Shooting Columbo
The Lives & Deaths of TV's Rumpled Detective, By David Koenig
Columbo’s network run spanned 35 years. If star Peter Falk had had his way, it would have lasted even longer. Yet the popular series was left to die. Twice.
Who was to blame? The indecisive TV networks? The cost-conscious production studio? Or perhaps the temperamental star himself?
SHOOTING COLUMBO provides a blow-by-blow account of the making of all 69 classic mysteries, from the first pilot, Prescription: Murder, to the last special, Columbo Likes the Nightlife.
Slip behind the scenes to discover:
• The creation of the characters, clues and plots;
• The constant changes in the scripts, all under the watchful eye and endless improvisations of Peter Falk;
• Deleted scenes and almost-produced projects;
• The star’s heated battles with the studio and network every step of the way;
• How the opulent Beverly Hills locations were selected;
• and so, so much more.
From its auspicious beginning — 50 years ago in an episode directed by Steven Spielberg — the series was an immediate hit and remains a fan favorite. Here’s the complete story of how it all happened.
248 Pages * ISBN 978-1937878115
Kindle Ebook * ASIN B0gFBVG73F
NOW AVAILABLE!
Audiobook
8 Hours, 12 Minutes * ISBN
Reviews
“A brilliant, fly-on-the-wall history of the entire run of the series (including the later ABC episodes from 1989 through 2002). Considering how much time and how many people have passed, that Koenig managed to dig this deep and get this much hard data and anecdotal (but apparently all verified) evidence and recollection is nothing short of mind-blowing. It’s structured a bit differently than your usual history-of-a-series book too. He doesn’t interrupt the historical flow with episode synopses—the book presents a continuous narrative, as much a howdunit as any of the best COLUMBO episodes. If you’ve read Mark Dawidziak’s still-available 1989 THE COLUMBO PHILE: A CASEBOOK, which is also excellent, you’ll have very little sense of deja vu. This is next-level, top-notch investigative journalism, and in the annals of TV history, it deserves to become a classic.”
- David Spencer, Men’s Adventure Paperbacks of the 20th Century
“COLUMBO fans, take note. This is an unqualified endorsement for David Koenig’s superb new book now available for pre-order, SHOOTING COLUMBO. You might imagine that I don’t impress easily when it comes to the good lieutenant, and you’d imagine right. But David’s book is a must-have for any COLUMBO fan. Fascinating reading — packed with fresh behind-the-scenes details. Really, really well done. It is the next major step in COLUMBO scholarship and precisely the kind of carry-it-on research I’ve been hoping for all of these years (decades) since the 1989 publication of THE COLUMBO PHILE David did not ask me for an endorsement, but he’s going to get one, anyway. SHOOTING COLUMBO is everything I hoped it could be, and so much more. It’s not as if I was learning something new on every page of SHOOTING COLUMBO. I was learning something new in almost every paragraph. The detail is just that impressive. Again and again, I found myself saying, very Columbo-like, “I’ll be a son of a gun.” Oh, one more thing: I hesitate to say anything like this is building on the legacy of THE COLUMBO PHILE, because this is such an impressive accomplishment in its own right (write).”
- Mark Dawidziak, author, THE COLUMBO PHILE
Author
David Koenig
Raised in the shadow of the Matterhorn, David Koenig has become the theme park industry’s best-known outsider, writing six unauthorized books about the inner workings of the Mouse House. From his first book, the best-selling MOUSE TALES (1994) to his latest, THE 55ers, he has spent more than 25 years scraping off the pixie dust to give fans an unvarnished, but always appreciative, peek inside the magic.
David also is editorial director of 526 Media Group and a sporadic contributor to MiceChat.com.
