The Columbo Confab Podcast

In "Dead Weight" (1971), Major General Martin J. Hollister (Eddie Albert) bumps off a former colleague to cover up his illegal doings and drops the body into the drink.  The problem is, someone saw him do it!  With no body and an eye witness who's slowly retracting what she saw as she becomes involved with the Major General, Columbo finds himself with his hands full.  Is this four star episode?  O...

What happens when Columbo's boss commits murder?  We  find out in "A Friend in Deed" (1974), in which police commissioner Mark Halperin (Richard Kiley) covers up one murder to blackmail his neighbor in covering up the murder of Halperin's wife.  Is this one on the top ten most wanted list?  Or should it be relegated to the pickpockets?  Listen in and find out what Steve and Sean thought! Have a co...

In "A Deadly State of Mind" (1975), devious psychiatrist Dr. Mark Collier (George Hamilton) accidentally kills his lover's husband and uses the power of hypnotism to cover up.  As Columbo shuffles through clues involving lighters, tires, headlights, and socks, Dr. Collier slowly realizes he's as trapped as a mouse in a maze.  Does this one have a clean bill of health?  Or should it be euthanized? ...

In "Murder by the Book" (1971) mystery novelist Ken Franklin (Jack Cassidy) bumps off his writing partner and finds himself harassed by everyone's favorite rumpled detective.  Will Franklin get away with not one - but two - murders?  I this episode worthy of the bestseller list or should it be relegated to the bargain bin?  Listen to what Steve and Sean have to say and find out! Have a comment or...

In "Troubled Waters", Columbo takes a busman's holiday while on a cruise with his wife.  Used car executive Hayden Danzinger (Robert Vaughn) comes aboard with murder on his mind, and kills his lounge singer lover to stop her from exposing their affair to his wealthy wife.  There's a frame-up, incriminating lipstick, amyl nitrate, and plenty of rubber gloves and mystery on the high seas when Columb...

In "By Dawn's Early Light" (1974), Colonel Lyle Rumford (Patrick McGoohan) rigs a cannon to eliminate the man who wants to turn he beloved military academy into a boarding school.  It looks like an accident...at least until Lieutenant Columbo arrives on the scene and strips away Rumford's slick veneer like an artichoke.  Is this one worthy of a ten-gun salute?  Or does it deserve a dishonorable di...

In "The Most Dangerous Match" (1973) chess champion Emmett Clayton (Laurence Harvey) realizes he's going to be outmatched by his Russian opponent Dudek, so he tries killing him in the most accessible way possible: pushing him down the hotel's industrial-sized garbage disposal machine.  This doesn't kill the man, however, only knocks him unconscious.  Even worse, Clayton is now being pestered by a...

In "Murder in Malibu" (1990), greedy gigolo Wayne Jennings (Andrew Stevens) bumps off his fiance after she dumps him over the phone.  Or did he?  What does the victim's sister Jess (Brenda Vaccaro) know that Columbo doesn't know?  Where did Andrew Stevens go to acting school and should he get a refund?  Listen in and find out what Steve and Sean think! Have a comment or a question for the hosts? ...

In "Double Shock" (1973) a wealthy uncle is killed in the bathtub on the eve of his wedding by one of his twin nephews (both played by Martin Landau)...but which one?  Columbo goes on a cooking show, fixes a television set, and even eats health cookies to solve the crime.  But is "Double Shock" twice the pleasure?  Or is it just a dead ringer?  Listen in and find out what Steve and Sean think! Hav...

In "Murder is a Parlor Game", former Scotland Yard detective Ian A. Morly (Donald Pleasence) is confronted by a falsely-bearded old enemy, an encounter that concludes with Morly's enemy shot dead and a rubber in the fireplace.  One of Morly's students in his uncomfortably hands-on self-defense course, Kate Columbo. finds time between being a mother, writing for the penny advertiser, and attending...

When self-proclaimed psychic Elliott Blake (Anthony Andrews) meets a magician who has been hired by the government to debunk him, the old bad blood between proves too much for Blake, who arranges a murder of his colleague with the magician's own guillotine.  Is "Columbo Goes to the Guillotine" a solid plus, or is it as confusing as a bunch of wavy lines?  Listen to what Steve and Sean have to say...

When Broadway star Grace Wheeler (Janet Leigh) is snubbed by her wealthy and elderly husband because he refuses to fund her next show, Grace takes charge by shooting him and tries to make it look like suicide.  Columbo sifts through bedroom slippers, a book, and a lesson on prostate health to pin Grace for the crime...but does he succeed?  Is "Forgotten Lady" a Tony-worthy story?  Or is it a Broad...

Eric Prince (Patrick McGoohan) is a funeral director to the stars, but his reputation and his business are in jeopardy when gossip columnist Verity Chandler (Rue McClanahan) plans to air a "tell all" expose on him.  After bumping off Verity, Prince finds himself having to deal with Columbo while literally shuffling dead bodies around behind the closed doors of his funeral parlor.  Is this episode...

When Dr. Marshall Cahill (Jose Ferrer) murders a colleague to protect his plagiarizing son, he begins the machinations of "Mind Over Mayhem" (1974), in which Columbo rubs elbows with think tank scientists, a boy genius, a robot, and, of course, Dog.  Is this one a stroke of genius?  Or does it it belong in the back catalog of the idiot box.  Listen in and find out what Steve and Sean think! Have a...

Let's talk about sex!  In "Sex and the Married Detective" (1989), hell hath no fury like when sex therapist Dr. Joan Allenby (Lindsay Crouse) when she bumps off her cheating boyfriend.  Is this a great episode with a satisfying climax?  Or did it leave us hot and bothered?  Listen in and find out what Steve and Sean had to say? Have a comment or question for the hosts?  Email them at columboconfab...

In "Blueprint for Murder" (1972), when architect Elliott Marham's (Patrick O'Neal) plans for a sprawling new project are nixed by Texan Bo Williamson (Forrest Tucker) and Bo suddenly mysteriously disappears, Columbo's suspicions naturally turn to Markham.  But without a body, how can he prove there was a murder?  Is this murder worthy of Frank Lloyd Wright?  Or does it belong on the office floor w...

Our fearless podcasters face the daunting task of reviewing A Riddle for Puppets (1979), one of the few episodes of Mrs. Columbo still widely available.  Something's not quite right with ventriloquist Noel Abbott (Jay Johnson), who chisels his mentor to death and is convinced the only witness to the crime is his victim's puppet, Clown.  Is A Riddle for Puppets worthy to be considered Columbo canon...

Famous criminal defense attorney Hugh Creighton (played by Dabney Coleman) murders his common-law wife, a has-been rock star.  However, while dodging questions from Lieutenant Columbo, Creighton must also deal with his blackmailing associate.  Is this one good enough to set free?  Or should it be guilty as charged?  Listen in to Steve and Sean and find out! Have a comment or question for the hosts...

In "Publish or Perish" (1974), saucy publisher Riley Greenleaf (Jack Cassidy) pays a creepy hit-man to bump off a rival, Greenleaf stages a fake drunken night on the town to provide himself with an alibi.  Of course, now he has to outwit Lieutenant Columbo while disposing of the man he paid to do the dirty deed.  Is this a plot worthy of a Pulitzer?  Or should we find this one in the back wracks o...

Steve and Sean talk about "Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo" (1990) in which realtor Vivian Dimitri (Helen Shaver) kills her boss to avenge the imprisonment and eventual death of her late husband.  As the title suggests, wackiness ensues when Vivian has designs not only on the policeman who caught her husband, but his wife as well.  Will Columbo escape with his life before finding the evidence that wil...

In "A Stitch in Crime" (1973) a talented heart surgeon (played by Leonard Nimoy) kills twice to cover up his murderous plan to do away with his colleague in a diabolical plot involving dissolving suture.  Does this episode deserve a good diagnosis?  Or was it DOA?  Listen in to what Steve and Sean have to say and find out! Have a question or comment for the hosts?  Email Steve and Sean at columboc...

Steve and Sean open Season Eight of The Columbo Confab podcast with "A Trace of Murder" (1997) starring David Rasche as a forensic scientist who plots with his mistress to frame her millionaire husband for murder.  Does this episode pass scientific muster?  Or is it bunkum?  Listen in and find out what Steve and Sean thought! Have a comment or question for the hosts?  Email Steve and Sean at colum...

Steve and Sean turn the dial on the Wayback Machine to 1968 and the premiere of Prescription: Murder (1968), starring Gene Barry as an adulterous psychiatrist who bumps off his wife with the help of his mistress.  Is this episode up to FDA standards?  Or is as toxic as diet pills?  Listen in and find out! Have a comment or question for the hosts?  Email Steve and Sean at columboconfab@gmail.com or...

In "Uneasy Lies the Crown" (1990), diabolical dentist Wesley Corman (played by James Read) has a creative plot to poison his wife's lover, but not exactly for the reason you expect: he wants to humiliate his wife and continuing practicing dentistry with his father-in-law.  Is this a story that's polished?  Or is it full of cavities?  Listen to Steve and Sean and find out! Have a comment or questio...

Steve and Sean finish up the Robert Culp trifecta with "Double Exposure" (1973), in which Culp stars as a motivational research scientist who gets caught blackmailing clients with his named by unseen girlfriend's "fabulous body."  Audiotapes, film, nickels, and raisins abound when Culp bumps off another hapless blackmailer to cover up the first murder.  Oh, what a tangled web he weaves!  What did...