The original Columbo series (there were some lamentable reboots after) won a dozen Emmys and was a “howcatchem,” not a whodunit. Hastie wisely opted out of a strict homage. In one post-crash scene, Brown offers Columbo a big bowl of chili, so that’s what Team Columbo eats tonight too. ![]() Ida Lupino revels in the wife role, which tickles Hastie, who wrote The Bigamist, a book on this pioneering female director. It seems Brown is tired of the older wife who helped him reach stardom, and so he stages a plane crash, in which she dies but he miraculously survives (a parachute is involved). Real-life country music star Johnny Cash plays a country music star named Tommy Brown, an art-meets-life trick the show sometimes deployed, like when William Shatner played an actor playing a detective in “Fade in to Murder.” As Lin says, “I just love that meta stuff, how their real image and their TV image kind of bleed into each other.” Tonight, the four of them settle down to “Swan Song,” from the third season. (Beware especially, she adds, of Leonard Nimoy’s dish of potatoes, meat extract and bananas.) “The recipes are super gross and totally unhealthy,” admits Hastie cheerfully. Plus, they’re happy to extend their tradition of gathering for an episode and eating themed food made by Hastie: she sometimes works from Cooking with Columbo: Suppers with the Shambling Sleuth, which features old recipes from various co-stars and Peter Falk himself, who plays Lt. ![]() Team Columbo is also celebrating the semester’s end and sending off McNamara, who graduates in just days. First of all, Amelie Hastie, professor of English in film and media studies, wants to thank them for their research help on her forthcoming book Columbo: Make Me a Perfect Murder, for the Duke University Press Spin-Offs series on prominent television shows. McNamara, Kiera Alventosa ’21 and Sabrina Lin ’21-the professor has dubbed them “Team Columbo”-have come here on this drizzly spring evening for several reasons. “I’ve definitely watched way more Columbo than the average 21-year-old,” concedes Maeve McNamara ’19, speaking of the classic ’70s TV detective show, and everyone breaks into laughter at the professor’s cozy apartment.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |