"COLUMBO", "THE FUGITIVE"

We've seen with TV episodes like "Trials And Tribble-ations" on 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' that old clips inserted into new shows can become part of a new scenario.

I'm not sure this actually should be of any significance or not, but I did find it interesting. The following posts come from the excellent website which celebrates 'Columbo', The Ultimate Lieutenant Columbo Site:

Subject: Columbo/The Fugitive
Name: Headache2112
Date Posted: Apr 13, 05 - 4:09 PM
Message: This was pretty weird. This past Sunday, I decided to watch "A Friend In Deed". If you watch that episode, we first encounter the Commish at his "club". The establishing shot of the club is that of a spanish-style building (spanish type arches). The building has a circular drive in front of it and cars parked in front. This shot goes past very quickly.

After watching the episode, I decided to get my tapes of "The Fugitive" out of the bin they've been sitting in for the past six years. I have all the episodes on about 25 VHS tapes I taped off the A&E network about 14 years ago.
I chose a tape at random and popped it into my VCR. I can't recall the title of the episode right now, but it featured Jack Lord as a weasel who with some forced help, plans to kill his wheel-chair bound wealthy wife and frame Dr. Kimble for the murder.

Anywho, I pop in the tape and the episode begins. The first thing I see? The same spanish-style building with the spanish type arches and the circular driveway and cars parked out in front.

No, this isn't much of anything. I realize that. I just thought it was pretty weird that I just happened to choose these two episodes to watch, one after the other and both featured the exact same building. "The Fugitive" episode was a color episode, so that means it was from 1967. "A Friend In Deed" was long after that.

Of little more interest, Halperin's club seen in "Deed" was not the true interior of that spanish-style building. "The Fugitive" episode was actually filmed on location, and we follow David Janssen and Jack Lord from the outside of the building right into the lobby of the building.

I didn't see Columbo's car parked anywhere near the building though in the "Fugitive" episode!

Subject: Re: Columbo/The Fugitive
Name: Headache2112
Date Posted: Apr 13, 05 - 4:48 PM
Message: The title of the "Fugitive" episode was "Goodbye My Love".

Subject: Re: Columbo/The Fugitive
Name: Headache2112
Date Posted: Apr 15, 05 - 5:10 PM
Message: About those clips from "A Friend In Deed" and "The Fugitive". I checked it out thoroughly. It's somewhat interesting. The clip used in "Deed" (which goes by in about 4 seconds) is indeed from "The Fugitive". But interestingly enough, it's not the "exact" same clip.

At the beginning of the "Fugitive" episode, we see a Cadillac pulling around the circular drive and stopping in front of the entrance to the spanish-style-arched building. And that's it. The scene changes to the interior of the building.
Interestingly enough, the clip from "Columbo/Deed" follows on immediately from the point the "Fugitive" scene ended!

The Cadillac is stopped in front of the spanish-style-arched building. A guy wearing a light blue jacket gets out of the Cadillac and walks around the front of the car to the passenger side. That is where the "Columbo" scene ends.

But get this, that guy wearing the light blue jacket? Guess who that is? DAVID JANSSEN!

I know this, because back in the "Fugitive" episode, even though we didn't see the driver get out of the Cadillac, when the action switches to the interior of the spanish building, Janssen (as Dr. Richard Kimble) enters the building and is wearing that light blue jacket. The character is employed at that club (a golf course club) and one of his jobs is to valet park the golfer's cars.

So isn't that interesting? Now we can indeed say that David Janssen did in fact appear in an episode of "Columbo"! (But no, he's too far from the camera to be seen clearly. And because he is, it could just be a stand-in.)

Subject: Re: Columbo/The Fugitive
Name: cassavetes45
Date Posted: Apr 15, 05 - 5:27 PM
And as far as the clips are concerned...Wow! that is something else...so of course I had to go to the video tape!! And this time I wasn't standing in the kitchen, I put the tape on in my living room, because we have a 51 incher and I wanted to see it better...and there was the guy with the light blue jacket!! Amazing! I would tend to think that it was a stand-in..only for the reason that the guy had a bit of a spring to his step...and Janssen never really revealed that side of himself to me. For me, he has always followed the motto.."Slow and Steady, Wins The Race."
~~~~~~~
As for me, I was all set to whip up a few hypotheticals to deal with this trivial information. Perhaps, after "the running stopped", Dr. Kimble and his new wife retired to the sunny climes of California. Perhaps he then became a member of the same club to which Police Commissioner Mark Halperin belonged.

But then I figured, ah, let it go. I've already got Dr. Kimble linked to the TV Universe through one of his last episodes, in which he passed the U.N.C.L.E. headquarters located in Seattle. Lt. Columbo's connections include a hypothetical concerning the robot Double-M7 ("Mind Over Mayhem") and tele-versions of certain celebrities playing themselves.

And yet... it would be nice to have that direct link as well........

At any rate, that bit of trivial info adds another layer of interest for the 'Columbo' episode, which would probably be found in my top five faves.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

For those who are interested in visiting The Ultimate Lieutenant Columbo Site, here's the URL:
http://www.columbo-site.freeuk.com/

It's a fantastic site!