Columbo was a great show. It showed up intermittently from 1968 to 2003. Columbo was really not the average police show. It did two things that differentiated itself from other cop shows. The first was Columbo's personality. He was not a tough guy, nor a by the book ultra professional. He was self effacing and polite; most uncop like. He was modelled after Porfiry Petrovich (Petrovich is a patronymic not a surname), Dostojevskij's detective in Crime and Punishment. Columbo knew who was guilty, and pestered the killer until the killer confessed. The show did not try to fool the audience, and keep them in false suspense. The guilty and their methods were shown. The plot continued until Columbo had the criminal detected to everyone.
Peter Falk embodied a great character. Carrie Preston does too. I have recently viewed the ten episodes of the first season. She is coming back for more, i would hope she remains the same character, and that the show does not morph unto something else, and no shark jumping.
Comparing the two: Elsbeth is in her third series as the same character, i did not see an episode of the other two, so some people knew what was coming, not me. She is a detective (defense lawyer), but not in the police force. Elsbeth has to work with other police, some resent her, and some are positively influenced by her. Columbo had been a detective for a long time, and worked alone.
While comic touches fell into Columbo's show, there is far more comedy here, even fantasy. Columbo was described as disheveled, he wasn't. He was disinterested in fashion. Elsbeth likes color, and looks happy. In the season finale, the fashion designer/killer finds her as his muse. Columbo had cigars, and misplaced things. Elsbeth carries three large bags constantly, and rarely does anything come out of them.
Columbo had a basset hound. Dogs are grrrreat. Elsbeth inherits a border terrier, Gonzo, from a murdered victim. Already the pooch is getting into the act. Columbo always talks about his unseen wife. Elsbeth talks about her so far unseen son.
Both Elsbeth and Columbo have conversations with the suspect. Some of the suspects come to like Elsbeth, moreso than Columbo. Elsbeth gets involved in the activities of the killer. Rarely do they have a lawyer to deal with Elsbeth and Columbo. Columbo is mentally dismissed much quicker, while Elsbeth is taken as odd. At one point she says something like, "a teacher once wrote, she is smarter than she appears".
Murder, murder, and murder, but rarely a gun. The use of guns to kill in the USA is prodigious. On one episode Columbo was to be disciplined for not fulfilling the gun range requirement. Elsbeth does not have a weapon. Murder is violent, guns are extremely violent. For the show the murder is the vehicle of the plot. Only in the tenth episode of Elsbeth is a gun fired, and it was anonymous in use. In stories a murder can elicit psychological, moral questions. It can be a philosophical discussion. These teevee fotoplays are mere entertainment.
No comments:
Post a Comment