Columbo: The Complete Sixth & Seventh Seasons

Here's a list of the eight episodes featured on this 6th and 7th season collection:

Episode 38: FADE IN TO MURDER (Airdate: Oct/10/76). This is the segment with the one and only William Shatner as an actor who plays a popular TV detective that murders his blackmailing agent. The episode also features Walter Koenig who played Chekov on Star Trek. This one doesn't touch Leonard Nimoy's fabulous Columbo installment "A Stich in Crime," but works simply because of Shatner's undeniable star power.

Episode 39: AN OLD FASHIONED MURDER (Airdate: Nov/28/76). A bland female museum curator hires a questionable guard to kill her brother so she can collect the insurance money; she then kills the guard and makes it look like a break-in gone awry. There are no notable stars in this one. It's okay but definitely one of the lesser Columbo outings.

Episode 40: THE BYE-BYE SKY HIGH I.Q. MURDER CASE (Airdate: May/22/77). Two former college friends, now partners in an accounting firm, are members of an elite intellectual club. One is murdered after he threatens to squeal about the other's embezzling from the firm. No notable stars. This episode features the longest and most peculiar story title of any "Columbo" outing.

Episode 41: TRY AND CATCH ME (Airdate: Nov/21/77). Ruth Gordon plays a mystery writer who kills her nephew-in-law as revenge for murdering her niece. The beauteous Mariette Hartley is also on hand. I can't remember how this popular segment ends, but this is definitely one time where Columbo should have let the person go like Dirty Harry in "Sudden Impact."

Episode 42: MURDER UNDER GLASS (Airdate: Jan/30/78). A popular television food critic murders a restaurant owner via blowfish poison. This one features Peter Falk's new wife, the incredibly beautiful Shera Danese, whom he married Dec. 7, 1977 (and remains married to!). Shera also played 'Molly' in "Fade in to Murder" (Episode 38, above) and starred in four 'second generation' episodes as well. The lovely France Nuyen, who played the haughty Elaan in the Star Trek episode "Elaan of Troyius," is also on hand as Mary Choy.

Episode 43: MAKE ME A PERFECT MURDER (Airdate: Feb/28/78). Laurence Luckinbill plays a network executive who gets a promotion and is about to move to New York; his attractive, ambitious lover, played by Trish Van Devere, expects to get his old position but Luckinbill declines, thinking the job is out of her league. Feeling betrayed, Trish murders him and takes the position. Laurance would go on to play the renegade Sybok in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier."

Episode 44: HOW TO DIAL A MURDER (Airdate: Apr/15/78). A famous psychiatrist utilizes a conditioning reflex technique on his dogs to kill his dead wife's lover; this technique also involves a phone call and the key word "Rosebud." A youthful Kim Cattrall is on hand; Kim of course stars on "Sex in the City," but is also known for roles in "Porky's" and "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" (How does "Columbo" attract so many Star Trek alumni?).

Episode 45: THE CONSPIRATORS (Airdate May/13/78). A charismatic Irish poet, who runs a peace organization while running guns as a covert revolutionary, murders an arms dealer who tries to swindle him. Clive Revill and Bernard Behrens are featured.

This would mark the end of the "First Generation" of Columbo episodes. The "Second Generation" would run from 1989-2003. I personally find something to like in every "Columbo" outing, after all, with Peter Falk as Columbo, how can you go wrong?

There are no extras, as usual, which doesn't bother me a bit since I rarely watch 'em.

This is the finale of the great Columbo series and I heartily

recommend it. However, the episodes in this DVD set are a mixed bag as compared to the earlier seasons. Whereas at first, Columbo's persona is "modest and mildly eccentric", for some reason, it was decided to experiment with another version of him (starting with the poor "Last Salute to the Commodore" episode which ended season 5) and they made him "arrogant and goofy" in some of the episodes. When the series was revived in the 1980's, Peter Falk continued with the "arrogant and goofy" Columbo, so as far as I am concerned, the revival series is not "really Columbo". In spite of this, there are some fine episodes in seasons 6 and 7 where we see the old Columbo such as

"Fade Into Murder", where William Shatner (an uneven actor at best) puts in a fine performance as the TV star/murderer Lt. Lucerne/Ward Fowler. However, the best was saved for last, the final episode "The Conspirators" (this is where I got the title for my review) in which Clive Reville puts in a BRILLIANT performance as Joe Devlin who plays Irish terrorist who escaped to America where he became a celebrity writer and poet but where he also quietly raised money for IRA terrorist activities in Northern Ireland. The "Joe Devlin" character is based on a real-life alcoholic Irish writer name Brendan Beehan who as a youngster was involved with IRA activities. I am glad that the writers were not afraid to shy away from a controversial subject and they turned out a gem of an episode (watch out for the hilarious "duel of the limericks" in this episode). Well, "this far and no farther"!

Great, the last two seasons of Columbo finally featured in one
pack,after this Columbo took a break and came back in the late
80's with that guillotine episode I think. Well, the highlights
from these two seasons are "Try and catch me" with the great
actress Ruth Gordon, "Murder under glass" with Louis Jordan,
this is one of my favorite episodes that involves Italian
Restaurants,exotic fish and a attempt to poison Lt Columbo. "How
to dial murder" features a very young Kim Cattrall in an episode
where a couple of trained dogs kill a family friend of a Doctor
that discover a past affair with his wife and the victim."The
Conspirators" is a classic and closes the seventh season, this
one features an Irish caracter that is involved in suppling guns
to the Irish war. I still feel that there are some good extras
that might have been included, I also dream with a documentary
on Peter Falk talking progresively on the episodes, the unsusal
things that he perceived, working with Spielberg in the
beggining and with so many great actors and actresses, who knows
if this personal wish will see the light of day.

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