Who did not deserve to be murdered?
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JelloBiafra10465 — 9 years ago(April 09, 2016 04:06 PM)
No-one in the Columbo universe actually "deserved" to be murdered. Child molesters, they deserve to be murdered, but we're not dealing with things like that.
That being said, there were people who were asking for it, usually by blackmailing someone. They deserve to be murdered. Most people on the show didn't deserve it, though.
Take Jack Cassidy. He kills his writing "partner", for what? Was there insurance money involved (I get By the Book confused with Publish or Perish sometimes). I know he didn't want the world to know that he was not really a writer, so that was his motive. That's weak. Speaking of Publish or Perish, he kills a writer because he's leaving his company? What the hell is that all about. Anyone in that business would have countless clients leaving to go with another publishing company. -
SuperWittySmitty — 9 years ago(April 10, 2016 11:41 AM)
As a kid, I really disliked Jack Cassidy. His characters were always smarmy but even worse, he was married to Shirley Jones and I had a crush on her. He just seemed so wrong for her! Anyway, he met with a horrible, real-life death and I remember being secretly happy about it. I was only 14 and somewhat confused, I admit. I still have a crush on her, though.
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louiseculmer — 9 years ago(April 24, 2016 10:08 AM)
that doesn't prove he murdered her. You can't convict a man of murder because he has no picture of his wife in his apartment. besides, there are other reasons why there might be no picture - he might find it painful to look at pictures of her for instance.
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lanceus — 9 years ago(April 20, 2016 06:46 AM)
"Bird in the Hand": Fernando the gardener did not. It can argued that his death was an accident, but Harold could have stopped it in time.
"Swan Song": The girl (Tina?) flying with Tommy and Edna. True she was aware of Tommy's misdeeds, but she wasn't the one trying to control him and the money.so this one is questionable.
Incidentally, in "Try and Catch Me", I've always assumed that Abigail's niece DID accidentally drown, but Abigail could not accept that; so I would add Edmund to the list as well. -
scamper67 — 9 years ago(April 20, 2016 05:49 PM)
I don't think it's so much a matter of "deserving" to die, nevertheless real life murders happen for some of the same reasons represented here; Blackmail, jealousy, money, or just plain hatred.
Having said that, the one who really did not deserve murder was Leonard Fisher in "Murder, Smoke and Shadows". He did threaten to ruin Brady, but only because Brady left his sister to die during an accident, he wasn't blackmailing him because he never asked for money, he wanted revenge when he found out the truth on how his sister died, not smart the way he went about it but understandable. -
rosarypliers — 9 years ago(April 21, 2016 01:24 PM)
I think nobody "deserves" to be murdered. There's a reason why every civilized society has homicide laws. However, some Columbo characters seemed to push their luck, or they made themselves assessors to murder after the fact by choosing blackmail instead of telling the police.
Also, some murder victims were obnoxious people, like Edna in Swan Song, or Verity Chandler in Ashes to Ashes. We tend not to feel sorry for such people.
Characters who were neither obnoxious nor pushed their luck: Louise in Murder: A Self-Portrait, Maryann in Swan Song, or the old physician husband of Janet Leigh's character in Forgotten Lady.
You may cross-examine.