"Columbo" debuts on NBC - September 15th, 1971

On this day in 1971, the long-running detective series “Columbo” premiered on NBC.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show for those who can never know enough about history.
I'm Gabe Lucier, and in this episode, we're taking a
closer look at the ultimate TV underdog, a disheveled detective

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who outwitted dozens of well healed criminals and stole viewers'
hearts in the process. So fire up your Poojo convertible
and grab yourself a big bowl of chili, because it's
time to catch up with Colombo. The day was September fifteenth,

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nineteen seventy one. The long running detective series Colombo premiered
on NBC. It followed the exploits of Lieutenant Frank Colombo
of the LAPD, an eccentric, unassuming police detective portrayed by
the ever charming Peter Falk. The character had already been
introduced to viewers in two made for TV movies, one

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in nineteen sixty eight and the other in early nineteen
seventy one. The warm response from viewers convinced NBC to
give Colombo his own ongoing series, albeit in a somewhat
unusual format. Colombo would air as one of several rotating
shows on a weekly anthology series called the NBC Mystery Movie.

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The other shows in the original rotation were McLeod and
McMillan in Wife, and while all three proved successful, Colombo
was the most popular, most influential, and most long lasting
by far. The series ran on NBC until nineteen seventy eight,
and then, after a ten year hiatus, it was revived

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on a different network, where it continued to air new
episodes and specials intermittently all the way until two thousand three.
The character of Lieutenant Columbo actually predates the TV series
by more than a decade. He was created by two
school friends turned writing partners named Richard Levinson and William Link,

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and if those names sound familiar, it could be because
they went on to co create another beloved TV sleuth,
Jessica Fletcher of Murder She wrote. Back in nineteen sixty,
the duo published a short story called May I Come In,
which featured a squat, unkempt police lieutenant named Fisher. The
character was supposedly inspired by Porfiry Petrovitch, The shrewd but

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unconventional Investigator and Dostoyevsky's eighteen sixty six novel Crime and Punishment.
In the summer of nineteen sixty, Levinson and Link adapted
their story into a teleplay called Enough Rope, which aired
on The Chevy Mystery Show in late July. In the adaptation,
Lieutenant Fisher became Lieutenant Columbus and was portrayed for the

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first time by actor Bert Freed. That early version of
the character displayed some of his now familiar trademarks, including
a rumpled suit and a taste for cheap cigars, but
he wasn't yet the bumbling, meandering detective that viewers would
later fall in love with. Levinson and Link revived the
character again when they adapted Enough Rope into a stage play.

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The play was titled Prescription Murder, and although Columbo was
only a secondary character, he quickly became an audience favorite.
Buoyed by that positive response and hoping to break into television,
the pair pitched Prescription Murder to NBC as a one
off TV movie in the late nineteen sixties. The role

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of Colombo was expanded in the script, and semi retired
crooner Bing Crosby was in early talks to play the part.
In the end, though Crosby passed on the project, fearing
it would cut into his time on the golf course.
That the way for Peter Falk to read the script,
and when he did, he immediately called Levinson and Link

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and told them quote, I'd kill to play that cop prescription.
Murder starring Peter Falk aired on NBC on February twentieth,
nineteen sixty eight. It was so well received that the
network immediately wanted to spin off Colombo into his own series. However,
neither the producers nor the lead actor wanted to commit

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to a weekly TV show. The idea was shelved for
the next three years, but then the network began planning
an umbrella anthology show called the NBC Mystery Movie. In
that format, sometimes known as a wheel show, multiple different
programs would rotate through the same time slot, with each
series airing a new feature length episode roughly once a month.

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That arrangement proved much more agreeable to Richard Levinson, William Link,
and Peter Falk, so in early nineteen seventy one, they
began work on a second Columbo TV movie to serve
as a kind of pilot. The result was Ransom for
a Dead Man, which aired on March first, to strong ratings.
Colombo was then added to the rotation of the NBC

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Mystery Movie, which was set to premiere that fall. The
first episode of Columbo the series aired on September fifteenth,
nineteen seventy one. It was titled Murder by the Book
and was directed by none other than Steven Spielberg. It
also featured a script by Stephen Potchko, who would go
on to create other TV hits such as Hill Street

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Blues and Doogie Howser MD. Unlike the majority of detective dramas,
Colombo didn't set up mysteries for viewers to solve. In fact,
every episode began with the killer carrying out the crime
in full view of the audience. Their backstory and motive
would then be revealed within the first twenty minutes before

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Lieutenant Colombo even appeared on screen. Under this approach, known
as an inverted mystery, viewers weren't meant to track evidence
to determine a likely suspect they already knew who committed
the murder. Instead, the fun and the challenge was to
figure out how Columbo was going to bring the culprit
to justice. Which small detail would help him crack the

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case and figure out what the viewer already knows. In
that sense, Colombo wasn't a who done it so much
as a how catchem This shake up to the detective
genre was a breath of fresh air to viewers used
to the mysteries of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie. But
revealing the villain at the outset wasn't the only thing

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that made Columbo stand out from the crowd. The character
himself was the opposite of what you'd expect a TV
cop to be. He wasn't physically imposing or temperamental. He
didn't have a partner or a squad car. He didn't
even carry a gun. Colombo was an observer, not a fighter,
and aside from the murder and the first act of

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each episode, the show was strikingly devoid of violence, with
no shootouts or high speed chases to pat out the runtime.
On the surface, the character seemed borderline inept. He was
forever misplacing things a pen, a book of matches, his
car keys, and was overly deferential, always apologizing for some

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assumed mistake. These character traits weren't exactly a ruse, but
Colombo did know how to use them to his advantage.
He typically squared off against upper crust criminals a famous writer,
a powerful politician, or a wealthy surgeon, and because of
their affluence, the perpse also tended to be arrogant, leading

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them to underestimate Colombo as just a bumbling blue collar cop.
But as they inevitably found out by the end of
each episode, Colombo was much more astute than his casual
demeanor let on. He was also a keen judge of
human character and didn't need to bully or intimidate suspect
to force a confession. Instead, he would simply pester them

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with questions and misdirections until, in their frustration, they somehow
incriminated themselves. Peter Falk's charisma in the role helped sell
the every man appeal of Colombo, and many of the
character's memorable traits and mannerisms came directly from the actor.
Take Columbo's shabby wardrobe, for instance. When Falk saw the

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clothes intended for his character, he thought they were all wrong,
so he rated his own closet to find something more fitting.
What he came up with was an old, wrinkled trench
coat that he'd bought during a rain storm several years earlier.
Then he had one of the blue suits provided to
him dyed brown, establishing the drab, scruffy look that would

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come to define the character. Falk also drew from his
own experience in deeper ways. He had lost his left
eye to cancer at the age of three, and as
a result, he too had been underestimated due to his appearance.
Many drama teachers and warned him that his cock eyed
stare would be a hindrance to his career, as it

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made him appear distracted or unintelligent. But just like Colombo,
Falk learned how to turn his perceived weaknesses into strengths.
The actor's heartfelt performance as the affable detective made him
a household name and ultimately earned him four Emmys and
a Golden Globe. The show's initial run ended in nineteen

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seventy eight after two pilots and forty three episodes, but
due to popular demand, Colombo made an unprecedented return in
nineteen eighty nine, this time on ABC. Twenty four additional
feature length episodes were produced off and on over the
next fourteen years, with the final one, Columbo Likes the Nightlife,

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airing in two thousand and three. Of course, since Columbo's
famous catchphrase was just one more thing, many viewers always
hoped the Lieutenant would be back for one final encore,
and indeed, Peter Falk had hoped to reprise the role
one last time for an episode set at Colombo's retirement party. Unfortunately, though,

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after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's in late two thousand and seven,
the actor's health declined rapidly, and he passed away in
twenty eleven at the age of eighty three. In the
years since Peter Falk's passing, a whole new generation has
discovered his work on Colombo, spawning loving tributes, all night binges,
and of course countless memes. No one would have guessed

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that a seventies crime drama about a schlubby cop would
have that kind of a resurgence nearly fifty years later,
but that's Colombo for you. Defying expectations is what he
does best. I'm Gay Bluesier and hopefully you now know
a little more about history today than you did yesterday.

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back here again soon for another Day in History class