On October 10th, 1976, Season 6 kicked off with Fade in to Murder a self-referential, Hollywood-insider romp that makes the case feel uncomfortably close to home: a network’s biggest crime-show star (William Shatner as Ward Fowler) tries to outsmart TV’s biggest crime-show star (Peter Falk as Columbo).
And there’s a bit of a recurring them of Columbo being enamored and engaged by the world of television he finds himself in.
Meet Ward Fowler
Ward Fowler is the kind of celebrity who can walk through a
studio lot like he owns it—because, on some level, he does. He’s the
Emmy-winning face of the smash series “Detective Lucerne,” and everyone around
him is either protecting the brand or cashing in on it.
The engine of the story is blackmail: studio executive
Clare Daley (Lola Albright) knows a career-destroying secret about Fowler’s
past, and she’s been taking a cut of his superstar salary to keep it quiet.
Shatner’s performance is…interesting. Initially I thought it
was just more bad William Shatner acting, but on subsequent watches I think
maybe he was bringing a little insecure depth to the character who sometimes
struggles to recognize where Ward Fowler ends and Detective Lucerne begins.
It is persistently weird how Lucerne keeps pointing the
finger at Fowler and slipping in and out of 3rd person.
A friend indeed?
There’s a bit of a subtext in the relationship between
Columbo and Lucerne that I wondered about. Fowler seems like a guy who doesn’t
have many friends – he has multiple fake names, he’s being silently blackmailed,
he hangs out with his employee. I can’t help but wonder in the way Fowler and
Columbo interact if Fowler isn’t growing fond of Columbo and hoping to craft an
actual friendship.
Is he detective or lieutenant?
At the beginning of the show he’s “Detective Lucerne” but around
42 minutes in he becomes “Lieutenant Lucerne”. Not sure what he’s supposed to
be the Lieutenant of, but the inconsistency stands out.
He'll be back
Let’s talk about Clare for a second…
Clare probably isn’t the least sympathetic victim in
Columbo lore but she’s got to be on the list. We could generously call her
bold, but it’s hard to see what Tony the deli owner sees in her during our
brief interactions. She just seems cold and greedy.
The contract-war subtext
Early on, there’s a restaurant negotiation scene that plays
like a thinly veiled satire of studio contract brinkmanship: executives grouse
about whether Fowler is ‘irreplaceable,’ and the dialogue lands like a wink at
the audience about how TV power really works.
Knowing this aired right after Falk’s famously tense
negotiations with Universal adds an extra layer of bite. The writers were
obviously having a bit of fun with Falk.
And some real-life personal drama
Falk and first wife Alyce Mayo were divorced around the time
this episode was being made. It may not have been a coincidence that Fade in
to Murder marked the Columbo debut of actress Shera Danese, who famously
became the second Mrs. Peter Falk a little over a year later.
Shera appears as Molly, the secretary that Sid Daley is
having an affair with. She has a scene or two mid-episode when Columbo is
unraveling the truth about Sid and Clare’s marriage and curiously appears
again in the Gotcha scene…for no apparent purpose, other than maybe to give
Falk’s real-life love interest a little more screen time.
Home sweet home
It’s not entirely a coincidence that more than one Columbo
episode is set among the entertainment industry. It’s a lot cheaper and easier
to film right there on the Hollywood backlots, with a minimum of set dressing.
You don’t have to go to a lot of trouble to hide the cameras, lights, crew, and
other gear if they’re part of the set to begin with. If a sound guy walks through
the back of the shot…well, he’s just part of the scene.
And filming right there on the lot means you don’t need to
load up a bunch of expensive shots and drive all your stuff to a location.
The murder: a robbery that isn’t a robbery
Fowler chooses a public kill: he tracks Clare to her
favorite deli and stages the scene as a robbery. It’s brutal, fast,
and—importantly—messy enough to look like panic rather than planning.
But Columbo immediately starts noticing the little
asymmetries: what gets taken, what doesn’t, and how the evidence sits on the
body. As usual, the Lieutenant’s brain isn’t dazzled by the ‘big picture’
story; he’s obsessed with the awkward details.
Is it a tough shot?
The VHS alibi: ‘Google it, millennials’
The episode’s signature trick is Fowler’s forward-thinking
alibi. He spikes his assistant Mark’s drink, records a live baseball game on a
then-cutting-edge home video setup, and uses the tape—plus some clock
fiddling—to make it look like he never left the house.
In 1976, a home video recorder was still fancy, expensive,
and faintly futuristic. Today’s it’s almost-forgotten old tech.
Lucky guess?
Fowler isn’t very precise with his dosage when spiking Mark’s
drink. He just taps in some powder. How does he know he gave him enough to keep
him asleep? If Mark woke up before Fowler returned the gig is up. What if he
gave him TOO much? He needs Mark to wake up when he returns so he can play the “Restart
the VCR” trick.
Meet Bert Remsen
Fire photo torpedoes Detective Checkov!
Walter Koenig pops in as Sergeant Johnston, which was probably extra inside joke for anyone who grew up with Star Trek.
Even though
he and Shatner shared the screen on Star Trek many times, Koenig and Shatner
were never on screen together during Columbo – their scenes were filmed separately.
And I enjoy the little smile Koenig gives when Tony and Columbo are sparring a bit about whether Columbo is short.
On a story note, Fowler being Columbo’s height is one small
clue that helps Columbo suspect him. Reinforced by the platform shoes Columbo
discovers in Fowler’s dressing room.
Setting up Sid?
Lucerne’s setup of Sid is pretty amateurish. Even the scene
where he gets snagged on Sid’s sweater, conveniently providing a bit of the
blue string, is awkward and overt.
Is he bashful?
Columbo, left alone in Fowler’s trailer, can’t resist poking around like a fanboy—then immediately looks sheepish when Fowler returns. I can’t decide if Columbo’s reaction is charming or just very awkward. I guess I’ll go with the former, since Columbo is admittedly a fan of Lucerne.
One big continuity issue
Columbo has Fowler draw a chalk circle on the back of his
raincoat to illustrate how the coat changes position when he drops his hands.
But the chalk circle is already on his coat when he meets with Sid Daley by the
Jaws set in the previous scene. Obviously they filmed the Jaws scene after the
circle scene (which makes sense, given that they already had the Lucerne set)
but forgot to clean the chalk circle off Columbo’s raincoat.
Secret McCready?
Just a few more things…
- I kind of did like the ‘Detective Lucerne’ set pieces, where Columbo literally winds up behind the scenery and ruins the take. And yes, that’s Columbo occasional John Finnegan back there telling him to get down.
- According to David Koenig’s book Shooting Columbo this script had been offered as early as season 4, but they just got around to making it in season 6.
- Yes, that's Columbo occasional Fred Draper as "Joseph" the actor who thinks it would be a "treasure to pill" Lucerne in the opening scene.
- Mark’s role as the ‘alibi witness’ is almost cruel. The episode makes you wonder how often showbiz loyalty gets repaid with manipulation.
Comments
Post a Comment