MovieChat Forums > [email protected] > Replies
[email protected]'s Replies
Columbo is good at his job! He obviously has a good idea who dunnit after examining a crime scene.
Actually I think he has the same smarts as real homicide detectives. When someone is murdered they first look to the spouse and other family members and work their way out from there. I have watched many true crime shows and the detectives always narrow their focus at first to family. When the victim is a married woman, they look for motives of sex or money from the husband.
In the very first Columbo TV movie, Prescription:Murder, I think Columbo had the husband pegged from the start. The doctor returns home from a vacation alone. Supposedly he and his wife argued on the plane and she left. She went home and was murdered when actually the doctor killed her before he left for the airport.
Columbo was hanging around the apartment supposedly looking for clues. I think he was waiting for the husband's return to hear his reaction upon seeing the broken glass from the "break in" and the police tape on the floor.
Dr. Fleming entered but did not call out to his wife, "Honey I'm back!" He didn't seem the least bit surprised or startled to see that his home had been broken into, well... it was only a matter of time before Columbo had him.
If someone wantsd to murder a spouse, they have to be really clever to fool a homicide detective!
Well Catbookss, I know that one of Columbo's traits (not really a quirk) was due to Peter Falk. Remember how Columbo would stop and put his hand to his forehead as if thinking? Actors have to move to the correct spot or "hit their mark". Peter Falk only had one eye. The other eye was glass. He had an eye removed in childhood due to cancer.
Peter Falk had to look down to find his mark, so the trademark Columbo "pensive maneuver" was created by him.
Some of Columbo's quirks were developed over time, like the rumpled raincoat. Columbo started out with a TV movie, not the series. Did you ever see the original TV movie called "Prescription:Murder"?
The guest star was the handsome and debonair Gene Barry who played a doctor who wanted to get rid of his wife, hence the "prescription".
I have the series on DVD and when I watched that movie I realized that Columbo looked a bit different. His raincoat was new and had no wrinkles. His hair was combed differently. Columbo himself didn't use some of those befuddled mannerisms.
I don't know for sure, but it seems that Peter Falk created the character's quirks over time by the way he played him. One thing I do know is that the actor started smoking cigars like Columbo did. I can imagine Monk having coughing fits if he was confined to a car with him.
Actually I can't imagine Monk riding in Columbo's car. There was an episode where it's made clear that Columbo's vehicle did not have seatbelts!
Well no they don't apply if the first part of the story is her dream. It's just that Rod Serling announces it as if it is totally logical. But it wouldn't BE daylight on this side of the planet unless the Earth stopped rotation. She is obviously in a very sick and feverish state and dreaming of heat. Rotation, orbit, two different things.
But at the end when it is revealed to be a dream, the Earth is in total darkness. Again, that has to mean that the Earth stopped rotating.
A very scary episode no matter what!
Oh yes, one can "pick away" at some of the less plausible scientific elements of TZ. When I am in one of my critical moods, I do just that! lol But it never interferes with my affection for the show.
Bob and Millie did seem to be in "Anywhere USA" which added to the surreal aspect of their plight. Everything SEEMS to be so nice and normal, but it's not! I often wonder what the little girl alien was going to feed her "pets" since the food in the kitchen was just fake. Hope Bob and Millie liked alien cuisine. lol
Sometimes I get in the mood to pick at the less scientific aspects of the "science".
For instance in "The Midnight Sun", Norma is painting and Rod Serling's voiceover says that that it is 12 midnight, not 12 noon. It's broiling hot because the Earth's orbit has shifted and the planet is moving closer to the sun. Well yes, the Earth would be getting hotter but it wouldn't be daylight for 24 hours at a stretch!
The writer was confusing the orbit of the planet with its rotation. If the Earth's 24 hour rotation stopped and the North and South American continents faced the Sun, they would be in daylight but the other side of the planet would be in total darkness all the time. In the case of moving closer to the Sun, it would be hotter but not daytime ALL the time unless the Earth's rotation also stopped.
The big WTF moment at the end was such a shock. The Earth was actually moving AWAY from the Sun. So yes, it would be getting colder. But once again it wouldn't be dark all the time unless the Earth's rotation stopped.
Just something I thought of years later! But still a very effective story about the delicate balance of our planet. Out of nine planets in our solar system (well eight if you discount Pluto!), we are on the only one that can sustain life.
I think the Witches Council was some sort of legal authority. They held a lot of power. One of their biggest concerns was that mortals not find out about the reality of witches and their powers.
They didn't allow Sam to tell Mrs. Stephens about her powers. I don't think they were too happy with her marriage to a mortal but they accepted it. But they drew the line at Sam revealing herself to other mortals.
In the fifth season episode they stripped her powers because of her marriage to Darrin. As I said before, it was kind of late in the game for them to do that. She was married to a mortal for about five years. They also took away Serena and Arthur's powers because they stood by her.
Interesting, they did not take Endora's powers. She fought with Darrin a lot, but by maintaining a relationship with her daughter she seemed to be giving a tacit approval to her marriage. I think Endora had a lot of friends on that Council!
The Council did seem to have the ability to take a witch's powers if they thought he or she was misusing them. I don't now how far they could go if a witch was evil. The witches probably had laws just like mortals. Maybe a witch could be "arrested" and brought to trial for flagrant misuse of powers. Interesting to speculate on it!
Stopover is one of my favorites for its weirdness. Bob and Millie seemed like a genuinely nice couple who went from confusion to panic when they could not get themselves out of the bizarre situation they found themselves in.
The only thing I wonder about is the mysterious giggle of the little girl they hear in the background. She was hardly a "little girl" from their standpoint, she was a giant! Her voice would've been much louder!
I saw a documentary about cats. It said that housecats and lions basically have the same vocal apparatus. A domestic housecat's voice comes out as a little mee-oww and a lion makes a ROAR because of the difference in size of those vocal chords.
In the case of Stopover, the little girl was hundreds of times larger than Bob and Millie. She picked them up in the palm of her hand! Her voice would have sounded like a sonic boom to them, not a little giggle!
Well, just one of those nitpicky things I wonder about after seeing an episode for the 20th time!
Catbookss- some of Columbo's personal quirks were real, like his affection for his old rumpled raincoat! Who the heck wears a raincoat in southern Californa all the the time anyway? lol There was an episode where Mrs. Columbo bought him a new coat, but Columbo kept leaving it behind. He didn't want it. The other cops , much to his chagrin, kept returning it to him!
I'd like to imagine Monk with his genuine OCD and Columbo working a case together. Monk would just lose it with all of Columbo's cigar smoke! And he'd probably insist on ironing Columbo's raincoat or at least send it to the drycleaners.
Great memories. Thanks for sharing!
It is true that Dn Rickles was not a joke teller, he sold his humor with those disgusted looks, rolling his eyes,etc.
One of the funniest Dean Martin roasts was when Mr Warmth himself was roasted. I just found it on youtube recently. His best friend Bob Newhart really had me in stitiches.
"Don is my best friend, (typical Newhart pause), that gives you some idea the difficulty I have making friends."
He went on to rib his friend about his many failed TV shows. They did a poll and most people said that they didn't watch his shows. Some people who didn't own televisions said that if they got TVs, they wouldn't watch.
One of my favorite guest star appearances of Don Rickles was the two parter on the Dick van Dyke Show. The first part "Four and a half" is hilarious. It's a flashback when Rickles as Lyle Delp, a holdup man, sticks up Rob and a pregnant Laura in an elevator.
I took my son to see Toy Story when he was little and when Mr. Potato Head (voiced by Rickles) sees a hockey puck and asks him. "Where ya goin ya hockey puck?", every parent in the theater roared with laughter. Too bad the little kids didn't get it!
He truly was one of a kind.
Some of the child actors are still with us like Ann Jillian (Mute), Bill (Billy)Mumy (he was in two episodes), and Veronica Cartwright from 'I Sing the Body Electric'. Tracy Stratford the owner of 'Talky Tina' is still here.
Interesting that Earl Holliman from the first episode, 'Where is Everybody' is also still with us. He's ninety. Also closing in on ninety, Robert Duvall is still here.
Some of the ladies from TZ like Ruta Lee and Carol Burnett are still here too.
Farewell Mr. Rickles, you were one of a kind. You gave us so many hours of laughter! R.I.P.
That's what I thought. I never understood how Florida could marry an atheist when she was a devout Christian. It's one thing to be friends with someone, but how can you join your life in such an intimate and close way when you have such fundamental differences?
Moses Gunn was a great actor but comedy was not his forte. He just did not fit in with this show. I was always too depressed over James' death to imagine Florida having another husband anyway!
True, didn't mean to imply "out of wedlock" births are a left or right issue. They are mostly an issue of people who don't consider the consequences of their actions, nothing to do with politics! "Clueless bureacrats", yeah! But sometimes I think they are not so clueless as they are clever. They create a dependent class who ends up with no alternative but to vote for THEM because they are financially screwed.
Trump "bragged" about not reading books? Pwople who brag about NOT being readers should be flogged! lol I have been a lover of books since I learned how to read. Good grief! You learn so much that way! Even more than what you learn in school.
Yeah "correcting" students must be done so carefully now, lest you hurt their feelings! I was lucky to grow up with teachers who used the RED pen and made corrections without worying about your "feelings".
I was a substitute, but the regular teachers didn't have much latitude either. The curriculum was set and they had no choice but to follow it. And it has been SO dumbed down! Just one example, teachers seemed to be too afraid to force kids to memorize their times tables! When I was in school we had to write them over and over...and over again. It's a surefire way to learn things. But we weren't supposed to force kids to do actual WORK which might be uncomfortable.
I'd have students in the elementary who couldn't multiple but yet we were supposed to go on to long division. I'd see these same kids when I had class at the junior high.
I'd think, "HOW can you kids be here learning algebra when you can't multiply or divide?"
Our whole educational system is messed up. Students would turn in compositions with spelling and grammer mistakes that needed to be corrected. But like I wrote, we were discouraged from using RED ink because it was deemed "too negative." Well I had nuns in school, and they really did not care if they hurt your feelings! They were just concerned that you learned. Now it's all about feelings.
Anyway, thanks for the post, I enjoy adult discussions!!
Good examples. I'd like to add Mr. Chambers in "To Serve Man". He only wanted to visit the Kanamit homeworld, not to be "on the menu".
Always wondered how humanity would have dealt with the Kanamit invasion after they discovered their true intentions. People were happy to board their ships when they thought the Kanamits had friendly intentions. But when they found out the truth? What next? An uprising? Would the Kanamits have the power to round up humans and force them onto their ships? It always seemed to me like it was not very cost effective to travel lightyears for a meal. Couldn't the Kanamits find a cheaper way to get food? lol
And Mr. Chambers co-worker...She only seemed concerned with warning HIM! Youd think the government would have issued an immediate warning to the populace. DON'T board their ships!!
I too got into Charmed in "ancient times" with the VCR. lol A penpal of mine sent me a copy of a Charmed episode. It was a fourth season episode, Y Tu Mummy Tambien.
I had heard about the show but never watched it. I am way out of the teen demographics who the WSB network targeted. But my friend thought I'd like it. I watched it and really enjoyed it. Had NO idea what some things were about, such as Leo and his powers.
I started to watch the older episodes on TNT to catch up with the series. At first I wondered, "So who is Prue?" A few years later I bought the first three seasons on DVD so I could get up to speed on all the episodes that I missed. It's become a favorite show of mine.
Yes, a cousin. I think she was a relative on Samantha's father's side. That whole "identical cousin" thing got quite a workout in the sixties, starting with The Patty Duke Show and identical cousins, Patty and Cathy. lol Hard to believe that cousins could look THAT much alike.
Serena wasn't evil, just a case of arrested development as far as I can tell. She was Sam's age but she acted like a teen-ager. She lived to have fun. She enjoyed causing trouble in her cousin's marriage. In some ways I think her behavior was caused by envy. Samantha found true love and was devoted to her husband and children. Serena, in contrast, was a perpetual adolescent, jumping from one adventure to the next, but not living a life of any substance.
Of course the character must've been a lot of fun for Elizabeth Montgomery to play. She was so different from Samantha. I think most actors who play the same character on a weekly basis enjoy doing something different.
Loved this show and to think, I only started watching it by accident! I tuned into the USA channel and caught the second half of the premier episode. It was so interesting that I watched it again. They ran the same episode twice that night.
I loved all the seasons. The celebrity guest stars were fine, but Tony Shalhoub made the show. If they never had big name guest stars, it still would've been great!
Of course there were one or two guests that made things fun. Remember the episode when Monk was on the plane with Sharona and she recognized Tim Daly in first class? She was gushing over him but Monk had no idea who he was. Tony Shalhoub played a character in Tim Daly's show "Wings". I enjoy those little "in jokes" for the fans.
That true story about Marla Maples, okay if you say so. I never spent much time reading up on her or Trump. I have never thought it was a good idea to "trick" a man into marriage. Sounds like a soap opera plot. You'd think that Donald Trump would've been smart enough not to be 'tricked" into marriage by a gold digger. After all, he must've known where babies come from. lol
Your second paragraph- totally agree with it. Sounds like we are arguing for no good reason. YES, single mothers are likely to raise children in poverty. Not to get too religious here, but God did create the family so that a man AND a woman would raise children together. Unless a woman has a lot of money or a job that pays big bucks, it is so hard to raise children alone The message that "men aren't important"???Oh I totally agree! The 1960's ushered in the era of the welfare system where the father was replaced by a check from the government. A total disaster.
Maybe I worded my post wrongly or stupidly. But I have NO problerm with marriage. It is the best way to raise children. I was just doing a "kneejerk" response to the left's idea that women can do it alone and men are just not important to raising children. Folks on the left often have no problem with single motherhood, it's just another lifestyle. I was thinking that was your belief too. Sorry if I got it wrong! No, I don't think that fathers are not important. Actually, I've spoken to men who have worked in prisons. I have worked in places with incarcerated youths. And the majority of boys (and later, men) who end up in the system grew up without fathers. Children, especially boys, need strong,positive male role models.
"Passing the buck"? Don't blame me! LOL I mostly worked as a substitute teacher and I had to go by what was given to me to teach. For one thing, I TOTALLY hated the "sight reading" way of teaching children to read. It was part of the curriculum and I thought it was just plain stupid. I learned phonics. That was the way we learned to read. The current education model is trying to "re-invent the wheel" and it is so dumb! I tried my best to teach students how to read but I also came up against the politically correct "don't hurt their feelings" method.
It was so frustrating. Students think that "correcting" them means that you are insulting them. I would go out of my way to explain that I was TEACHING, not insulting! We were not even supposed to use RED pencils to correct written work because it was deemed too harsh.
And reading is something you learn through practice and experience. I'd ask kids what they were doing over the weekend or holidays and they were mostly going to play games on their computers. I would tell them, "READ A BOOK!!" lol I have been a lifelong reader. But if the parents of these kids don't step up to plate and make their kids read, how can teachers? I bought my own son many books when he was little. I read to him all the time. However, today's parents don't seem to be that interested in reading.
Not trying to "pass the buck." I'd make everyone get a library card if I could!
Altar boys? Okay, fair enough, scandals with pedophile priests. I will in NO way DEFEND them. And some of our bishops were totally wrong to cover up those scandals. But please be aware that pedophiles come in ALL denominations. There have been many instances of ministers and other clergymen who have abused children.
Sadly but not surprising, child molesters gravitate to professions where they will be in close proximity to children, i.e. teachers, counselors, coaches, and very tragically, pastors. You just never hear of a lumberjack or a longshoreman who was abusing children.
We had a priest in our diocese who was a pervert and our bishop kicked him out. And NOT out to another diocese, the man was no longer able to be a priest. That's how it should be, but due to stupid politics, these men are often just reassigned. It is wrong. It is evil. But it in NO WAY diminshes the Church that Jesus established. Like all Catholics, I am disgusted by this behavior. It is a black mark on the church. But the Church will prevail. We are, after all, ALL sinners.
Sorry but that is just the stupidest comment I have ever heard from a (presumably) non-Catholic! And I have attended services with an Evangelical friend whose pastor loves nothing more than bashing us Catholics.
HOW in the World could Catholics "forget" who Jesus is when we are the only only ones who took Him literally at his word when He said , "This is my Body. This is my Blood. "?? I receive Him in the Eucharist and I can assure you that I know who He is. Are you an evangelical or fundamentalist or just an atheist? Either way, you are just misinformed.
You need to read up on baptism. Water figures predominantly in God's economy (plan) for salvation. Water covered the earth and the spirit was above it. The flood cleansed the earth and Noah and his family survived. The dove (the Holy Spirit) came upon them. Moses led his people through the parting of the Red Sea (water) to salvation. Baptism initiates us into God's covenant. Jesus was baptized although He did not need it. When He was baptized the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove and sanctified the water. Jesus did it to show us that baptism now saves us.
Statues are just a part of what humans need to visualize what we believe in. God created us with FIVE senses. We Catholics worship God through our senses. We use all our senses in worship of Him. We don't worship statues. Go do a little reading. Do a little research. Don't allow some silly prejuduces to form your thinking.