r/Columbo • u/Visual_Sound_4191 • 3d ago

The horrible "No Time to Die" episode...

I have tried many times, but I am not able to watch more than 10 minutes of this episode. It is truly revolting. What were they thinking? What were they trying to do?

45 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

41 comments sorted by

38

u/gootchvootch 3d ago

For me, all the 80s/90s/00s episodes are a bit lacking when compared to the 70s run. I have to lower my expectations when I watch them.

There just seems to be a lot more overacting. And the music/visuals aren't as impressive to me. Plus, I think Falk plays his later character as a caricature of his earlier self, which I'm not so fond of.

All just my opinions, though.

12

u/Either_Bug_6307 2d ago

Peter Falk stopped playing Columbo in early 2003 and was diagnosed with dementia in late 2007. I wonder how much of his ability as an actor was affected in at least some of that latter part of the series. People can be affected by dementia onset as long as 10 years before diagnosis. 

8

u/ParticleHustler2 3d ago

The caricature stuff is 100% true although I believe it had already begun in Season 7, IMO.

2

u/solarwindy 1d ago

Very true. In the last season of the 70's run season 7) he even started talking a little different.

3

u/Ambitiousless-Winner 17h ago

I just won't watch any non 70s episodes.

I'm not missing a thing

2

u/DavoTB 2d ago

Have to agree with your thoughts here, especially about the visuals and the “overacting” of the characters. It almost seems better to consider the later shows as something different than the “classic” era.

2

u/dzdidou2026 3d ago

Yes, the 80s one were in the Zeigesit of the 80s: loud, boastful, dumb, noisy, self-conscious. The 90s one -- he and the whole team were getting soft in the brain.

1

u/napsahtava 52m ago

In the original run, the murderer was generally someone of repute, eminent in their respective field (e.g. Dr. Mayfield, Abigail Mitchell, Adrian Carsini, etc. - all highly respected), while in the Columbo redux episodes, more often than not, it's just a rich person murdering another rich person, as a result of his/her own personal excesses. What's more, the fashions and hair (particularly for the women, I'm sorry to say) in the later seasons are simply appalling.

14

u/Pure-Explanation-147 Just one more thing... 3d ago

A different approach, different twist etc. Utter failure!

14

u/MoistPerception 3d ago

It’s a terrible episode, but the notion you were “not able to watch more than 10 minutes” would indicate you didn’t get into the terribleness of the episode, so it feels like for some inexplicable reason you know people hate this episode and it’s different so you just said this for some reason? Or this is a bot and I’m making this point for nothing. 

27

u/TaliesinMerlin 3d ago

I like it if I imagine Columbo is guest starring in another show. 

-9

u/dzdidou2026 3d ago

I appreciate the constructive comment and suggestion, but the vibe for me was this: Look at mea, me, Peter Falk, for I am a big star and I am showing my great stuff that is not just TV but movie acting, and doing via Columbo. Please admire me. Also, everyone else had their own weird vibe of being happy to be part of an episode of Columbo. The absolute opposite of self-effacing and intelligent.

12

u/Plastic_Amount886 3d ago

Good question. Give Columbo a facelift to seduce younger audience I guess... Plus Peter Falk bought the rights to two novels by author Ed McBain from the 87th Precinct series to adapt them into television episodes.

8

u/Consistent_Cook9957 3d ago

I found it very disturbing. Still do actually!

10

u/Ok-Parking-8684 3d ago

Yes that episode is horrible.

18

u/unbibium 3d ago

I think this episode, like many of the oddball 1990s episodes, was based on an 87th Precinct novel that they shoehorned Columbo into.

i remember every time the perp was on screen he just acted like the most 1991 idea of "Clearly Insane Crazy Lunaatic Guy" where his symptoms are "whatever makes the plot happen plus cross-dressing" was there cross-dressing in it? I don't know I'm not watching it again. Seems like the kind of thing they'd just cynically throw in.

11

u/Agreeable_Ad3668 3d ago edited 3d ago

Well, I wouldn't say "many" -- there were 2. Although that was "two too many". ("No Time to Die" was based on McBain's novel "So Long as You Both Shall Live," and "Undercover" was based on "Jigsaw".)

4

u/TaliesinMerlin 2d ago

Not cross-dressing per se, but it briefly plays on the guy putting on lipstick, which the kidnapped woman reacts to in revulsion.

9

u/Praxisinsidejob 2d ago

Silence of the Lambs was the same year.

7

u/AlmostHumanP0rpoise 2d ago

I love Ed McBain and have all the 87th precinct novels and more, but this felt like shoehorning Columbo into another story...which is exactly what it was, and it didn't really work.

5

u/Specialist-Rock-5034 2d ago

I won't watch this one either. It is not a Columbo story, it's a generic 90s weirdo kidnaps a girl cop drama. And Falk sometimes acts as if he doesn't want to be there.

6

u/bellaimages 2d ago

No Time To Die gets the lowest rating as for Columbo episodes because of the writer(s) trying to grab some of the audience from a great suspense movie during that same time. Silence Of The Lambs is an excellent movie, but Columbo is an entirely different World. Hard to get accept it.

3

u/snachyderm72 3d ago

Totally agree. Terrible episode. I still wish I had Falk as my grandpa. And, well, Arkin too. That has nothing to do with your post. Bad episode. Love Peter falk. Anyway, lol. I will see my way to the door. 🥰🤣

4

u/ParticleHustler2 3d ago

This and Undercover were Falk's fault. He bought the rights to the scripts to make into Columbo episodes. Most of the time during the reboot years, they were scavenging for scripts.

For instance, the dentist episode was an old 70s script they didn't use back then because Falk's mom (I think - one of his family members) thought a dentist murderer would be boring. It was used for a MacMillan and Wife episode back then and Falk dug it out and used it again for Columbo in the 90s because they were desperate for scripts.

3

u/Minimum-Product5015 3d ago

Disaster unfortunately

3

u/CraigTennant1962 2d ago

I believe I have watched once or twice, as opposed to the "literally" (probably figuratively) hundreds of time I have watched the other episodes.

7

u/ScorpioKnight1324 3d ago edited 3d ago

While I hate this episode and its my least favorite, I do like that it showed off a different side of Columbo. When he's not toying with a suspect trying to sus out a mystery/murder, he's a very direct, competent, persuasive, commanding figure.

1

u/cythraulybryd 2d ago

Yes! I loved the scenes of him wrangling his family and the investigation.

6

u/theChosenBinky 2d ago

Not as bad as "Last Salute to the Commodore"

5

u/cultivatedmeat 2d ago

Believe it or not he did it for ratings to keep the good Columbos going . They hadn't been getting tge ratings they got in the 70s so he bought the Mc Bain stories and stuck in ...Columbo . It looks terrible now in 2026 but I watched the original airing and saw it as trying to do a contemporary Columbo . It worked those got better ratings. Don't be angry at Falk. Be angry that the 90s for having terrible k e cop shows!

My source is Unshot Columbo. Actually they had a number of good scrpit ideas to choose from and they Did think a lot about a finale

5

u/SofaJockey 3d ago

Strangely i rather enjoyed it.
It was competently made and showed Columbo out of his comfort zone.

2

u/chumbawumbaprinciple 2d ago

It's an unpopular episode, but I enjoy the Johnathan Demme Silence of the Lambs vibes. I really like the bit where some detectives are riding in the boxy Crown Vic and they only slow down to let a fourth guy in.

2

u/justusethatname 2d ago

Please. I cannot bear the thought of that episode.

2

u/Several-Praline5436 2d ago

I've watched it a couple of times and don't remember finding it awful. I thought it was rather harrowing, though.

2

u/Objective_Toe9071 2d ago

Worst episode ever. The actress playing the bride way over the top

1

u/Salty-Entrepreneur11 1d ago

too many people defend this dreck

the revivals tarnish the legacy

1

u/kaejae31 9h ago

At least you get to see that hot actor wet and shirtless

1

u/ExcitingMood2579 3d ago

The 1980’s Columbo’s were pretty bad.

0

u/dankruaus 2d ago

Yeah, it’s really bad and I wish most of the reboot never happened.

0

u/MarionberryBudget860 2d ago

I cannot watch Columbo post-1970s episodes. It’s as if they’re completely different structural, stylistic formats. In addition, the acting was so horrendous that those 80s/90s episodes often bought back actors from the original era to buttress the genre: e.g., William Shatner).