Columbo & Rockford

We don’t often fight over the remote because there’s so

much great television on, but a lot can be said as to the memory that pops up when you turn on a set.

On Kathy’s list it’s usually I.D. TV that pops up, or Dateline or 48 Hours.

She loves herself a good triple-murder story of the real life variety.

Me?

I tend to find the old cop shows.

Columbo & Rockford are two of my favorites. In fact, I was a good 90 minutes into a tricky Columbo episode when Kathy arrived.

Bruno Kirby was in the episode. He looked to be about 18 at the time.

“Wow, look how young he is,” I said. “He’s dead now.”

“Aren’t they all dead?” Kathy asked.

There was an episode where Columbo sees a fax machine for the first time. A rich businessman had it in his office and Columbo just couldn’t believe it.

“Imagine,” he said. “Sending a letter that someone can read in seconds!”

I kept watching, waiting for Columbo to find the clues.

“Can we shut this off?” Kathy asked. “How the hell long is an episode? This is a movie!”

“There’s only about twenty minutes left,” I said, “And I’m watching to the end! I’m 110 minutes in.”

“It’s horrible,” Kathy said. “Why would you watch something this old?”

And she wasn’t going to agree with me, but I tried anyway:

“It’s about the storytelling. I can usually guess what is going to happen, but Columbo is always a step ahead.”

“There’s something wrong with you,” Kathy said.

Columbo tricked the bad guy into confessing and I said:

“See! Perfection! He’s awesome.”

“He’s dead,” Kathy said.

“Columbo will never die!”