Columbo - The Complete First Season TV detective fans rejoice: Peter Falk's rumpled and infallible Lt. Columbo joins the DVD precinct with a five-disc set that features the detective's first nine appearances for NBC. Though Falk as Columbo (no first name) made his TV debut in 1967, the detective had actually first appeared on an episode of the 1960-61
Chevy Mystery Show (Bert Freed played the role) written by veteran TV scribes Richard Levinson and William Link (
The Fugitive,
Alfred Hitchcock Presents). The pair turned the episode into a stage play titled
Prescription: Murder, which was adapted into a TV movie in 1967 with Falk in the lead. NBC greenlit a two-hour
Columbo pilot (
Ransom for a Dead Man) in 1971, and the series was launched that fall as part of the
NBC Sunday Mystery Movie, a rotating 90-minute program that alternated
Columbo with episodes of
MacMillan and Wife and
McCloud (another Levinson/Link creation). Viewers were quickly won over by Falk's shrewd performance as he matched wits with a host of exceptional guest stars (including Gene Barry, Patrick McGoohan, and others), all of whom assumed that the disheveled detective would never figure out their "perfect crimes"; the popularity and quality of the original series allows Falk to continue to don the trenchcoat some 30 years later for occasional
Columbo TV movies.
All seven 90-minute episodes of the 1971-72 debut season are included here, along with
Prescription: Murder and
Ransom for a Dead Man; unfortunately, as the lieutenant himself would say, "Oh, just one more thing"--no extras are included in the set, but having these fine TV mysteries in one set should be reward enough for armchair sleuths. --
Paul Gaita Columbo - The Complete Second Season Armchair sleuths, get out your trenchcoats: Universal has released the sophomore season (1972-73) of the classic detective series
Columbo, starring Peter Falk as the sage but rumpled police lieutenant. As with the first season, there's plenty of star power in front of and behind the camera to abet Falk in these eight 90- and 120-minute episodes: John Cassavetes stars in the season premiere,
Etude in Black, as a philandering symphony conductor, with Blythe Danner and Hollywood legend Myrna Loy in support; Oscar winner Ray Milland is a scheming orchid grower in
The Greenhouse Jungle, co-starring Bradford Dillman and William Smith; Robert Culp and Dean Stockwell are a football team manager and owner, respectively, whose disagreements blossom into murder in
The Most Crucial Game; and Jeanette Nolan offers stellar comic relief in
Double Shock, which features Martin Landau as identical twins--one of whom has murdered their uncle. Performances by Richard Basehart, Laurence Harvey, Leonard Nimoy, Anne Francis, Anne Baxter, and Mel Ferrer also highlight the season; direction by small-screen stalwarts like Boris Sagal, Jeremy Paul Kagan, and Nicholas Colasanto ("Coach" on Cheers) and scripts by Stephen Bochco also bring quality and style to the proceedings. Sadly, no extras are available in this five-disc set, but the stellar image and sound quality (and lack of commercials) should appeal to series fans and newcomers alike. --
Paul Gaita Columbo - The Complete Third Season Oh, just one more thing, mystery mavens--get ready to be mystified and entertained by the award-winning third season of
Columbo, starring Peter Falk as the rumpled but unbeatable Lieutenant. Having taken home Emmys for outstanding limited drama and lead actor in its '71-'72 debut season,
Columbo was again named best drama for its third season ('73-'74). The reason for the repeat success? The formula remained the same: intelligent, engaging scripts and direction, guest performances by top actors, and, of course, Falk at center stage as Columbo, the most unlikely of supersleuths, but unquestionably one of the sharpest (the role would later earn Falk three more Emmys between 1975 and 1990). The 10 episodes compiled in this two-disc set again feature top talent from film and television: directors include veterans Jeannot Swarc and Boris Sagal, as well as actors Nicholas Colasanto (better known as Coach from Cheers) and Ben Gazzara (Falk's frequent co-star in the films of John Cassavetes), while the season's scripts feature contributions from Stephen J. Cannell, Steven Bochco, and Larry Cohen. And in regard to co-stars, Falk matched wits with the likes of Donald Pleasance, Martin Sheen, Vincent Price, Robert Culp (in one of four turns on the series), Jose Ferrer, Ida Lupino, and in two novel but effective casting choices, Johnny Cash and hard-boiled mystery scribe Mickey Spillane. And there's even a bonus feature in the form of an episode of the spinoff series Mrs. Columbo, starring Kate Mulgrew as the Lieutenant's oft-mentioned better half. In short, it's 11 hours of solid sleuthing for armchair detectives. --
Paul Gaita Columbo - The Complete Fourth Season Legendary actor Peter Falk returns in his 4-time Emmy award-winning role as everyone's favorite trenchcoat-wearing Police Lieutenant in
Columbo - The Complete Fourth Season. From a spoiled kidnapping plot to murder at a historic military academy, join Columbo in this three-disc set as he asks all the right questions in some of the most deceptive and deadly cases. The captivating fourth season also features such brilliant guest stars as Dick Van Dyke, Larry Storch, George Hamilton, Robert Conrad and more. The landmark crime series that inspired a genre is back, and no murderer can hide for long with Columbo on the beat.
Columbo - The Complete Fifth Season Peter Falk took home back-to-back Emmy Awards for his portrayal of the indefatigable Lt. Columbo during the show’s fifth season in 1975-76, and the series itself earned two Emmy nominations, which should give an indication of the quality of the episodes contained in this double-disc set. Although the fifth season only featured six episodes, the quality of writing and acting talent is impressive, to say the least: Janet Leigh, John Payne, Sam Jaffe, and Maurice Evans star in the season opener, "Forgotten Lady," about a faded movie queen who may have murdered her elderly husband to finance a comeback; Patrick McGoohan, who won an Emmy for his performance in the fourth-season episode "By Dawn’s Early Light," returns to direct "Identity Crisis", which pits Columbo against a deceptive secret agent (McGoohan, who makes slyly overt references to his Prisoner character throughout the episode), and "Last Salute to the Commodore," with John Dehner and Robert Vaughn as relatives whose disagreement over the fate of a shipping line turns deadly; and then-newcomers Steven Bocho and Steven Spielberg write and direct, respectively, "Murder by the Book," with Jack Cassidy returning for his fourth
Columbo turn as a devious PR agent. As far as TV mysteries go, few have been as clever, well acted, and intricately plotted as
Columbo, and home detectives should find plenty of sleuthing material to enjoy here. Unfortunately, as with all previous
Columbo boxes, the supplemental material is limited; the "Caviar with Everything" episode of the Mrs. Columbo series with Kate Mulgrew is this set’s sole extra. --
Paul Gaita Columbo - The Complete Sixth and Seventh Seasons Before returning to the television fold in the '80s with a string of successful TV movies, Peter Falk's Lt. Columbo concluded his network sleuthing with eight episodes that aired between 1976-1978; these final two seasons of the original
Columbo series are packaged in this no-frills boxed set that should be a welcome addition to any armchair detective's collection. Quality-wise, the performances, writing, and direction in these eight episodes are as top notch as any that preceded it, with a host of terrific guest stars doing their best to match wits with the lieutenant in a string of complex mysteries. William Shatner gives a typically juicy turn as a demanding TV actor facing blackmail in the sixth season opener "Fade in to Murder"; Theodore Bikel and Sorrell Booke (
The Dukes of Hazzard) are friends, business partners, and bitter rivals in "The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case" (and watch for Jamie Lee Curtis in a bit role as a waitress); the great Ruth Gordon (
Harold and Maude) shines as a wily mystery writer in the seventh season's "Try and Catch Me," while a host of fine character actors (including the late Mako, Richard Dysart and Michael V. Gazzo) have reasons for wanting food critic Louis Jourdan dead in "Murder Under Glass," and a very young Kim Cattrall helps Columbo unravel a mystery involving mind control and trained dogs in "How to Dial a Murder." The talent behind the camera in these episodes is equally impressive: Jonathan Demme helms "Murder Under Glass," while Leo Penn takes the final episode, "The Conspirators." As with all of the original
Columbo shows (and many of the subsequent TV movies), the episodes presented here are smartly written, crisply acted by a quality cast, and anchored with sly charm and deceptive strength by Falk's Emmy-winning performance. Previous
Columbo box sets have included an episode of the spin-off series Mrs. Columbo as an extra, but no such supplement is included here. --
Paul Gaita
