The Columbo Files – The Most Crucial Game Review

Hey, hey, hey, it's the cast queen here and you're

listening to the Geekcast Radio Network. This

is Craig Miller, director of Star Wars Fan Relations,

and you are listening to Studio 2009 only on

the Geekcast Radio Network. Columbo, I'm gonna

throw you out of here on your rear. I mean, you'll

miss the best part. There is nothing wrong with

your podcast player. Do not attempt to adjust

the volume. Hello and welcome back into Studio

2009, only on the GeekCast Radio Network. I'm,

of course, TFCR Mike. And joining me once again,

as always, is that good old Detective Dave Draper.

Hello, sir. How are you? Hello, sir. How are

you? I am well. These episodes were... Interesting

between this one and the one we'll talk about

next time, but I like I really like the second

one I mean this is good. They're all good. But

like yeah, the second one's one of my favorites

Yeah, and this one actually had had a big moment

for me. I was very happy Can you guess no? Okay,

well, I'll mention it. Yeah, you'll mention it,

man. We are continuing along the journey as we

started last year in 2024, so join us as we put

our detective hats on and jump back in time with

Columbo. These are the Columbo Files, Inside

Studio 2009, and we are starting at the beginning,

as always, and going in order. 2B TV, main resource,

unless you have the DVDs. And today is Season

2, Episode 3, and we are watching the most crucial

game. Yes. Yes, yes. Which, you know, this definitely

indicates that Colombo is a fantasy because Los

Angeles has a football team. Although I think

they have the Rams. I get confused. The Raiders.

No, no, the Rams. They had the Rams and then

they gave that to St. Louis and then St. Louis

had to sell it back. I don't know. I'm confused.

But these are the Rockets. It is actually the

footage of the football teams is from the first

Super Bowl. Oh, nice, very cool. Los Angeles

Coliseum shots from the beginning of the show

are from the 15th, and it's also my birthday!

The 15th January 1967 AFL -NFL World Championship

game renamed Super Bowl I after the term was

coined in 1969. Kansas City Chiefs graphics painted

on the end zone and some of the Chiefs cheerleaders

can be seen. And that can be seen prominently.

There's a lot of shots of that cheerleader doing

a flip. Yes, there is. And I'm laughing, folks,

because of the fact that it's the Kansas City

Chiefs. And yeah, no, I want to see. We're not

allowed to say it anymore? No, no, no. I don't

know what we're allowed to say and not say anymore.

No, no, no, no, no. It's just that the current

day in 2025, the Kansas City Chiefs are cheap,

cheeps. Wow. Cheeps. That's new terminology for

that team. They are trying for a three -peat

and everything's all, Mahomes this and Mahomes

that and whatever else. And the best thing I've

seen is the return scene in end game when everybody

comes back and the Chiefs are Thanos and everybody

comes back and everybody is every other team

in the NFL. that wants to fight Thanos and essentially

the Bills are Tony and Oh God, yeah, no, go Buffalo

Bills. Let's go. I don't like, I haven't followed

sports ball in a while. Like cause I make bears

fans. So I mean, what's the, what's the point?

What's the point? And the worst part is like,

like they've had plenty of seasons where they

start kind of good. And then they get about four

games in and then they just collapse. If you

haven't gotten to the Super Bowl and just folded

like a lawn chair and it's just like, why bother?

They just gotta find the next Walter Payton,

man. They just gotta find the next... They just

gotta find the next anybody. All I can remember

about the Bears is the 85 game. Yeah, because

that was the one we won. And we had the Super

Bowl shuffle. And one thing that no other team

can claim, not even the... Filthy Green Bay Packers.

The Packers don't have a GI gel. No, they don't.

Bears do. Yeah, the Bears do. That's right. OK,

folks. Sorry, I've gone off on a tangent. I apologize.

But I mean, it was interesting to me to find

out where they that's like 67 to 73. That's like

six years. I mean, that footage looks old, too.

It looks very old. It's very old. But I mean,

in context of the episode. Mm -hmm. It doesn't

match the the film quality of the episode. No,

it is surplus NFL footage. Yeah, right see for

the general. Yeah Yeah, it was also interesting

like I Because I the whole reason I actually

started looking things up is I I remember the

84 Olympics in Los Angeles I don't I apparently

they had it before then too because I mean that

that that that Coliseum has the Olympic symbol.

Mm -hmm But I still have the Olympics at some

point before then, but I don't, I'm not an Olympic

scholar. I don't know. I just, I just remember

the 84 Olympics vaguely. I was 13, but I mean,

it was like the one time I was really, cause

it was in America and like, uh, the Soviet union

wasn't there. So we were really dominating and

you could watch it during the day and you could

watch it on one network as opposed to like, I

don't know what nightmare packages they do these

days with all this nonsense. I have really tuned

out on the Olympics. In fact, it was like, oh,

yeah, we just had one. The only reason I remember

that is because the Australian breakdancer lady.

Right. OK, so before 1984, which was the big

one, OK, well, for us, Los Angeles was the big

one. Before that, in 1980, they were in Lake

Placid. Well, that was the Winter Olympics. 1980

was the one in Russia because we skipped it because

of Afghanistan. Right. No, no, no. I understand.

Ironically. Right. This list is just all of them.

It's just all the city the Olympics has been

in. It's not separating them from summer or winter.

So just to say that the Olympics in general in

the United States before 1984, Lake Placid, Squaw

Valley? in 1960. And then the 1932 was both in

Lake Placid and Los Angeles. So that was probably

the one that they built the Memorial Coliseum

for. Probably, yeah. Because before that... Los

Angeles has hosted the Olympics twice before

in 32 and 84. So apparently they're doing it

in 28. Yeah, but what's most interesting to me

scrolling up this list is the years, you know

go older and older and older the very first North

American Summer Olympics Summer Olympics 3 on

July 1st 1904 were held in st. Louis, Missouri

I Believe it Well, it's right here on the thing.

So what I'm saying is There was a time when America

was more than Los Angeles Oh, true. It apparently

seems to be the only city that can get the Olympics

these days. Well, there was that time in 1996

with Atlanta. Well, yeah, out of that. Yeah,

out of that had a whole thing. Yeah, that had

a whole thing. Salt Lake City got them in 2002.

That was those, winner doesn't count. Yes, it

does. Shaking my fist, winner doesn't count.

Yes, it does. No, it doesn't. Yes, that's I have

spoken. Well, yeah. Yeah, it's basically Los

Angeles and Salt Lake Listen is like podcast

about a dude in a French code who solves crimes

It is, except for the fact, I knew sports was

going to come up in this podcast. It's the most

crucial game. Yeah, exactly. It's the most crucial.

When I saw that episode title, before I even

read anything about the episode, before I even

looked at the episode itself, I'm like, oh my

God, this is essentially the Rudy of Colombo.

Great. Gotcha. Well, I mean, I'm saying because

it's football. Aside from having like in no way,

shape or form story structure. I'm just saying

because of the the football and how old it looks.

That's all here. It's old Okay, so yeah, Paul

Hanlon played by Robert Culp. So Robert's back

back. Yeah, this is absolutely this is there

are two repeat actors in this episode and Apparently

Stockwell will appear again. Yay, bring to my

IMDB trivia Hopefully he's not another dead character.

I think he's a murderer? I gotta whip that up.

I'll look it up. You go on. So yeah, we got Paul

Hanlon, the general manager of the Los Angeles

Rockets football team, wants to create a sports

empire. But Eric Wagner, played by Dean Stockwell,

who inherited the team, lacks ambition and Hanlon

sneaks out of the stadium as the ice cream truck

dude who basically ignores a kid on the on the

cliff of Dover or wherever the hell he's driving

up to. You know, that's actually that house.

It's the same one used in Murder by the Book.

It was the house of Ken Franklin. Yeah, very

awesome. I figured they would reuse sets. That

particular house was used repeatedly in various

Universal productions, including Quincy and several

of the Rockford files. Yay, very awesome. I am

DB Trivia. And I know, folks, probably everybody

knows this, but it's just what we do around here.

He drives to a payphone near Wagner's home to

try to fake a call, and he brings the portable

radio with him to fake that he's still in his

office and everything else, and then he goes

up to Hanlon's house and he kills him. Man, that

sucks. Dean's a pretty good swimmer, though.

Yeah. Until he gets clonked on the head with

a piece of ice. I have... real issues with that

piece of ice as the murder weapon. Really? This

is Los Angeles, right? This will come - I have

another issue, but this isn't quite it yet. Go

on. This is Los Angeles - It is an ice cream

truck, to be fair. No, no, I understand that.

But this is Los Angeles, right? This is supposed

to be... Let's say it's supposed to be the fall

in Los Angeles or something. Because it's football

season. Because it's football season. It's not

summer, so I'm not going to say that it's summer.

Let's say it's fall, almost winter. But even

fall, almost winter in LA, it's going to be 70

degrees, 60, 70, 75, something like that. There's

no way that that piece of ice is going to stay

in his hand from the time that he gets out of

the truck to the time that he gets to Eric in

the pool. No way that stays as a hard Blunt object.

It was a to be fair. It was a pretty big chunk

of ice it was But I'm just saying in the law

in the Los Angeles. I don't know and I know that

I'm just nitpicking this but I know cuz cuz cuz

I was gonna point out and it's not in my IMDB

trivia must been somewhere else when I was doing

my initial looking up is there's this whole plot

thing about He washes the deck of the pool with

a hose. Yes for some reason I never quite like

because he didn't want to sneak your prints or

something. I don't know Yeah, yeah, so but Columbo

notices the water and and tastes it and noses

fresh but People have done the math Uber nerds

and basically there's no way that water would

not have evaporated in this Los Angeles Sun You

were saying for as long as it would have taken

for the body to be discovered people come out

and blah blah blah Yeah, that's that's a bigger

plot point to me than the Because the ice is

a pretty solid chunk of ice and he drove it there

in a ice cream truck Yeah, and that's that's

the other thing about like my my actual first

of the episode in all caps I Understand he was

trying to get rid of his wet footprints from

his shoes from spraying the pool deck down Yeah,

but there's no way No way the way he was spraying

that hose No way his socks would have stayed

dry. Oh, yeah, even though his he would have

had wet frickin So I'm sitting here thinking

dude. You should have took both your shoes and

your socks off You'd have wet feet, but at least

it oh Okay, my eyes started twitching so you

kind of quickly ran through the synopsis, but

like what I got hung up on Was like just literally

the why of it? Mm -hmm. Why did he need what

because because usually they established that

that the person gets something from the from

the murder Yeah, and yeah like the whole thing

is Wagner's dad had a vision of having a sports

empire, right? And wag and Wagner jr. Is kind

of a schmuck. He's you know, a rich kid who he's

the second generation that's gonna blow all the

money but he's going along with everything Hanlon

wants. Like he's going to go fly to whatever

to Canada and look at a hockey team, which he

doesn't want. He's doing what he's being told

to do. He's got a little bit of an attitude about

it, but like what does Hanlon get? Do they ever

establish what he actually gets by Wagner being

out of the way? He supposedly takes over. Like,

okay, he's already the general manager. Yeah,

that's what I'm saying. I don't know. That's

another thing. Anything like the new person who

comes in and takes over everything like you're

more likely to get fired in that scenario then

particularly because it's pretty established

that the football team's woeful the Rockets keep

loose like they get sacked and they It's a pretty

bad. I almost looked up the old G .I. Joe Thing

where it's too bad your ass got sad But yeah,

like I I was hoping that I was I was hoping I

missed something somewhere that established Why

the kid had to die? I keep I say kid cuz he's

a young man Yeah, but so it's one of those things

where yeah, I was the same way I'm like, okay,

but what's the point here? What what what's going

on that you need like like you've already said?

Dean Stockwell's character going over and going

through everything that Hanlon wants except he's

not like he's not getting up off his ass out

of his pool to go meet him to go to Montreal

or something. He's not moving fast enough. He's

lazy. But all Hanlon has to do is kind of jerk

that whole your dad's dream thing and he does

it. I don't know it's like usually there's a

reason this felt like the thinnest reason to

murder somebody and I think any of the ones we've

seen yeah very much so like I was what I was

I wasn't even sure where this was gonna go like

I was like okay so the most crucial game it's

not gonna have anything to do with the actual

game itself because it's more focused on the

owner and the background it sort of did now didn't

it okay yes it did but Just saying when I when

it first started playing I'm usually within like

five ten minutes of these 90 minute long episodes

We usually either see the killer or the victim

and we see a reason That the victim is gonna

get killed or we see a reason why the killer

wants to kill the victim and in this one We don't

see a reason. I don't think I'm right. I agree.

I missed it. I don't think it's there Yeah, it

felt weird and thin. However, however, we did

get as Colombo was investigating He ended up

stepping in the pool a little bit and we did

get we got my line finally It's been it's been

one season in three episodes, but we finally

got where'd you get those shoes? Where'd you

get those shoes? Because he was he was you and

and but weirdly it was like there was actual

like motive for it Which I always thought he'd

like randomly asked people about their shoes.

Yeah. Well, yeah, I know it comes back Like I

know it comes back at least once So we finally

got my like to me, the perfect Colombo episode

is going to have the dog. It's going to have

where you get those shoes. And he's going to

defend his car by saying it's French and the

wife. Speaking of the wife, all of them. OK,

yeah, but speak like this one. He mentioned he

mentions he mentions that she gets annoyed that

he focuses on the game. So I didn't write down

what the third one was, but annoyed with the

game. The first one he mentions is that she went

bowling. Second one he mentions the ice cream

complaints and then the third one I forget what

it was but literally there were three my wife's

in this episode I was like, oh, that's that's

really cool. The other thing the equipment Lieutenant

my equipment the sound equipment that Colombo

basically Okay, we're skipping over elements

of the actual plot. So it's established the whole

thing is There's a lawyer who works for Wagner

who hires, this gets a little Byzantine for as

simple as it is, hires a private eye who hires

basically a prostitute to go undercover into

Hanlon's office and plant bugs. Now Hanlon is

aware of that and that's why he does the thing

with the radio and the payphone because he knows

it's being recorded and he wants to establish,

hey, here's this call of me in my office. listening

to the game. He's using that as an alibi. And

then, of course, Colombo keeps the... Well, Colombo

finds out that was a neat part because at one

point, somebody's got the radio on and the phone

rings. And then you get this weird annoying noise.

And I was like, is that something with my...

For a minute, I was like, is there something

wrong with my DVD? Is there a problem? And then

it goes away when the phone call hangs up. And

Colombo knows that that's like a feedback thing

because of a badly installed bug. So he gets

the guys the privatized sound equipment and his

license too. He won't get the license back either

Nope, but just wanted to establish for the audience.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely Yeah, it's it's it's just

I season one Is it's the building season like

we're like we've already said in that season

in those episodes where we get various parts

of the Colombo character and then in a couple

of episodes we have the full character this season

after these two episodes I have no idea what

to expect out of this show at this point Because

and that's a good thing. I'm not saying it's

a good thing. It's a good thing because Like

I was not expecting Colombo to do a football

murder mystery And then next time when we do

the next episode, I was not expecting Columbo

to go to London to learn their police tactics.

That becomes a... I know there's only one other

Columbo outside of Los Angeles episode. That's

the one with Ricardo Montalban. That's also the

one that I will argue, because there's always

this thing about, is Columbo's wife real? That

is the one I think provides the most solid proof

that she's a real person. Because other people

on the ship have seen her and interacted with

her. Yes. Robert Culp. Man, so this dude is essentially

Columbo's joker. I'm serious. No, no, no. I'm

laughing because we haven't gotten to Patrick

McGuinn yet. Okay, fine. But I'm saying so far

out of... Yeah, so far. I'll give you Riddler

or Penguin. He's a mainstay. Yeah. Mean he gets

three up three or four episodes I think he gets

three but going gets three in the eight in the

NBC series and one of the ABC series I think

he's got four. Okay, but like The whole time

I was watching Paul and when I'm like That's

just what's his name? The other guy from the

other episode. Yeah, that's that's just him with

a with a bad mustache A fine 70s moustache, sir.

Yeah, I really enjoyed this one. I thought this

was fun. The whole thing with the with the prostitute

with Eve Babcock and everything. Who was Valerie

Perrine, who became a TV staple like in the late

70s and 80s. Wait, what did you call her? Valerie

Perrine, I believe. Valerie Harper. Oh wait,

no, Valerie Harper's a different woman. Think

hang on the brain make it appear agent complain

Complicating matters is Eve Babcock played by

you're right. You're right. You're right. You're

right. I'm getting my boundaries confused Okay,

okay Well when I'm sorry, I was like in my belt

as was the fashion at the time well When I saw

her name, the first thing I thought of was something

else, but she is Rhoda Morgenstern on the Mary

Tyler Moore Show from 70 to 71. Didn't she get

her own? She got her own spinoff, right? Yeah,

yeah, yeah. I think so. With Carlton in your

door, man. Yep, yep, yep. Yeah, Rhoda. Yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Rhoda. All

right. What? Anything else with the plot that

we need to bring up or we need to go through?

Like it was weird. It was like the the one we're

gonna talk about after this in the next episode

Felt like it went like it didn't feel like a

drag but it felt like it was really long and

this one felt like it went really fast I don't

know if that's because I spent a lot of time,

you know looking up this stuff about the football

team or but but it did it felt like just boom

boom boom everything happened really really fast

and well and then of course the resolution which

we haven't gotten to is It's kind of a variation

of the classic Sherlock Holmes the dog that didn't

bark Yeah, because the whole thing is he's looking

for a sound that's out of place and then somebody

says something to him and he clicks and he realizes

That what he should be listening for is Hanlon

has a clock Fancy shmancy clock that goes off

every hour. Yeah, that's how that's what when

you said it wasn't about football I was like,

well, it is kind of about the game because at

the time he makes the call the clock should have

gone off and it doesn't because he's not in his

office and that's right gets That's how Colombo

gets him. No, what I mean about how it's not

really about - Dude, I know. I was just - Yeah,

but when I say it's not about football, I don't

mean it's not about the - Yeah, it's absolutely

about football. I mean, the dude is the general

manager of the damn team. It's about the behind

the scenes of football. It's not about how somehow

the quarterback ducked out. in between quarters

and killed somebody. That's what I mean, where

it's not about specifically a football player

type of plot. It's about the people that run

the team and are in charge and whatever. I think

they both went fast, but in the one we'll talk

about next time, Dagger of the Mind, my fascination

was more about Columbo, and I'll say all this

next time, but my fascination in that episode

was more about Columbo himself than anything

else. I took like six screenshots from the fourth

episode of the second season. Why? No, no, no.

That was not a facetious wow. Okay, but but yeah

this one the most crucial game again a Couple

little details the the coach I think I mentioned

this at the beginning the coach was the victim

in the Roddy McDowell episode So he was the second

he was there. Like I said, there were two repeat,

right? Repeat blah Actors. Yeah, he was he was

he was he was the guy that got blown up by the

cigars Yeah, I think his name is Victor Gerber,

but I've already screwed up Valerie Harper's

name. So James Gregory was the James Gregory.

Okay, see there you go I'm batting a thousand

here. Okay, and the other thing is I'm not gonna

name any names because screw me But when they're

when they're at the gym and they're watching

the basketball players, uh -huh Actually Lakers.

Those are actually LA Lakers playing basketball

Very cool. Very cool. Very cool. Yeah, I I dug

this one. I thought it was fun. I thought it

was interesting. What I'm liking so far with

this episode the next episode is they're not

your traditional murder mysteries where it's

not like what we had last season where it's like

and I'm sure we'll get this in the future whenever

but like oh my mistress this or my mistress that

or or this guy was this business guy or this

guy was this writer guy and his partner killing

These two episodes specifically, this episode

is the most truthful game and the next one is

the dagger of the mind. I like seeing Columbo

in different instances with how that goes. But

actors in this, like we mentioned James Gregory,

I'm kind of looking through his stuff and I don't...

He was in Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He was in

Twilight Zone. I believe it. I'm looking right

at him He was He was in wagon train 1960 as Ricky

Bell Let's see he was in Just find something

more sort of recent. Well, I don't think No,

I don't mean recent like now. No, no. No, I don't

so okay. Well the guy He was active from 1939

to 1998 he passed away in 2002 at the age of

90 But I mean what I what I mean is more recent

is like after the 1960s I will say he was in

a couple episodes of Bonanza There is Star Trek

on here Star Trek the original series. He played

dr. Tristan Adams in season 1 episode 9 Wait,

what? No Do you know what the title of that is?

Yes, I do. I'm looking at it right now and I'm

like, wait, what? Why? Why did they do that?

Nobody knows what you're talking about unless

they're a huge Star Trek nerd than me. No, I'm

not. That's the problem. Hey making me look this

shit up. I'm telling you I'm telling you no series

1966 he played dr. Tristan Adams in season 1

episode 9 dagger of the mind Okay, that's ironic.

That's uh, that's what yeah, that's that's that's

amusingly ironic Yeah, because the next Colombo

episode is dagger. That's why I'm like wait what

I literally had to roll over the Think that's

less of a shock than you would think because

anything that ever has Macbeth Any TV show that

references Macbeth is probably gonna be that's

probably a very common episode title for Macbeth

themed I've now said it three times. So this

podcast is cursed It's Scottish play He was he

was in episode of mission impossible he did a

lot of cool stuff in his career. Yeah, well Robert

Culp was a great American hero. Yeah, but we

already talked about Robert Culp last time. Maybe

we'll talk about him in the future. The big one

here for this episode, folks, though, is Mr.

Dean Stockwell. I love Dean Stockwell. He's such

a cool dude. Again, not to bring anything down,

but his active acting was 1945 to 2015. Born

in 36, passed in 21. However, his filmography

is like, the youngest I ever saw him was he was

in one of the Thin Man movies. He's in, I think

it's Song of the Thin Man. I'm trying to remember.

I'm trying to remember here, folks. Well, you're

trying to remember. I want to add a correction

because I'm sure that's got the Star Trek episodes

mixed up. That's the one with the Insane Asylum.

Not the one where Kirk confronts the guy who,

Kodos. Kirk confronts Kodos, the guy who murdered

his colony that he grew up on. And Brother Sam

apparently survived through, although Sam didn't

make it much longer because Sam got killed by

flying fried eggs. That one episode where Spock

goes blind. I have watched, I do know Star Trek.

I have watched it. I just got two episodes confused.

The one with James Gregory is the one with the

Andorian with the fuzzy pink. Very cool. Thing.

And I think you find Craig. Mm -hmm. Ooh, that

girl. Wait, wait, wait. God damn. I might be

getting that one wrong too, because I think that's

a season three episode. What the hell is tagging

on mind? Huh? Too many Star Treks. Yes, too many

Star Treks. Too many daggers, too many mines.

So Dean Stockwell... Youngest I ever saw him

was when he was a kid in 1947's Song of the Thin

Man. He was billed fourth in that movie, son

of William Powell and Myrna Loy's characters.

He had later gone on to say, I have very positive

feelings regarding both of them. They were very

sweet people, especially Myrna Loy, and that

cute little dog, Asta. I like that little dog.

Dean, obviously, before people come after me

and like, how are you not mentioning this? How

are you not mentioning that? Obviously, Al in

Quantum Leap. He was in Miami Vice. He was in

Murder, She Wrote. But really, for me, the one

big thing, not big, but the one thing that I

always remember him for is he was the voice of

the older Tim Drake in Batman Beyond Return of

the Joker. Yeah, he was. Which is 25 years old

this year. I don't feel so good. I did you mention

Dune? No, I did not mention. He was Dr. UA in

the David Lynch RIP. Pour one out. Dune. He was

in Quantum Leap. I said Quantum Leap. I'm desperately

trying to figure out this episode. This episode

of Star Trek is driving me crazy. Seriously?

Yes. Is it really that bad? Yes! I remember the

uniforms, because they did a whole thing in South

Park with these guys, with the planet Ariam.

It's like, what is this episode? In the episode,

the Enterprise visits a rehabilitation... It

doesn't mean anything, because the one I'm getting

confused with, they also do that. Okay. Dr. Adams

complains that Calder sent it to what's going

to get you to here. I'll just do this. Nothing.

Yeah, I don't know. I'm despairing. I don't know

if this is going to help, but here's the I am.

I am seeing my I cannot clean my hands for me.

That's funny. But yeah, anytime. I see Dean Stockwell

in anything. I just, I absolutely love it. I

think it's so cool and so great. I love that

guy. He was such a great actor. He was a very

good actor, yeah. Yes he was. Absolutely. Okay,

the episode I keep getting it mixed up with is

Whom Gods Destroy. Okay. Which is the one with

Yvonne Craig and it's the one with the Andorian

and the pink fluffy thing. Which is another one

where they go to a freaking insane asylum. 23rd

century is a utopia, except it's like littered

with insane asylums. Yeah. Yeah, I apologize

for completely going off on a tangent on that

one. I'm just like, what is this damn episode?

When we're done, I will probably break out the

DVDs and watch the damn episode. Because I remember

the because I remember the name because they

used the name in South Park episode to Van Gelder

and they had that little sunshine I don't know

what happened to the episode. What? I don't know

what to tell you. I've been crazy. I have no

idea how much it is bothering me to no end. And

again, just the way that Columbo is in this episode,

especially the sound equipment thing with the...

I love that. That's hilarious. But it also, like,

it's interesting because this one and the next

one, Also, so like there's always this question

or I think there's always this question about

like whether Colombo is Acting Whether he's really

kind of like that, you know what I mean? Whether

he's a really kind of smart reserve guy who's

putting on a play for people or whether Columbus

really like that and I think this one in the

next one kind of established no Columbus really

like it because like the whole Particularly early

on he's constantly listening to the football

game. He's constantly like distracting like like

even when he's not like playing with a suspect

Yeah, he's distracted and rambling and doing

other things Yeah, yeah, but then but then you

get the scene with the sound guy and he you know

He does know he's in control and he does kind

of play around with that guy Yeah Yeah, I think

it's the way he actually is. I don't think if

it was an act he would have to Flim over analyze

everything. Yeah, I said there's there's a debate

there was James Lipton asked him if Columbus

wife was real Yep, I don't remember what he said,

but I always like to think she's real. No Oh,

no when we get to that one episode, it's it's

pretty She's real whether all the nieces and

nephews A little more questionable. Although

again, there is an episode friend indeed kind

of Theoretically establishes that he has a bunch

of nieces and nephews, but whether or not they're

all into like, you know All the various things

that they're like, you know, it's kind of like

Jessica Fletcher with her billion nieces and

nephews subject you see those But it does seem

a little doesn't to push things a little bit

that you know all the various interests that

Denise's nephews get into. Yep, yep. Absolutely.

I very much enjoyed this one. I thought it was

fun. And yeah, absolutely. It's just one of those

episodes that just, again, it's Columbo kind

of sort of, it's placing him in these situations

that you would never think he would be in. And

I think this is one of them, but he's really

interested in that game. He wants to know the,

like he's agonizing over that game. Every time

he's listening to it. And he even mentions to,

to Hanlin, you know, every time I'm talking to

you, you turn the game down or then you turn

it off. That's a neat little detail. Yeah. No,

he turns it off when he's acute, when he, when

he brings up, uh, that Hanlin's. He turns it

off when, when, when Colombo specifically mentions

a piece of evidence that connects him to the

murderer. Yeah. That's the thing. Yeah. Because

he wants to pay attention. Yeah. Yes, because...

Give it his full attention. Yeah, because Hanlon

in general does not give two craps about Colombo.

Again, that's part of the Colombo thing is people

tend to underestimate him pretty early on and

then eventually figure out that he's dangerous,

which I like that most of the bad guys eventually

do figure it out. as opposed to being kind of

clueless the whole way through, like even in

the first episode, like the doctor said, oh,

you do this little shaggy dog routine, but you're

really kind of a, you know, you're sharper than

you appear, which is why I brought up the whole

thing about him kind of playing up the ditzy

nut. And in that one, he wasn't even that shaggy

dog. He was much more straightforward. In Prescription

Murder, he was much more straightforward, but

like, you know, I like that they kind of, It

becomes like it's almost a little too late for

them, but they do sort of like kind of get his

Get his range get his number eventually as opposed

to being clueless because then that wouldn't

be it wouldn't really be a battle of wits if

They just were completely underestimating him

the whole way through I Think yeah, absolutely

anything else on The crucial game the most crucial

game. I should say I think this was a solid episode

was a fun episode. Yeah What are you gonna give

it zero to five? Give it a four Yep Yeah, I'm

right there with you four to five kind of want

to give it a four point five because it's got

the line about the shoes, but That's just a me

thing I was just so happy cuz it's like I didn't

imagine that did I I didn't make that up that

he's about shoes No, you didn't make it up. Yeah,

I would say the four fits it very well because

part of 4 .5 The first line of the description

is top of the class This isn't a bad episode,

but this is probably not one of the episodes

that I would go back and watch Because I'm not

watch a Colombo So I would say four out of five

is is more than acceptable because it was a really

fun Sort of fast -paced episode. It didn't drag

but neither did the other one Neither did the

next one that we're gonna talk about either I

think I think both of them are very fairly well

-paced I guess my only major criticism is the

fact that the motive is very yeah, that's the

biggest in murky Yeah, that's the biggest issue

is the motive like what's going on with that?

There was a whole thing about the wife and she

comes in and that's that's why I felt like I

said it felt fast I sort of vaguely like You

would think they would do more with that, you

know, or develop that more. Like that would be

more of what was going on. Yep. But it's not,

unfortunately. Unfortunately not. All right,

folks, we're going to go to a quick ad break.

You're going to hear some podcast ads and some

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lot of people listening to that. Oh, yes. Incidentally,

my name is Lieutenant Colombo. I'm from the Los

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No, they won't. No, they probably won't. That's

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we're back here inside studio 2009 only on the

gate cast or radio network any final words from

you sir before I run through the closing I don't

think so. I think it was a solid fun episode.

Yeah, absolutely had a really good time Enjoyed

all of Columbo's little interactions with everybody

I'll I didn't mention this earlier, but I liked

when Hanlon was yelling at him when Hanlon was

getting just really riled up Thought that because

again, it's Robert Culp. So it's it's seeing

him act as the care. It's just really good. That

was hilarious. I love when Because Colombo is

just like He says normal Cheery kind of like

oh gee, sir. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to He says

I'm always gonna be getting angry. Yeah. Yeah

So absolutely love that All right, folks. Thank

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I will be talking about Columbo Season 2, Episode

4, Dagger of the Mind. For now, I am TFU and

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in the studio soon. Columbo, I'm gonna throw

you out of here on your rear. I wouldn't do that,

sir.