Columbo: Season 1

Quintessential late 1960s crime drama ala Perry Mason or Hawaii Five O Classic. The pilot episodes "Prescription Murder" and "Ransom for a Dead Man" set the stage for a long and successful career of Lieutenant Frank J. Columbo. There are many intentional omissions from the story line, as in the first name is never said aloud or Lt. Columbo's wife is never seen or heard. Many times , before Columbo can introduce himself , the supporting actors who have supposedly never seen him before call him by his titled name at the beginning of a scene. In every episode, a Peter Falk trademark is that somehow the Nick Nack Paddywhack song is heard or hummed or played. As Season 1 unfolds, the Columbo character gets more refined and honed, and the presentation is enhanced greatly. Falk relies often on "Do you have a match?" or "Just one more thing..." which in many instances was not in the script and ad-lib'd. Notable guest starts abound in Season 1 : Suzanne Pleshette, Eddie Albert , Jack Cassidy , Martin Milner , Robert Culp , Ray Milland , Patricia Crowley , Ross Martin , Susan Clark , Richard Anderson , among many other "That Guy" supporting cast actors. Steven Bochco wrote two of the first season stories ; Link and Levinson wrote two others and it is self-evident that these four stories stand out as better than the other stories because some of the events in the others not written by Bochco/Link.Levinson seem unbelievable , contrived or the running time gets away from the story line and the director has to omit some important events from the teleplay. Of the episodes in Season 1, my favorite is Death Lends a Hand guest starring Robert Culp , Patricia Crowley and Ray Milland. These time-honored actors juxtapoz Falk's character with skill and precision. Death Lends a Hand was written by the Levinsion.Link duo and it stands out as a well orchestrated story line, easy to follow and fantastic punchline at the end, when Columbo related his mis-steps with the law as a teenage prankster using potatoes. This story is in contrast to other story lines of Season 1 not so skillfully mastered by the writers ( Suitable for Framing , Dead Weight as examples). Dead Weight is saved by the superb performances of Eddie Albert and Suzanne Pleshette. It seems the writer of Dead Weight , John T. Dugan , was stumped for good material , so we end up on Major General Hollister's yacht for what seems like twenty minutes testing the yacht's engines. In Suitable for Framing , Jackson Gillis drags the story line out and the excitement sags towards the end; but Falk pulls a rabbit out of the hat to save the episode at the end with a pair of gloves. Hope Amazon can release Season 2 and subsequent seasons on Video On Demand soon, I've bought the DVDs three times and somehow through my moves, they get misplaced. Would rather stream the shows.

Peter Falk's Columbo ranks as one of the greatest TV detective characters ever created. His ability to capture the kirky Los Angeles Lieutenant has captivated decades of viewers and is sure to also capture younger fans with this long-awaited DVD release.Created by Richard Levinson and William Link, the series debuted in 1971 with "Murder by the Book," which was actually the third appearance of Falk's Columbo (there had been two previous two-hour NBC World Premiere Movies prior to the series launch.) Interestingly, "Murder by the Book" was directed by a then unknown talent: Steven Spielberg.Columbo was unique in so many ways, the first was that the viewer learned the killer's identity in the first few minutes of every episode. Up until then, detective shows and mysteries had tried to keep the audience guessing "Who Done It?" until the very final scene. Levinson and Link turned that formula upside down, letting viewers in on the intracacies of the crime from the killer's viewpoint, their motivation, and what they did to cover their tracks to avoid discovery.Often, Columbo was not even introduced until 20 minutes or more into the episodes (which ran a network 90 minutes with commercials instead of the usual 60 minutes for dramas.)However, as soon as the audience caught a glimpse of the short, rumpled, cigar-smoking detective with the tan rain coat, they knew that they were watching something really special. Columbo feigned a scatter-brained approach, but it was soon obvious to viewers and the episode's killer that beneath his step-and-fetch-it manner lay the cooly brilliant mind of a master detective. And, it was the cat-and-mouse interplay and dialog between Columbo and the criminal that was at the heart of this brilliant series.Smartly written and tightly crafted, the dramatic tension was created as Columbo slowly chipped away the layers of subterfuge left by the killer to reveal the mechanics of the crime and the killer.Throughout the series, which spanned three decades after several relaunches as specials, Falk's black hair turned gray, but he wore the exact same rain coat while pursuing some of the best actors and actresses on TV or in the movies who portrayed various extremes of melevolent killers. A virtual "who's who" of the acting profession did a turn on Columbo.To say that Columbo affected the TV mystery genre is to give it far too little credit: it changed it forever and produced a detective from which his alter ego, the vastly talented Falk, will also never be able to escape.Let's hope the studio takes a clue from Colombo and quickly releases the rest of these outstanding episodes!

The second most famous detective of all time, after Poirot, solves his first nine cases including the two movie length pilot episodes.Flipping the mystery genre on it's head by showing who did the murder and why at the very start of an episode even before the police show up shouldn't really work. At least one hundred years of books, plays, films and television had proven beyond a doubt that viewers and readers want that mystery, they want to solve it along with the detective, they want to guess who the murderer is and why it was done. and get that satisfaction of unmasking the culprit if possible in the drawing room by a roaring fire with all the unsuspecting suspects sipping drinks together.Well it turns out that you don't need a mystery at all, show who did it, how and why it was done and then watch the police slowly find the culprit by ingenious detective work and cleverly finding the clues left behind by the bungling criminal. What you do need however is an actor who can pull it off and in Peter Falk you get precisely that.Columbo himself with his shuffling, absent minded, slightly eccentric detecting style is of course a finely nuanced Oscar worthy act to put his quarry off guard, to lull his target into a false sense of security and to convince them that they are dealing with an idiot and someone who they can outwit with ease. There couldn't be anything further from the truth as in fact he is an extremely observant and intelligent man who doesn't miss a thing. His ability to think clearly and focus on the "little things" that bother him and stop him completing his report. The loose ends are of course just a way of giving him the time to solve the case and unmask the murderer which of course we already know.Watching Columbo solve a murder case we already know the answer too is far more entertaining than it has any right to be. Falk's performance is always pitch perfect, however it has to be said that the character does change and grow a little in this series. To start he is quite polite and rather tidy, later on he becomes more wily and a little scruffier to perhaps hide that rapier like mind. His little idiosyncrasies, constantly in a trench coat, never having a pencil, always hungry, constantly chomping on a cigar, driving an ancient car, and of course always referring to Mrs Columbo (who we never meet) make for a character that is not only interesting but relatable. Poirot or Marple he most certainly is not.The first episode after the two pilots, Murder by the Book was directed by a young unknown learning his craft called Steven Spielberg. Of the nine episodes there isn't a dud amongst them, but the best is probably the second Pilot called Ransom for a Dead Man. Appearing in an episode of Columbo became a career staple for many well known actors who went on to big things. Although not exactly A listers you will recognise many of the second leads, often playing the murderer.Set on six disks in a nice box set this first series is superb value for money and I thoroughly enjoyed watching a classic character evolve over all nine episodes. Presented in 4-3 ratio, the DVD quality is what you would expect from seventies television shot on a fairly limited budget. However saying that it is the sublime writing and excellent performances from seasoned professionals are why you watch Columbo, not the quality of the sets etc. The seventies were not big on diversity or sexual politics, and some of the language (babe, doll etc) and what we would now call tropes do occasional raise an eyebrow, but it is what it is and if you can accept that then it is great TV.Great television viewing.

This is remastered version of Columbo has really been well done. I'm impressed, using the original 35mm film, you can tell the quality and its such a pleasure to watch, ( in comparison to when the screen Columbo on television is considerably bad quality and soft). It would be great if the company who produced this blu ray and season 2 in blu ray, would spend the time remastering the rest of the Columbo series from the 1970's at least (series 3-10) as they have been so well done, I can definitely see people wanting to watch and own them, I would. A happy customer :)

It's nice to see that the Blu Ray version of the Columbo Season 1 episodes shows a much improved HD picture quality than the DVD boxset I previously owned. At the moment there are only 2 seasons available in these single season box sets compared with the very expensive Japanese version.If you like watching Columbo you will enjoy this boxset.Episodes include:Pilot - Prescription: MurderPilot - Ransom For A Dead ManMurder By The Book (Directed by Steven Spielberg)Death Lends A HandDead WeightSuitable For FramingLady In WaitingShort FuseBlueprint For MurderSpecial Features:Original Pilot TV-MoviesOriginal Mystery Movie Opening Title Sequence Columbo - Season 1 (3xblu-ray)Columbo - Season 1 (3xblu-ray)

Absolutely fantastic Season 1 episodes of Columbo with an abundance of 'A' List Co-stars. But even better than that are the two made for TV movies that first introduce Peter Falk as Columbo. The 1st. of these is Prescription : Murder (1968) a very smart looking Columbo.2nd Ransom For A Deadman ( My Favourite).You can't go wrong with this box set.. Enjoy.

very first season in blu raystunning picture and sound quality the 3 blu ray disc set includesboth pilots prescription murder and ransom for a dead man.screen aspect 4.3no subtitlesgreat to see columbo in blu in blu ray one of the world s greatest TVs detectives of all timehighly recommended