Just One More Thing

It’s the TV movie based on the play based on the short story that started everything- “Prescription: Murder,” the absolute, first Columbo. Find out where it all came from and who played Lt. Columbo well before Peter Falk took on the role! Well-versed guest Tilt Araiza (The Sitcom Club) joins Jon and RJ as they go back, back, back to the very beginning.

Have you ever thought about what kind of dessert you are? No? Perhaps that’s for the best, because the answer to that question drives sex therapist Lindsay Crouse (rice pudding) to murder her business partner/lover and develop a bit of a split personality in “Sex and the Married Detective.” It’s the third episode of Columbo‘s 80s-90s run and, well, it isn’t the best example of the series. Goodness, that tuba scene. Thankfully, guest “Hollywood” Steve Huey (Yacht Rock, VH1) was more than game to watch Lt. Columbo visit a sex room multiple times.

In season eight’s “Sex and the Married Detective,” Columbo enters the world of sex therapy, courtesans and brass instruments to solve a murder involving a mysterious femme fatale with the exotic name of Lisa. “Hollywood” Steve Huey (Yacht Rock, VH1) joins Jon and RJ to unravel this mess.

“A Stitch in Crime” features Leonard Nimoy as Dr. Barry Mayfield, who commits two murders and purposefully botches a heart operation, all to get some revolutionary surgical technique out to the world before someone else does. Columbo has to work past his fear of hospitals and people’s open guts in order to figure out how to trap the doc in the act. Zack Handlen (AV Club) is on the show for some deep analysis and to help Jon and RJ figure out what kind of murderers they look like.

Leonard Nimoy plays such an evil, evil man in season two’s “A Stitch in Crime.” He even gets Columbo angry! Zack Handlen (The AV Club) joins Jon and RJ to open this one up and see what’s inside.

In “Lovely But Lethal,” Vera Miles is Viveca Scott, a cosmetics magnate who needs a miracle product to keep her company from going under. When researcher Martin Sheen is discovered taking the formula to the competition, she murders him with the most deadly weapon known to mankind – a microscope. Throw in an alkie chemist, some Vincent Price, a little Bruce Kirby and oh, hey, another killing (this time, by poisoned cigarette) and no amount of foundation can cover up the blemishes of subterfuge and murder. Maybe Columbo’s some sort of cold cream of justice? Sure, let’s go with that. Elle Collins (Into It) helps Jon and RJ sort the whole thing out.

Get out your creams and astringents, it’s time to jump into the cutthroat world of beauty products with season three’s “Lovely But Lethal.” Vera Miles kills Martin Sheen with science and there isn’t nearly enough Vincent Price. Joining Jon and RJ will be Elle Collins (Into It).

You get twice the Martin Landau for the price of one admission, as he plays murderous twin brothers in “Double Shock.” One’s a devil-may-care host of a TV cooking show, the other’s a staid banker with a crippling gambling addiction. It’s up to Columbo to figure out how they’re tag teaming their killings. Along the way, he also has to deal with a cantankerous housekeeper and an awfully weird Julie Newmar. Abed Gheith (Rick and Morty, Channel 101) joins Jon and RJ to talk about the episode and many, many other digressions.

Double your pleasure, double your fun, double your MURDER? In season two’s “Double Shock,” Martin Landau plays twin homicidal brothers who off their rich old uncle before he can get married to Julie Newmar. Writer Abed Gheith (Rick and Morty, Channel 101) will be helping Jon and RJ see double.

In “Suitable For Framing,” Ross Martin is an art critic who kills his uncle in an elaborate plot to gain control of the old man’s valuable art collection. Jon did not like this. Returning guest Manning Krull and RJ did. It is sometimes odd and Don Ameche’s voice is like smooth, smooth velvet. Anyway, this edition of the podcast reveals both Jon and RJ’s depressing origins for knowing about all of this pop culture junk! Fun!