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The popularity of Columbo is enduring. In the seventies, Peter Falk portrayed arguably the most popular detective in television history. It was through his takedowns of the rich and famous in the Classic Columbo era's original 45 episodes that he became a beloved fixture in worldwide popular culture.
Columbo struck a powerful chord with that viewing audience, and not simply because of his likeable, middle-class, somewhat forgetful, kind and moral everyman qualities. In seventies Columbo, the social and cultural issues of the era were intersected and reflected. What could those original episodes explain about class conflict, power struggles, feminism, race relations, sex, technology, media, psychology, politics, and violence? How is this particular TV cop a product of his particular time?
The decade that featured Watergate, Future Shock, Dr. Joyce Brothers, The Pentagon Papers, The Joy of Sex, Vietnam War protests, Phyllis Schlafly, the Family Viewing Hour, The Conversation, the Equal Rights Amendment, Werner Erhard's EST, and "The Battle of the Sexes" also produced Columbo. Coincidence? As our favorite detective would do, let's look for the little things to help uncover the clues. In Columbo Explains the Seventies: A TV Cop's Pop Culture Journey, author Glenn Stewart will stimulate thought for new and long-time viewers alike, and provide fans with more reasons to watch and rewatch Columbo.
