Just One More Thing: A Columbo Rewatch
Join father-daughter duo Fletch and Abby as they revisit Columbo, one murder and one episode at a time. Whether you’ve watched every episode or you’re meeting Lt. Columbo for the first time, hit play and listen along.
From elaborate alibis to the moment the killer realizes they’ve underestimated the wrong detective, we’re talking favorite scenes, memorable villains, questionable ’70s decor, and the enduring charm of Peter Falk.
Expect laughs, family banter, and plenty of affectionate overthinking.
One raincoat, one cigar, and one final question at a time.
Just One More Thing: A Columbo Rewatch
Why Columbo? A Father Daughter Guide To Columbo’s Charm
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Columbo might be the only TV detective who can look utterly lost while taking total control of the room. We’re Fletch and Abby, a father-daughter duo, and we’re kicking off our Columbo rewatch podcast by answering the big question new viewers always ask: Who is this rumpled guy with the wrinkled raincoat, the glass eye vibe, and the weird green cigar, and why is he so hard to stop once he starts talking?
We swap our first Columbo memories, then unpack the genius of the unusual structure where you often see the murder first. Instead of chasing a shocking twist, the fun becomes watching Peter Falk’s Lieutenant Columbo patiently tighten the net, one awkward interruption at a time. We talk about the tiny clues that make us laugh and argue, the way he reads people, and how he can be friendly, harmless, or relentlessly annoying depending on the murderer in front of him.
We also get honest about what does and doesn’t “hold up” in 2026. Sure, modern cameras, GPS, and DNA would solve a lot of these cases fast, but the storytelling still lands, the 1970s Los Angeles atmosphere feels like a time capsule, and you can spot Columbo’s influence all over modern detective shows. We close with what we want to look for on this rewatch: the method, the patterns, and the comedy that sneaks up on you.
Get ready for our next deep dive: Pre-watch Prescription Murder on Peacock and then join us in Episode 3 as we talk through it with you. If you like the show, subscribe, share it with a fellow mystery fan, and leave us a review so more people can find the rewatch.
Welcome To Just One More Thing
VoiceoverEvery mystery has an answer. Every conversation has just one more thing. Join this father-daughter podcasting duo as they revisit television's most disarming detective. One raincoat, one cigar, and one final question at a time. You are listening to the Just One More Thing podcast. And here are your hosts, Fletch and Abby.
FletchAlright, welcome to episode two of Just One More Thing. This is Fletch.
AbbyAnd this is Abby.
FletchMan, I'm excited about this because we're gonna talk about who he is today.
First Columbo Memories Across Generations
FletchHey, why don't we start with our first Columbo memory? And I think for me, I mean I was alive when it was on, and I can remember just watching TV, you know, as a kid back in the 70s, and here's this murder mystery. And I don't I don't think my parents listened to it. I don't think they watched the show. But I think I stumbled into it the way I stumbled into most TV, just by having it on. And um, I don't remember watching any of the later episodes, like the special made for TV movies. What about you?
AbbyOh, interesting. Um, yeah, I think I don't really know if I have a first memory, but every time in my mind's eye, when I think of my childhood watching this, I like distinctly remember being in the family room on our little TV and like begging to watch. Oh my gosh, I forget. I think it's uh jungle uh what's the one?
FletchGreenhouse jungle.
AbbyGreenhouse jungle, thank you. Begging, and I'm not gonna say why until we get to that episode. Begging to watch that episode and begging to watch that one, and another there was another one that we always begged to watch, and just like loving when we won that one won that argument. So that's always in my mind's eye what I see is just begging to watch that episode.
FletchIt didn't take a lot to beg me to watch a Columbo. Are you kidding? And that was I don't know how we watched him back then. What did we do? I feel like it was DVD. I think I remember that being DVD. DVDs? Because I eventually bought the whole set. I have the whole set, I have every Columbo episode, including the Mrs. Columbos, which we already said we're gonna do special episodes on the Mrs. Columbos. So
Who Columbo Is On Screen
Fletchwe've talked about this in the first episode about how you have friends in your generation that have no idea who Columbo is. And I think there's a general, you know, stereotype of who he is. But for our listeners who've never watched him, how would you describe Columbo, Abby? Um, frumpy. Frumpy.
AbbyHis one visually frumpy. He's got his classic raincoat, all wrinkled, classic little pants and wrinkled, and his hair is just in the best way, a hot mess express. Um, visually. And that would that'd be his appearance, but his and even his mannerisms very like I am seemingly in my own world. Right. Seemingly I don't notice that you're asking me to put my cigar out.
FletchOh, the cigar, that's key, right? You have to talk about the cigar.
AbbyCigar, green candela cigar. Um, let's stop
Columbo Cigars
Abbythere just for a second.
FletchBecause people don't always smoke cigars. When you think of a cigar, you think of a brown cigar, but Columbo didn't smoke like the best cigars.
AbbyHe would I think there's even times when he's like, Thank you for this a thousand dollar cigar. Back to my gas station cigar.
FletchRight, exactly. And there was a couple times I remember watching where I'm like, is the color wrong on the screen? And you realize, no, those cigars were really green. Those are those are called candelas for the for our non-cigar smoking listeners. He he did have like a disheveled look and almost like a bumble to him, right? When you say like he's kind of like a bumbling detective.
AbbyYeah, definitely. Definitely not your classic smooth talking James Bond house mentalist, where you're like, you're like, yeah, this guy's so smart. You're like, what is actually going on?
FletchHow much of that do you think is real? Do you think he was do you think it was all an act? Like he wanted people to think he wasn't paying attention. Yeah.
AbbyYes, definitely. I think there's times in episodes where the director really plays on the bumbling thing and doesn't quite get the intelligence quite off, but you there's enough episodes where I'm like, he knew exactly what he was doing. And I think there is part of it that's still his personality, and he's such a good detective because maybe he realized this is my personality and I can really play into that. But I absolutely think. What do you think?
FletchYeah, I think for sure, because there's times when you he you he makes you think he's not paying attention, he makes you think you've got him, you know, like you've got the upper hand. And the show is great at showing these uh these stars. They're all stars, right? They were all stars of their old their own accord, like m William Shatner and uh Dick Van Dyke and Leonard Nimoy, like they come on and he's pesky and bumbling, and they're I feel like they're like, we just gotta get rid of this. And there's some episodes where they do, like they go to his higher ups and get him off the case. And uh I think he he even lets those people think, Oh, you've got me. But by the time the reveal is at the end, you realize from the very first scene Columbo knew this was the murderer.
AbbyThat's and I think the best example of that is when it's his boss. Spoiler alert, his boss. Oh, and his boss thinks he gets him, and he he lets his boss think he gets him, and then he gets his boss better than he gets any other murderer.
FletchOh, yeah. The crime scene detective, you know, the crime scene uh investigator, he does the murder and then creates the perfect crime scene. And uh Columbo just lets him think. You know, he just he's that that inevitable gives him enough rope to hang himself. So
Why You See The Murder First
Fletchwe've talked about this again, also. We always see the murder at the beginning, and you'd mentioned last episode how you thought that was kind of an odd method for Columbo episodes. But do you think this works or do you think that's what makes the show so fun?
AbbyI think so, because I think there's there like for me, I like the concept of a murder show and the concept of, but I can never stomach real murder shows because I'm a little bit of a wimp. And even there's one Columbo episode, one out of all of them, where you don't know what's gonna happen. Yeah. Come on, ghosts. And it's suspenseful, and I can't I don't like that episode. I never watch it.
FletchYeah. Hey,
Columbo's Dog
Fletchfor our listeners that might hear a dog in the background, we just want to let you know we are we are a father-daughter team that's doing this. And Abby, where are you right now? Are you at home in your kitchen?
AbbyI'm at home and in my kitchen and made my dogs go outside, and one of my dogs feels he needs to protect me. So, you know. Yeah, well, dogs.
FletchAnyways, dogs. Dogs are an important part of Colombo, don't forget. That's true. Dog. Yep. Colombo needs to be a good thing. He's got a dog named Dog. Um, I you know, mom mom and I've never had that confidence. When mom and I watch uh shows, any kind of detective or mystery show, um, it's my I love trying to figure it out. And there are times when we're watching and she'll be like, Do you know the story? I'm like, I already know who did it. Because you just watch enough murder mysteries, you can kind of piece it together. So I love being surprised in in one of like a traditional show, but in this one, I love knowing. I love trying to figure out what the thing is that Columbo knows.
AbbyYou know, sometimes it's you feel like you have to figure it out. I feel like a lot of times you well, I guess no, that's true. There are times when you're like, you don't know what he's gonna get the guy on. But I feel like sometimes he's very blatantly like, I have this one thing that really bothers me. Just one more thing, just one more thing. Or oh, I have this one, this feather. Why why is this feather down here? It shouldn't be down here. And I'm like, girl, it could have come from a bird. What's happening?
FletchSo I like the flint. The flint from a lightest in a perfectly cleaned living room, Columbo finds the flint uh or the fingerprints inside the gloves. Yeah, I I do think I like kind of trying to figure it out. He's not always super blatant, but it's true. Uh I that's one of my favorite things.
How Columbo Gets Under Skin
FletchUm let's talk a little bit about his relationship to the murderers. He always sidles up next to him like he's he's just gonna few little details I gotta figure out here. And he he almost befriends them.
AbbyYeah, totally. And I think he he definitely can he's a good people reader. I think he knows who he can be really friendly with and who he can be very I need to play very dumb because this person's actually kind of dangerous and and uh and then one more, the one that he knows he can torment and just be on him like a little annoying gnat.
FletchI love that. I love uh yeah, that we're we're gonna get into these as we get into the episodes, but there are those where he he stumbles in and totally interrupts. Like a lot of these murderers are uh uh sometimes they're uh television personalities, and he'll like stumble into their set in the background. Totally totally destroy someone's recording. He'll show up in the middle of a lecture, he'll show up at a restaurant.
AbbyAlways right, yeah, always right when that person is just starting to get irritated with him. Oh, yeah, and then he's like, I can tell you're irritated with me. I'm gonna mess up your episode, your recording.
FletchYeah, and I just there's just this one little thing that's bothering me. And then inevitably he'll figure it out, he'll get the answer that he wants, but there'll be one more little thing that he needs to just and he's just you know just gotta get these things off the list, you know, because he can't go to bed at night, you know, go home and see Mrs. Columbo unless he gets this thing figured out. So, you know, there's there's parts of Columbo that you just love to love. And you know, if we had the time and the effort, we could do a tree of everybody that Columbo mentions in one of the reasons why he has to talk to the murderer. You know what I mean by that? Like, you know, I got this nephew who's a photographer, and then you know, so there's the nephew, and then there's the you know, Mrs.
AbbyColumbo comes up a lot.
unknownYeah.
AbbyI just that nephew's got some skills or some issues, because you know, my nephew goes to he needs help from a lot of people.
FletchHe he's he's up at the university, and you know, one thing he tells me about life at a university, it doesn't if it's him or if it's his wife, he often talks about Mrs. Columbo. Could you could you sign this record? Uh, you know, Mrs. Columbo, she's a big fan of yours.
No Gun, No Status Games
FletchWhat about the fact that Columbo doesn't carry a gun?
AbbyI think that I think every little thing Columbo does is incredibly intentional, and I think that is one of the things. I also I think part of it is he genuinely doesn't like them because there is that one episode where he's supposed to get his fire license question mark. I don't know, and he makes somebody go do it for him because he doesn't want to, or he's too focused. I don't know what the deal was. He's like focused on the murder, but also is like, hey, can I pay you 10 bucks to go do this for me?
FletchOh, to go get his uh fire range, I think is what it was. Yeah, the firing range had to be signed off.
AbbyYou know, he's so I'm sure yeah, I'm sure the no gun thing is a little bit of both.
FletchSure. Also, the the idea that he is uh he's just he's he doesn't play with status. You know, he's a lieutenant of the Los Angeles Police Department. But he doesn't use status, he doesn't come in and you know, you never see him in a uh in the box, you know, grilling a suspect. He's just the guy that shows up next to the pool while you're having your morning coffee, and he stumbles in the backyard and just comes up because there's one more little piece of information he needed to get.
Does Columbo Still Hold Up
FletchDo you think the show still holds up, Abs?
AbbyI was thinking about this. I think the thing that doesn't hold up as far as how he solves murders and how the murders happen, and there's another thing I have to say about this, but one of them is that oftentimes I watch these murders and I'm like, this would have been solved with a simple camera in the area that we all have. Flock cameras, just the cameras alone, flock cameras alone, GPS alone, just DNA, just the technology that we have now, DNA, yeah, just uh everything. I'm like, there's no way that that this would not be solved. Um, but what do you think?
FletchWell, you know, I think these I think they hold up because they're based in 1970s. I mean, really, it's it's watching uh big boomed cameras watch a car drive down Hollywood Boulevard, just to anchor it that you're on Hollywood Boulevard. Um I think that you know there's there's always restaurant scenes where he comes into a restaurant or the magic show, you know, where he shows up at the the performing club or or whatever it is. It's it's that nostalgia of 1970s lifestyle, you know, the the art show where they have an art show and there's beautiful women hanging around, or you know, those episodes where he's super embarrassed because there's a a scantily dressed woman that he's talking to.
AbbyYeah.
FletchUh I think that holds up just because it anchors you in time. I think so much of the the people he's dealing with are 70s characters, and I think that's why we like to watch it, you know. Uh, I think a lot of people, maybe in your generation, are gonna miss it. What's the importance of a somebody who's come up with a new suture material? You know, what's that all about? Why how do you kill someone with a block of ice who's swimming in their pool? There's so many of those things like, are you kidding me? Uh I I love that. I think it holds up because it's so silly in some cases.
AbbyTotally. Yeah, and and like I said, I feel like it's not your average uh detective show in that you're like the point of the show is this suspense and this like I need to know, I need to know. The point of the show is like just more of a lighthearted way to go about watching somebody solve a case. And I agree, I do I do think a part of it is fun to watch sort of a time capsule of what it was like back then with the music and the style and the the clothes and the and the social dynamics that maybe don't exist today or are much different today.
FletchSo one of the things I don't know if you notice this, but when I watch and I watch a lot of detective shows. And one of the things I realize are that the plot lines from Colombo show up in a lot of current detective shows. So I'll be watching one with mom and go, oh, I know this one. I've seen this this happened in Colombo. This is this is the murder. Yeah, yeah. It's so I think it holds up because the storytelling or the method of the method of murder or the the technique the murderer uses is repeated in current murder mysteries. And we watched a lot of British crime, and I think that's definitely something I saw in Colombo. So I I think it holds up for that as well.
AbbyI guess that that is the difference between somebody who's gets a tummy ache from suspense and somebody who actually likes it.
FletchUh
What We Want From The Rewatch
Fletchso let's talk a little bit about why we're gonna watch this again. What is it as as we go into these rewatches in front of an audience that's listening to us? What are the things you want to look for and debate and talk about most? Or rediscover, I guess.
AbbyGoing to rewatch, I'm excited to talk about how Columbo messes with people and what his method is, because I I feel like I've started to notice that only in the last few years of my life as I've become more of an adult and uh noticing little tiny patterns a lot more. And I can't wait to personally to debate about how likely it is that somebody would actually solve a case by way of a flint or a feather or something like that. Just because there are times when I watch these episodes and I'm like, come on, that is so crazy. But maybe even yeah, I should get into this later, but maybe the reason he solves the case is less because of the tiny just one more thing, and more because he's like, I've got you. You're annoyed, you're gonna admit it.
FletchYeah, I think for me it's gonna be those re those times we watch the show together, or I'd stop and pause it and make you guys rewind and watch it again, is just the absolute comedy of his behavior. You know, our our listeners can go ahead and watch the episode and they'll have their own takeaway. But I'm looking forward to talking with you about look at what he did in this scene. It's so so funny. Like the fact that there's there's one episode that I can remember watching with you, I think it's Last Salute to the Commodore, where he sits on this couch next to a guy and he sits so close to him that even that is irritating, but it's so damn funny to watch these little things he does. You know, or he goes to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because he always shows up at a murder scene hungry and he's doesn't have any peanut doesn't have any jelly. But he goes he asks the the sergeant, he's like, Do you have a peanut butter? Yeah, do you have some raisins? And the fact that he has a peanut butter and raisin sandwich, because there's no jelly, but that's close enough, you know. Right. Wrinkled dried grapes, that's essentially jelly. Um that he's always got like a banana or an egg. Oh gosh, I think those are that's I was gonna say the egg. So funny. Just like the little choices, and I wonder if we can do the research and say, this was Peter Falk bringing like I could see him saying it to the director. Hey, you know what would make this even funnier is if I did this. The the the three rings around the circle in the car where he's got everybody wedged into a convertible, and he's like, okay, one more time around.
AbbyThose are so 100% damn funny.
FletchI'm looking forward to it.
AbbyWell, and if you watch Yeah, I was gonna say if you watch uh interviews with Peter Falk, if you watch interviews with Peter Falk, he's out here doing that like two people that he's interviewing or whatever, and you can tell it's just his skill and his improv. So totally we probably should look into that because it is very funny.
FletchYeah, and you know, the other thing about Peter Falk is when you talk about Peter Falk, the first thing that comes to mind is Columbo, even though he plays him the second thing that comes to mind is Shark Tail. No, I was gonna say then the second thing that comes to mind is uh Princess Bride.
AbbyOh, okay.
FletchBecause he's the grandfather that reads to Fred Savage, you know. Totally, you know, and I think he's an like Sharktail. That's another big part of your childhood is a Princess Bride. But when I think Peter Falk, definitely, I think one thing. I think Glass Eye uh Cigar Columbo. That's what I think.
Prep For Prescription Murder
FletchSo as we move in, our next episode is gonna be the first rewatch of Prescription Murder, which was a television movie. It wasn't it wasn't a start of a series, it was just a movie called Prescription Murder, and it's kind of unlike every other Columbo because he's a little more serious in that episode. Right?
AbbyYeah, totally.
FletchSo, what should our listeners do if they want to get ready for our next episode?
AbbyStep one, cigar. Step two, dog. Step three, I got the dog thing down right now. Step three, get ready to laugh.
FletchYeah. So what you should do is you should watch the episode. You should watch Prescription Murder. You can get it on, I think it's on Peacock. So, our listeners, the first thing you're gonna need to do is get a subscription to Peacock. Force you to get that. Watch Prescription Murder, pay attention, and we're gonna go through it on next episode. Uh, the whole thing. We're gonna talk about all those aspects. The killer, what the relationship was, how he catches them, and we're just gonna have fun on that episode. Are you ready to get started? I'm so ready.
AbbyAre you?
FletchI'm ready. So, listeners, we're gonna do this once a week. Turn in next week for episode three, just one more thing. Prescription murder. Thanks for joining us. Thank you.
VoiceoverThank you for listening to Just One More Thing, a Colombo Rewatch podcast. For more information or to contact the hosts of this show, simply scroll down the show notes and send us a message.
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