This is William Shatner, and I would like to invite you to take a journey with me into the twenty first century.

So take the next few minutes and listen very closely.

You'll be amazed at what you hear.

Welcome to the Shabby Detective, yet another Colombo podcast.

I'm your host Mike White.

Joining me, of course, is mister Chris Tashue.

So I hope I don't enlisten any eye rolls for this one, but not saying that Shatner didn't have any memorable lines in this episode.

But for me, I always think of Shatner with one thing in terms of his TV appearances.

There's something something on the wing our dear friend, William Shatter and Twilight Zone.

Hi'm here and I'm ready to talk Season six of Colombo, which technically was not supposed to be our first recording for this tranch of episodes, Sir, would you like to clue our audience and as to what we normally talk about and what we were supposed to talk about and what we're talking about instead?

Last episode we were saying that we will take on Mikey and Nikki and Chris.

I think you did not check that out I did.

I was going to watch it the day that you texted me and were like, this is awful.

Don't watch it.

We're changing that's what happened.

Yeah, absolutely, I said no, it was a miserable experience.

It just it was just.

John Cassavetti's acting crazy.

You've got god, who is the hit man in?

That was somebody very unexpected, this guy going around in a car after them.

And then Peter falk Is a he's a friend of the hit man, but that's a twist at the end because you think that he's friends with the Cassavetti's but really he's not friends with him, and he's there to kill him.

Oh it's ned Baty was the hit man And yeah, it wasn't good.

It just was not good.

And I don't know if the Elain make Hut was good, but so far she's zero for two for me, because I've tried watching Ishtar and I know a lot of people now are like.

Oh, e Shtar is really good.

It's well you really.

Got a reavalue.

No, it sucks.

It absolutely sucks.

And Mikey and Nicky, how fuck did this gut?

On Criterion?

We know that there are films on Criterion that make no sense more than that Armageddon.

I'm okay with Armageddon.

It's the Wes Anderson ones for me.

I'm more okay with the Wes Anderson ones that I am Michael Bay.

But I guess we sound like movie snob shitheads either way.

Yeah.

No, I'm sure people are like, oh, Mikey and Nicky is a classic.

You're just such a plebeian you just don't understand it.

But I feel like I dodged a bullet, which is a shame, because I do love me some John Cassavettis, even if he is acting crazy.

I really was looking forward to it.

I was like, Okay, this is going to be great.

You're going to get Cassavettis and Falcon here.

It's just going to be this powerhouse.

And yeah, I was miserable watching it.

I ended up turning it off fifteen minutes before the end, and my wife is like, you have to turn that piece of shit movie back on.

I want to know how it ends.

I hope John Cassavettis dies and I'm like, WHOA, Okay, yeah, because he was such an obnoxious prick through the whole movie.

It's the point that I didn't get a chance to watch it now like in retrospect.

But I'm not going to watch something that we're not going to talk about for no reason at this point, especially given what you're saying about it.

It doesn't come well regarded.

This is stay away from this thing is not good.

Okay, I'll take your word for it, and I'll do exactly that.

Maybe Griffin and Phoenix should have bound non Criterion instead.

It wasn't a great movie, but I found it better than Mikey.

And Nicky anything else.

They have a very wide net that they cast, and sometimes when they cast that wide net, we get things like that.

Like I said, I'm sure there are people out there that love it that think I'm just stupid for not liking it, But yeah, I couldn't get behind it.

So instead, I said, Chris, let's just skip right to season six.

Check out one of my most favorite episodes, Hey whoops spoilers One of my favorite episodes, Fade into Murder, first episode of the very abridged sixth season.

Where was the abridged speaking of Shatner and twilights on, where were the abridged seasons of those anthology shows like this is giving us because man, I would have taken a three episode season of Twilight Zone eighty five in those later seasons, but Columbo three episodes, what the actual fuck?

Very odd?

So yeah, this one came out October tenth, nineteen seventy six.

It's a seventy minute or pretty much all the episodes this season are around seventy minutes.

The next one that we're going to talk about came out like a month and a half, and there was six months where there was no Colombo and finally coming back to finish off the season in the Bye Bye Sky High IQ murder case.

But yeah, let's talk about Faden to Murder, which stars, as you already said, William Shatner as Ward Fowler aka some other dude, AKA some other dude.

And I love this episode.

I just think this is great, and especially the more I know now about Colombo and the goings on behind the scenes.

I'm surprised that Peter Falk allowed this episode to air because, my friends, he's Ward Fowler.

He is the show as representative of this studio.

I will not stand for this president.

There is no actor in the business who is irreplaceable.

Ward Fowler is not the first actor on this network to win an Emmy and he's already one of the highest.

Paid performers in television.

If we give into him now, I say, you don't give in to him.

He walks, what are you going to do without Ward Flower?

There isn't going to be any next year for this show.

And because of Ward Fowler, Detective.

Lucern has the highest rating in television.

Ward Fower is the show.

Without Peter Falk there is no Colombo.

I just love how meta, and this episode is meta on top of meta, on top of meta.

I just love how deep it goes.

I'm with you one hundred percent the idea it was weird to me.

That was the first thing I wanted to ask, is like, Peter Falk just why, like why was he okay with this?

Is clearly talking about him, not even like a question.

It's so clearly meant to be him, and he's the murderer, but they make him sympathetic because he's being blackmailed supposedly.

I love that about the episode.

It's like it could be sympathetic.

Yeah, fucking right, though, because William Shatner in this episode, I will give him.

Ward Fowler I think verges on being one of the more sympathetic one.

I would say, like he verges on it.

However, he's still a murderer in like cold ass blood, like straight up.

And this is one of the ones that cracks me up because there are so many other episodes where people are being killed in other ways, like off screen.

He just murders her ass shoots her fucking point plan holy shit, Shatner.

From thirty feet away.

But it is a shot right in the heart, shot that only a marksman could really.

I know, should have thought about that.

What do you think, Mike, Yeah, what do you think?

I want to know your thoughts because this is an episode that you've been waiting to talk about.

I thought I was going crazy when I was trying to describe this episode.

I think it was to you.

As far as how Shatner's character, Shatner is basically two at least multiple people.

And that's the other thing that I like is like, so he's Ward Fowler the actor, but he's actually this Canadian guy.

But actually his this American guy, a deserter from the Korean War who moved to Canada, was found by this producer.

She recreates him, paps his teeth, probably teaches him elocution.

All this stuff he was doing plays in Toronto, which is great since Shatner's a Canadian and makes him into this new person, Ward Fowler.

But then Ward Follower is Lieutenant Lucerne.

This very I would say he would fit right in on britt Box type of show.

This wonderful white outfit that he wears with this white hat with the black band and his cane and all this, and I just very similar to murder By the book for me as far as he's not writing mysteries, but he plays a detective on TV.

I'm not a detective, but I want.

To that's Shatner in this episode.

As his character as Lucerne.

He's throwing Ward Fowler under the bus.

It is the whole like gag of the episode that like William Shanner's character is like really mentally unwell because part of it, I'm just like, he is Detective Lucerne.

So he's throwing himself under the bus because he thinks that he can get away.

What the fuck?

I know, right, what.

Was the end game?

I guess in my mind back and forth, You're like, what the hell in your mind is his endgame?

What is he doing with Colombo.

I don't understand it makes her compelling television, but let's just be clear here, it literally makes no fucking sense.

It is as confounding as possible.

It makes no fucking sense.

I feel like he's so into character that he sacrifices everything and he has to be Licern, and Licern has to be the smartest guy, and he's solving a murder that Ward Fowler.

Committed that he he committed Ward.

Fowler committed that, right, I did not.

Yeah, right.

He relishes being Lieutenant Lucerne, and he relishes the attention that Lieutenant Colombo is foisting upon him.

And he's playing right into Colombo the entire time, of course, and Colombo is such a different type of detective.

And I love that the differences between a Locerne and a Colombo are highlighted in this episode, where it's like, Okay, you're used to drawing rooms and these kind of things.

I'm used to more of this, Like I'm the one who's figuring out these clues, and I'm figuring out all the things that Ward Fowler did wrong.

And I don't think Lucerne can admit that he would have a misstep it's just insane.

It's great.

It's insane, but it's great.

But he's Ward Fowler is insane.

That's and that's the thing.

Like, by the end of this episode, all I could think is, like, remember how I said at the top of You're Like he's sympathetic as someone who struggles with mental illness.

All I could think is this guy's like dissociative identity disorder or something like he's lost it.

Like by the end of the episode, I'm not sure he understands that he's going to jail.

He basically confesses as concern.

It's insanity.

It's just as insane as in your own house having giant pictures of yourself on the.

Walls, which he so does.

I noticed that yesterday too.

Is it's like what in Christ's name he's painted so broadly and specifically that I do really question Peter Falk, like why would you let them do this unless you're just like, I don't care that they're gonna I would rather be part of it than be exterior to it, Like are they poked?

They're not poking fun at him, are they?

I guess it could be interpreted that way.

It could be I'm thinking King the beginning where they reveal who the murderer in the case that Lucern is working, that he's Fred.

Draper pill you, baby.

Yeah.

That misstep of him a treasure to pill you.

I'm like, is that a reference to last salute of the commodore?

Like he just came in and fucked this up?

Is what everybody?

Which is, which is what everybody wants.

Please apologize for that episode the love of Christ, Jen you flecked in front of us, for the love of God, because that's what we deserve, is for you to be penitent in front of us.

Probably bad that episode was.

I just love that he fucks that up and Lucern just walks over to the producers like get a new guy.

Fire, yeah, fire that asshole.

I'm like, okay, great.

This whole episode for me sings, and it's one of those where I'm like, there's no dead weight whatsoever.

Every single scene adds to this.

The one thing that stands out so much from me is Tony.

Okay, because the supporting characters in this episode are fucking wild.

Timothy Carrey and brother the Wessels are here.

Baby.

I like saw him and I was like, is that Walter Kanig.

It is in fact Walter Kanig, and they're in the same scene together.

Carrie and Kanig are, but Knig is never on screen with Shatner.

I was wondering what the deal with that was.

I was like, why are they not on the Is it because they'd be too like on the nose?

Like it was funny.

I interviewed Kanigg a couple of years ago for Star Trek the Motion Picture, and I was like, do you have any stories about because he's only in the one scene.

I'm like, what the hell do you have?

An actor?

And I know a lot of people rip on Walter Kanigg, but I like the guy.

What for what?

A lot of people hate checkof They're like, oh, he ruined the show him and his stupid monkey's haircut and blah blah blah.

And there's that.

There's a great episode of Next Generation where they're stuck in a time loop and the Enterprise keeps exploding at the end of every loop, and my friend was like, you know what I want.

I want that to be.

Data looks over right before the ship explodes and sees Chekhov getting killed in different ways every single time, and I'm like, oh my god, you hate this, guys, I fucking hate Chekov.

I'm like, and a lot of people did not like Chekov.

Man.

Did they have the same issue with Sulu?

No?

No, Sulu's cool man, suls very cool.

But Checkov something about I guess it was like showing up in season two and being more of a like a draw for the kids and stuff.

I don't know what it was, but I never had a problem with Chekhov.

And like you said, I love the nuclear vessels thing.

I think that whole bit and start Trek four is great.

I like him quite a bit.

But yeah, he was like he's yeah.

I didn't really have a whole lot of memories of that.

And I was like, what's it like working with Timothy Carey And he was like, oh, he's a trip.

So what about Timothy Carrey is a trip?

Mike per our friend Walter Kanig.

So you can see it right there on screen.

He is grabbing for as much attention, like literally grabbing at times, like grabbing lieutenant's Lieutenant Columbo's arm and stuff.

Just given this whole thing about.

As cool as a cucumber ring, a blue bottle, a red ski mask, lutoles, batta olives, on top of that counter.

Another big guy about your head, Abertike, Wow, that's right, average high, a little.

Shorter, what shorter?

That's about it?

Sure?

This sweet person?

Well you go back ten years, lieutenant.

Here we are two weeks after I open another place.

What a soul is?

Lady manly looked at it.

Please look behind Fulk and you can see Kanig is smiling like.

Yes, I noticed.

I noticed.

He is having the best time with having Carrie giving this speech.

Man.

I'm like, oh my god, this is great.

I love Timothy Carey.

I was so glad to see him back.

I was a little glad that you didn't warn me that he was going to be in the hip, that he's just there, or Walter Kaneig for that matter.

When Walter Kanek showed up, I was just like, Wow, this is Star Trek episode.

Obviously Shatner's in it.

And for me you already mentioned TNG.

I'm more of a TOS guy or TOS boy BOI.

I never really got into TNG.

I have a lot of my friends are into TNG.

It probably makes some people even sadder to know that I've seen a handful of TNG episodes, but I've seen all of Enterprise molt times.

It's a long road again from there to hear.

Take My Life, Take My Land.

Oh wait, no, that's the wrong one.

Yeah, that's the shitty show.

Some other show.

That's Firefly.

I know, I watch I love Firefly.

I watched Serenity.

You don't get to see this on your plex server, but my wife watches Serenity every single Sunday.

So I've seen that movie probably one hundred times.

I am surprised to learn that you like Firefly and Serenity.

I just find it to be like fine, I like it.

It's just I don't know, it got blown out of proportion.

And then a movie was made and the movie was nowhere near as good as the show.

I don't know, I like that movie a lot man, Are you okay?

Yeah?

I really like chewtel Agia four.

I think that his character's great.

And yeah, I don't know, I dig it, but I can see where you're coming from.

And yeah, I totally agree.

The show got blown way out of proportion.

Give me a second season before you dedicate your life to this entire thing.

So yeah, like, for the love of God, people, for so many people like William Shatner, is Star Trek, and so seeing him in this is just it's a trip.

It's a trip like seeing Shatner in This is so much fun.

I don't think I've ever talked about him on a podcast.

How do you personally feel about William Shatner, Because I know his acting is not for everybody, and I would get it.

He's like Chris Walking in a way, like it's it with Shatner in Walking.

It's all about the delivery.

It's not really about what they're saying.

That's that stilted, weirdo delivery that they both do.

So we've never talked about him.

I love Shatner.

I love him to pieces.

I imagine that in real life.

All the stories about him being just this self centered asshole are absolutely true.

But I hen he was.

He was.

I think I don't think he is anymore.

I like his whole thing where he makes fun of himself.

Obviously we talked about him a little bit with Airplane Too, the sequel.

I think that he's that was really the first time where he played himself kind of thing, just like really went into this whole Captain Kirk type of thing that he's doing and really made fun of it.

But Mike is that famous SNL sketch as well that he literally named his book after.

You know, before I answer any more questions as something I wanted to say.

Having received all your latters over the years, and I've spoken to many of you, and some of you have traveled, you know, hundreds of miles to.

Be here, I just like to say, you.

Get a light.

I mean, I mean for crying on Love's it's just a TV show.

I mean, look at you.

Look at the way you're dressed.

You've turned an enjoyable little job that I did as a lark for a few years into a colossal waste of time.

I mean, I mean, how old are you people?

What have you done with yourselves?

You?

You must be almost have you have.

A kissed girl?

I remember seeing that back in the pre YouTube days.

A family friend showed at me because he was like, I know you love Star Trek, and I was like, what the hell's Shatner doing?

But it's he's he could do that, like he's always been.

He was never nimo couldn't.

He just didn't like it.

And Shatner like probably never didn't like it.

He's enjoyed it the whole time.

Is what it seems like.

I find or I feel that the Star Trek reboot the movies with Chris Pine.

I think that those three movies are, at least the first and the third one are directly making fun of William Shatner by having the Beastie Boys sabotage in both of those movies.

Have you ever heard how William Shatner says sabotage?

I have not spot sabotage the system.

Okay youham Wayne's when ninety three in with sabatta, I can.

Ask a high I don't say sabotage.

You say sabotage.

I say sabotage.

What do you buy it?

A sabotage?

When they started playing sabotage in the first of those Star Trek reboots, I was like, you gotta be fucking kidding me?

Is this And then that they use that song to take out the aliens and the third movie spoilers, I'm just like Jesus Christ, this is so fucking good.

Sabotage.

Sabotage.

Yes, I'm never gonna be able to hear that.

Now, sabotage of a government installation.

I sabotage and he told me where he hit sabotage the prime energy circuits.

Is this why you sabotaged my ship?

And a deliberate act of sabotage.

Lieutenanto Hura has effectively sabotaged the communication.

Station, Spock sabotage the system.

But yeah, I fucking love him.

I think he's great, and I just love that overactory type thing that he does.

There are certain movies where he just goes over the top.

There's an exploitation film called Impulse where he plays a killer.

I want to say, he's a killer of children.

And anytime he gets upset, he puts his finger up to his mouth and starts chewing on his pinky nail.

And it's just, oh my god, it's so good.

I actually misspoke.

We have talked about Shatner before.

It's funny because it was for your show The Intruder.

The Intruder, Yes, so good.

Atypical of Shatner too, like very actor.

Speaking of actorly, that's what I like about Shatner.

He's an actor like he is.

Again, to compare him to Chris Walkin, I think is a fair comparison.

Chris Walkin is also an actor like a capital A.

And there are and I genuinely believe this.

There are actors now, young actors now who are going to be like this in the future, treated this way, and I'm not sure for a while there were people like that, but there are again, And I don't understand where that gap was because Shattner, I don't know, like something about the overacting and just not letting people take the piss out of you, but taking the piss out of yourself as an actor.

I feel what Shatner's always done.

Maybe the most amusing thing is who he's opposite in this episode, because I don't see that guy taking the piss out of anybody.

No, it's just like a lot of people to be in an episode opposite playing ostensibly the same character that he's playing, but the like up is further up his own ass version.

How did Peter Falk not notice?

Or maybe he did, But like Shatner just plays it perfectly because he's just again like he can play an asshole like a capital a actor can, because he's just tapping into that side of himself that everybody expects that he has as an actor.

Yeah, I honestly think that he's a great actor or can be at times, Like do you mention the Intruder.

I really think that performance is great.

I honestly think his performance in Star Trek two Wrath of Khan is one of the best things a great of course, there's the over the top con moment, but it is.

It's an earned moment, man, It's an earned moment.

And then you get those moments towards the end of the film, like when he's leaning on his arms and he's looking at the Genesis planet and he's just.

It's a far far better thing I do than I have ever done before, far better resting place than go to and I have never known?

Is that a part something spun was trying to tell you, Okay, Joe, how are you feel?

And it's just that whole theme of that movie of him getting older.

Like I love when he takes his glasses out of his pocket and he says dang before he puts them back out and puts them on.

I'm like, oh, that's so.

Good Shatner for me, Like I'm clearly already given away, Like he again, he's my captain for Star Trek.

That's the show I've seen.

The most of those episodes are the ones that have stuck with me.

I have a couple posters in my house of classic Star Trek episodes that Mondo did posters of I love the original show, and I know it's campy, but it set the tone for like most everything sci fi of a certain like Swath, and that's a pretty fucking large sloth of stuff.

And a lot of it comes down to having perfectly cast that original crew of the Enterprise, and every single one of those actors was perfectly cast, from Gene Roddenberry's wife all the way up to William Shatner.

And that's saying something because again, she was just in the sick bay with doctor McCoy and Shatner is the lead.

But everybody in the show pulled their weight.

And the thing that Star Trek always did with Star Trek was about a more hopeful future where we didn't have to blow each other up, which is something to aspire to.

And I always felt like Shatner set the mold that was copied further by other captains, because yes, Kirk got his hands dirty.

He didn't like to, though he didn't want to.

The most famous thing about Captain Kirk is that he cheated to pass the unpassable test.

The Kobayashi Muru.

He cheated to win, like he wasn't a guy who had to beat anybody up.

He was a smart guy, like he was a part Han Solo Park Luke Skywalker in a lot of ways, like he's a rogue, but he's also the hero at the same time.

And Shatner, the gentleman who's playing Superman in the new Superman movie, was asked like, how do you feel about possibly only ever being associated with one role?

And he's like, if it's a role that's as good as this one, I don't care.

And I've gotta assume because not everybody's like that.

Daniel Craigs, I'd rather slip my wrist than play James Bond again.

It's like, Wow, you get to play James Bond, a character that's been around fifty plus years.

Must really suck.

I appreciate that there are clearly actors then now and still that look at an opportunity like Shatner got and really went after it.

And that show is amazing because Shatner and everybody in that cast committed.

But Shatner is so charismatic in that show, and I think that's just because he's a charismatic actor all the way down and something like this show.

Even when he's the villain, you still can't help but root for him.

Even in Leith Loaded Weapon Part one, he's one of the best parts of that movie.

He's so funny in that movie, and he's so charming as the villain.

Him with that piranha in his mouth.

Yeah, General Mortars like Jesus Christ, he's so good.

I don't know.

Again, I think there's a lot of people my age that throw TOS out because they're like, it's too campy and Shatner is overacting, and it's like, you know what, there is no TNG without TOOS, there is no Jean luc Picard because people clearly watch TOOS and felt the same way that certain people who watch it now do, which is I want it more.

I want more of a command protocol as opposed to this guy's just the Captain TNG.

He's leading a group of people and cos Kirk did his own shit from time to time, fairly frequently, frankly, but again you let him get away with it because he's so charismatic, because it's William Shannon.

I don't know.

I just it bugs me when people go off about Shatner and cos because has he transcended self parody at this point.

Him doing that ben Folds five album after he had already done the Transform Man, there would not be that ben Folds five album if Shatner was oblivious to what he was bringing to the stage.

He must know that those early musical performances are really embarrassing, the things that he was doing on The Dinah Shore Show with Harry Chapin's Taxi Song.

And then of course he already mentioned the Rockaman performance.

Oh oh, sublime Rockaman performance is great.

It's laughably bad, but it's amazing.

Like it's I don't know, like he's such a singular talent as an actor, like Peter Folk, Like really, I don't know how to put this, and this might ruffle some feathers, but like Peter Folk was in a lot of movies, but he's known for one role.

This is it.

This is what he's known for.

And so in a lot of ways, having him opposite William Shatner, another actor who ostensibly is known for one role, like it makes sense that you have the two of them going back and forth.

But I think you're gonna probably tell me this is the only time Shatner's on the show, right.

No, thank goodness, he comes back, Thank god, he comes back in the new series, and it's probably one of the best episodes of the new series because he's in it.

And he's got this great cheesy mustache in that one too.

Oh that must have been when they were filming Loaded Weapon one.

Maybe.

Yeah, it's amazing.

So yeah, I think that he is perfect in this and I love well because one of my other favorite episodes is Stitching Crime, where you've got me moy and then you come over here you get Shatner, and both of them are playing to their strengths.

Oh my god, yes, being that cold.

Surgeon and just thinks he's so much smarter than everybody else.

And here you got Shatner's charismatic actor and just yeah, everybody like, oh yeah.

Well my trailer, Yeah of course you will.

She's such an tird.

Maybe the reason why falk was okay with this is the whole idea of word Fowlower actually isn't getting paid that much because half of his salary goes to the producer.

Her arguing for him to stick around, stay on the show and get more money is just lining her pockets and I kind of love that.

Yeah, I was, so that was why I was assuming fulk was because at the end of the day, like they do, will out.

But this is such a weird episode for Falk to be involved with.

It seems like the kind of thing that would be on another show, sending up this show.

But it's always so smart to have Shatner playing an actor.

Can I know you mentioned it, like with Nimoy playing to his strengths, but like Shatner could have literally played anything else because we've had all these other actors on the show not playing and now we have him playing an actor.

Like this might be one of the best episodes of the show because I think everybody is really like leaning into the strength of their inherent strength.

And Columbo's never been better and the villain's never been better because the villain is just villainous.

William Shatner, It's.

Just and it's like such a greatest hits when it comes to this.

I'm surprised there's no Dennis Dugan.

No, I'm surprised there's no Bob Dishy or Bruno Kirby in this because otherwise get that amazing shot.

You know that we use technology in this one, the video tape recorder, which has clearly labeled across it in letters that are probably an inch high video tape.

Recorder right just in case for the people in the cheap seats.

So we're using technology.

We've got all.

My wife is going to be so thrilled about this.

We've got so many things we've got.

Timothy Carey is back in here.

For like a for a hot second, Brah.

Hats like it's so good though.

When he does show up, We've got so many good things happening in this episode.

It's like the greatest hits for me, with like just all of these moments coming together for this.

It's so much fun.

I'd loved like the whole thing of he destroyed the coat in the mask, but he didn't destroy the gun and what happened with that, And of.

Course there's some threads on the there's some threads on the ground.

I will say maybe my only singular knock against this episode, and I think you know what I'm going to say.

The conclusion is borderline moronic.

You touch the bullets, motherfucker.

For real, of course you touch the bullets.

Fuck man.

I felt like that was such a cop out.

There were so many.

I don't know, is it just me, am I wrong?

I don't know what was that?

What was the one where it's oh, there was like a marble in the trunk of the car or comb you know what I'm talking about.

We're Columbus flicked it into the trunk of the car while he wasn't looking.

No, that's the umbrella from the Dagger of the Mind episode, and you're conflating that with the contact in.

The back of That's what it was.

The contact, Yeah.

The car where like they it wasn't even the same contact or something.

It's just complete entrapment on Columbo's part.

I love the moments when Columbo's wandering around the set and just fucks up the entire take and everything where he looks like Godzilla outside in the windows and everything, busting up the lights.

They really love the outfits that they give Shatner too.

He's wearing a lot of white, a lot of floral, a lot of flowers and pockets or on collars.

He's a lot of pontificating in this episode from Shatner.

He's just genuine.

He's just pontificating a lot.

Jesus Christ when they first meet after Fall comes in and knocks over all the light stands and stuff them going back and forth, and it takes forever this dialogue between the two of them, and you even have his friend coming up and no, we are watching the game.

Bert rams in his mark and Shadows get out of here.

You're trying to.

Provide an alibi for me, yelling at him and stuff and those.

Do you think she was murdered, don't you?

I beg your pardoner, sir.

You heard me, yes, sir, I did?

I mean yes?

I do think it was a premeditated killing, Sir.

I mean I think the robbery was staged the cover of the murder.

How did you know, sir?

Why else would you be here?

It couldn't be just a routine check, sir.

I don't send a police detective stumbling around asking silly, fake inno some questions on a routine check.

I know that from my show.

For silly, fake innocent questions.

Like what, sir, like, mister Dailey wasn't at home last night, He wasn't there this morning, they told me at the office, so they didn't know when he'd be in.

And I was wondering if anybody here had any idea where he would be a man on the route to your character just asks for mister Bailey, thank you.

Your absolutely amazing Surrey.

You're right, and here I thought you were in shock.

You didn't.

We thought I was confused, perhap scared, and I'm probably playing for time.

Amazing Columbus, just playing into it.

Just yeah, watch this guy hang himself.

I love it.

And that's so.

That was the other question I had for you is when does Colombo know it's word Fowler, Like the moment he steps on the sea.

I think it's some momny steps on the set.

Yeah, I honestly do.

He changes his story in his attitude like two or three, three times, just in that dialogue scene.

It's amazing.

It's the Lucern though, it's the Lucern and the Fowler of it.

I'm going through and timing it right now, and I think that dialogue takes seven minutes with just solid dialogue between the two of them.

It's great.

And it's again like that's some well written dialogue.

Why Peter Fiebelman and lou Shaw like they do a great job.

Like I like this script.

I like this episode's dialogue back and forth, this feels like Colombo and that is not always the case.

Even the dialogue between Fowler and the producer.

I love that stuff too, where it's oh, you didn't used to feel this way, and remember when we used to make love and all this stuff, and like all these little like giving them a real rich backstory, and then seeing just how much Shatner doesn't like her, even though he's putting on this big happy face, but you hear it in the dialogue that he's trying to cut into her every single time.

It's great.

I was talking about how this is the greatest hits.

Also being filmed on the Universal backlot, with the tram car coming through all the time, and Colombo stopping at Amity and seeing the shark and saying, oh, is that the shark that they used in the picture.

And I'm like, there's your Steven Spielberg reference.

That's great, And according to the Internet, that is the original shark.

From John's No that's Bruce, okay, But I thought they blew it up.

Smile you said, of a bitch.

I love the Universal backlot.

I love it.

That's where they shot Fletch Lives.

That's perfect, right, It's a perfect location.

Cheap and easy, baby.

We just don't out have to dress anything.

Just the sets, just the sets.

And they spend so much time that Lieutenant Lucern set with him explaining the whole thing of the if your arms are up and you're not running away, and make this mark on this on my coat, please be easy.

I don't want to have to.

Don't ruin my coat.

He's not shabby enough.

Put this chalk mark on my back.

Please.

Uh yeah.

I just like I said, I don't feel like there's really a dull moment in here.

He's constantly digging finding the shoes.

That whole thing where Timothy Carey is like, yeah, he was your size.

Like I'm trying to basically say short.

A short dude.

He's a short guy like you and a shabby guy like you.

There's no dead moments in this And that was the thing was some of these episodes, even the seventy minute ones.

I'm like, okay, this is just some padding.

We've talked a lot about some of the padding that he does in some of these episodes, Like it's like Peter Falk knows to get out of the way in this one and just let Shatner do his thing, and then he plays around with him, which I find to be great.

We haven't had an episode in a while where the Columbo is batting his prey around like a little rat, but that's what it feels like here.

And Ward Fowler's doing his best to keep up with it, but he can't.

Lieutenant Lucerne is always one step ahead of Ward Fowler.

I know, shocking, right, It's just.

The most schizophrenic episode of all of that.

Yeah, I just love it.

I don't understand.

I just it's it's just confounding to me.

Other than the fact and I'm assuming my assumption here, my head canon is he just thinks that he can get away with it and that he's going to be able to like look ed kemper right.

He was trying to help the cops solve the murders that he had committed.

That's a thing they always talk about.

We'll keep an eye on the crime scene just to see if the killer comes back.

Like I'm wondering if that's where they drew the inspiration from.

It's this kind of like the helpful killer, because why would I logically help you catch me if I did?

It makes no sense, right, other than you possibly being like deeply mentally unwell because you thought murdering someone was okay to begin with.

We've seen helpful killers before, which I really like.

Even Jack Cassidy had murdered by the book, it was just like, oh, lieutenant, didn't you think about this?

And he's leading them, trying to lead him down the wrong path.

But there are killers that do say, oh, let me help you with that.

Even Robert Colpan the one where he was like at the same one that you just mentioned, the whole thing where he runs the detective agency.

There are times where he's like, oh, yeah, lieutenant, I'll help you out.

But again he leads him in the wrong direction or tries to hire him and be like, oh, yeah, I can pay you way better.

You just have to drop this case kind of thing.

But here Shatner is oh, yeah, I'll help you, and then he fucking does.

And again, like to what end?

That's always been the question, like to what end?

But like you said, maybe it's the idea that Lucerne just can't feel like an idiot.

I think it is.

When they talk about oh, it's like Holmes and watsays, no, it's Sherlock Holmes and Sherlock Holmes, and it's.

Like, there's no lesser here, Like.

What's that phrase that the kids use, game for game or whatever, like games recognize his game?

Yeah, And he's just like okay, yeah, all right, this guy knows it.

There are moments in this, like towards the end when he's laying out everything.

Lucern is laying out everything.

Hey, Columbu's just sitting there with his hand on his chin, just listening to all this and occasionally prompting him for more stuff.

Where did you look?

Yes, sir, I'll give you three guesses.

Studio wardrobe department.

You got it in one third.

That's absolutely amazing.

You're right, the parker and the ski mask.

That's where they both came from.

I'm a gun.

Oh come on, so you're putting me on you Loaded guns don't come from the wardrobe.

Department, of course, are stupid of me?

No, that's the prop department, not the wardrobe department.

How does a smart man like Lieutenant Lincern make a mistake like that?

Because you're not talking to Lieutenant Liscern at the moment, are you, Lieutenant?

You're talking to Ward Fowler.

What's the difference here?

The difference is Ward Fowler is under suspicion of murder, and a man under that kind of threatus.

My mistake.

You just have to get a rattle.

Well, whoever said anything about Ward Fowler being under suspicion of murder?

Lieutenant lincerned.

He did?

Well?

How did he come to that conclusion?

Sir?

She had to face the same fact you did.

What fact is that, sir?

There are only four people who could have murdered de Claire.

You mean the four people who knew where Claire Daily was going to be that night.

Exactly, and only one of those is instantly associated with makeup, wardrobe and props.

And Lucern's just laying out the entire case, and for the most part he's laying it out correctly and not saving himself.

Giving himself rope more and more rope.

I love it.

This is how you start the sixth season of this show.

And what's fucked is that there's only two more episodes this season.

Good night, folks.

If memory serves, Old Fashioned Murder is not that great.

It's been a while since I've seen it, so I'm going to give it a second shot, of course, and try to figure out what's going on with this episode?

Joyce fan Paton is back.

She was the one that played the nun at the soup kitchen who is trying to get Lieutenant Colombo a better coat.

I think that must have been the one with Dick Van Dyke, because Vito Scot no Vitoskota in this one either, but when he's the drunk and I think he witnessed the crime or something.

So she's back now as a killer.

And yeah, I barely remember anything about it, just from the title old Fashioned Murder.

I was thinking it was the Ruth Gordon episode, but that's not right.

But I will tell you that Sky High Murder Case is one of my favorites as well.

So six season for early being three episodes, two really good ones in my.

Opinion, sixty six percent success rate.

It's not bad.

Yeah, it's a d right, I'm passing.

You are passing.

What's your stage name?

This is a great episode.

It is too bad there are only two episodes this season because I know that we are careening into season seven, which is the beginning of that's the beginning of the show being completely different.

Right, Season seven's is still the NBC year, is still universal yep.

So it's the season past that one.

Yeah, it's when you get into eight.

We're robbed of what four episodes, at least two or three.

Maybe.

I think a lot of that is because of the original subject.

That way he brought up fucking Mikey and Nicky.

I think that kept him away a lot of the time, and he sunk a lot of his own money in there.

Falk put a lot of money into that movie and was trying to help out a friend.

I guess he really liked the Laye May obviously he really likes Gassavetti's.

But yeah, I think that was just a real shame that happened.

But again, maybe it's a classic and I just don't see it.

Maybe I'll come to it again in twenty years and be like, oh, masterpiece.

But for now we're skipping out.

I'm not going to talk about Mikey and Nikki, but we will continue talking about season six next month when we come back to discuss Old Fashioned Murderer.

I can't wait.

I'm excited.

If this season has two good episodes, maybe this next one won't be as bad as you remember.

Maybe it'll be three good.

Episodes, and man, after last salute to the commodore.

We need some good episodes, Chris, when you are not showing the scenery, what are you doing these days?

I'm over at Weirdingwaymedia dot com working on audio diversions that you can check out and listen to, and you should.

Weirdingwaymedia dot Com is the podcast network that Mike and I co founded, Oh my god, five years ago.

Yeah, you're right.

Oh check out the shirt Man.

Yeah, weirding Way we are part where we were Dune fans before they remade those goddamn move If anyone is looking for anything worthwhile to listen to in terms of audio diversions, weird Way Media is probably the best place to do it.

You can find this show, Mike's show, The Projection Booth, my show, The Culture Cast, Father Malone Show, Midnight Viewing, a whole host to shows.

So that's where you can find the stuff that I work on.

What about you, Mike, same thing other than the one thing he didn't mention, which is the show that we do for our respective patreons.

That's patreon dot com slash Projection Booth and patreon dot com slash Culture Cast, and that's called Ranking on Bond where every month we talk about a different James Bond film in order.

For the most part, we've had some diversions here and there, but pretty much for the Bonds we go in order.

We are just about to talk about GoldenEye.

So looking forward to another era of Bond and yeah, been enjoying listening to the audio commententary for that.

We really do it up, folks, try to ingest as much material as we possibly can in order to provide some good quality insights on things.

That's what we do here weirding Way Media, as.

We try to anyways, add two

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