Day 238: Columbo, Fade in to Murder

Show: Columbo

Episode Particulars: S6EP1, “Fade in to Murder”, original airdate October 10^th, 1976.

 Summary: Ward Fowler (William Shatner) has made a name for himself playing a detective known as Lucerne on television. However, the lead showrunner, Claire Daley (Lola Albright) is taking advantage of his success to wring money out of him, which Fowler has finally had enough of. Stealing a gun and clothes from the props and wardrobe department respectively, Fowler stages a robbery at the deli where he knows Daley will be going, then knocks out the owner and shoots Daley. When Columbo inevitably comes knocking, Fowler offers his assistance, since he does have some experience with detective work. And while this might sound daft, Fowler’s also the first person in a long time who seems aware of what Columbo’s capable of. In another world, this could have been the start of a beautiful friendship.

Standalone Thoughts: To my relief, this episode is much stronger than “Last Salute to the Commodore”. Whatever weirdness that was taking place behind the scenes seems to have straightened itself out, and everybody appears to be back in form. That being said, I wonder if there’s a bit of meta-commentary going on.

When we were first introduced to Fowler’s TV persona of Detective Lucerne, I initially thought he was supposed to be aping Poirot, given the old fashioned clothing and cars that we saw in the scenes. But as the episode went on, I began to wonder if Lucerne wasn’t meant to be a riff on Columbo himself. From what we hear, this is a show that’s won Emmys and been very successful, and Fowler seems to really understand Columbo’s mindset. Then we learn that Lucerne is referred to as “Lieutenant Lucerne”, and it becomes even more suspicious. It would also explain the old car, and while Lucerne dresses better than Columbo, that may have been a deliberate choice to keep the parallels from being too obvious. Factor in as well my suspicion that Falk may have been having some sort of dispute with the showrunners at the end of Season Five, and it starts to look like someone may have created Fowler to make a point. Or, for a less cynical reason, they just thought it would be fun; much like having Columbo investigate a policeman in “A Friend in Deed”, Columbo teaming up with someone who plays a fictional detective was an obvious plot idea. And I’d say they wound up using that idea to great effect.

I’ll admit to being biased, because as I said in “Requiem for a Falling Star”, I’m a sucker for glimpses of Hollywood, especially older Hollywood. That being said, the interactions between Fowler and Columbo are wonderful. Shatner and Falk play off each other well, and it’s refreshing to have someone see Columbo for what he is almost immediately and not underestimate him. It gives all of their exchanges that undercurrent of “we both know what’s going on but are dancing around the issue” that I love. Although that does get taken to a bizarre extreme at one point; near the end of the episode, Columbo and Fowler are discussing the case, and Fowler starts to talk about himself being a potential suspect…while in the guise of Lucerne. He talks about himself in the third person, and even makes comments that sound like he’s treating Fowler as an entirely separate person. In different hands, it could have been a great example of the “dancing around the subject” scene, but as it plays out here, you start to wonder if Fowler has some sort of personality disorder. Since that hadn’t been foreshadowed, it seems unlikely, but it does make it hard to concentrate on the scene at times. It doesn’t completely ruin the episode, but it certainly makes the story end on an odd note. Overall, though, this is a promising start to the season, though that’s not saying much given there are only three episodes. Still, at least I’m not going to be as worried as I was after finishing “Last Salute to the Commodore”…

Number of “Columbo-isms”: 5/6. Most of them are pretty small—a few brief mentions of his wife, a shot or two of the car (and later reference to it), humming “This Old Man” in one scene—but there’s one big fumbling scene, another scene where he non-verbally asks for a pencil, and at least three variations of “Just one more thing”, the last of which feels particularly satisfying. They may be well established tropes by now, but sometimes tropes can be comforting.

Other: *During the scene where Columbo investigates the crime scene, the cop who gives him the details is played by Walter Koenig, aka Chekov on Star Trek. He and Shatner never share a scene together (he disappears from the episode after the scene), but I’m convinced they cast him on purpose anyway.

*There is a massive continuity error that’s impossible for me to ignore today, for multiple reasons. At one point, Fowler gets two cups of coffee, one for him and one for Columbo. As they discuss the case, Columbo sets his cup on a nearby ladder in order to reach for his notebook, while Fowler keeps a hold of his. The camera then focuses on Columbo at around mid-level, so you can’t really see his hands unless he lifts them into the shot, but it’s implied he’s holding his notebook. There’s a cut to Fowler, then to Columbo, and Columbo lifts his hands to reveal that now he’s got nothing in his hands except the cigar. In the very next cut, we’ve pulled back to see that now Fowler has no coffee in his hands, and Columbo’s got one in his. Furthermore, he then walks off with and drinks out of the coffee cup, leaving the one he put on the ladder behind. And this, my friends, is why continuity people exist, although clearly the ones for this episode weren’t paying enough attention.

*If you look carefully during a scene where Columbo is talking to someone on the backlot, there’s a tiny kangaroo in the background being fawned over. I’m not surprised it’s there—they’re in a movie studio after all—but I am surprised the Columbo crew would go to all the trouble to rent a kangaroo for the sake of some background material. Then again, maybe it’s less expensive to rent a kangaroo then I think.

*Despite the fact that most of the outfits people wear in this show do nothing for me, I will give credit where credit is due and say that the dresses we see on the women in this episode look pretty good. They’re not too elaborate or have weird patterns, and they’d be outfits I’d be happy to wear. It’s kind of sad that the 1970’s seem to be better with women’s fashion than the 2300’s…

*When Columbo is speaking to Lola’s husband Sid Daley (Alan Manson) on the studio lot, it takes place near a pool of water with an extremely fake looking animatronic shark. A minute later, Columbo asks if that’s the shark from Jaws, which Daley confirms. First off, if that really was the animatronic Spielberg had for the movie, then no wonder he chose to show it as little as possible (but I doubt it, because it looks too small compared to what we saw in the movie). Secondly, I’m betting they deliberately wrote the Jaws reference into the story, both to capitalize a bit on the movie’s publicity and also because they wanted to tie Spielberg back to Columbo. This isn’t going to be the last time they do this…

Would This Hold Up in Court?: Yes. There’s no question about it this time; Columbo’s got definite proof and a confession. Given that he was going up against a Columbo expy, though, I’d expect nothing less.