Day 222: Columbo, Publish or Perish

Show: Columbo

Episode Particulars: S3EP5, “Publish or Perish”, original airdate January 13^th, 1974.

 Summary: Writer Allen Mallory (Mickey Spillane) is fed up with writing what I’m guessing are trashy pulp books for his current publisher Riley Greenleaf (Jack Cassidy) and wants to branch out into other work. As soon as his contract expires (which is soon), he’s going to another publisher and taking his latest book idea with him. Greenleaf therefore concocts a scheme where he hires former soldier and explosion enthusiast Eddie Kane (John Chandler) to shoot Mallory with a specific gun and to leave both the gun and a key to Mallory’s office at the crime scene. Everything’s set up to make it look like he’s framing the other publisher…and then Columbo informs him and the audience that the key is obviously Greenleaf’s. Talk about preparing for every contingency…

Standalone Thoughts: This episode has one hell of a hook. People have framed other people for murder, or made it look like they were the intended victim, but this is the first time someone has framed themselves. It’s a clever idea and is well executed (both in and out of universe), and returns the show to form after mostly being “meh” all season. About the only complaints I can make are that some of the moments required to make things work are just a little “Admiral Plot Device”, and there’s one piece of evidence that is kind of set up but mostly comes out of nowhere (and thus would fail my “Playing Fair” requirements if I was still doing that). Overall, though, it’s well done, and there’s really not much more I can say than that.

Number of “Columbo-isms”: 4/6. There’s a glimpse of the car, a mention of Mrs. Columbo, a very definite “Just one more thing” even if he doesn’t say those exact words, and while he doesn’t do too much fumbling in his coat, he does ask to borrow a pencil, which I’d say is close enough for government work.

Other: *I am amused that the two times so far that Jack Cassidy has played a murderer, it’s had to do with writing (first as an author, now as a publisher). I’d almost say he was being typecast.

*After a pretty long stretch where the cameramen were behaving themselves, this episode decided to get all fancy and distracting again. It literally starts with a bang as Kane tests some of his bombs, and each explosion is accompanied by a freeze frame and some credits. This is a little goofy, but not too bad. Then, later on, it uses a technique that’s less split-screen and more “picture in picture” to show three things happening at once, which means that the audience isn’t entirely sure where to look. That’s the most egregious use, but I also think the camera lingers for too long on a shot of the key as Columbo and Greenleaf pass it back and forth across the table. It’s probably meant to create tension, but it just feels a bit silly. Guys, the story’s got an interesting enough hook; you didn’t need to play around with the camera to hold our attention.

*I wonder why Kane is writing a book about how to make and safely detonate bombs instead of, I don’t know, bringing his ideas to the military or the government? Is he supposed to be disillusioned with them after serving in Vietnam? Because as it stands, he’d probably get in big trouble if he actually tried to publish this book. Maybe I’m coming at this from the 2017 perspective, when things like this would immediately be jumped on by both the government and the media, but I feel like a book that is literally titled “How to Blow Up Everything in Ten Easy Steps” would still make people nervous in 1974. But I wasn’t there, so I’m not going to speak for anybody on that matter.

*The car accident Greenleaf stages to set up his alibi is interesting to me for one very strange reason; the car he crashes into is a beat up Volkswagen van, and one of the passengers in the van is a woman in a fur stole. That’s probably the most unlikely pairing of vehicle and passenger I’ve seen in a while, and I kind of want to know the story behind it. Alas, no such luck.

*One of the books Greenleaf appears to have published is a book called “My Home was a House”. I’m just curious as to what the hell that even means, and what the novel could be about. Maybe it’s a very strange horror story…

*At one point, Columbo interrupts Greenleaf while he’s watching something, but we never find out what he’s watching. There’s a tiny part of me that wonders if it was supposed to be a dirty movie, but then I wonder why he was watching it openly in what appears to be a private theater in his office. I’m not entirely sure what else it could be, though.

*This episode contains a surprising bit of continuity. Columbo mentions the events of “Candidate for Crime”, and says he’s thinking of writing a book on the subject. It plays out about the same way it does in the Poirot episode “The Million Dollar Bond Robbery”, in that both longtime fans and casual viewers will enjoy the discussion about it, albeit for very different reasons. Well, if it worked in one, it’ll definitely work in the other.

Would This Hold Up in Court?: Mostly, yes. Columbo’s got relatively solid evidence and a witness of sorts to back up his case. The only stumbling block is whether or not he can come up with a good reason for changing some locks, otherwise that could come across as a sort of entrapment. On the whole, though, this is one of the more evidence laden convictions, which is good because Greenleaf has a lawyer who will be very quick to jump on some of the discrepancies. Though Columbo will no doubt find a way to deal with him too.