Columbo is a liar


Why was he always acting like he befriended his suspects?
Obviously that was his strategy to get them, to be a fake friend.
So doesn't that make him a phoney?

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they kept falling for it.

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I know.
Who wouldn't fall?

Didn't he feel sorry for them? No because they were murderers.
So they really deserve this kind of wicked lies to their face?
Maybe they became murderers because of fake friends like him.

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Maybe they became murderers because of fake friends like him.


This made me laugh out loud.

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Cheers!

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No. That makes him a detective using a known police procedure to lull a suspect into admitting to their crime.

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Yes that's what I wrote after "obviously".
Anything less obvious to add?

I'm just pointing out how fake he comes off.
He could say "You are not fooling me, Tell me about this and that".
Instead he pretends to believe their lies andto be on their side.
He's a phoney of the worse kind, even if his motivation is honesty.

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And he doesn't say that because it is much less likely to elucidate a response from the suspect that will lead to either evidence or a confession. A detective has to be able to use empathy, suspicion, and deception while investigating a crime. Come at someone square on and they will be ready to defend themselves.

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WHY he lies is pretty obvious. It's easier for him to do his job this way.

Does having a great reason stop him from being a phony and a liar?
Also obvious: no, it does not.

There are plenty of other tv detectives that are blunt and honest and don't resort to lies to catch their suspects.

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Depends on which detectives shows you are watching. Brenda Lee Johnson and Sharon Rader are more deceptive than many, for example. Jane Rizzoli is more direct. But they are almost all working in an interrogation room.

Columbo doesn't. He is working the field when he is interrogating suspects. I don't consider someone whose job, and a necessary, important job, is to elicit information on a criminal enterprise to be a phony or a liar for using deception and self-deprecation to achieve a necessary end.

But then I see people accusing characters of murder when acting in self defense or defense of others or having responsibility for a bad result because of some innocuous comment.

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Killing another human is called murder.
You can murder for great reasons, including self defense. You are still a murderer.

I am just looking objectively at his actions. I love how he lies and acts dumb or ignorant and seduces his targets to find out the truth. He is always genial and heroic. That doesn't make him any less phoney or liar.

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No, murder is the unlawful killing of another person. Killing someone in self defense is not murder. Killing in defense of another is not murder (both of the preceding sentences dependent, of course, on the level of threat.) Killing the opposing forces in war is not murder.

It is dangerous to tar all similar activities with the same brush.

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Pretty strange where your empathy lies. If half the episodes were him effing up and convicting innocent people, I can see your rant. But this is puzzling. LOL! Earning trust, befriending, and getting info... why is this hard to understand? Why do you have a moral dilemma about being deceitful to criminals and bad guys?

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Not that difficult to grasp.
Deception and lies are BAD guys tactics.
When you are the HERO, you should stick to your good guy tactics even when it's against your interests. See Superman etc repeatedly saving their enemies.
I understand Columbo's strategy, and he's doing great police work.
Still, he is a phony, and his strategy denotes a small level of unfairness and almost entrapment on his side.

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Columbo is more based in reality than Superman. So if you were in law enforcement, you'd be against wire tapping? Undercover cops? Moles? You're a bit contradictory to criticize, and at the same time say he's doing "great police work." I didn't want to say naïve, until you brought up a comic book character. SMH.

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So now Columbo is down and gritty and acts like real cops really do in the real world. Are you on crack?
He's as real as Poirot or Sherlock Holmes or Superman.
His shtick, instead of using just the superpower of deduction, is to also glue himself to his suspect untill he corners them, using tactics like befriending them and acting aloof to achieve his goal.
Look, I like the show and I like the character and I like that he always gets those motherfuckers, but I'm just pointing out the politically correct view of how tricky and deceitful are his methods.

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Here's one more thing for you to be bothered about... Columbo is actually a show off. Especially at the end of every episode, where he explains to the suspects how he figured it all out.

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That is quite true.
And I have to say, not particularly with Columbo, but with other ones like Poirot, that shit does bother me.

Come on, you have solved the crime, you figured who is the criminal, and how he/she did it. Is there really the need to make a show out of your "brilliancy"?

Wouldn't the correct procedure be: call the arresting officers and just get the person arrested under the suspicion of murder, and read him his rights in a civil and unglamorous way? Does Columbo really need to relish on the criminal's reaction when he/she gets nailed?

And Poirot pushes it to the limit of decency, he usually accuses people that are innocent, pointing his fingers at them in front of everybody present to his little show, with "so, Mrs. Placeholder, did YOU do it?" - then he takes a long pause with the poor person screaming or having a heart attack and then he says "No, you did not do it! Let's continue..." - Fuck you man!

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What?!

Columbo was one of the greatest detective series ever on US television.

Hercule Poiroit was a monumental figure in both literature and cinema.

What is this Heisenberg? Trolling? If so, then it is OK.

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It is trolling, your reply is, and quite lame at that.

Wtf is your point?
Since both are great series, there can be nothing wrong with them?
Even the minor problems that I am pointing out, you do not see them or am I just not allowed to point them out?

Do you need instructions on how to criticize, or you simply think anybody saying anything about anything is "trolling"?

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I read about 4 Agatha Christie novels when I was in my twenties. The Hercule Poiroit books were fun to read. She was a wonderful writer.

Columbo's techniques and were somewhat similar to Poiroit. Very different characters but they had some similarities.

The way they confronted suspects with the evidence at the end made for good fiction and films. Far more interesting and entertaining than showing the arrest, handcuffs, perp walk etc.

I have only seen David Suchet in one or two episodes. He is considered by many to be the best actor to portray Poiroit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZJpGq6W1bw

I just downloaded a few more. I look forward to seeing them.

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Poirot with Suchet is a masterpiece adaptation. I watched the whole series, it is great (even with the problems inherent with her writing style).

The way they confronted suspects with the evidence at the end does make for good fiction and films.
But if you think about it, it's often unnecessary, sometimes dangerous, and never correct police procedure. That was, and is, what I commented upon.

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Duly noted. All good.

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Cheers!

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Heisenburg: I'm just pointing out the politically correct view of how tricky and deceitful are his methods

This isn't even close to the definition of politically correct, and there is nothing "political" about this show at all. Given the lack of diversity in the cast, I would label it quite the opposite, by today's standards. Don't even get me started on how different this show would be if today's politically correct standards were applied. The term didn't even exist back when the 69 episodes were produced.

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Wow...…..

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You never noticed?

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I'm referring to your warped perception of the show.

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MY warped perception?
So he is not lying, is that how YOU see it?
You are correct, I'm just asking, thanks for pointing me in the right direction...

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He deliberately tries to come across as a simpleton to put the suspects off guard thinking he has no chance of catching them.
That is not lying.

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1 that is ttaly lying. He pretends to be randomly asking them questions, while he actually thinks "he/she is the killer, let's see if I can get the proof".
2 He pretends to be their friend and NOT the guy who's gonna get them. Again, lying, he actually thinks "this sumofabitch should fry, and I'm gonna be the one that makes it happen".

He is never upfront, honest, and even worse he fakes a friendship and reverence with all his preys.

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1. How is asking questions lying?
It's the murderers who are doing the lying.
Explain how you can lie when asking someone a question.

2. In one episode he tells an audience that he gets on with most of the murderers he is chasing. Not for what they did but for who they are.
It's a cops job to catch out a suspect.

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1 Instead of sitting them down for an official interrogation for murder, where they are questioned as possible suspectts, with their lawyer present and a clear position to explain themselves and facts, Columbo asks some innocent questions like a friend informally chatting. He lies about his position, his intentions and their situations.

2 That is interesting, that he likes the murderers. But that makes him less of a liar and more of a phoney. If he really likes em, why does he never say "my friend, you d better get these facts straight because I think you are guiltily of murder, be prepared or I am going to arrest you".

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1. Suspects have the right not to talk to him.
But then we wouldn't have the Columbo 'character' and it would be like any of the other 500 regular cop shows on TV.

2. Because if he said that they would ask for a lawyer. Show over.

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" because otherwise there would be no movie " is NEVER a valid reason.

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Wouldn't be Columbo then.

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He deliberately tries to come across as a simpleton to put the suspects off guard thinking he has no chance of catching them.

This was stated by the first murderer caught in the 1968 pilot

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It’s interesting that the above quote, from the PILOT episode, remained consistent throughout the entire series, and his character never wavered from that personification.

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He'll do anything he has to get his man. He probably doesn't even really have a wife!

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Finally somebody I can agree with!
Funny thought about the wife.
I bet he's not even a lieutenant....

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He is a Lieutenant.
He flashes it on his badge in one episode.
Others look at the badge then call him 'Lieutenant'.
Still wanna have that bet?

His wife is Mrs Columbo. She had a series with 13 episodes. Kate Mulgrew played Mrs Columbo.
Never watched it though.

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Could be a fake badge, like he fakes being a dummy...
Hey I'm just being ridicolous here, but he is a proven liar so, who knows?

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Every badge on every TV cop show and movie is fake.

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Ahah, good point:~)

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But with Alec Baldwin as a witness, not every gun, in every movie, is fake.

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It means he does his job.

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For the 10000th time on this thread: he could do his job AND not lie, you know?

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Maybe he's just a friendly guy.

Besides, he wants them to talk. Being antagonistic against the suspects would never work in that regard.

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He seems friendly for sure. And it is clear that his approach is the most effective.
But he is also phony, I doubt he ever feels like he likes these people or he would hang out with them in other circumstances. He smiles at them while thinking "You scum, just show me how I can make you fry".

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Cops are taught to LIE to get at the truth or what they believe to be the truth.
It's one of the first things they learn in law enforcement training.

The above is a fact, not my opinion. I went to college with at least 30 cops.
So don't come back at me with any bullshit.

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