... And just one more thing

[Video Link]

Columbo was as much a part of my childhood as Big Bird, She-Ra, and Jim Lehrer. In honor of Peter Falk's passing, I present this clip of America's greatest detective explaining why he loves his job. It seemed like a fitting send-off for the actor who brought Columbo to life.

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

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Anonymous

Shit, man, this gets me down a bit. I don’t think you could get away with saying this on TV anymore. Criminals are human too? Blasphemy.
Manooshi

RIP. I used to watch Columbo with my mom when I was a kid.
sam_i

I will miss peter Faulk’s Colombo character a lot. Admittedly a bit of a fun (sad eh) but the episodes always remind me of when I was small watching with my mum. Always well done and I probably would say I like the early eps more because they had different directors (Spielberg being one), and the later ep’s because Peter Faulk got into his stride with his own direction.

I hate the theme song however – my old man…
http://www.columbo-site.freeuk.com/intro.zip
In ref to an early ep where he just made some noise while waiting for someone to pick up, then used for most of the ending music in the later episodes – grr!

I enjoying watching all the old style interiors and technology such as the auto-dialer from the second pilot, the ‘amazing fax machine’, the apple pc used to suggest a typed fictitious report and of course, voicemail.

Thanks peter, you have given us all some great hours of entertainment. Still the only crime show where the murder happens within minuets (as far as I know) and you know who did it and how and most of the time why and you still watch, simply because you want to see how Colombo wraps up the case.

Cheers!
- Anonymous
  
  @sam_i
  same here, other than Columbo always providing a captivating plot, story, dialog, etc, I’ve always enjoyed this series (particularly from the 70s and early 80s) because of the aesthetic of the era’s technology… car phones (and I still call em that) with rotary dials – total nerdgasms abound for anyone into the transistorpunk or atompunk “scenes”. My favorite scenes come from the war games simulation room in “Bye-Bye Sky High IQ”
chgoliz

I never realized before how similar Ruth Gordon’s acting style was to Peter Falk’s.

(I wrote “is” at first. *sigh*)
Tau’ma

rip pf http://youtu.be/uWlwm_hILRI
Anonymous

Ruth Gordon! God, I hadn’t thought about her for years! Thank you for posting this. She was a smart young lady in the 1920s, hanging with people like Dorothy Parker, and she was brilliant in her later years.

And Columbo, I always loved that show. If you’ve ever read “Crime And Punishment” you can see where they got the concept of the rumpled detective who fools everyone in the end. Peter Falk was a master of comedic acting, and he will be missed.
Anonymous

Ok, this is going to bother me now. What’s the name of the actress who’s sitting next to Faulk at the table. I definitely recognize her from TV of that era, but the details are escaping me.
- Anonymous
  
  Umm, as mentioned by knoxblox above: Mariette Hartley.
  
  Thank you, Mr. Falk, for all the wonderful characters you gave us over the years.
Wingo

Bummer. I used to watch Columbo all of the time with my dad when I was a kid. RIP.
Jack

Peter Falk was a great human being. R.I.P.
chuvox

he was great in Wings of Desire – http://bit.ly/iM7YFW
- igpajo
  
  What Chuvox said! Beat me to it. I absolutely loved him in Wings of Desire. Besides the Princess Bride, that has to be my favorite role of his.
soybombgreer

I talk better when I’m lit too.
PushTheOtherButton

http://www.ispeterfalkdead.com
Anonymous

I’ve watched probably the entire columbo cannon with my mom, between growing up, and spending time with her now. But…

the princess bride wouldn’t work without grampa.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093779/
Harbo

“as you wish”
Thank you RIP.
Anonymous

I never realised how much James Ganfolfini took from Peter Falk until I watched some clips in these comments.

Mind blowing.

RIP Peter Falk
Anonymous

oh, what a wonderful actor he was.

.~.
Anonymous

Great episode. ‘Try and Catch Me’. Ruth Girdon was one of the better guests.
tsdguy

Yes, Columbo and Banaceck (with George Peppard) are the best detective shows that were on (maybe Quincy with Jack Klugman). Could you do an intelligent detective show without violence these days?

Hope A&E or whoever has the current rights runs a marathon to honor him.

He’s cool to watch in early shows like Twilight Zone (where he plays a Castro type haunted by visions of his people murdering him) but easily his best movie is The In-Laws.

“Serpentine Sheldon, serpentine”.
sdmikev

My favorite movie role of his:

the last time I trusted a dame:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N40VGd1cgiE

Great lines:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CrSQ_aQfRI
knoxblox

Ruth Gordon AND Mariette Hartley! Squee!
Anonymous

My vote for his best movie – Husbands. John Cassavettes, Ben Gazarra and Peter Falk are brilliant. I think most of the script was improvised and 40 years later I remember vividly how great it was.
yclept

Will need to see Wings of Desire. Thanks for posting this one.
InsertFingerHere

I really enjoyed the episodes with Shatner and McGoohan , fantastic. Something about how that show was shot, it’s so very of the age, didn’t try to be hip & glossy like today’s crime shows. That jumps out in my mind, the look. Off to torrent some now.

Very sad to hear the news, very sad how he lived out his last years. Sigh.