Lieutenant Columbo Was an Awful Cop

The TV series Columbo ran from 1971 to 2003, which is a long time. But it didn't air every week; instead, it was a part of a rotating lineup of series under the title The NBC Mystery Movie (later The ABC Mystery Movie). You could catch an episode every three weeks or every three months or so. That's very different from the way people consume old TV series today, by binge-watching. That's what Rob Beschizza did recently, and he noticed quite a few things in the Columbo formula that slipped by the original audience who didn't know any better or didn't care.

Lieutenant Frank Columbo (if that is his real name) was beloved by audiences because he was a disheveled public servant who didn't put on airs yet always got his man. But the way he did it is anathema to professional police procedures. He worked alone, manipulated suspects, and never informed them of their Miranda rights, at least until after he conned them into confessing. Beschizza lays out nine points to prove that Columbo was clever, but quite underhanded in his investigations at Boing Boing.