Oh, Just One Last Thing ...

Yesterday on this page, I posted a May 1973 article from TV Guide about Columbo star Peter Falk’s growing-up years in New York state. As a follow-up, today I’m offering what I believe is the last of the Falk/Columbo stories in my collection of old TV Guides. This piece from the August 14, 1976, edition looks back at the actor’s stubborn insistence on being paid more and having the opportunity to direct as well as act, if he was to continue playing the beloved, quirky Los Angeles police lieutenant--demands that drove his NBC-TV bosses to “screaming fights.”

Click on the images below for readable enlargements.







If you still haven’t overdosed on Columbo nostalgia, click here to find author Mark Billingham’s 2007 Rap Sheet essay about his work on a BBC 4 Radio documentary about that NBC Mystery Movie segment. Included with the piece is the documentary itself in three segments.

Also worth checking out: TV Confidential’s tribute to Falk’s career; BBC News’ report on Falk’s death last week, which includes quotes from Columbo co-creator William Link; Adam Graham’s picks, found at the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio site, of his 10 favorite Columbo episodes; and Detection by Moonlight’s examination of the final Columbo episode, 2003’s “Columbo Likes the Nightlife.”