<story><title>‘Columbo’ shows the benefits of asking just one more thing</title><url>https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/02/12/columbo-shows-the-benefits-of-asking-just-one-more-thing</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mbg721</author><text>Columbo shows the benefits of having reality bent around the assumption that you know the culprit instantly even if you don&amp;#x27;t know why.  Is there a single Columbo episode where he asks &amp;quot;just one more thing&amp;quot; of someone who isn&amp;#x27;t the murderer?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tablespoon</author><text>&amp;gt; Columbo shows the benefits of having reality bent around the assumption that you know the culprit instantly even if you don&amp;#x27;t know why.&lt;p&gt;The shows don&amp;#x27;t show everything, but what they do imply is that Columbo starts by pulling on &lt;i&gt;all&lt;/i&gt; the strings and then doggedly chasing the inconsistencies and loose ends.  Also, in a lot of cases there could only be a handful of suspects.  The main thing they actually is the interplay between Colombo and the culprit, and the rest is (almost always) offscreen.&lt;p&gt;IMHO, the main weakness of the show are how over-eager the culprits sometimes are act like they&amp;#x27;re helping Columbo.  Not just answer his questions, but play detective with him.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Is there a single Columbo episode where he asks &amp;quot;just one more thing&amp;quot; of someone who isn&amp;#x27;t the murderer?&lt;p&gt;I haven&amp;#x27;t watched the whole series and don&amp;#x27;t recall a specific episode, but I&amp;#x27;m pretty sure he&amp;#x27;s done that episodes where the murderer is trying to frame someone.  There was also a not-great episode where the owner of a boat-builder was murdered and there were like 5 suspects (this one: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;columbophile.com&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;trying-to-salvage-last-salute-to-the-commodore&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;columbophile.com&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;trying-to-salvage-last-s...&lt;/a&gt;).</text></comment>
<story><title>‘Columbo’ shows the benefits of asking just one more thing</title><url>https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/02/12/columbo-shows-the-benefits-of-asking-just-one-more-thing</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mbg721</author><text>Columbo shows the benefits of having reality bent around the assumption that you know the culprit instantly even if you don&amp;#x27;t know why.  Is there a single Columbo episode where he asks &amp;quot;just one more thing&amp;quot; of someone who isn&amp;#x27;t the murderer?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rob74</author><text>Well, in the case of Columbo, you (the viewer) have the benefit of knowing the culprit, because the murder is shown at the beginning of the episode. That&amp;#x27;s why Columbo is less a &amp;quot;whodunnit&amp;quot; and more a &amp;quot;howcatchem&amp;quot;. But yeah, this infallible instinct that leads him straight to the perpetrator is pretty unrealistic...</text></comment>