Subject: Re: Columbo solves murder! (was Re: Emmys: OOOOOH...)
From: dan@GNU.AI.MIT.EDU
Date: 1990-09-17, 21:30
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

In article <1990Sep17.221741@cs.Buffalo.EDU> mathews@cs.Buffalo.EDU 
(Ryan D Mathews) writes:

> >Columbo would do what he does all the time: figure out the murder in ten
> >minutes, bug the murderer until I and all my friends watching are begging
> >to see Columbo get socked in the face, and then produce a clue nearly out
> >of thin air and nail the guy.
> >Columbo used to be charming. Now he's annoying. Falk beat out MacLachlan,
> >IMHO, solely because the Academy feared that this was the last time they
> >would get the chance to give the great Peter Falk an Emmy.

If you want to be really annoyed, take note that this was Falk's fifth
for Columbo alone!  Of course it took Ted Danson nine (!) nominations
to get a single lousy award, so TP is in good company in the good-shows-
that-got-passed-over category.

I agree that it is sometimes annoying the way Columbo gets his clues out of 
thin air, but you know damn well that Agent Cooper is going to do the exact 
same thing - TP isn't structured like a whodunnit that can actually
be conclusively solved, neither is Columbo.  The only show I can think
of that ever was, was the late lamented Ellery Queen, wherein the
clues were all clearly laid out, and Ellery Queen even turned to the audience
to remind them of what all those clues were.  Great show, if you ever catch
it in reruns, by the way...

> >This is my last comment on why I don't like Columbo. I don't believe such
> >a thread is appropriate on this group.

Too late.   It's a fascinating topic, especially, as at least two of us
have noticed Coop's remarkable similarity to Columbo, especially
in the mysterious unseen female companion department.  Truth
be told though, I can't imagine that even ABC would be crass enough to try to
do a spinoff of TP based on the adventures of Diane, a la Mrs.
Columbo, which was a series for a while (dreadful too).  

Hmmm, there's an interesting topic, potential TP spinoffs, good - bad - and
ugly.

I won't even start...    :-)   :-)



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"Elvis was seated on the toilet, actually reading a religious book...when 
suddenly a terrible pain gripped him by his stomach and seized his heart with a
strangler's grip.  'Oh no, dear dear God,' he thought.  He couldn't move.  He 
couldn't get up.  He had to get up.  He must get up...That terrible pain, like 
swords of fire, jabbing, slitting, cutting into his stomach, and especially his
liver - it was impossible to bear...Suddenly the thought flashed through him: 
this must be like what Jesus suffered."
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