We’ve been here in our Norfolk accommodation since Saturday and although there is a television
it only receives terrestrial programmes. Which is okay because we watch very
little television, but it has begun to seem somewhat old fashioned. Nevertheless, as we are on holiday something different is indicated so we have scanned the
available programmes each evening. Unfortunately among dozens and dozens of channels we have
yet to find anything worth watching. Television? It’s a desert but you already knew that.
However we did find a single episode of Columbo. Not
exactly a cultural oasis because I can't even remember what happened but we watched it and passed a
couple of hours pleasantly enough. Pleasant enough for holiday entertainment anyhow, but the episode was thirty years old and as predictable as Columbo always is.
I may be wrong because I’m not a Columbo expert but they all
seem to go something like this.
We know the identity of the murderer as soon as he or she does the dirty deed. Everyone is glossy and
prosperous. Columbo is scruffy, drives a ratty old car, always has a cigar on the go and has his
pockets full of screwed up bits of paper some of which are vital scraps of evidence. He knows who did the foul deed but
has to construct a case based on tiny mistakes made by the over-confident
murderer. He never exits a scene with the murderer without turning back with
the words “oh, just one more thing.”
Oh well. It was thirty years old but just about watchable.
7 comments:
I thought all screen policemen always ended conversations with suspects by pretending to remember 'just one more thing' to ask as they were leaving? I think it's in their training because the person is off guard for that question having thought the conversation was over.
"Thirty years old but just about watchable".
You'll probably find that also applies to the local barmaid. Rural life, eh?
Woodsy beat me to it.
Woodsy and James - good point. I wonder when it arose because I don't think Sherlock Holmes did it.
Sam - sadly I've reached the age where thirty years old is akin to alien.
Hey don't diss Columbo! They just don't make this literate stuff with audible dialogue anymore. Peter Falk called in favours to get people such as Ray Milland, Patrick MacGoohan, Donald Pleasence, John Cassavetes to appear. Young thrusters such as Steven Spielberg were given big budget big star opportunities to direct straight from school. Yes, it is formulaic but there is a joy in watching the way it works out and how it is performed... It is possible to enjoy Hamlet or Macbeth despite knowing the plot in advance
Graeme - Mrs H and I both commented on the audible dialogue and we both said we'd watch one more episode if there had been one to watch - but no more. Yes it is well done in the way weaknesses in the killer's alibi gradually unfold, but we find it too formulaic for that to be enough.
But the formula varies .. Such as the assistant who focuses on the irrelevant or the pathologists who display samples, or the guys who lecture him on food and wine etc. As a display of top ranked acting talent in Hollywood at the time there are few comparisons. The comparable talent available today amounts to ? Emma Thompson, George Clooney ??????
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