Description
Book SynopsisAmelie Hastie examines the television show Columbo as a way to understand both the show itself, but also the history of Hollywood in the 1970s and television as a media technology.
Trade Review“Amelie Hastie makes a compelling case for revisiting a series that had a global footprint in its heyday and continues to be a staple in rerun syndication. Hastie uses Columbo’s famous tagline ‘Just one more thing’ to think about the series—and by extension television as cultural form—in relation to a complex intertextual network of quotation, iteration, and intertexts.
Columbo is an exciting book by a wonderful critic, historian, and writer.” -- Lynn Spigel, author of * TV Snapshots: An Archive of Everyday Life *
“In
Columbo, Amelie Hastie offers a comprehensive look at this essential popular television show, explaining its iconic status in the landscape of American popular culture along with the iconic status of its lead actor, Peter Falk. Hastie provides extensive information about the production history of the series as well as an analysis of specific motifs and narratives.
Columbo will stand as the go-to work for study of the series.” -- Dana Polan, Martin Scorsese Professor of Cinema Studies, New York University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
Prologue: Humble Origins and Dogged Returns xv
Introduction: Murder by the Book 1
1. Mapping the Detective: Falk’s Early Drives 24
2. Best-Selling Mystery Team:
Columbo and Televisual Collaboration 38
3. “I’m Fascinated by Money”: Rank, File, and Gumshoe Detection 72
4. Special Guest Stars: Hollywood Icons and Repeat Offenders 95
5. Between Columbo and Cassavetes: A Familial Pack 119
6. “An Obsessive Preoccupation with Gadgetry”:
Columbo’s Investigation of Media Technologies 144
7. Columbo’s Reign: Of Life and Death and Detection 172
Epilogue: Loving and Leaving
Columbo 197
Notes 201
Bibliography 219
Index 225
