The Strange Case of Columbo on Blu-Ray

The good news is, the original 1970s Columbo episodes are coming to Blu-Ray in November from Kino Lorber, and it's safe to assume they will be remastered, unedited, and will look great. Once upon a time, that would be enough. Maybe it still is!

The bad news is, when Kino announced it had the rights to the show, it also announced a slate of special features that included audio commentaries on every episode from a variety of authors and experts. hardcore Columbo fans were thrilled! However, when it came time to set a release date, things had changed. Kino reported that all the new extras were gone, including the commentaries--no, especially the commentaries, most would say.

Yet now, a couple months later, the official listing says the Music and Effects tracks are still available on the set, and the commentaries are not listed. What is going on here? No one knows. Kino doesn't "owe" anyone an explanation, and in fact it lowered the MSRP by about 20 bucks to compensate for the alteration of the set. 

We don't know what happened, but we do know that all the extra material was already recorded. It sure doesn't make sense for Kino to yank this unless it was told to by some other entity. Would it be licensor Universal? No one knows, and licensee Kino is being a good partner by not saying anything else.

Of course this invites speculation. Some said the writers' strike was involved. Some said the Peter Falk estate must have objected. There is the matter of this recent settlement:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/nbcuniversal-settles-columbo-profits-lawsuit-1235601059/

All we can do is guess. For now it seems that the episodes will come without the commentaries, and this is disappointing, but if you just want the show in HD, this is still a great set. If they had never announced the extras, maybe there wouldn't be any big deal (though Kino's loaded Night Gallery releases would make people wonder why they couldn't do the same for Columbo). The real mystery here is, what happened? 

YouTube Spotlight: Everyone's got a Columbo impression...

One of the clips that most intrigues me in this week's video playlist for Columbo is the 1989 promo for the ABC revival of the series, a commercial that has Mark Linn-Baker doing his Columbo impression for the camera.  Let's take another look:

It's not bad, eh? Maybe it's a little "cringy" today--maybe it was then--but you can't blame him for giving it a shot.  The fact is, Peter Falk is up there with Peter Lorre and Jimmy Cagney as actors who are difficult to not imitate after watching them.

Linn-Baker had some in-house competition in 1989, though. It's Growing Pains star Jeremy Miller, an unexpected challenger to be sure, but one who gives it his all:

Are there more of these floating around? What other 1989 season ABC stars would you like to see in promos doing their best Columbo? Here's my quick list:

1) Burt Reynolds (then playing BL Stryker on the ABC Mystery Movie alongside Falk and Louis Gossett's Gideon Oliver): 'Nuff said.

2) Jackie Mason (Chicken Soup):  I might pay to see this.

3) Timothy Busfield (Thirtysomething): I don't know why this idea amuses me, but it does.

4) Christopher Hewitt (Mr. Belvedere): Like YOU haven't pondered what his Peter Falk would sound like!

5) Diane Sawyer (Primetime Live): Why not?

The Columbo video playlist is now live!

 After listening to this week's podcast, how about enjoying just one more thing? Actually, there are dozens of things to enjoy in our video playlist for this episode! Click below to see vintage promos, Emmy speeches, glimpses of Mrs. Columbo, and more! If you ever wanted to see Mark Linn-Baker impersonate Peter Falk, this is your chance!

And remember to visit our official YouTube channel for more episode-specific playlists like this plus every edition of our podcast!

Show Notes: Episode 8-4: Columbo

 *Columbo has 43 episodes (plus 2 pilots) in its 1970s run on NBC and 24 in its second stint on ABC from 1989-2003. It was part of the NBC Mystery Movie on NBC from 1971-1978, starting as a Wednesday show and moving to Sunday.

*The series won 13 Emmy awards, including 4 for peter Falk as Outstanding Lead Actor (3 were for Drama Series, but 1 was from a year Columbo  was classified as a Limited Series).

*Thanks to The Consummate Culp for this Mad scan of Mort Drucker's rendition of Falk as Columbo (as well as frequent and beloved guest star Robert Culp:

*A Stitch in Crime premiered February 11, 1973. It was preceded on NBC by part 1 of Rascal (a 1969 movie with Billy Mumy and a pet raccoon) on The Wonderful World of Disney and followed by the premiere of Jack Webb's Escape. 

ABC offered an episode of The F.B.I. and part 1 of 1962 WWII epic The Longest Day, while CBS started the night with Play It Again, Charile Brown and The Flintstones on Ice (!). At 9:00 CBS presented Duke Ellington...We Love You Madly, a tribute starring Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan, and more.

*The Dick Van Dyke episode we mention is season 2's "Negative Reaction."

*Leonard Nimoy is the star of this episode, but William Shatner was in season 6's opener "Fade in to Murder" and 1994's "Butterfly in Shades of Gray." Walter Koenig appears in the former.

*Mrs. Columbo lasted two seasons and 13 installments on NBC, becoming Kate Loves a Mystery midway through as the network tried to retool it by changing the lead character to a divorcee named Kate Callahan and shedding references to Columbo. One possible reason (besides the fact that people hated the very idea of a spinoff of the unseen character) for the change is here. Hint: Mike totally got the problem and pointed it out on the podcast.

*Check out our discussion of The Waltons and Will Geer right here!

*Moviemaps.org lists Sharaton Universal Hotel in L.A. as a location for exterior hospital shots in the episode. The locale is not listed on IMDB as one of the exterior locations used for Medical Center.

*Charlie, is the pressure OK? Just thought we'd ask one more time to be on the safe side.

Episode 8-4: Columbo "A Stitch in Crime"

Classic detective Columbo squares off with a doctor as arrogant as Columbo is rumpled. That doctor--Leonard Nimoy. We're not sure, but it might be possible that Columbo, if things go right, could maybe catch him...but will we ever really know?

Check out this episode!

Tomorrow on Battle of the Network Shows...