Season 1, episode 11
Peter Falk is not the lovable Columbo here. Instead he does irreparable harm to a young girl.
Theme: extortion and father-son relationship
This is the city [No, not Dragnet!]
The upscale townhomes look clean. The location for this episode is Sutton Place.
Our stars: James Franciscus is Detective Jimmy Halloran;
John McIntire is Lt. Dan Muldoon
Is this a woman's blog where there will be a lot of gushing over James Franciscus? [Spoiler: Paul Burke takes over the series]
The main character of the episode is played by Leon B. Stevens.
His son is portrayed by Peter J. Votrian, with a face that makes you think, "Hey, I'll bet I know him when he got older." Nope. He seems to have retired by 21. You probably recognize him a bit younger from a Gunsmoke episode.
Shots like this are what the Naked City series is all about.
And even better, this one, where the police detectives drive a 1958 Pontiac Chieftain and pose by the Queensboro Bridge. I like to imagine the car is red.
1950s car fans like me have a treat waiting around every corner.
Frank Columbo wasn't always asking "one more thing" and solving murders. Sometimes he was committing heinous assaults. Lieutenant, how could you!
Detective Halloran confirms for the appalled viewer what has happened to the poor girl.
All extortionists need to use payphones:
James Franciscus would be 24 here. And he's already made detective!
Bad things happen to extortionists; nice shot of the front of the car.
Detective Halloran is only in the first 39 episodes. Franciscus won't get another regular series until the short-lived The Investigators in late 1961 on CBS. Slim odds of CBS restoring and releasing it on DVD.
The sniper and the skyline. I am not a New Yorker. Please ID these buildings for me 😎
Harry Bellaver [left] was Sgt. Frank Arcaro. Every good police show needs a cop who looks like that.
The Chrysler Building saw how it all went down.
Our heroes reflect:
The man with the memorable name who wrote such things.
Original air date: Tuesday December 9, 1958
9:30 pm on ABC
The lead-in was the Rifleman.
Your other choices were the Red Skelton Show (in color!) or the Bob Cummings Show.
