[HN Gopher] Columbo: an origin story (2018)
___________________________________________________________________
Columbo: an origin story (2018)
Author : MaysonL
Score : 163 points
Date : 2021-07-27 08:24 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (columbophile.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (columbophile.com)
| beebeepka wrote:
| I never watched the show back in the day. I knew what it was but
| I was not into this sort of thing in my youth.
|
| Decided to give it a try last month and I am already on season 2
| and find it enjoyable.
|
| A few things that stand out to me:
|
| 1. Male characters tend to be in their 50s or older.
|
| 2. Women are mostly gorgeous but somewhat the same type
|
| 3. Even though it was all filmed almost 50 years ago and some
| stories are ridiculous, over the top, it all seems more
| believable than whatever modern crime show my wife is watching.
| These old, pretentious, hilariously over the top rich assholes
| are more believable to me than "normal" modern TV characters that
| seem to have it all in their 20s while also looking like models.
|
| 4. Everyone is white lol
| jhbadger wrote:
| >They based the character squarely on Porfiry Petrovich, the
| astute but meandering lead investigator in Dostoevsky's Crime &
| Punishment - a book both had studied at college.
|
| Perhaps, but I would find it difficult to believe that the
| creators of Columbo hadn't also seen the 1955 French film
| _Diabolique_ (also known as _Les Diaboliques_ ). This film
| features a detective who seems very friendly and not very
| competent but who is cleverly setting up a rhetorical trap for
| the murder suspect, very much like how Columbo acts.
| LaundroMat wrote:
| There'sno source mentioned, but according to this (French TV
| station's) presentation (see slide 5)[0], Commissaire Fichet
| from Les Diaboliques was indeed an inspiration.
|
| [0]
| https://tvbreizh.fr/sites/default/files/dossier_de_presse_50...
| wimagguc wrote:
| Pay attention to the camera & directing the next time you watch
| an episode, it's an absolute masterpiece.
|
| One example to look out for is the back-and-forth between Columbo
| and the baddie. They would usually stand in opposite ends of the
| room and shot from two (sets of) cameras. One camera is closer to
| Columbo and the other is closer to the baddie, so when the
| detective is "winning" an argument, he'll look bigger on the
| screen and vice versa.
|
| This usually starts with a shot where Columbo looks super small
| somewhere in the back of the room, then he'd ask his famous "just
| one last question", and then they switch the setup. Now Columbo
| is bigger in the front, and the baddie looks small while they are
| in trouble.
| mikebannister wrote:
| amazing, just downloaded recently and in the middle of episode 1
| just now...
| leephillips wrote:
| This series is one of the very rare ones in which my favorite
| actor, Patrick McGoohan, makes a couple of guest appearances, and
| even directed one episode.
|
| https://columbophile.com/2020/08/30/episode-review-columbo-a...
| leephillips wrote:
| Correction: directed _five_ episodes.
| lttlrck wrote:
| Yes. He's excellent. My favorite is Identity Crisis with Leslie
| Nielsen.
| mjklin wrote:
| Be seeing you.
| lqet wrote:
| One of the earliest (and also one of the best) Columbo episodes
| ("Murder by the Book", 1971) was directed by Steven Spielberg. If
| you watch it, it is _immediately_ clear (even during the initial
| shot) that this episode is simply in another league. Not only
| when compared to other Columbo episodes, but also when compared
| to other TV shows during that era (see for example this short
| documentary [0]). It is crazy to think that Spielberg was only 25
| when he directed this.
|
| If I remember correctly, the quality of that Columbo episode was
| what really started Spielberg's career. He got the offer to
| direct a TV movie afterwards, and he presented Duel [1] (also in
| 1971), which is simply a masterpiece and got a theatrical release
| after the TV success. It established Spielberg as a major film
| director. Just watch the title sequence:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0707XtiFPs
|
| [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb62FxCH-Ks
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duel_(1971_film)
| drcongo wrote:
| The shot choices in that opening are spectacular. One of my
| favourite episodes.
| scandox wrote:
| Respectfully disagree on Spielberg. Many episodes from the
| early series show exceptional visual flair. Watch the opening
| sequence of Publish or Perish or the post murder cover up from
| Death Lends a Hand.
|
| Spielberg was young and had enormous talent obviously but I
| think a blind taste test wouldn't show the difference.
| lqet wrote:
| > Watch [...] the post murder cover up from Death Lends a
| Hand.
|
| Personally, I find the projection on the sunglasses a bit
| kitschy.
| scandox wrote:
| My feeling is that if it was used in the context of
| cinema/feature film then yes it would be kitsch. But for
| the medium of TV of the era it strikes me as a bit of
| intelligent fun.
| selimthegrim wrote:
| You beat me to mentioning Death Lends a Hand.
|
| "How do we trump split screen? Let's do it _on sunglasses_ "
| (which always seems to get cut in syndication)
| parenthesis wrote:
| "Murder by the Book" was also an early writing credit for
| writer/producer Steven Bochco.
| Witoso wrote:
| Apparently this episode is in the public domain, and is
| available on the columbophile's website[0]
|
| [0] https://columbophile.com/2018/03/25/full-episode-columbo-
| mur...
| patwolf wrote:
| I wonder, are these episodes really part of the public
| domain, or are they just misusing that term to describe being
| allowed to embed them?
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| Wow, driving from downtown LA (Broadway), up 110 to I-5 towards
| Palmdale, using that unique connecting ramp where you turn left
| at the end of the tunnel.
|
| I've driven these recently and remember the horrible smog-
| belching cars from my youth. Also, nice to see the freeways
| without tagging everywhere.
| NextHendrix wrote:
| I was introduced to Columbo by a housemate a few years ago and
| was instantly hooked. The episode you mentioned is excellent,
| as are all the Jack Cassidy ones.
|
| For me the standout episode is 'Any Old Port in a Storm' (1973)
| with Donald Pleasance.
| lqet wrote:
| I think there are 4 things that make a Columbo episode
| enjoyable:
|
| 1) Peter Falk 2) Creative murder ideas 3) Great plot 4)
| Supporting performances
|
| In "Any Old Port in a Storm" the acting by both Falk and
| Pleasence is outstanding. Regarding 2), I always adored "Now
| You See Him" (the magician episode, also with Cassidy) and
| "Swan Song" (the airplane murder with Johnny Cash).
| coderdd wrote:
| I would add great pacing, with long, slow shots. I counted
| random modern film scene switches, it is average 2 seconds
| per switch.
|
| Other is adding atmospheric elements that serve no purpose
| to the plot, just paint scenes of life. In modern films,
| most things shown will have to compulsively have some
| utility later.
| Comevius wrote:
| I think what makes Columbo good is how out he is of his
| element. The perpetrators are always from a higher social
| class and he always takes advantage of their hubris,
| lulling them into a false sense of security, agitating them
| until they give up clues. All that while being polite and
| sympathetic. There is no shoehorned social commentary in
| Columbo. It's pure entertainment, which is hard to find
| these days.
| sumtechguy wrote:
| Kinda a lot of episodes were like that. The more
| interesting episodes I think it was more of a he was 'a
| sly little elf perched on his toadstool'. He was
| unassuming. He disguised himself to be invisible and
| would pick apart everything usually very methodically. He
| 'took a defect and used it as a tool'. Even the way he
| would blow people off was to be unassuming 'oh my boss he
| is a very exacting man', 'oh just a routine question'.
| When it was usually him looking for that information. He
| would many times make the perp 'self own' themselves by
| their own lies.
|
| The writers were also very good on making sure motive,
| means and opportunity were clearly picked apart in all
| ways. Apparently the whole crew was in on it and would
| make sure that the story stayed true. Making sure things
| were filmed so they did not contradict later or past
| actions.
|
| The 90s series was a bit less tight and more of the
| 'stick it to the rich'. They were enjoyable enough. But
| something was missing.
| lttlrck wrote:
| Jack Cassidy is amazing in all three? of the episodes he's
| in.
|
| The show oozes genuine charisma, and the slow 1970's pacing
| is an absolute joy.
| hellbannedguy wrote:
| Although the writing was superb, I don't think Columbo would have
| been such a good show without Peter Falk.
|
| He had talent, and natural charisma. I don't think I have ever
| seen him in a bad performance, even before Columbo.
| pimlottc wrote:
| It's also quite lucky that they decided to go with the "too
| young" Falk, who was then able to play the role for over thirty
| years!
| tempodox wrote:
| Agreed. In "Murder by Death" he also plays Columbo's parody,
| and it's hilarious.
| [deleted]
| jaclaz wrote:
| If you are an estimator of Peter Falk in "light" roles, you
| surely know it, I have to confess that I still re-watch from
| time to time The Inlaws (with Alan Arkin besides Peter Falk)
| and still laugh out loud on the same lines, even if I almost
| know them by heart:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_In-Laws_(1979_film)
| philiplu wrote:
| Came here to see if anyone mentioned "The In-Laws". Just a
| perfect, farcical gem. I still crack myself up yelling
| "serpentine, serpentine" when running with my kids, who
| have no idea what's funny. Probably about time I watched it
| with them.
| jaclaz wrote:
| >... when running with my kids
|
| You mean when you talk about running with your kids ;-):
|
| https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079336/quotes/qt0136888
| nelblu wrote:
| My wife and I discovered columbo in 2014ish. Ever since then we
| have become crazy fans. I have all the episodes from 1968 thru
| 2003 on DVD, ripped with subtitles and backed up on multiple SSDs
| and also backed up to Amazon glacier just in case... Columbo
| plays in our house every weekend since 2014, we are probably
| watching the series 7th or 8th time now and it never feels
| boring. My biggest regret is that, I found columbo after peter
| Falk died. I would have loved to meet him or just write to him
| when he were alive. Peter Falk was a legend, I almost feel like
| we are related and share some weird bond. Thanks Peter Falk and
| the whole Columbo crew for a masterpiece show.
| hawski wrote:
| Columbo is my and my wife's favorite series. There are many
| things that separate it from most. Nowadays there is a big focus
| on series where every episode ends with an addictive cliffhanger.
| I hate that. You can watch a single episode of Columbo and be
| satisfied. There are a few things mentioned from other episodes
| here and there, but overall nothing important. I also love how
| the lieutenant is above all kind. Lately everything has to be
| dark and quirkiness is used to explain how someone is directly
| rude. I like the fact that they did not bend and show Mrs Columbo
| (I now that there was a separate show with that title).
|
| I'm sure, that it will get a reboot sometime in future. I just
| hope that it will not receive the same treatment as Star Trek
| with Discovery. I would appreciate i.e. Natasha Lyone to make it
| something different enough not to look like a cheap uncanny
| valley copy. But kindess and clear separation of episodes is a
| must.
| purplequark wrote:
| I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but 'Try and Catch Me' is my
| favorite episode (it has everything: the car, Dog, and IMHO,
| the best "villain"), and addresses the kindness:
|
| > Abigail Mitchell: I'm beginning to be very fond of you,
| Lieutenant. I think you're a very kind man.
|
| > Lt. Columbo: Don't count on that, Miss Mitchell. Don't count
| on it.
|
| https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075866/quotes/
| dazc wrote:
| A murder detective show where you already know who did it and
| how should never work but somehow it does, perfectly.
| uniqueid wrote:
| According to Hitchcock it just means Columbo is a Suspense
| show, rather than a Mystery: https://youtu.be/-Xs111uH9ss
| bbx wrote:
| Yes, the viewer has way more information than Columbo, so
| should be able to solve it even more easily. And yet it's
| still extremely hard.
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| I think the show would be improved if it did not use that
| device. I feel like it was almost like a detective show for
| dummies. You didn't have to (get to) match wits with the
| detective (or is it the writer?, ha ha) but did get to enjoy
| some justice porn, watch the guilty squirm.
|
| I love the character of Columbo and he would lose nothing if
| they followed the more traditional detective format where all
| the bits revealed throughout are tied together in the end.
| leephillips wrote:
| Because, after all, who cares who killed Roger Ackroyd?
| andi999 wrote:
| Yes. I think the real ingredience is that the culprit is rich
| and has a beautiful house and Colombo is the underdog
| bringing them down.
| realce wrote:
| It's totally the rich people going down.
| altcognito wrote:
| Not just rich but often "smart people". They might be
| professors or scientists etc.
| SCNP wrote:
| I think my favorite aspect of the show is how there are
| still societal remnants of the fancy, Victorian era customs
| and Columbo uses breaking social norms to put people off-
| balance.
| hellbannedguy wrote:
| I loved his old car. I think it was a Volvo?
|
| The show reinforced what I believed at the time--money
| dosen't buy happiness, and don't judge people by how they
| look.
|
| Now--as an aging person--a bit of money would make life
| easier?
| okoslaatoo wrote:
| Peugeot 403 cabrio
|
| https://www.cartalk.com/blogs/jim-motavalli/columbos-car-
| it-...
| [deleted]
| philistine wrote:
| Beautiful for the era. Most of the houses on that show are
| a riot.
| wastedhours wrote:
| I used to try and miss the start of episodes so I wouldn't
| know exactly who did it. It's usually very easy to guess
| throughout in any case, but it's still an enjoyably journey
| even if you're almost 100% clued in.
| Cybotron5000 wrote:
| Oh, so they're 'rebooting' it. I wish they would hire a writer
| with the imagination to do something completely new without all
| that baggage. ...I agree - there's darkness in Columbo, but
| it's much subtler and is tempered by the kindness and charm of
| Columbo himself. I see why they do it, but the 'just one more'
| episode netflix-thing easily gets tiresome and ends up
| prolonging some plots/story arcs unnaturally and
| unsatisfactorily. The little of 'Discovery' I watched I felt no
| engagement with at all - the writing I thought was generic and
| boring and the characters seemed two-dimensional - but maybe
| I'm just behind the times: 'Enterprise' grew on me a few years
| down the line (though not the opening theme!)
| [deleted]
| jbluepolarbear wrote:
| I haven't watch Columbo since I was a kid, but I always thought
| Monk was the closest of the modern crime serials.
| stronglikedan wrote:
| > There are many things that separate it from most.
|
| Matlock is another great detective(?) show for self-contained
| episodes.
| shantnutiwari wrote:
| >Nowadays there is a big focus on series where every episode
| ends with an addictive cliffhanger. I hate that.
|
| Me too. And most of the cliffhangers are stupid, you know they
| were added in just to pad out the episodes.
|
| > Lately everything has to be dark and quirkiness is used to
| explain how someone is directly rude.
|
| Yeah, I've stopped reading crime fiction (and watching crime
| drama) for exactly this reason: Every detective *has* to be
| rude/obnoxious, hate their life, be an alcoholic with marriage
| problems.
|
| And I'm like, why can't we have a mentally stable detective who
| solves crime because of duty, and not to excorcise their "inner
| demons" (or other such psychological BS reason usually given).
|
| For this reason, I love Columbo, Poirot and Midsomer murders:
| The detectives are honourable people, very polite and
| respectful, but polite doesnt mean they let people walk over
| them.
|
| It seems to me most crime writers cannot grasp the fact that
| one can be polite and ruthless (or relentless) at the same
| time.
| dharmab wrote:
| I recommend watching Knives Out- Daniel Craig plays the kind
| of detective you want to see. (It helps that he is not the
| sole point of view character.)
| mrlonglong wrote:
| Recommendation seconded. Its hilarious and excellent!
| swhitf wrote:
| The BBC drama The Missing and spin off Baptise have a calm
| and friendly lead detective. Not sure where you are but it
| you can get them in your country maybe give them a try.
| dubya wrote:
| I recommend the Maigret novels by Georges Simenon. He is
| portrayed as a genuinely decent human being, and the stories
| are interesting.
| briefcomment wrote:
| Along those lines, Tintin is the best role model I've ever
| had
| philistine wrote:
| Me too. You're making me realize I've left my Milou to
| sleep alone upstairs. Tintin would never do that, unless
| Milou was drunk.
| bloak wrote:
| I used to like The Bill
| (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bill), back when it had
| 30-minute episodes, each of which was in effect a self-
| contained little play using the same set of main characters.
| The episodes were written by different people, who were
| credited quite prominently at the start, so the quality of the
| writing varied, but in a way that made it more interesting.
| Unfortunately, more recently, that's not what the market
| wanted, apparently.
| lokedhs wrote:
| I agree. I have recently been watching a lot of Star Trek and
| Mission Impossible. Two shows where you can watch one episode
| and be done with it until the next time.
|
| I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one getting really
| annoyed with the style with which most shows are made these
| days. I understand that there are good things about having a
| continuous storyline, and the last season of DS9 shows that it
| does work. But all shows don't have to be that way.
| AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
| The key is that your long-form stuff needs to take a back
| seat to a plot that starts and ends in with each episode. In
| my personal opinion, Stargate SG-1 is a master class in this.
|
| Shows these days are written for streaming, they are clearly
| meant to be binged a season at a time. You'll have 4 plots an
| episode and not a one of them starts and ends in the same
| one, with several episodes having resolution of anything at
| all. It's maddening.
|
| Like, there are memorable episodes of some shows, like SG-1's
| Ergo, that you can sit down and re-watch and enjoy yourself,
| but this made-for-streaming format just doesn't have that
| quality. What episode did that cool thing happen in? They all
| blur together.
| db48x wrote:
| SG-1 was good but B5 was better.
| selimthegrim wrote:
| Even with the deus ex machina aliens?
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| The plot wasn't resolved thru magic--the first ones
| realized they were doing more harm than good and decided
| to finally take their leave. This characterization has
| some merit but is stretched to fit.
|
| Also, the thread was discussing how a show could best
| weave short and long term story lines together, not their
| absolute quality.
| db48x wrote:
| Which aliens did you think of as a Deus Ex Machina?
| jasonwatkinspdx wrote:
| I started rewatching it a couple months ago, but had to
| abandon it almost immediately. The alien race to
| historical nation stereotyping is so forced and gross :(
| db48x wrote:
| I'm not even sure that you are talking about the same
| show. Which alien race did you think was stereotypical of
| which real human nation?
|
| The Centauri have a Senate and an Emperor, which I
| suppose humans have done. The writer and producer stated
| that he deliberately modeled them on the Roman Empire,
| but their story reminds me more of the transition from
| the Wiemar Republic to the Third Reich. The Minbari have
| castes, which humans have done, but the three castes are
| completely equal and share all responsibilities and
| decision-making authority, which humans have never done.
| The Narn have some kind of legislative body made of "many
| equal voices", though we never learn many details. That
| government gets dissolved and replaced with a government
| appointed by the Centauri (spoiler!).
|
| Among the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, there is also a
| Gerontocracy (which humans have never done), a
| Corportocracy (which I would argue humans have never
| done, though I know some would disagree), and one alien
| race draws lots and gets into fist fights, which is
| hilarious ("You do the same, for flag."). The Vorlons
| have no discernible government, but no human society has
| ever been that inscrutable. But you won't have seen any
| of those, since you gave up early.
|
| But I can't see how any of that is gross. Most fantasy
| and science fiction examines humanity and the human
| condition by creating alternate races which are just
| distorted reflections of our selves. Dwarves and Elves
| and Hobbits and even Orcs are just aspects of humanity
| that have been separated out for story-telling purposes,
| and it's no different in B5. How can it possibly be
| gross?
| jasonwatkinspdx wrote:
| Are you kidding?
|
| Centari == Franco Roman.
|
| Mimbari == Vague eastern mysticism
|
| Narn == Dark skined prominant skeletal featured war like
| people
|
| You gotta be really obtuse to not see that plainly for
| what it is.
|
| The show has it's upsides but let's not pretend what's
| plain on it's face isn't right there.
| talideon wrote:
| No, very much no.
|
| The Centauri map onto an empire in decline, so you could
| point at the late Roman empire, the late Byzantine
| empire, the late British empire, &c., where they haven't
| caught up with the reality of their situation and still
| have delusions of grandeur of the times when they were
| still ascendant.
|
| The Minbari don't neatly align onto any human cultures.
| Sure, you can pick out elements of various Far Eastern
| and Near Eastern cultures, but there's no actual
| 'mysticism' there. If you wanted to compare them to
| anything, they're basically less hot-headed Klingons.
|
| The Narn are not 'Dark skined prominant skeletal featured
| war like people'. To paint them as such misses the point
| of their whole arc throughout the show, and in particular
| that of G'Kar. They're a deeply traumatised people trying
| to recover after a long colonial occupation. About the
| only reason why you're projecting that onto them is that
| many human beings from colonised parts of the world have
| dark skin, but the Narn are not actually portrayed as
| warlike: that's something the Centauri liked to portray
| themselves as to excuse their treatment of and subsequent
| high-handedness with the Narm. From my perspective as
| someone from Ireland, I see ourselves in the Narn, after
| centuries of similar treatment from our neighbours to the
| east.
|
| I would recommend you go back and rewatch the show past
| the first season.
| db48x wrote:
| The speck is in your own eye, I think.
|
| The Narn are certainly sounding the war drums at the
| beginning of the show, but that isn't enough to make them
| "war-like". The Centauri and the Minbari are both better
| at war than the Narn. Two of the Narn characters are the
| most eloquent and intelligent of any characters on the
| show. The humans and Minbari fought a war just ten years
| before the show starts, and you didn't put either of them
| down as "war-like". The Minbari nearly committed true
| genocide and wiped out the human race completely, but you
| called them mystics instead.
|
| The Minbari certainly seem like mystics, at least until
| you meet a few members of the Warrior caste; the
| diplomats we see at first are only from the Religious
| caste. And when considered in detail their philosophy is
| not really very similar to any "Eastern" philosophies you
| might be thinking of.
|
| But the decadence of the Centauri Republic is intended to
| remind you of the Roman Empire. There are differences,
| but that aspect of the Centauri was intended to feel
| especially familiar. Humans can grow to understand the
| other races, but they could easily _be_ the Centauri.
|
| The question of religions and philosophy is an
| interesting one.
|
| Depending on how much of the show you watched, you may
| have found out that they believe in reincarnation (in
| fact that think that was a big plot-point of the second
| or third episode). This is certainly a point of
| similarity with one "Eastern" religion that I can think
| of. However, the Minbari have _scientific proof_. The
| Warrior caste Minbari believe in reincarnation even
| though they are not religious, because it's been proven.
| There are people in the universe who call it a "pretty
| fantasy" so the question is left open for the viewer, at
| least until later. However, in other respects their
| philosophy is not much like that of any human religion
| which incorporates a belief in reincarnation. Hinduism
| has reincarnation and castes, but it also has a pantheon
| of gods. The Minbari have reincarnation and castes too,
| but no gods at all. Their most revered religious figure
| is "a Minbari not born of Minbari"; in other words an
| ordinary Minbari of unusual heritage but not a
| supernatural being in any way.
|
| Meanwhile, the Centauri believe that they can often see
| the circumstances of their own death. "Comes in a dream,
| yes?". Again, this is something even non-religious
| Centauri believe. Londo tells Sinclair about his dream,
| that he has always known that he would be strangled to
| death by a Centauri ("We are squeezing the life out of
| each other."). And he says that as soon as he saw G'Kar
| for the first time, he recognized him as the Narn in the
| vision. We the viewers are actually shown the vision, and
| in season 4 the show follows through and we see how
| Londo's death plays out. The Centauri also have Seers who
| can see the future of other people, and those visions
| always happen exactly as we are shown them. Meanwhile,
| the Centauri religion is in many ways the direct
| antithesis of Christianity, a major human religion that
| has a strong element of prophecy, and one that became
| common in the Roman Empire no less. Their religion is
| much more similar that of the earlier Roman Republic with
| a whole pantheon of deities, including at least one
| ascended emperor.
|
| It's not as important to the plot of the show as the
| others we see, but in the fifth season we learn that
| every 200 years on the Brachiri homeworld the dead come
| back to life for a night to talk to the living and give
| them advice. And this works not just for the Brachiri; a
| human on the Brachiri homeworld or on any property owned
| by the Brachiri during that night will be visited by
| someone from their own past. One of the visitors, a human
| who died years before the show begins, relays a message
| from a character that died in season 3 to one that is
| still alive, but who wasn't within the Brachiri zone!
|
| I'm not really sure how to classify the Narn religious
| beliefs, but at least one of their religious texts
| contains accurate historical information that turns out
| to be useful to the main characters.
|
| So in the Babylon 5 universe, many species have religious
| beliefs that are actually literally true. Those religions
| share some broad strokes with religions that exist here
| on Earth today, but not much more than that; the details
| are always quite different. There's more depth there than
| you thought.
| throw0101a wrote:
| The short-ish lived _Veronica Mars_ was quite good a having
| both a season long story arc, but having self-contained
| mysteries as well. Some episodes leaning more one way or
| another, but there was usually some mix of both.
| at_a_remove wrote:
| Yes, that's one of the things that impressed me most
| about the show before it went off the rails. You had your
| season-long mystery, some multi-episode questions, and
| then your single episode mysteries.
|
| It also has one of the best father-daughter relationships
| I've seen on screen.
|
| I have noticed that quite a lot of how Veronica Mars
| "worked" got shifted over into iZombie.
| HideousKojima wrote:
| The X-Files did a goodish job alternating between
| standalone episodes and overarching plot. Roughly 2/3rds
| of episodes were standalone monster of the week episodes,
| while every third episode or so was about the conspiracy
| to help aliens colonize Earth. Also occasionally stuff in
| the standalone episodes had effects in later episodes
| (for example Scully's dog is from a person who died in a
| standalone episode)
| AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
| Oh my god, Discovery...
|
| Discovery is just written by toddlers or something.
|
| Like, I was willing to blame it on continuity baggage for the
| first 2 seasons, plus the first season of every Star Trek is
| lackluster so whatever. But in season 3 it looked like they'd
| finally hired a competent writer for a few episodes, Osyraa was
| suddenly a more nuanced character, the Federation was offered a
| path to its goals that meant they'd have to compromise their
| ideals, Burnam was becoming Han Solo [0], Tilly was being
| slotted into the leadership role her character is actually good
| at, etc. Then at the last second the toddlers took over again,
| Deus-ex Burnam'd[1] the ethical decisions, shoved Tilly back
| into a science role, put Suru on a bus, and put Han Solo in
| charge of a starship for some reason. What the hell!?
|
| [0] Which is what her character should be, clearly. She doesn't
| follow rules, she doesn't work well with others, can't lead
| worth a damn, and she readily compromises her ethics to achieve
| her goals. She's a terrible Star Fleet captain but she'd be a
| great chaotic-good rogue.
|
| [1] What the fuck is with Marry-Sue God-Queen Burnam anyway?
| She has like 95% of the screen time or something and her Picard
| speeches inspire nothing but contempt for the writers. Like,
| answer me this: There are regular characters on the bridge
| other than Tilly, Burnam, and Suru. What are their names?
| There's Detmer, who we kinda know about because she had that
| PTSD episode on screen, and I guess that one woman is a cliff
| diver or something, but I don't know her name. And dude in the
| back who got horribly murdered by Mud that one time? These
| aren't red shirts, why aren't we getting any character
| development for them?
|
| Alright, sorry, I went on a bit of a rant there.
|
| P.S. I'm hesitant to blame the actors for bad performances. I
| feel like there's a lot of bad direction and obviously terrible
| material to work with.
|
| P.P.S. I actually think the hack writers are are a pretty good
| fit for the mirror-universe stuff. It's still garbage writing,
| but it just sorta fits that place.
| wombatpm wrote:
| Turbo lift scenes in season 3. Is the ship a f'ing TARDIS now
| where it's bigger on the inside?
| regularfry wrote:
| Possibly. That was after the INSTALL ALL THE MAGIC refit,
| wasn't it?
| LordN00b wrote:
| Rant or not, I have to agree entirely. They literally tried
| to do a Die hard in Space episode...
|
| If you think of it as `Star Trek: Burnham and the continuing
| voyages of Discovery`, then it sort of makes sense. Doesn't
| make it any good though
| [deleted]
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| > every episode ends with an addictive cliffhanger
|
| By chance I noticed if you watch from the midpoint of one
| episode to the next, there is no cliffhanger. ;-)
| narag wrote:
| _Lately everything has to be dark and quirkiness is used to
| explain how someone is directly rude._
|
| Talking about darkness, I remember _Burn Notice_ , a funny show
| where an ex-spy used his training to fix his neighbours'
| problems, much like A-Team.
|
| It was a nice light entertainment, but for some reason, the
| last season (or last two seasons, can't remember) turned so
| dark that it was really scary. I started watching it to have
| some chuckles and finished with a sour taste.
| fortran77 wrote:
| I learned conversational English by watching subtitled Columbo
| shows.
| LordN00b wrote:
| In a minor dev related way, projects where clients keep piliing
| on requirements during dev, that's a Columbo. Just one more
| thing...
| js8 wrote:
| And will the product management figure out what the product is
| supposed to do at the end?
| glandium wrote:
| I hate Columbo because in the Double Exposure episode they
| explain the cue marks that appeared during movies to indicate to
| the projectionist they need to switch reels, and after that I
| couldn't not notice those cue marks (Fight Club did the same
| reveal, much later).
|
| But really, I love Columbo. RIP Peter Falk. 10 years already.
| sdoering wrote:
| I remember that and that was exactly my feeling. After watching
| this I just could not unsee them anymore.
|
| It was the perfect TIL for me long time ago (when I didn't know
| what TIL would have stood for).
| yawaworht1978 wrote:
| I agree, sadly there is nothing like Colombo produced these days,
| the CSI series are tangentially similar but using hitech instead
| of old school police work. Interesting movie recommendation would
| be murder on the orient express , old or new version are equally
| good.
| sfuller808 wrote:
| the closest i've found is the italian detective series
| Inspector Montalbano
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_Montalbano_(TV_serie...
| paedubucher wrote:
| When I read Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" in school, I
| mentioned to my teacher that the investigator reminds me of
| Columbo. I only remember my teacher answering me, that Columbo is
| one of the few crime series to be of good quality.
|
| Almost fifteen years later I read this:
|
| > "The Columbo character was based squarely on Porfiry Petrovich,
| the astute but meandering lead investigator in Dostoevsky's Crime
| & Punishment."
|
| Which makes me kind of happy :-)
| everling wrote:
| I discovered Columbo just a year or so back and I love it. Peter
| Falk is the big draw, but I also appreciate the relatively low
| intensity of the show. Scenes are allowed to unfold at a pace
| that would seem too slow or baggy for today's shows. It's a
| perfect evening watch to unwind after a long day.
| throw0101a wrote:
| I was always disappointed that Apple never got Peter Falk to
| appear on stage at WWDC and say " _Oh, there 's one more thing
| Mr. Jobs..._".
| cardiffspaceman wrote:
| Too true. I don't care for all revivified old shows but I've
| been seeing a lot of this show recently (MeTV in some cities)
| and of course, Columbo doesn't wear a stylish turtle neck, but
| I think some would find the callback hilarious.
| telesilla wrote:
| For an extra blessing of Peter Falk should look for Wim Wender's
| _Wings of Desire_. It 's an incredibly touching addition to an
| already profound film.
|
| https://youtu.be/u7s-H4EqP4I
| amazing_stories wrote:
| Great movie. I didn't know Falk was in it and this created a
| very surreal experience when he arrived on screen.
| jwilber wrote:
| That "buy me a coffee banner" is so annoying on mobile. Awful to
| just keep it there nonstop.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2021-07-28 19:02 UTC)