Romania asked Peter Falk to help prevent an uprising after the country ran out of Columbo episodes
The actor delivered a speech to the Romanian people to assure them that a new season was on the way
TV News Peter Falk
Over the past year of hibernation, many viewers have rediscovered the joy of watching Columbo. The landmark 1970s TV mystery series starred Peter Falk in his multiple-Emmy-winning role as a raincoat-wearing, cigar-smoking detective who always had just one more question. The show was also popular in the time of its original airing, where it rotated on the NBC Mystery Movie schedule and featured an array of dazzling murderous guest stars like Janet Leigh, Leonard Nimoy, and John Cassavetes.
Columbo’s reach even stretched to other countries: The people of Romania, for example, were huge fans. So much so that in 1974, when the Columbo episodes for that season ran out, the populace protested, and the Romanian government reached out to Falk himself to try to stem the uprising. This week, Twitter user John Frankensteiner dug up a 1989 Chicago Tribune article relaying the incident. Many on Reddit have called bullshit—but Falk told the story himself in his memoir Just One More Thing, and also during a 1995 David Letterman appearance.
The confusion, as Falk explains, came from the fact that the Romanian government had a quota on how much American television could be viewed in the country. With Columbo averaging less than 10 shows per season, the people of Romania were convinced that the government was keeping more episodes from them, stoking fears of a massive protest. So the U.S. State Department invited Falk to a meeting in a New York hotel room with a representative from Romania. In his memoir, Falk describes that he was understandably flummoxed, and asked, “[P]lease excuse the language, but what the fuck do I know about the Romanian government?” He was informed that the show had swept the country—that “Columbo is Romania’s Elvis Presley”—and was persuaded to deliver a phonetically spelled-out speech in Romanian to assure the populace that Columbo would in fact be returning the next TV season. For doubters, a transcript of the speech is available on WikiLeaks.
Falk unbelievably asks Letterman, “Was that a good story?” and the host and the audience enthusiastically assure him that it’s one of the greats. While the perennially humble Falk still seems overwhelmed by the rumpled detective’s popularity, having watched several seasons of the show ourselves over these past insular months, we totally get Romania’s passion for the program. Fortunately for current Columbo fans, seven full seasons are available for streaming on Amazon Prime, with 10 on Peacock.
79 Comments
“He was informed that the show had swept the country—that “Columbo is Romania’s Elvis Presley”—and was persuaded to deliver a phonetically spelled-out speech in Romanian to assure the populace that Columbo would in fact be returning the next TV season.”Now this is good AVClub content. Yep. Gwen, holdover from classic AVClub era. Good stuff Gwen.
Maybe O’Neal can come back as a guest contributor some week.
Thank you PZ! Although I believe “holdover” makes me sound like I’m 100. Hope you are well!
Well, it was that or “grizzled veteran,” Gwen 😉
This is why I stay around. Her, Dowd, Iggy and McLevy tend to always do good work, and have the proper amount of snark.
The whole story has a “Perfect Strangers” vibe to it.
He was just magical in this. I like Columbo as much as anyone else, but between this and his work with Cassavetes, you have to wonder how much more of a diversified career we were ultimately denied.
The whole “Peter Falk, the actual actor, is literally a biblical fallen angel” thing remains amazing and the makers of “City of Angels” were cowards to cut it from their remake. This is the entirety of my ‘City of Wings of Desire of Peter Falk Angels’ hot take.
and nothing bad would end up happening to the leader of romania, ever again.
Unbeknownst to Falk, the second phonetically pronounced speech was a polite request that the people not execute their deposed leader, to be played between the leader’s trial and his sentencing. Little did they know…
“Oh, and Mr. Ceaușescu, just one more thing…”And then Nicolae and Elena were dragged away and shot.
Didn’t they kill him and his wife ? I get those Dracula countries mixed up.
I don’t know John Frankensteiner from Twitter. I know him from the AV Club comment section. Though I assume he has departed as I can’t recall seeing him here recently.
There are worse reasons to riot.
You mean like losing a democratic election fair and square?
One speech from a particular former reality television host telling them to knock it off would’ve ended that whole thing pretty quickly, but alas.
One speech from said host got them going in the first place, so it was hardly surprising when said host failed to appear to ask them to stop.
For doubters, a transcript of the speech is available on WikiLeaks.If that’s to be trusted, the speech wasn’t in Romanian but rather English, except for his brief closing statement of “Noroc si la revedere” (Good luck and goodbye).
Bruce Springsteen has long professed to being a big “Columbo” fan, which I’ve always found amusing. He said his mom once got him the entire first season on video for Christmas once. He even mentions Columbo in one of his songs.
Just 1 more string…
Didn’t I read somewhere that Columbo was based on the investigator Porfiry from Crime and Punishment?
Fun fact: the first person to portray “Lt. Columbo” was Thomas Mitchell, a.k.a. Uncle Billy from It’s a Wonderful Life, in a stage play called “Prescription: Murder”.
I can totally picture that!
Funner fact: Before Thomas Mitchell played him onstage, the ACTUAL first actor to play Lt Columbo was Bert Freed, in a 1960 episode of The Chevy Mystery Show.
as opposed to the Peugeot Shit Show
There’s also a lot of Charles Vanel’s Alfred Fichet (from 1955’s Diabolique) in the character of Columbo. Fichet was a seemingly bumbling detective who tricks the murderer into revealing themselves. Interestingly enough, Fichet also inspired Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau which asked the question “What if the seemingly bumbling detective actually is an idiot?”
This story and the way it is told is sheer awesomeness.By the way, I ended up watching clips of old Columbo episodes and I am honestly kind of flummoxed that no one has tried to do a reboot of the show. And no, the Kate Mulgrew’s Mrs. Columbo doesn’t count.Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they could pull it off, but there’s something about the character and how he interacts with the high and mighty that feels it could resonate pretty well even now.
I think Mark Ruffalo would make an ideal Columbo. In fact his character in Spotlight reminds me of him.
Otherwise Ruffalo would be awesome, but I worry that he is a little bit too big for the character. Still could be made to work.
Ruffalo is the only Columbo candidate I will possibly accept. Also I believe he would be reverential to the hallowed original.
That’s because Ruffalo constantly seems like he’s just waking up.
Come on, Ruffalo? Natasha Lyonne is right there. You keep all the pieces — the cigar, the raincoat, the short stature, mention of a wife we never see, the bumbling demeanour, pockets full of random scraps of paper (and the occasional hard boiled egg) — only now the rich, cocky, hubris-filled murderers misjudge her because she’s a woman as well as a bumbler. She’s got the chops, she’s got the voice, it’s all familiar, it’s all different.
But she has two eyes.
So did Falk, but due to the nature of his role he had to keep one of them private.
That can be fixed.
Uhhhhhh lol
Going to rewatch Zodiac with this fan-casting in mind now.
Kevin Corrigan?
The internet was pulling for Natasha Lyonne for a while there. Doesn’t seem like anything ever came of it though.
Ruffalo and writer Gary Whitta (“The Book of Eli,” early script of “Rogue One”) were pushing for the reboot up to a year or two ago.
A few things:Falk is just great. His role in WINGS OF DESIRE (as himself) made the movie. It is ridiculous, yet not. He was perfect.I have a soft spot for MRS. COLUMBO as it was an adult show I saw when my parents didn’t notice it was past my bedtime. I remember her trying to get her husband’s Peugeot (?) restored for his birthday and the mechanic gave her the price and that he’d throw in the side mirror for free. The next shot was of a shiny side mirror but nothing else was done. I’ll stand on that one note joke.Like Doctor Who, the reboot would be all about getting the right person. I’d love to see Hugh Laurie reboot the presence and intelligence he brought to HOUSE, but really humble in a stealth way. Natasha Lyonne was a good mention, too.
Once that advanced and overly complicated hydraulic suspension goes it can not be fixed a lot like the French government.
I don’t know how well a Columbo reboot would work without pandering to anyone under 25 or so, which would ruin the essence & integrity of the show. Sure, I would love to see new episodes, but I don’t want the character mugging for the camera every time he says “just 1 more thing”.
I love Peter Falk – The In-laws is one of those films I watch when I’m down and it always cheers me up (Falk’s laugh on the commentary track is infectious!)
That said, I never really cared for Columbo because they always show the murder at the beginning, so there’s really no mystery, and every ending is always going to be the same. The cat-and-mouse stuff is pretty much ‘been there, done that’ after the first couple of episodes.
It’s not really meant to be a whodunnit sorta detective show. The appeal is seeing how Columbo puts it all together. The whodunnit has its own appeal, of course, but ultimately it’s about execution more than anything. It’s quite easy to do either variety poorly.Something like the Cumberbatch version of Sherlock, for example, doesn’t reveal the mystery to the viewer ahead of time, but it also doesn’t provide an opportunity for the viewer to figure it out on their own either. Instead it’s just an opportunity to inform the audience how brilliant their version of Sherlock is.
When I was a kid and watched with my family, the game was always, “When does Columbo know who the killer is? Do you think he knows now?” But after watching for so long I now realize that Columbo always knows. He knows from the nanosecond he meets Jack Cassidy (three times).
One of my all-time favourite Columbo moments:I think it’s the third episode. Robert Culp’s the killer. Columbo is informing the victim’s husband (pretty sure it was Ray Milland) about what happened, and he’s polite and sympathetic and slightly un-Columbo. He can tell that Milland didn’t do it and it’s clearly bothering him a bit. And then Robert Culp shows up, and something alerts Columbo, and you can practically tell the exact second that Columbo’s figured out that Culp’s involved because all of a sudden we get Full Columbo, the shabby buffoon trick, but it’s perfectly natural. Like a lightswitch going off. Beautiful.
I always felt the same way about Quincy. He knew right off and just had to make his suspicion make sense to others.
I have used that trick he does in Now You See Him, where he puts the different numbers under the different objects, several times. Somehow it still seems impressive.
There’s always just one more thing. It’s not for the villain of the week to know the hour of their reckoning, but just one more thing is inevitable all the same.
Yes, it’s not a whodunit, it’s a ‘howcatchem’.
Also Monk, same basic idea.
What a roller-coaster ride your comment was. Smiley face to frowny face.
SERPENTINE! SERPENTINE!!!I don’t remember anything else about The In-Laws, but that part just caught me as hilarious.
If you don’t remember the scene at the dinner table when the families first meet, then you’re forgetting one of the more brilliant comic scenes of all time. Clip provided. Falk and Arkin both are hilarious.
Wow. I’ve never seen or even heard of this movie, yet somehow through cultural osmosis “serpentine serpentine!” has been implanted in my brain my whole life.
I remember reading an article many years ago that said the Columbo format was a major factor in the show’s huge popularity.The other “Sunday Mystery Movie” shows, like ‘Bannacek’ and ‘McMillan & Wife,’’ that used a more conventional whodunnit structure, had lower ratings. It seems the audience preferred to know who done it upfront, so they could relax and see how Columbo figures it out.Maybe people didn’t want to have to think too much on Sunday night.
That’s funny. That’s what the made the show different, and brilliant. It’s not a mystery. It’s about Columbo. I always feel like he knows who did it from the first time we see him. He just needs to get them to fall into his trap which hubris always causes them to do. I never get tired of it. That said, there is one episode where we don’t see the murderer at the beginning and the main suspect gets murdered halfway through and it does become a whodunit.
Great movie and Alan Arkin made it great playing against Falk.
The show’s creators said their inspiration for the character of Colombo was the detective Porfiry in “Crime and Punishment.” The book isn’t a whodunit, but a psychological study of the interplay between him and Raskolnikov, whose belief in his intellectual superiority became his justification for committing murder. Just like Colombo, Porfiry is perfectly willing to let Raskolnikov continue to think he’s smarter and can outwit him. In the end, Raskolnikov’s hubris (and growing sense of guilt) becomes his undoing.
With all due deference to Jeremy Brett, Peter Falk as Columbo is the best portrayal, and the most fully realized detective character in the history of television. If I had to give a reason as to why, specifically, Falk’s Columbo beats even the best portrayal of Holmes, I would probably point to this (unfortunately couldn’t find a better quality clip, it should be sufficient):
i know this isn’t particularly useful, but i uploaded the interview (provided by Don Giller) and made a video in romanian explaining the whooole thing (you can find it here:But if you wanna the gist of it, you can read all the official communications on the topic, which are in order:
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974BUCHAR01611_b.html https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974BUCHAR01912_b.html https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974STATE092006_b.html https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974BUCHAR01936_b.html https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974BUCHAR02051_b.html https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974STATE098769_b.html https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1974BUCHAR02356_b.html https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1975BUCHAR00850_b.htmlFalk gets most of the story right, but there is not evidence to indicate that there was any social unrest about Columbo ending. It was just a way to promote the next season, though it is quite unusual.
Fortunately for current Columbo fans, seven full seasons are available for streaming on Amazon Prime, with 10 on Peacock.If you’re wanting to start from the very beginning on Peacock, be aware that the two pilot movies, “Prescription for Murder” and “Ransom for a Dead Man,” aren’t included as part of the Columbo series. They’re instead treated as their own movies that you need to search for and add to your Watchlist manually.
Columbo is my spirit animal.
Uh, I just have one more question, miss … is Columbo still available in Romania?
I think I remember a show where aliens are obsessed with a TV show that gets abruptly cancelled, but the signal didn’t even get to their planet until decades later, so I think the guy’s a has been now, but they get him to finish the show.It sounds like Futurama, and maybe they did it to, but I think this was a anthology show like Twilight Zone, but probably not Twilight Zone.
Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories”?
It is absolutely Futurama. “Single Female Lawyer”
That’s it!But I still think I saw a live action version with an older man.
Next on the agenda for the Romanian government: Getting that last episode of Single Female Lawyer back on the air.
Unfortunately, the tapes were badly damaged during the second coming of Christ.
Uh, one more thing, President Causescu…
John Frankensteiner dug upI see what you did there.
Columbo remains highly popular in the UK as well. One free-to-air channel airs a 12-hour marathon every Sunday.
My wife must be part Romanian
Well, Romania was a fucking dictatorship. I don’t know if either the writer of this piece or the commenters are aware of that. LOL
Finally!!! I found a reasonable comment. 101% nobody at that time, was going to call colombo for his annoying movies! The perception of Romanians about his acting it was that – “a third hand actor, with no any acting talent, paid a fortune to become actor…” in Romania at that time it was much more beloved and well known John Wayne! To associate Elvis with Falk is just a big bad joke! The author of this stupid creepy cheap story is just talking rubbish, based on a big lie which this fake actor made in that interview, to catch the public attention and to get on screen again! Fake news!
Sorry, but I don’t think this really happened. There were no American series in Románia in 1974. A communist country would not air series made in a country, that was it’s biggest enemy. Do you really think that the goverment would allow to air a show, where the suspect is usually a millionaire, driving a big car, living in a huge house, when Romanians had no food, lived in tiny homes and had to order a car 8 years in advance? Does North Korea air American series? I bet you know the answer….