Shooting Columbo cover art

Shooting Columbo

The Lives and Deaths of TV's Rumpled Detective

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Shooting Columbo

By: David Koenig
Narrated by: Randy Skretvedt
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About this listen

Columbo was arguably the most popular and most unique television mystery series ever - even though, within two minutes of the titles, the audience already knew the murderer’s identity. The show captivated tens of millions of viewers for 69 adventures produced over 35 years. Yet if star Peter Falk had gotten his way, it would have run far longer.

Columbo was never formally canceled, just subtly killed off. Twice. Who was to blame? The temperamental lead who would rather work in movies? The budget-conscious studio, exhausted with the star’s demands? Or was it the meddling television studios, searching for a younger, hipper replacement?

Discover the solution in Shooting Columbo: The Lives and Deaths of TV’s Rumpled Detective. Author David Koenig takes you behind the scenes to witness the creation and making of every case, from the pilot Prescription: Murder (and its earlier incarnations on The Chevy Mystery Show and on stage) to the final special, Columbo Likes the Nightlife.

You’ll discover the origins of the Lieutenant’s unseen wife, the lethargic Dog, the wrinkled raincoat, the wheezing 1959 Peugeot, and “Just one more thing....” The narrative draws on scores of exclusive interviews with the show’s writers, producers, directors and other creative personnel, as well as previously unpublished studio records, including scripts, memos, production reports, casting sheets, and business diaries. They will transport you to the harried story conferences, the heated confrontations, and take...after take...after take...of filming.

The “shooting” of Columbo was filled with backstage intrigue and larger-than-life personalities who, through it all, created unforgettable classic television.

©2021 David Koenig (P)2021 David Koenig Art Entertainment & Performing Arts Film & TV History & Criticism Murder Crime Mystery Fiction

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Prepare to have illusions shattered this is a riveting look at how Columbo was made. My only complaints are the lack of preface in the audio
Book and the ABC years are breezed through far too quickly.

Narration was good.

Fascinating..

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Columbo was my Dad’s favourite show. Like many viewers he liked the Columbo character, so smart, but also so modest and gentlemanly. He used to enjoy in particular those moments when Peter Falk’s performance would indicate that the character had noticed something or had made a connection to solve the crime. If we were watching together he would catch my eye and nod! Which is all by way of saying that I love this show as watching it always reminds me of my Dad too. This book lets you behind the scenes to see a little of how the magic was produced. Not always easily, I suppose, but then nothing worthwhile ever does emerge without some effort and strife along the way. Columbo transcends other similar genre TV of its era. I do think it will live forever.

Fascinating

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Odd, not a lot of real love of the subject by the writer. Should have more fun, and information.

Nothing new

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You can tell by the name of the book what’s it’s about so expect lots of factoids surrounding our hero. On the whole it’s a good book but I didn’t know how much Peter Falk was difficult to work with until I listened to this book.

Columbo the crumple coated detective…

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“Shooting Columbo” is well worth a read or listen but if you’ve read any other Columbo books you’ll probably already have most of info anyway. This book Talks us through every season and episode and focuses on how annoying Peter Falk could be during production, getting band from the set and wanting more and more control and money for each new season and upsetting a few co-stars along the way.

But at the end of the day Columbo remains the greatest TV show ever thanks to Falk’s incredible performance as Columbo.

Worth a credit!

Sounds like they wanted to “Shoot Peter Falk”

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You need to be an aficionado, not a background listen at work, some interesting trivia.

Ends, like a bad Columbo, without a satisfying pop

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I enjoyed this audiobook a lot. The author had evidently did their homework without getting too bogged down in the detail. It's entertaining and educational.

A Well Thought Out Book

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Wow. Well, I couldn’t fault the amount of detail packed into this, which borders on the nerdish, but I love that kind of thing, especially when it concerns something I’m a real fan of.
What I didn’t like was the reader. He didn’t really engage me, and some paragraphs were in need of a do-over as he’d given the wrong inflection on certain sentences.
Overall, fascinating and amusing for fans of the show and begins the scenes tales in general.

Perfect(ish) for Columbophiles

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A fascinating deep dive into the best tv programme of all time. Cannot recommend highly enough.

Brilliant

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The story of Columbo’s creation and evolution is as gripping as one of the legendary episodes - well, almost. This book is packed with the behind-the-scenes details which fans crave. Peter Falk emerges as a perfectionist who’s not always easy to work with. But he became a star, commanding big fees, despite many battles with studio bosses, and a hankering to appear in more movies. His friendship with collaborator and occasional Columbo villain Patrick McGoohan, of The Prisoner fame, was important. McGoohan encouraged Falk to experiment with the role. The results are mixed. McGoohan himself, an alcoholic who was similarly difficult to work with, was a great adversary for Columbo in episodes such as Identity Crisis (which references The Prisoner). Key Columbo episodes are throughly dissected. One of the most striking aspects of the series is its longevity. It ran for more than 30 years, on and off, until the networks lost interest and ratings fell. Falk’s dementia sealed Columbo’s fate. In retrospect, the show’s golden era was in the 1970s. Beyond that, the quality falters - but there are some gems. It’s a brilliant show, and a cut above a lot of other cop series from the same period. Does this book do justice to the Columbo phenomenon? To a large extent, yes. The narration has the requisite sense of energy and enthusiasm. But it was a bit wearing after a while. I found it easy to lose track of the (real life) protagonists involved. At times, it felt like a check-list of Columbo episodes and how they were made, which is fine, but perhaps it became a little formulaic. So, not entirely a success, but certainly essential listening for Columbo fans, full of fascinating trivia. I hope Audible produce some Columbo fare - perhaps dramatisations of existing episodes, or new stories.

Just one more thing …

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