Read on Twitter
One day Netflix will let me showrun a reboot of Columbo for them, starring Donald Glover.
One day.
One day.
I've written before about how Columbo, as both a show and a character, is way more subversive than it lets on. At least when the writers get it (Falk always did).
The best Columbos are always about powerful people LITERALLY trying to get away with murder.
The best Columbos are always about powerful people LITERALLY trying to get away with murder.
And to do that, they rely on all the tools of privilege at their disposal.
They'll call on their reputation as a reason why they can't POSSIBLY have done it.
They'll call on their reputation as a reason why they can't POSSIBLY have done it.
They abuse their position of power or responsibility to try and bully those around them into changing testimony or dropping complaints.
And, when all that fails, they often resort to trying to use their influence to get the case closed or get Columbo removed from the case.
Note: Columbo murderers nearly always have a high powered lawyer friend, or on retainer. The benefits of wealth and power.
Note: Columbo murderers nearly always have a high powered lawyer friend, or on retainer. The benefits of wealth and power.
And the thing that undoes them, every time, is their own prejudice.
It's that they CANNOT believe that a scruffy, italian detective could possibly be as smart as they are.
And Columbo knows it, and quietly weaponises that against them.
It's that they CANNOT believe that a scruffy, italian detective could possibly be as smart as they are.
And Columbo knows it, and quietly weaponises that against them.
Columbo doesn't use a gun. He refuses to carry one (it comes up in several episodes).
He doesn't shout.
He RARELY gets angry, and when he does, it is ALWAYS on behalf of someone else the perpetrator is hurting in some way.
He just uses his brain, and their own prejudices.
He doesn't shout.
He RARELY gets angry, and when he does, it is ALWAYS on behalf of someone else the perpetrator is hurting in some way.
He just uses his brain, and their own prejudices.
COULD he use a gun? Absolutely. And he has. He's a Korean War veteran. And maybe that's why he doesn't.
There's a touch of the Bob Ross about Columbo. He's a quiet man who wants the world to be a better place, and is determined to make it so without violence for reasons he knows
There's a touch of the Bob Ross about Columbo. He's a quiet man who wants the world to be a better place, and is determined to make it so without violence for reasons he knows
Columbo is the complete antithesis of the "Warrior Cop" ethos that was all over the place in the seventies, and is all over the place now.
And that's why we need a Columbo reboot, BUT NOT one that misses all of this and thinks of it as just a detective show about a white guy in a scruffy coat.
That was NEVER what the good Columbos were about.
That was NEVER what the good Columbos were about.
The good Columbos were always about a quiet, smart man who powerful, privileged people looked down on, weaponising that privilege against them.
And they're about that moment where the murderer finally realises that's what's happened. And how they react when they do.
And they're about that moment where the murderer finally realises that's what's happened. And how they react when they do.
Oh...
*puts hand on his head*
And just one more thing...
That's why Donald Glover would be my Columbo.
I can't think of an actor out there, right now, who could pull off that quietly subversive detective better.
/END
*puts hand on his head*
And just one more thing...
That's why Donald Glover would be my Columbo.
I can't think of an actor out there, right now, who could pull off that quietly subversive detective better.
/END
To link the threads up https://twitter.com/garius/status/1359541208679342089
