September 5, 2025: Our Columbo rewatch continues with…Columbo Cries Wolf!

This episode first aired January 20, 1990.

This is the first episode of Columbo in which the victim is not killed in the first act.

Ian Buchanan who played Sean Brantley and Rebecca Staab who played Tina would reunite on the daytime soap Port Charles (1997).

My thoughts on this episode in chronological viewing order…

The opening to The Fine Young Cannibals immediately dates this outing.

Ian Buchanan excels at playing punchable slimeballs.

“No more live-in nymphs!” Seems kinda harsh.

That secretary aint exactly subtle in her snooping.

Who hasn’t asked their limo driver to stop somewhere and pick up some thinly slicked Scottish salmon?

Shades of “Blueprint for Murder” with this airport swithcheroo.

Why the heck is Columbo driving to what sounds suspiciously close to the Seinfeld opening theme?

Not sure why Columbo would go down the path of assuming she was swapped out.

Columbo can’t say no to a fancy helicopter ride. Or a good cigar.

Aha! A shell casing.

This is the same panning shot of the poolside models from the opening but, for some reason, flipped so we’re panning from right to left instead of left to right. Did they seriously not have enough B-cam footage?

So Columbo is basing his theory on the gunshot and the fact that Diane was bundled up when she exited the vehicle. Hmmm.

Columbo can’t figure out crime books, even after the detective has laid it all out in the end. I’ve read a few of those this year.

Ah, the days of flying when you could breeze past security without removing your sunglasses or head covering.

Custom made matching beepers. How romantic.

Aha! The lady in the security cam video is putting cream in her coffee – something the missing Diane never did!

Brantley’s angry response to being suspected of murder is a very unmurderer-like reaction.

I like the scene of Columbo walking in on a half dozen models just playfully lounging around the bedroom.

The scene of Columbo and co. hiding out in the public bathroom is kind of funny.

I do question Columbo’s need to review all those security tapes when he could have just reviewed the relevant ones.

If it WAS Tina, how could she have returned from London? With a fake passport?

Tina is really taunting Columbo, first throwing the papers in his face, then the cannonball into the pool.

A postcard from Diane?! Is this a ruse?

Weird scene transition. It looks like Columbo walks out on Brantley to a waiting limo in time to see Brantley, now changed, heading out. Not a convincing time cut.

Columbo crammed into the limo with the models.

The models have two minutes to shop. If I was them, I’d skip the clothing stores and head straight for the nearest Van Clef.

Columbo jogging alongside Tina echoes a similar/better scene from “An Exercise in Fatality”.

Tina in that crop top and pants. In a word: “Wow”.

Do they really need to handcuff her? I think this is Columbo getting back at her for the pool cannonball.

Diane makes a reappearance, having returned from her trip to London. Did NOT expect that twist!

And neither did Columbo.

They made him look like quite the fool.

There is a surprising lack of cocaine in these 90’s model party scenes.

This, I believe, is the latest a murder is committed in an episode of Columbo – with less than 14 minutes remaining. Also, the fastest Columbo solves a case.

It’s a pretty great Gotcha!, although I could have done without him actually sending the “Gotcha” message. Also, lucky for him that the body just happened to be buried close enough for them to hear the pager.

This episode does not come close to the lofty heights of the classic Columbo episodes – BUT it does take the top spot of the new Columbos. Buchanan plays a suitably smarmy villain and I have to admit to being surprised by the late episode twist that sees Diane make an unexpected return. The Gotcha was, I thought, very well done as well. While I found Columbo’s investigative presumptions a little hard to swallow, and the show’s 90’s elements annoyingly dated (outside of that one outfit Tina was wearing), they were minor quibbles in an otherwise solid episode.

Next up, Columbo investigates a murder made to look like a suicide in “Agenda for Murder”. Here’s hoping season 9 continues it’s modestly solid run.

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