This Wednesday, May 20, at 9 PM (EDT), Jon and RJ are going to try a live watch-along chat of a Mrs. Columbo episode. Get the details!

From the early days of this podcast (In what, 1986? 2002? 2014?), there has been one episode set aside for the very last Columbo we’d watch. Well, this is it, folks. The last roundup. The final act. The fourth quarter. The seventh ogre. Here, now, is “Strange Bedfellows.”



George Wendt is the owner of a racing horse farm who’s having trouble living up to the standards of his late father. Throw in a brother who’s an inveterate gambler and the guy’s wound a little tight. When little brother owes the mob tons of money, he sees an opportunity to not only kill his brother, but also a gangster in order to clear the debt away. He didn’t count on the local mob boss being a scene-chewing Rod Steiger who has no problem whatsoever working with the cops to entrap Norm Peterson in a third act gaslighting nightmare. Joining us to wrap up the podcast is the same guy who helped start it off, Leonard Pierce.

So it’s come to this. Our final show. Season thirteen’s “Strange Bedfellows,” (AKA The George Wendt Episode) in which the comedian plays a racehorse breeder whose brother is in deep to the mob. Kills the brother, kills a mob guy, there you go. WILL HE GET AWAY WITH IT? Who can say? Leonard Pierce will be our final guest.

In this next-to-last edition of the podcast, Jon and RJ list their top and bottom five Columbo episodes, talk about favorite performances and answer lots of your listener questions, along with a bunch of other talk about the program. And yes- a bunch came in after this was recorded! Don’t worry- they’ll go through them and cover what they can during the George Wendt Episode.

Our next-to-last show will largely be Jon and I discussing Columbo, giving our best-of and worst-of lists, etc. But, we want your questions, too! About Columbo, about the podcast, whatever! Leave them in the comments here, send them to columbo@thecitydesk.net, or post them to our Twitter, @jomtpodcast.

What do you know? The second-to-last Columbo episode ever is the second-to-last one we’re covering! In “Murder with Too Many Notes,” Billy Connolly plays a past-his-prime film score composer whose protégé has secretly been the one producing the maestro’s best work lately. When the kid starts demanding some credit for his work, the composer sees no way out than to stage an untimely death for the wannabe John Williams. Author and film archivist Jenny Hammerton (Cooking with Columbo) joins us to discuss the episode, weather on our respective continents, what Columbo souvenir you’d want in your house, and so much more. Also- a contest to win Jenny’s book! Details in the episode.

Billy Connolly! Film scoring action! A rusty elevator! Tuxedo rental clues! We’re getting close to the end, with Season Ten’s McGoohan-directed “Murder with Too Many Notes.” Joining in will be author and film archivist Jenny Hammerton (Cooking with Columbo).

As we reach the end of the podcast’s run, we come upon “Uneasy Lies the Crown,” a rarely-mentioned late entry in the series. Steven Bochco recycles a 1970s script, in which a dentist/gambling addict tries to frame his wife for the murder of her famous actor lover. It’s actually not a bad murder scheme, and some of the performances are good, but hey, 90s Columbo, you know? Returning guest Tilt Araiza (The Sitcom Club) is here to discuss the episode, why on earth people do fanfiction and how a potential Columbo revival could possibly go wrong.

Tilt Araiza (The Sitcom Club) returns to the podcast to join Jon and RJ for a discussion of Season Nine’s “Uneasy Lies the Crown.” In it, a dentist murders his wife’s lover and sets her up to take the fall. Sound familiar? Then you might have watched a McMillan and Wife from 1977 that used the same Steven Bochco script.

Well, we’re back from our break with a Mrs. Columbo. Before you hit us, though, wait! “Murder is a Parlor Game” stars Donald Pleasance! That must mean it’s good, right? Right? Nope! Go ahead and hit away! In this episode, Pleasance plays a retired Scotland Yard detective who lives in the Wee Britain section of LA, an acclaimed true-crime author and sometime instructor in women’s self-defense. When a wrongly-accused suspect from a past case comes back to haunt him, there’s a struggle, a gunshot and one of the sorriest attempts of a crime scene coverup in recorded modern history. Will Mrs. Columbo piece it together, working the weekly penny saver beat? No, not really! She just sort of stumbles upon things while snooping around and… oh, just watch the thing or listen to us.



Back again are writers Jennifer Wright (Harper’s Bazaar, Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them) and Daniel Kibblesmith (Late Show with Stephen Colbert) with ideas to fix the show, a killer Owen Wilson impression, the “Mrs. Columbo is Dumb” theory, and a free name for your ska band. ALSO- Viewer Mail, with tech tips, analogues to The Wire and speculation about the future of this very podcast.

Coming back soon from a hiatus with a Mrs Columbo episode, “Murder is a Parlor Game.” Don’t let the fact that it stars Donald Pleasance as the killer fool you. If you’d like to take a look beforehand, it does seem to be available on YouTube at the moment, but… well, that’s on you. Joining in the discussion will be returning guests Jennifer Wright (Harper’s Bazaar, Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them) and Daniel Kibblesmith (Late Show with Stephen Colbert).

It’s our final 70s Columbo of the podcast! We’re saying farewell to the Lieutenant’s original decade with “Playback,” an episode featuring dazzling futuristic gadgetry, bowl haircuts and Gena Rowlands. Electronics executive Oskar Werner is on the verge of being fired by his mother-in-law. He kills dear old mom, then rigs his home’s elaborate security video setup so no one even discovers the murder, until he’s safely in alibi city, miles away. The gadget-happy killer’s plan even has Columbo stumped for what seems to be longer than usual, in an episode that also feels longer than usual. Dylan Meconis (The Long Con) is here to look through this one, which seemed to stay at a flat level of “just fine,” as well as speculate how a Columbo comic book series might work. In all, a nice edition of the podcast.

Next time, we discuss our final 70s episode, Season Four’s “Playback.” Oskar Werner is a gadget-happy electronics executive who’s about to get fired from his mother-in-law’s company. This far into the podcast, we all know how he decides to address the situation. Guest Dylan Meconis (The Long Con) will be on hand to discuss.

The final episode produced for Columbo‘s original run, “The Conspirators” has Irish poet Joe Devlin (Clive Revill) brokering an arms deal to send an RV-load (literally!) of machine guns to the IRA. When he shoots the dealer over a perceived betrayal, he not only has to cover up the crime, but also figure how to get his hands on those guns. Columbo is in a race against time, drinking pints and shots and slinging limericks, to prove Devlin did it and prevent the weapons from leaving Los Angeles. Steven Goss (Columbo Interiors, Robophono) joins Jon and RJ to talk about an odd end to the original series.

Next up, we discuss the last 70s Columbo produced, “The Conspirators.” The Lt. gets involved with gun running, pinball, erotic art and lots and lots of Irish whiskey. Returning guest Steven Goss (Columbo Interiors) joins Jon and RJ to sort it all out.

In Murder, a Self Portrait, artist Max Barsini (Patrick Bauchau) has kind of an odd arrangement- he shares a beachside house with his second wife (Shera Danese) and his model/mistress, all while his first wife (Fionnula Flanagan) lives right next door. When the original Mrs. Barsini announces she’s moving out to be with her former therapist, the artist fears she’ll be take a deep, dark secret along to her new digs- Max’s murder of an art dealer decades ago. Deciding he can’t trust her to keep quiet, he kills her on the beach and throws her body in the water to fake a drowning. When Columbo’s assigned to the case, he has to endure lengthy portrait sessions and multiple black-and-white dream sequences to get closer to proving Barsini’s added murder to his palette. Joining to discuss the episode, along with page three murders, hate quadrangles and trinity structure, is podcaster (Hold My Order Terrible Dresser) and writer (We Are the Mutants), Michael Grasso

Back to the latter-day Columbo, with 1989’s “Murder, a Self Portrait.” When a famous artist kills one of the three women in his life, the “Leftenant” has to a lot of sitting in black-and-white dream sequences to nab him. Returning as guest is podcaster (Hold My Order Terrible Dresser) and writer (We Are the Mutants), Michael Grasso.

Well, what can one say, except that this is certainly an episode of Mrs. Columbo? In “A Riddle for Puppets,” our heroine stumbles upon a mystery involving a ventriloquist (Jay Johnson) who begins to hear voices from his dummy. When those voices lead him to stab his mentor to death, it’s up to Kate Columbo to sort of stumble across some clues and make some leaps the audience doesn’t see to bring the killer to justice, with the help of a clown dummy.  Or, maybe he isn’t brought to justice? We don’t get to see that, either. The guest for this one is Abed Gheith, so we talk about a whooole lot of other things aside from this. What else? Oh, a Mrs. Columbo reboot for the CW; the Columbo-as-Antibody theory; the concept of television spinoffs; basic sitcom structure; Mama’s Family (???); the films of Jacques Tati; etc. Come on, we deserve some slack, as we’ve been here twice before. It’s about the journey.

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Yup, it’s another Mrs. Columbo. This time, with a possibly homicidal ventriloquist dummy. Writer, podcaster and roustabout Abed Gheith will return to talk about it.

In “A Trace of Murder,” Shera Danese and David Rasche are having an affair and try to get her husband out of the way by framing him for the murder of a business rival. Here’s the thing, though- Rasche is the CSI lead on the case! A perfect way to make sure all of the evidence points the wrong way. But whoops- here comes Lt. Columbo with a bag of bananas and a sneaking suspicion that the clues are lining up a little too perfectly. The AV Club‘s Gwen Ihnat is here to talk about the weird recap at the end of the episode, Dennis Franz nudity, the possibility of a Columbo reboot and oh, so much more.