolutely,

I love the part where he says to says to Ken

You open the mail. Well, you know bills are distracting

Colombo I had it was just a force of habit to

do that You drove back in San Diego, but they

fly planes out of the airport every 30 minutes.

Yep Yeah, it's stuff like that. I absolutely

love this. This is so good. So fun. Anything

else? What else about Murder by the Book? I think

we hit on everything major. Part of the problem

is I get a little mixed up with the other episode.

Yeah. Because I watched them both at the same

time. This one... We don't see Columbo's temper

in this one. Nope. We will in the future. He

does he does lose his temper every now and then

yeah, I know I just it's it's like I said in

my head I think I said this on air. I I always

thought this was one of the last ones I didn't

think it was the last one, but I thought it was

one of the later ones and it's interesting That's

one of the earlier ones. Yeah, because it does

really sort of it like us When we talked about

the earlier episodes, I was always like, okay,

this isn't quite Columbo for me and and this

one I think really establishes Columbo the iconic

character yes what we know of him yeah and and

like I said there's a little bit about oh I was

just here looking for cabins oh my the one thing

is he I don't think you ever literally said one

more thing he doesn't do that one more thing

sir just one more thing kind of just stuff like

that but he doesn't he doesn't do literally one

more thing Well, like we do have like he never

has matches to light a cigar instead of like

yeah and it's it's there there's a There's a

subtle that's the other way and that there's

a subtlety to the whole thing There's a subtlety

to every one of these and that's what is so good

about them. I think if I remember correctly He

says to I think he says it to Ken He wants to

pick up a few pointers or something and then

I think when he leaves this is earlier in earlier

in the episodes before all the bills in the mail

and the whatever and before meeting Lily and

all that He says it when he jumps back into his

car. He doesn't say specifically one more thing,

but he'll say oh Well, I said he said something

akin to it, but it's not literal Yeah, but it's

close enough to count Yeah, no, I I really dug

this one I I really did there isn't There isn't

anything that put me off about it because everything

about it made sense and They found a way to figure

like they figure Colombo figures it out and Colombo

had it pretty early. Well, right he did obviously

but like you know how sometimes you watch a show

And they don't give you enough answers to something

or they don't tell like they don't not necessarily

tell you but they don't show you how things happen

and you come maybe sometimes I sometimes will

get lost in shows like that and it's like This

doesn't really hold water for me kind of thing.

This isn't that at all Generally really good

about laying everything out My only thing what

I think another thing that we should like make

a running Running tally. Yeah That's not exactly

what I want to say is so like the actual note

That you know that that was written down right

the the idea Like it was actually it was pretty

vague It's like a wants to kill B a gets B to

call but you know, like like it's yes sort of

similar to what happened but it's missing a lot

of specifics and and that's like like like to

me There are some episodes of Columbo where I

kind of wish... I always wanted to know what

happened afterwards. I used to be a huge fan

of Law & Order because they'd arrest him and

then they'd see the trial. Sometimes you kind

of wonder if he got a conviction with the evidence

he had. You know what I mean? Yeah. Could you

have got... And sometimes, which we'll get to

the next episode... Like there are a few that

uh, i'm wondering what the laws were on entrapment

back in the early 70s Yeah, it's a little It's

a little sketchy i'm not gonna i'm not gonna

not admit that it is very much a little sketchy

Like in this one franklin does admit to it But

he but I mean a good lawyer can get that thrown

out. Yeah There's always a sense of like and

I made the joke earlier. Oh his his enemies come

back over and over again like You could see some

of these guys getting off like I could yeah,

also because as I said like the first episode

these people all rich well Franklin actually

He's he's got money easy upper class Sort of

by proxy. He doesn't the money's run out. Yeah,

let me know But like you know, a lot of them

are rich. They're well connected like they can

make a higher a good lawyer like You could see

them beating the rap based on what Colombo actually

has on them. And this one I thought was, I thought

that, I mean, it's a neat moment, like that whole

thing about the being written down and getting

them to confess, but the actual thing written

down is pretty generic. I would've said, oh wow,

that is amazing, but you gotta prove that I did

that, not just that that thing was written down.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. But what I like like

what you're saying about having the the more

the the trial the this that I Kind of like like

even though it kind of stopped me at first and

I think it was prescription murder Or it might

have been the other might have been ransom for

a different like Where we see that nothing really

happens. I think that was prescription murder

where you don't see him like hauled away But

I mean, yeah, it's pretty solid because they

had is it hopeless. Oh, no, absolutely I'm not

saying it's not solid what I'm saying is we saw

mr. Franklin being taken away so I can only assume

that he's going to jail for murder and The outcome

of whatever trial they may have off air is probably

most likely going to be sentencing him to life

in prison for murdering two people. Or, you know,

they could do something like life in prison plus

90 years or something. That always, like, if

you have a life sentence, and I've never been

in jail, I'm not a criminal, so I don't know,

but if you have a life sentence, what's the point

of adding on the extra, whatever number extra

years it is? I mean, I get it, it's a punishment

and all that and whatever else, but I never understood.

Parole? I think it's parole issues. Yeah, that

could be. Eligibility for parole. Probably. And

I'm not sure, I don't know how common it is to

have a life sentence plus, I think life sentence

is kind of like the, it's like 70 years plus,

blah, blah, blah. I don't think there's a life,

I don't think in the real legal system, it's

like you have the life sentence plus 10 years.

Yeah, I will. I will do some research on that

during the ad break. But yeah, I mean, Murder

by the Book. I dug this. This was so fun. What

are you going to rate it 0 to 5, sir? You know,

I'm going to go 4 .5. Yeah, I'm right there with

you. It doesn't have the dog, so. Yep. not going

to get five out of me until we get dog which

is the first episode of the second season yep

absolutely very cool very cool all right folks

we're going to go to a quick ad break and come

back to close the show right after this you're

right we shouldn't be talking about this now

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What the heck are you doing trying to make our

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reviews dot blog spot dot com I'm sure your insurance

company will cover that no they won't no they

probably won't come on Mr. Franklin Why don't

you make a statement and say was both a lot of

trouble? Alright folks, the one thing I forgot

as we come back into the closing is all of the

how did the show hold up things, but obviously

it kept our interest without. I would say that

we're itching to watch the next episode now because

we already did and we're going to record the

next episode of the podcast. But the point is

with that question is after you watch a television

episode is. Are you excited to watch the next

one? And let me tell you, I'm excited to watch

all of these because so far these are just great.

I was I was excited, too, because there are a

lot that I remember really well and some I remember

less well. So it was like I was like I was excited

to see this one again because it's one that I

remember very strongly. But then I was like,

what's the next one? Like I was like and I kept

getting mixed up with another episode in my head.

So it was like. Kind of fun to watch the next,

like I was like, I want to, you know, get this

cleared up in my head. I want to see the next

one. Like, yeah, I, you don't have to ask me

twice to watch an episode of Glombo. Absolutely.

So like we said, 4 .5 for Murder by the Book.

And yeah, the one episode that I remember from

this entire run, all of the Colombo stuff, the

only thing I ever remember is Rosebud, Rosebud.

That's another, and you know who owns that actual

sled? Who? Steven Spielberg. Of course he does.

He owns the real Rosebud. Yeah, that's another

great one with Nicole Williamson. Yeah, that's

a later one, but that one's got the dog. Yep.

And it featured dogs heavily, so it's a great

episode. Yes, it does. It's probably my second

favorite episode. Any other final thoughts from

you, sir, before I run through the closing for

this episode? No, I think it's like people always

say that the pilots are not good or weak for

a series. And this was a very strong, very iconic

first episode. I mean, which is why I thought

it was later in the series, because it is so

strong. Yes. The character of Columbo is very

well defined. Everything happens very smoothly.

The machinery is already there clicking away.

I think it's a strong episode. I think it's a

fun episode. Obviously, we spoiled how he did

it, but that stuff... I don't know. I'm babbling.

I think it worked out. Yeah, it worked well.

And the show is over 30 years old. Okay. It's

okay, it's not like... No, no, no, what I mean

is like, I don't know why we have to be snotty

about, oh, this old thing has value. Like, oh

my goodness. I mean, it's no squid game or Stranger

Things or those are probably old dated references

too. I don't know what the hell, I don't know

what the hell the children are watching these

days. But like, you know, like old stuff has

value, you know? Absolutely. I I said on a recent

and this will tie in it's not specific with specific

specifically God, I can't talk today But I said

on an episode of our transformers podcast and

all things transformers. I said It's not the

new stuff that Hasbro is trying to do with the

transformers brand whether that be toys cartoons

movies, whatever It's the old stuff. It's all

the old cartoons. It's all the old toys that

It's the old stuff. So essentially the same thing

with TV. It's older shows. It shows that I remember

watching, whether as a kid, teenager, young adult,

whatever, that bring me joy. And, you know, we

can still think about them critically. Yeah,

I don't like, I mean, Ken's a horrible character.

He's a good character. He's written well. He's

a terrible person. He's a scumbag. He's a scumbag.

Like, murdering piece of shit. There's nothing

in the story that is suspending a disbelief moment

like yeah There's nothing where like a lot of

the movies and TV shows nowadays is oh, it's

okay You just have to suspend your disbelief.

It's okay. We're not gonna explain Don't worry

about it. Just eat your popcorn. It's a popcorn

movie. Don't worry Yeah, yeah, that's not what

this is. This is pay attention enjoy learn and

see how things progress. And it's awesome. I

love it. All right, folks. Thank you for joining

us here inside the studio. If you'd like to get

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Studio 2009 Colombo files. You can check us out

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next time when Dave and I will be discussing

Colombo season one, episode four, Death Lens

ahead. This one I did not remember. Well, I got

it confused with another one. Right. I went into

this one cold and I'm like. I like it. We'll

talk about it tomorrow. We're going to do a whole

episode about it. Exactly. For now, I am TF2

and Mike with... TF Draper. You'll hear us back

in the studio soon. Well, I guess we would have

found some other way.