Peter Falk stars in the 1st broadcast of Columbo

Peter Falk stars in the 1st broadcast of "Columbo" on NBC-TV on September 15, 1971.

Columbo is an American crime fiction television film series, which starred Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department.

It was created by William Link and Richard Levinson. The show popularized the inverted detective story format. With the exception of a couple of special episodes with added twists, almost every episode began by showing the commission of the crime and its perpetrator. Therefore, there is no "whodunit" element. The plot mainly revolves around how the perpetrator, whose identity is known, would finally be exposed and arrested. The show's creator once referred to it as a "howdhecatchem".

Peter Falk Columbo character first appeared in a 1960 episode of the television-anthology series The Chevy Mystery Show, which was itself partly derived from a short story by Levinson and Link published in an issue of the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine as 'Dear Corpus Delicti'.

Levinson and Link adapted the TV drama into the stage play Prescription: Murder, and a TV-movie based on the play was broadcast in 1968. The series began on a Wednesday presentation of the "NBC Mystery Movie" rotation: McCloud, McMillan & Wife, and other whodunits. After one season, the series moved as a group to Sundays and were replaced on Wednesdays by a series with a similar format with fare such as The Snoop Sisters, Cool Million, and Banacek. Columbo aired regularly from 1971 to 1978 on NBC, and then less frequently on ABC beginning in 1989. The final episode was broadcast in 2003.

Lt. Columbo is a shambling, disheveled-looking, seemingly naive Italian American police detective who is consistently underestimated by his fellow officers and by the murderer du jour. The subjects of his investigations are initially both reassured and distracted by his circumstantial speech and increasingly irritating asides. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for indictment. His formidable eye for detail and meticulous and dedicated approach become apparent only late in the storyline.

The episodes are all movie-length, between 70 and 100 minutes long, excluding commercials.

Retro History for September 15 The 50s 60s 70s 80s

Retro History For The Decade 1980

1988 "Les Miserables," opens at Raimund Theatre, Vienna
1988 Lillehammer, Norway upsets Anchorage to host 1994 Winter olympics
1988 Museum of Moving Image in London opens
1988 Test Cricket debut of Ian Healy, vs Pakistan at Karachi
1986 1st broadcast of "LA Law" on NBC-TV
1986 Bomb attack in Paris, 1 dead
1985 26th Ryder Cup: Europe beat U.S., 16 -11 at The Belfry, England
1985 Joanne Carner wins LPGA SAFECO Golf Classic
1985 Olof Palme forms Sweden minority government
1985 Senate judiciary committee begins Robert Bork confirmation hearings
1985 Willie Nelson's Farm Aid concert
1985 Yankees trade Jim Deshaies to Astros for 40-year-old Joe Niekro
1984 Sharlene Wells (Utah), 20, crowned 58th Miss America 1985
1984 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R.
1983 Cops beat to death Michael Stewart for graffiting New York City subway
1983 Israel premier Begin resigns
1982 1st issue of "USA Today" published by Gannett Co Inc
1982 Israeli forces began pouring into west Beirut
1982 Pope John Paul II receives PLO leader Yasser Arafat
1981 U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor
1981 Pope John Paul II publishes encyclical "Laborem exercens" against capitalism/marxism
1980 Paul McCartney releases "Temporary Secretary"

Retro History For The Decade 1970

1979 Red Sox Bob Watson is 1st to hit for cycle in AL and NL (Astros)
1979 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R.
1978 Dodgers become 1st major league team to draw 3 million fans
1978 Muhammad Ali beats Leon Spinks in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
1978 Yankees beat Boston 4-0, Guidry wins # 22, Yankees lead 2 games
1977 "Man of La Mancha" opens at Palace Theater New York City for 124 performances
1977 Orioles forfeit to Blue Jays when manager Earl Weaver pulls team off field in 5th citing hazardous condition (small tarpaulin on bullpen mound)
1977 President Carter meets with 15 record company executives
1977 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1976 Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who ...," premieres in New York City
1976 Soyuz 22 carries 2 cosmonauts into Earth orbit for 8 days
1975 Mike Vail extends hitting streak ton rookie-record 23 straight game
1974 Market Square Arena in Indianapolis opens
1974 Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Charity Golf Classic
1973 "Star Trek-Animated" premieres on TV
1973 Dutch Guilder devalued 5%
1973 Ohio State's Archie Griffith begins record 31 cons 100 yd rushing
1973 Secretariat wins Marlboro Cup in world record 1:45 2/5 for 1 miles
1972 WMAO TV channel 23 in Greenwood, MS (PBS) begins broadcasting
1971 Peter Falk stars in the 1st broadcast of "Columbo" on NBC-TV
1970 Decca awards Bing Crosby a 2nd platinum disc for selling 300 million
1970 PLO leader Arafat threatens to make a cemetery of Jordan
1970 Rotterdam harbor strikes end

Retro History For The Decade 1960

1969 Cards Steve Carlton sets record by striking out 19 New York Mets in a game
1968 "Barbra Streisand: A Happening in Central Park" Show on CBS TV
1968 Carol Mann wins LPGA Shirley Englehorn Golf Invitational
1968 Launch of Zond 5, 1st lunar fly-around with Earth reentry
1968 WUAB TV channel 43 in Lorain-Cleveland, OH (IND) begins broadcasting
1968 WXON TV channel 20 in Detroit, MI (IND) begins broadcasting
1968 Probable Test flight for a manned fly-around (scooped by Apollo 8)
1967 KPOB TV channel 15 in Poplar Bluff, MO (ABC) begins broadcasting
1966 1st British nuclear sub HMS Resolution launched
1966 Dutch political party (D'66) forms
1966 Gemini XI (Conrad/Gordon) returns to Earth
1965 "Lost in Space" premieres
1964 Beatles play at Public Auditorium in Cleveland
1964 Final edition of socialist British newspaper "Daily Herald"
1963 4 children killed in bombing of a black Baptist church in Birmingham
1963 Alou brothers-Felipe, Matty, and Jesus-appear in San Francisco outfield for 1 inn
1963 Ben Bella elected 1st president of Algeria
1963 Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Eugene Ladies' Golf Open
1963 WNTV TV channel 29 in Greenville, South Carolina (PBS) begins broadcasting
1962 "Bravo, Giovanni" closes at Broadhurst Theater New York City after 76 performances
1962 Australia's 1st entry in America's Cup yacht race (U.S. wins)
1962 KC A's Bill Fischer sets record of 69 1/3 innings without a walk
1962 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya U.S.S.R.
1962 WOKR TV channel 13 in Rochester, New York (ABC) begins broadcasting
1961 61st U.S. Golf Amateur Championship won by Jack Nicklaus
1961 Hurricane Carla strikes Texas with winds of 175 mph

Retro History For The Decade 1950

1959 Soviet Premier Khrushchev arrives in U.S. to begin a 13-day visit
1958 48 die in a train crash in Elizabethport, New Jersey
1958 Commuter train crashes through drawbridge, killing 48 in Newark, New Jersey
1957 "Bachelor Father" with John Forsythe premieres
1957 Adenauers CDU wins parliamentary election in West Germany
1957 SF Seals (Pacific Coast League) play their last game
1955 WCTV TV channel 6 in Tallahassee-Thomasville, Florida (CBS) begins
1953 Boxing's NBA adopts 10-pt-must-scoring-system (10 pts to round winner)
1953 KVOA TV channel 4 in Tucson, Arizona (NBC) begins broadcasting
1953 WVEC TV channel 13 in Hampton-Norfolk, Virginia (ABC) begins broadcasting
1952 Braves last game in Boston's Braves Field before move to Milwaukee
1952 European Parliament forms in Strasbourg
1952 U.N. turns over Eritrea to Ethiopia
1951 "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" closes at Ziegfeld New York City after 740 performances
1951 Emile Zatopek runs world record 20k (1:01:15.8)
1951 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Ingruentium Malorum
1950 During Korean conflict, United Nations forces land at Inchon in South Korea
1950 East German premier Grotewohl pleads for German reunification
1950 For a record 6th time, New York Yankee Johnny Mize hits 3 home runs in one game
1950 Longest game in Phila's Shribe Park, Phillies beat Reds 8-7 in 19
1950 U.N. lands at Inchon to drive North Korean troops out of the south
1950 U.S. troop land on Wolmi-Do island off of Seoul

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Vintage Retro Music & Retro Pop Culture is our passion and what we LOVE. We keep it going everyday for the love of producing it for you to enjoy. Thanks for viewing. Much Peace! Peter Falk stars in the 1st broadcast of "Columbo" on NBC-TV.