One of the less interesting episodes in the otherwise splendidly amusing early series. I don't know why it doesn't quite work. If the plot were described here, in print, it would sound typically promising.
Jackie Cooper is a candidate for the US Senate. He's received a couple of death threats which have prompted police protection. His bloviating campaign manager tells him he must get rid of the skeleton in his closet because Cooper is supposed to be a happily married man. The skeleton is in the form of Tish Sterling, which is a very nice skeleton indeed. With her pale face, gracile form, and big blue eyes, she looks like a kind of kewpie doll. If you lay her gently on her back, her eyes might close.
Well, Cooper understandably doesn't want to jettison Sterling, but on the other hand his bossy, loud-mouthed campaign manager is getting to be a pain in the neck, so Cooper lures the guy outside of police protection and shoots him three times and -- well, then it gets complicated. Cooper starts staging phony attempts on his own life that seem completely adventitious. He doesn't need to do it. It's over-reaching and it undoes him in the end, with Columbo the instrument of the undoing.
The writers must have had a slight block in putting this together. There are a couple of attempts at humor -- Columbo goes to a tony Beverley Hills tailor and is treated like the idiot he is, Columbo is stopped for a spot auto inspection by the state police, Columbo stumbles and fumbles more than usual, more than balance demands. And Jackie Cooper as the heavy is no help. There are only one or two notes on his instrument. The one we see most of is authoritative bluster and shouting. His character doesn't really seem to love Tish Sterling enough to kill for her. He manipulates her throughout.
Well, the golf course of life is filled with sand traps. It's still worth watching if you enjoy Columbo, just a bit disappointing in its serial context.
Jackie Cooper is a candidate for the US Senate. He's received a couple of death threats which have prompted police protection. His bloviating campaign manager tells him he must get rid of the skeleton in his closet because Cooper is supposed to be a happily married man. The skeleton is in the form of Tish Sterling, which is a very nice skeleton indeed. With her pale face, gracile form, and big blue eyes, she looks like a kind of kewpie doll. If you lay her gently on her back, her eyes might close.
Well, Cooper understandably doesn't want to jettison Sterling, but on the other hand his bossy, loud-mouthed campaign manager is getting to be a pain in the neck, so Cooper lures the guy outside of police protection and shoots him three times and -- well, then it gets complicated. Cooper starts staging phony attempts on his own life that seem completely adventitious. He doesn't need to do it. It's over-reaching and it undoes him in the end, with Columbo the instrument of the undoing.
The writers must have had a slight block in putting this together. There are a couple of attempts at humor -- Columbo goes to a tony Beverley Hills tailor and is treated like the idiot he is, Columbo is stopped for a spot auto inspection by the state police, Columbo stumbles and fumbles more than usual, more than balance demands. And Jackie Cooper as the heavy is no help. There are only one or two notes on his instrument. The one we see most of is authoritative bluster and shouting. His character doesn't really seem to love Tish Sterling enough to kill for her. He manipulates her throughout.
Well, the golf course of life is filled with sand traps. It's still worth watching if you enjoy Columbo, just a bit disappointing in its serial context.