Fade in to Murder story
Egocentric actor Ward Fowler, who portrays Detective Lucerne on a weekly TV show, is being blackmailed by his producer and ex-paramour, Claire Daley, over the fact that he was a deserter in the Korean War. Fowler drugs a friend staying at his house watching a baseball game, puts it on tape delay, then dons a ski mask and pretends to rob a delicatessen where Claire is shopping. After Fowler knocks the proprietor unconscious and takes Claire's money, he shoots her dead, then ditches the gun and mask. He begins stepping in and out of character to "assist" Columbo with the investigation. Final clue/twist: After Columbo has shaken Fowler's alibi, he confronts him with his biggest mistake. There are no fingerprints on the murder weapon, but Fowler left his fingerprints on the remaining live bullets inside the revolver's chamber. Molly, Mr Daley's secretary, is played by Shera Danese, who would eventually marry star Peter Falk. Walter Koenig guest stars as a police sergeant. The mechanical shark "Bruce" from Jaws makes a cameo as himself. Directed by: Bernard L. Kowalski. Story by: Henry Garson, Lou Shaw and Peter Feibleman.
18 total · 3 choice · 4 major · 11 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| blackmail | choice | The flamboyantly egocentric actor Ward Fowler was being blackmailed by his producer, Claire Daley, over the fact that he was a deserter in the Korean War. |
| having a skeleton in the closet | choice | The villain of the story Ward Fowler was hiding that he was a deserted in the Korean War. |
| how to murder someone and get away with it | choice | The flamboyantly egocentric actor Ward Fowler hatched this elaborate plot to rid himself of his blackmailing producer, Claire Daley: After drugging a house guest, he slipped on a ski mask and staged a robbery of a delicatessen at which he knew Claire to be shopping. He shot Claire dead, went home, and revived his house guest as if scarcely any time had passed at all. He thus securing a seemingly ironclad alibi. One gathers that he would have gotten away with his crime had it not been for the meddlesome Lt. Columbo. |
| acting | major | Ward Fowler used his supreme acting abilities to play the television character Detective Lucerne. Not only was he shown acting in several takes for the show, but he also playfully drifted in and out of character while conversing with Lt. Columbo. |
| law enforcement | major | The bumbling but sharp-witted homicide detective Lt. Columbo was tasked with solving the following murder mystery: Was the fatal shooting of Claire Daley simply a case of her being in a delicatessen at the wrong time, or was it perhaps a targeted killing? |
| pride goes before a fall | major | Ward Fowler was overly confident that since he had played the famous Detective Lucerne for so many years that he'd be able to pull the wool over Lt. Columbo's eyes. He was sorely mistaken. |
| vanity | major | The actor Ward Fowler was flamboyantly vain. He has photos of himself plastered all over his home and set trailer. |
| agent and client | minor | It was revealed that Claire Daley discovered the theater actor Ward Fowler in Toronto and brought him to the United States to make him a big star. |
| boss and employee | minor | The flamboyantly egocentric actor Ward Fowler was being blackmailed by his producer, Claire Daley, over the fact that he was a deserter in the Korean War. |
| coping with a bad hangover | minor | Mark assumed he had a hangover when in fact he'd been drugged by Ward. |