Sunday 18 August 2013

Season 10, Episode 14- Columbo Likes the Nightlife

Tony is a gangster nightclub type man. He goes to his ex-wife Vanessa’s house and pushes her about a bit. They fight and she kills him. She gets her new boyfriend to come and help and together they pretend Tony is still alive. But Linwood Cobin has seen this and is going to blackmail them. Justin goes to his office, kills him and leaves a suicide note on his computer.
Columbo makes an appearance at 21 minutes and 47 seconds. He’s like a fish out of water on the nightclub scene and there is much hilarity at his misunderstanding of youth culture.
The columboid is a ground penetrating device.
During this episode we learn that Columbo takes 2 sugars in his coffee, his wife keeps up on all the celebs, he has no sense for interior decoration, his wife is always telling him to brighten things up and he has a nephew who works in San Diego Zoo with the big whale.
I watched this episode on a really big telly. Afterwards I felt strangely empty and sad. My life is now devoid of meaning and I’m not sure where I go from here.

Season 10, Episode 13- Murder With Too Many Notes

Billy Connelly is Finlay Crawford, a composer writing scores for films. But Crawford has a secret, he actually ran out of ideas ages ago and is stealing ideas from someone younger and more talented who wears plaid instead of satin. His name is Gabriel and he’s getting pretty fed up with Crawford using him. He tells Crawford that he’s going to spill the beans. Crawford claims he’ll give him credit but instead drugs and kills him.
Columbo shows up at 26 minutes and 56 seconds. He gets right on Billy Connelly’s nerves.
The columboid is music.
In this episode we learn that Columbo’s wife goes to the museum every now and then.
During this episode I listened to the sound of suspected woodworms.

Season 10, Episode 12- Ashes to Ashes

Patrick McGoohan is back! This time he is Eric Prince, a creepy celebrity funeral director with a shady past. He’s being blackmailed by Verity Chandler, a Hollywood gossip columnist. Her email address is vicious-rumors@hollywoodgossip.com. As far as I can tell this is the first reference to email in an episode of Columbo. She’s going to reveal that Prince stole a diamond necklace from a corpse. He kills her and cremates her in the place of cowboy actor ‘Chuck Houston’.
Columbo comes along at 20 minutes and 12 seconds and he has his dog with him. He knows something is up because Verity left her puppy ‘Luella’ without food. Eric Price receives the ‘mortician of the year’ award.
In this episode we learn Columbo has a cousin who works for a cab company.
During this episode I ate pickled foods.

Season 10, Episode 11- A Trace of Murder

Clifford has a big ten gallon hat and is an ass. He’s in litigation with a man named Howard. Clifford’s wife Kathleen is sexy and is having an affair. She can’t get a divorce though because the pre-nup is terrible. Her lover Patrick suggests that rather than killing Clifford and framing Howard that they kill Howard and frame Clifford. So, anyway, that’s what they do. They also plant some cat hair from Howard’s house on Clifford’s jacket.
Columbo comes in at 17 minutes and 35 seconds. Now he’s the real twist. The crime scene investigator is Patrick, the lover. It doesn’t take Columbo long to figure out Kathleen and Patrick know each other and after that they’re basically dead in the water.
The columboid is cream and sugar.
In this episode we learn that Columbo doesn’t waste anything on an apple- he eats it all, including pips. His dog never forgets where his toys are and he bites off the ends of his cigars.
During this episode I pulled grey hairs from another person’s head.

Season 10, Episode 10- Strange Bedfellows

Graham is acting shady in a pawn shop. He gives a man an envelope of money and gets a gun in return. Graham’s brother Teddy is in debt to a mafia boss called Romano. Graham says he has scam to get him out of it. He gives one of his horses a sugar cube with drugs on. Then he dresses up in a beard and glasses and goes to Romano’s bar and makes a phone call. Then he takes his brother to a deserted wood and shoots him. He rides away on a fold up bicycle.
Columbo shows up at 19 minutes and 9 seconds and yet another young cop mistakes him for a scruffy civilian. Columbo is also ill from eating clams. He hasn’t got time for nonsense.
The columboid is the threat of death by the mafia.
Things we learn about Columbo: his brother Sal got him started on cigarettes when he was 12, his dad smoked too. His wife things smoking us hereditary. Columbo claims he can’t speak Italian. He’s a cream soda type of guy.
During the episode I prepared to go on a date with a real human man.

Season 10, Episode 9- Undercover

A man breaks into an apartment looking for something. Another, slightly cross-eyed, man comes in and there’s some shooting. Now they are both dead.
Columbo shows up at 3 minutes and 49 seconds. One of the dead guys has a squiggly bit of a photograph. Apparently these guys robbed a bank, now all the robber gang is dead and no one knows where the money is. A slick blonde insurance man, who surely smells of talcum powder, explains the they need to find the pieces of the photo, put them together and this will lead them to the missing money. Obviously the only option is for Columbo to go undercover. It all gets quite ridiculous and then it turns out the insurance guy did all the killing.
We find out that Columbo snores.
During this episode I made my hands smell like Turkish delight.

Season 10, Episode 8- Butterfly is Shades of Grey

Vicky is writing a book but her controlling father, Fielding Chase, doesn’t want her to. He sabotages her chances to get published and also hints at an incestuous desire. Her gay BFF is being a bad influence by giving her book to a literary agent. Fielding goes to his house and kills him, then messes about with the phone as some sort of technical alibi.
Columbo arrives at 21 minutes and 55 seconds and bugs Fielding immediately. There are some dubious comments about homosexuality.
The columboid involves breaking into the suspect’s car and also mainly entrapment.
We find out that Columbo is thinking of getting a cellular phone, his cousin Dominic has one. Mrs Columbo gives him tea and honey when he’s ill, she likes to play nursemaid and if she’s happy he’s happy. He can’t stand lukewarm tea and his wife puts him on the porch when he smokes.
During this episode I got a headache.

Season 10, Episode 7- All in the Game

Faye Dunaway is a hot older lady in a backless red dress at a party. There’s a sexy foreign gentlemen at the party too. This is her lover Nick. He rushes off to ‘play poker with his friends’ but what he’s actually doing is having sexual relations with another woman. He’s a damn fool though because Faye Dunaway and the other woman have hatched a plot to kill him. They shoot him, keep his body warm with a blanket (cf. Suitable for Framing) and then Dunaway goes back to the party. She comes back later and rustles up a landlord, the other woman fires a gun and thus the alibi is cemented.
Columbo shows up at 18 minutes and 43 seconds. He isn’t wearing a shirt and is eating a boiled egg, swoon! Columbo and Faye Dunaway do a lot of flirting. It turns out that although she’s a murderer she’s actually ok. The ‘other woman’ is her daughter and Nick had been abusing her. So it’s all justified then.
The columboid is a mother’s love for her child.
During this episode we learn that Columbo can’t take the sun, he starts sweating, mostly his feet. This is why he has such soft feet. His wife is always cold and she likes the heat. He claims his first name is Lieutenant.
I tore my pyjamas during this episode.

Season 10, Episode 6- A Bird in the Hand

Big Fred owns a football team. Harold is his no good nephew. Dolores is his alcoholic wife. He gets hit by a mystery car and this kills him. Columbo appears in silhouette at 17 minutes and 3 seconds. His full face is visible at 17 minutes and 15 seconds. Later Big Fred’s car explodes. Harold had planted a bomb there but it couldn’t kill Fred because Fred was already dead. Dolores knows he planted the bomb and starts sex blackmailing him. But then here comes the twist- DOLORES WAS DRIVING THE MYSTERY KILLING CAR. When Harold hints he knows this Dolores kills him too.
The columboid is hair in a cowboy hat.
In this episode we learn that Columbo’s wife got him into crossword puzzles.
During this episode I contemplated my greying hair.

Season 10, Episode 5- No Time to Die

There’s a wedding going on and Columbo is a guest. He turns up at 1 minute and 10 seconds. Turns out it’s his nephew Andy’s wedding reception. Despite having no attractive qualities or discernable personality he has just married a top model called Melissa. Before any consummation can take place Melissa, in only her underwear, is kidnapped. Now Columbo and Andy have to team up to find her. Her kidnapper is a mad fan of her modelling work. He wants to marry her and cut her throat, just like his dad did to his mother. They save her just in time. This is not a good episode.
The columboid is solid, dogged police work.
Things we learn: Columbo had his wedding reception in an Italian restaurant, his mother broke her hip, his mother lives in Chicago, Mrs Columbo taught him how to dance and dancing is the only exercise he gets.
I ate peas with my feet on a hot water bottle during this episode.