Mrs. Columbo (1979–1980) User Reviews

Kate loves to be very annoying!

[last-picture-show · 3/10 · 31 August 2007]

Despite the occasional flaw the original Columbo series is one of television's all-time classic crime shows. So successful in fact that when Peter Falk originally bowled out in 1978 NBC came up with a brilliant idea, why not make his never-seen wife 'Mrs Columbo' a part-time crime solver, using the same methods employed by her husband?

This premise would be stretching things somewhat if Mrs Columbo appeared as surely how most people must see her, a forty-something, fiery Italian matriarch, perhaps in the mould of English actress Miriam Margolyes. But to employ the services of glamorous 24-year old actress (of Irish extraction) Kate Mulgrew is totally ludicrous.

I have only seen one episode Murder Is A Parlour Game, and despite a superb cast including Donald Pleasence and Don Baker, it was enough to convince me that Mrs Columbo was a bad idea. The plot was wafer-thin and offered very little to hold viewers' interest. The police are made to look like stupid meat heads leaving glamorous Kate to use her feminine charm to solve the mystery. Only she doesn't have any charm. Unlike her hubby who wins the murderers round with wily cunning, Kate is just an annoying, know-all. Fans of the original Columbo series should avoid this like the plague.

NBC knew they were onto a looser when the ratings dropped after the first few episodes were aired. Viewers just couldn't believe that Kate Mulgrew was Columbo's wife so the producers changed the name of the series, twice, eventually giving Kate a different surname, Callahan, to completely disassociate the series with Columbo. If they had done this in the first place it might just have been a success.

The quickly edited opening titles and Bach-style theme music reminded me of the later, vastly superior crime series Murder She Wrote. Both shows were created by Richard Levinson and William Link so in a way Mrs Columbo was a blueprint for that show. Curiously Kate Mulgrew guested in a few episodes of Murder She Wrote and I wonder if she thought to herself 'this should've been me'.

Coming from a big Columbo fan, this spin-off show is really disappointing

[TheLittleSongbird · 3/10 · 19 June 2011]

Although I am not going to spend the whole review comparing, I have to say Mrs Columbo is a real disappointment of a spin-off series. And this is coming from a big fan of the classic Columbo series with Peter Falk. As much as I did like the idea, it was one that didn't work out. I liked how the episodes looked, they are well shot and the production values are lovely, the music is often delightful and I like the quickly edited opening sequences. Against all this, I find Mrs Columbo herself annoying and not very easy to relate to. Also Kate Mulgrew does have a charming appearance, perhaps too charming, but she does overdo it a lot. It doesn't help that the writing is so forced, the pace often dull and the stories in general thin and formulaic. And while there are some great actors and decent guest stars, the stories, with a lack of realism in abundance one too many times, and writing let them down. All in all, a series I wanted to like but it doesn't work. 3/10 Bethany Cox

Spoilt my view of Mrs C

[mellissa_thorpe · 9 June 2010]

Hi, I absolutely love watching Columbo it's been a family favourite for years. I love the character and the epsiodes are watchable again and again.

Now like everyone I always hoped to see Mrs Columbo, mainly out of curosity.

I have bought the Fith Season on DVD today and in that is a Mrs Columbo episode. I had no idea a series - spin-off from Columbo was ever made. I was at first glance a bit shocked as she is nothing like the Mrs Columbo I imagined. I didn't really think she would be old but older and more homely looking. The Mrs Columbo I have watched was average to below average. It is not on the same level as Columbo series. I actually found it really odd the way they make her come across like a female columbo as it doesn't really work. I know people pick-up each others characteristics of their husband/wife but this was just really odd.

She also gave no clue in that she was onto the person. It was really odd. At least you could see things ticking over in Columbo's face and going along with things. With this episode of Mrs Columbo it seemed really far-fetched.

It just didn't gel to me or come across as being realistic.

I actually think although people were curious, after so many episodes of Columbo it should have remained that Mrs C never appeared and everyone then kept their view of Mrs C or at least what feels like it's realistic enough to be.

Overall, I won't be going in search of the Mrs C series but as far as the Columbo series - they still rock!

I love this show

[richwgriffin-227-176635 · 9/10 · 14 March 2012]

I love "Mrs. Columbo". I know mine is a minority opinion, but the real reason I love this show is because I adore Kate Mulgrew. And I adore her mainly because she played the first - and best - Mary Ryan, on "Ryan's Hope". I enjoyed these mysteries, light, fun, frivolous - seventies television was formulaic but the formulas were soothing and enjoyable! The writing is always fine, direction sturdy, and solid strong guest stars - I think the show would have been better off not saying she was "Mrs. Columbo", since it was not believable that Columbo's wife would be this much younger than he is (Kate Mulgrew was only in her mid-twenties).

So this show is a light way to pass some time and just as enjoyable as any other formulaic mystery show from the 1970's, if not has well known or loved. (:

Insulting to the premise of Columbo.

[robert-348-215552 · 2/10 · 9 November 2021]

Normally I think it's very tough to introduce a character that is never shown on screen. But Bochco's writing (among others) was brilliant. It wasn't about the actual character of Mrs Columbo, it was a trait of Falk that went along with his cigar, trench coat and crappy car. Talking about Mrs Columbo wasn't about how she really was. It was a mechanism for him to work his observations about clues to the crime into a conversation that seemed to be innocent chit chat. He fooled people all the time setting up traps, maybe nothing he ever said about her was true. In the words of Hitchcock it was a type of Maguffin.

I think she appealed to everyone because everyone was free to see her in their minds eye, based on their own life's experiences. Nailing her down was a mistake, an insult to the original creation of her real purpose in the show. The many comments about "that's not how I saw her" speaks to that. This show has a better chance with people who are unfamiliar with the original Columbo.

As a side note, when Columbo was popular I was a police detective. I naively tried to say in interviews a few times: "you know when my wife..." It always fell flat.

Just one more thing

[toyguy-31519 · 1/10 · 19 September 2021]

What idiot came up with this spin off? Hats off to Peter Falk for denouncing this mess.

With Falks blessings, this may have worked if Cloris Leachman had been available for the part and get rid of the plucky little daughter. I believe Cloris and the Dog would have worked well together.

The Very Idea...

[elvimark01 · 3/10 · 8 September 2022]

When it comes to Mrs. Columbo, we can play Good Idea/Bad Idea (you Animaniacs fans will understand the reference)...

BAD IDEA: The series in the first place! Columbo's wife should've stayed an imaginary character. Mrs. Columbo running around all over the place uncovering murders in her charming suburban neighborhood? She was better arguing with her hubby over the phone over what he should pick up at the supermarket on the way home or whatever, not getting in over her head as an amateur sleuth.

BAD IDEA: The casting of Kate Mulgrew. No disrespect to her as an actress, but she was too young and glamorous for the role. The producers wanted someone like Maureen Stapleton. One critic thought Brenda Vaccaro would have been better. Either one would have been a much better fit than Mulgrew.

GOOD IDEA: Pitting her against two of the better Columbo villains to start the series. In the first episode (pilot), it's Robert Culp, who hires Frederic Forrest to kill his wife. Unfortunately, Forrest also winds up killing Culp, which takes him out of the rest of the film, and now Kate has to deal with a maniacal killer who has no choice but to silence her. It goes from being a serviceable mystery to Panic Room at the drop of a hat.

The second episode features one of the better 'one-shot' killers from Columbo, Donald Pleasance, playing a very proper Englishman, an English police officer who turns out to be a killer on both sides of the ocean (albeit an unintentional killer in the crime in the Mrs. Columbo episode). Kate Mulgrew at least got decent guest actors to play off in those episodes.

GOOD IDEA: When the series returned for a second season, they dropped the Columbo angle and made her a divorcee, reverting to her maiden name of Callahan.

BAD IDEA: Bringing it back for a second season! Why couldn't they have just given up the ghost after the first five episodes?

It should be noted that this series was produced under the watch of the infamous Fred Silverman...the same guy who almost put the kibosh on Cannon when he was the head of CBS programming (fortunately, William Paley overruled him on that one) and the same guy who canceled the brilliant Harry O when he ran ABC. When he ran NBC, he green lighted a boat load of crap, not just this show, but Supertrain, to name another of his follies at NBC.

If you must torture yourself, the Mrs. Columbo episodes have turned up as extras on the individual season Columbo sets. After seeing the Lieutenant in action in his episodes, why would you want to bother with his wife's exploits?

No Levinson Link- Colombo connect in name only! Rate 2 for being in focus.

[phlbrq58 · 2/10 · 15 December 2019]

Total POS. No Colombo connection in character, mystery format or entertainment attitude. If yr a Colombo fan- Skip it. Any praise for this is more of a mystery than what's in the show

I Don't Enjoy It

[aramis-112-804880 · 14 February 2023]

"Mrs. Columbo" tries to make connections with the famous Peter Falk series in its opening titles, but it's unlikely the star if this series is the unseen wife Lt. Columbo always talks about (though the Lieutenant's chatter may be mere persiflage).

While sharing the "Columbo" backward way of telling the story by showing the murder first, it lacks the original series' splendid writing and sense of irony.

Furthermore, it lacks that endearing annoyance in Columbo that makes the viewer want to see the culprit punch him out. In a nice way.

I like to see detective stories where there is some reason for the detective to be there (as in Columbo being a policeman). Or in a sister show, "Ellery Queen," where Queen's father is a police inspector. The "Murder She Wrote" sort of show where amateur sleuths run into murders wherever they go interest me less.

"Mrs. Columbo" being a newspaper reporter (remember newspapers?) running into crime is a good idea for a series but not this one. I wonder how it would play with an internet troll in this day when newspapers and TV news both are so unreliable? It might be an international show.

In real life, a Lt. Columbo would have to be married to a shrewd woman, able to solve mysteries on her own, if lacking the gumption to join the cops herself. But Kate Mulgrew is an annoying actress, not a likeable Peter Falk type who plays a character with annoying qualities. As with Angela Lansbury, her very voice sets my teeth on edge. Like chalk on a blackboard. But that's a personal observation.

BTW, the cast list includes Henry Jones. He was a great supporting actor, if a little long in the tooth by the time this series came along.

Best Columbo ever

[Sandman-68 · 10/10 · 1 November 2007]

Mrs. Columbo as a title got my attention right away. I had seen several Lt. Columbos, including the actor who first created the character, Bert Freed --IMO the best of the lot; I thought Falk stank as the detective. It was my first look at a female detective, and my first exposure to Kate Mulgrew. I instantly fell in love with her. Her character was appealing in a number of ways: she was self-assured, competent, calm and cool. She could -- and did -- handle anything that jumped up to bite her. Kate is still my pick of all female detectives, and Mulgrew is a goddess. As an actress she can do no wrong. As to the series itself, I found the plots much more realistic, in a true-to-life way, than those of her "husband" or of almost any other crime show that was then on the air. So here are two "best Columbos," Mulgrew and Freed.

Not Very Good representation

[joerushhead-1 · 2/10 · 13 November 2011]

Sorry, but this show didn't work at all, and a '2' is a generous vote. If you watch enough "Columbo", any time he is on the phone with her, she is given as a homemaker, not a reporter, and on top of that, she's not very bright. On "An Exercise in Fatality", she calls him at the office of the killer, and they discuss what to cook for the family guests for dinner. He then tells her what to do, i.e. call the Chinese restaurant, make the order and he would get it after work on the way home. Does that honestly sound like she has the wherewithal to find the answer to some caper? Not in my opinion, and I'm sure a majority of the readers of this would have to agree. She's just not that intelligent!

Excellent light entertainment

[lolavictrola · 10/10 · 8 January 2024]

Kate Mulgrew is wonderful as the energetic journalist-amateur sleuth striding through a slew of adventures. Forget the ridiculous butthurt of the cultists of "Columbo" who have crashed its rating and enjoy this cheerful , unassuming series for what it offers--witty dialogue, cameos by bygone stars, time capsule of a slower, more hopeful time. While of modest ambition, some episodes rise to achieve real pathos (e.g. The puppet story), real scares and mystery (the spiritualists, the episode with overheard conversations...) But the main, and wholly sufficient reason to watch this, is Mulgrew--as intelligent as she is beautiful, with enough charm to fuel Hogwarts through a season.

Unrealistic

[paddledawg · 1/10 · 30 March 2016]

In the Columbo series, the lieutenant describes his wife's character and even physical attributes.

See Season 4: Ep. 1--An Exercise in Fatality--time index 32:10.

None of the characteristics are reflected in the Mrs Columbo series.

You might as well call her a different name, because its really not the same person.

Too bad it was branded "Mrs. Columbo". What were the directors and writers thinking??

There are just too man inconsistencies to call her the lieutenant's wife.

Utter drivel

[spunkins · 1/10 · 10 February 2023]

Shameless attempt to cash in on the great work done by Peter Falk.

The greedy studio executive behind this tripe should surely hang their heads in shame...

Fortunately, despite repeated failed attempts at retooling, the show quickly petered out and as such audiences didn't have to suffer this absolute disaster for long.

It is quite unbelievable that this nonsense actually managed to make its way on to celluloid... you would have thought that someone would have had the good sense to pull the plug before going in to production.

However, we are left with a testament to bad taste and short sightedness and hopefully a lesson can be learnt from this trash.

It Just Doesn't Work

[draccy · 3/10 · 12 February 2024]

Kate Mulgrew is a fine actress. Not just for her turn in Star Trek: Voyager, and her role as Red in Orange is the New Black. I saw her on stage years ago, playing Katharine Hepburn, and she was fantastic. But sadly, Mrs. Columbo failed her as a vehicle for her acting skills.

She was badly miscast and not believable as the oft-mentioned wife of Lieutenant Columbo. That was reflected in the attempt to change things up in Season 2 by having her suddenly be a divorcee, her ex-husband being someone whose business had him constantly traveling -- clearly not our LAPL Lieutenant -- so the Columbo name was no longer in play.

Despite Mulgrew's skilled attempt to make this character work, the writing failed her time and again. Some of the mysteries were better than others, but her repeated presence at crime scenes and even car chases right alongside police detectives who welcomed her presence was hard to swallow. She was brash and assertive, yes, good things for a reporter, but due to the flawed writing, she also came across as kind of stupid, putting herself in danger when it wasn't really necessary. Her young daughter showed up now and then, but was mostly forgotten when dangerous business called her away. Just some vague mentions of neighbors and babysitters.

Her newspaper role was strange, initially having her work for a no-reputation neighborhood advertiser, where her crime reporting would have been an odd outlier -- and then shifting her (with the same editor, a character enjoyably played by Henry Jones) to a more ordinary local newspaper. The connection between her investigations into murders and what she actually reported was never clear, since she inserted herself and became involved with the suspects and others in the case.

All in all, a poor if watchable effort.

One thing I did enjoy was to see Mulgrew act alongside a couple of future Star Trek cast members, especially Andrew Robinson. He did a good job playing an astronomer who, in one scene, gazes at the stars with Mulgrew. Unintentional foreshadowing of the better roles awaiting them both.