 [Larger view] | Columbo - The Complete Second Season
| ||||||||||||
| |
Average user rating:  | |
 More, more, more! | |
| Some people have too much time on their hands! See the LONG reviews below. If you are a Peter Falk / Columbo fan, you'll love the DVD. We just need more in the series! Enough said! | |
 Cheers to Columbo! | |
| There were few happier sights on 1970s network television than that of a short, stocky, cigar-chomping policeman named Columbo. Always absentminded (and never without his raincoat, even in sunny weather), Peter Falk's Columbo character was a perfect Americanization of several eccentric British detectives. In each episode, Columbo would steadfastly wear down the alibis of high society murderers. Usually he worked only with simple, unfailing logic but Columbo never failed to unmask the murderers in any of the Agatha Christie-inspired adventures of his 1970s TV series. These episodes aren't perfect, but we can always count on Falk to carry us through the weaker scripted moments.
Season Two is arguably the strongest of the seasons. The writers had settled into a comfortable formula for the detective, yet were not so comfortable that the formula seemed tired or obvious. Falk had hammered out most of the details of his portrayal, yet was still new enough to the character that his performances always seemed fresh. And, while the series always boasted high quality guest stars and gifted character actors, Season Two had an unusually high concentration of them. Myrna Loy, Ray Milland, Martin Landau, Leonard Nimoy, Julie Newmar, and Anne Francis are here in all their glory, happily chewing up the scenery. In addition, we get brief looks at a Los Angeles that has largely fallen to the wrecking ball, and an extended look at mainstream 1970s fashion for the retro-minded! The picture and sound are about as good as you can expect from a 1970s TV program. Columbo was filmed, not videotaped, so while the image is still rich it's also grainy at times. There are no extras, which will irk many. Given the relatively low price of this set and lack of goodies, I was happy to see that Universal at least gave us subtitles. An interview with Peter Falk would have been nice; I hope one is included in a future set, but I doubt it. No one ever claimed that Columbo was a realistic documentary-style police drama. If you enjoy Agatha Christie whodunits, or the PBS "Mystery!" series, you will find much to enjoy in this charming boxed set. | |
 NBC/Universal is making it cheap.... | |
| I'm getting tierd of them releasing these classic Tele-films starring peter falk in cheap package DVD cases with no bonus features and the TV films themselves are older film prints that have dimished picture and sound quality. This seems to becoming standard practice for other classic Tv shows released on DVD. I say "Stop it Right Now" and give these shows a better fitting DVD release, NOW. |
