tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939909775405220345.post4661200365773753821..comments2024-03-01T10:16:11.283-08:00Comments on AmericanStudies: June 25, 2011 [Tribute Post 16]: Just A Few More ThingsAmericanStudierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06483077716534996778noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939909775405220345.post-5740149859970082212011-06-26T17:40:30.738-07:002011-06-26T17:40:30.738-07:00What made the show truly great, and what contempor...What made the show truly great, and what contemporary television mystery writers seem to forget or under-estimate, is that the focus needs to be on the crime and the art of detection. You were absolutely correct that Columbo would feel free to show his moral outrage at a villain who could endanger or take the life of an innocent, much like Agatha Christie's Poirot (on tonight thanks PBS!) but Columbo never allowed his own personal baggage to get in the way. Did he even have personal baggage? He couldn't, he was married to Capt. Janeway! Unlike Bobby Goren, who is a masterful detective Columbo didn't rely on bullying techniques ("talk!" while emphatically striking the metal table) nor did he become some crazy super-human encyclopedia of useless trivia like Sherlock (updated version now avaliable on Netflix... Watson is Bilbo in the Hobbit movie!). Columbo is a skillful detective and social anthropologist. He's a perfect cross of Poirot and Marple, but that coat seals the deal. The crime came first, and the drama came second, if it came at all.<br /><br />Personally, I'm a Murder She Wrote gal.<br />AnneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com